The Princess hesitated and then asked.
“If you are going to issue a general mobilization order, would it be possible for me to go down with the Grand Duchess’s party?”
Rubina's smile deepened. She had been planning to make the first suggestion if the Princess hadn't asked.
“Of course.”
She looked at Julia Helena as if nothing had happened.
“Your Highness’s hair is a bit tangled right now. Could you please...”
Julia Helena quickly inspected her appearance. She felt a clump of hair sticking out of her neatly curled style. Objectively, it was a mess. A look of dismay spread across the young princess's face.
“Wouldn't you like to wash up and sleep in my quarters? Of course, you'll have to return to your quarters, since you'll need to pack your bags for Taranto...”
“No, it’s fine! I want to wash!”
Julia Helena tried to act strong belatedly.
“I’m sure Viscountess Panamere will take care of my luggage!”
Rubina didn't answer, only offering a meaningful smile. Would they pack the Princess's belongings and obediently follow her? Or would they kidnap her and attempt to board the ship?
'If it were up to me, I would rather send you to Villa Sortone than let you sleep in my quarters.'
But this was good enough.
Taranto was the perfect 'romantic' city to advance the relationship between a young man and a young woman so that the Marquis of Manchike could no longer turn it upside down.
Rubina planned to do something to make Taranto a little more romantic. She also wanted to isolate the Manchike's party from the Princess, to keep her "safe."
Sir Manfredi was startled by the sudden order to move to the palace.
"You're moving to Taranto tomorrow? Does that make sense? It's four o'clock in the afternoon?"
He ran in a hurry and reported this to Sir Bernardino.
“The General Affairs Department wants us to move everything immediately. What should we do?”
Sir Bernardino wasn't exactly a savvy man. He hadn't told them what to do when Prince Alfonso declared his boycott of the Taranto expedition, but Leo III ignored it. From there, it was beyond their control.
The Palazzo Carlo Secretariat, which followed the wishes of the Grand Duchess Rubina, or rather Leo III above her, acted as if it had forgotten that the Prince's Palace had declared that it would not move south.
"Of course you're participating, right? It's an annual event."
They also imposed various obligations. They set a limit on the amount of luggage they could carry, making it the default to depart the next morning. Conversely, they arbitrarily decided on the number of horses and carriages they could commandeer.
Sir Dino reviewed the orders given by the General Affairs Department.
“By 8 p.m. tonight, we need to hand over to the General Affairs Department 80 pack horses... 40 open wagons...”
Sir Manfredi exploded in anger.
"But the maximum load we can take is 25 carriages? We have to match the number of carriages we're requisitioning. Are you kidding me?"
Prince Alfonso was out on the outskirts of the palace inspecting the training of the knights. No one knew what time he would return. If they were to requisition and deliver the requested supplies by 6 o'clock, they had to start preparing now.
“Shall I report to the Princess first?”
Sir Dino and Sir Manfredi looked at each other.
Ariadne was already treated as a titled Princess among them. More precisely, she was treated as a mistress.
This atmosphere was born primarily among the Prince's closest associates who had fought alongside him in the Battle of Yesak. These were the people who, in the early days of the Crusades, were suffering without food or weapons, and who felt the deep gratitude of the 10,000 ducats that had arrived.
When they learned that Ariadne had sent the water of life after Elko's death, they accepted Ariadne as Alfonso's companion without a second thought.
However, Sir Dino hesitated to report this to Ariadne. This was not because he did not recognize Ariadne as his mistress.
“If I bring this trouble to Him now...”
Prince Alfonso commanded absolute security for Princess Ariadne. He even ordered that all external invitations to her be sent through him first.
Prince Alfonso exploded with rage this afternoon after Ariadne had been invited to Grand Duchess Rubina's disastrous tea party.
“Who sent Ari to do this nonsense!”
No one sent Ariadne to Rubina's tea party. She went on her own.
But if they really have to be specific, Ariadne's assistant in the palace was Sir Manfredi.
“You should have stopped it!”
The innocent Sir Manfredi, who could not bring himself to say that he had stopped the horse, was dragged to the field and made to run 40 laps.
That place was originally a training ground, not for people, but for horses. A lap of that field meant a lap for a horse. For humans, the difference in stride length between a horse and a human was added to the lap.
Even Sir Manfredi, the hero of the Battle of Yesak, was worried that he might suddenly die on the dirt floor while running in full gear.
'I have to get married before you die.'
Sir Manfredi, who immediately remembered the disaster he had suffered that day, agreed with Sir Bernardino's idea with a pale complexion.
“Yes, that’s right. I’d rather not say anything...”
“What are you not telling me?”
A soft yet clear female voice, a voice rarely heard in the palace for the past twenty years, rang out softly. Sir Manfredi turned around in surprise.
“That’s... there... nothing special...”
It was Ariadne. She smiled brightly.
“I’m sorry, but I heard it all from the beginning.”
Sir Manfredi was terrified. "If that's the case, why don't you just try it?" Sir Manfredi grumbled, still haunted by the nightmare of the parade ground.
“You’re better at killing people than most assassins...”
"I think incorporating court etiquette into the Assassin Training Manual would be beneficial. I can give it to you if you need it."
She'd been told her gait was "old-fashioned," like that of a country woman, but for over a decade, she'd gritted her teeth and worked hard, and she'd achieved anything. Now, she walked with such grace and ease that you couldn't even hear the hem of her dress flutter.
A woman who spent the first act of her life on a farm and the second in high society even boasted of her talent as an assassin and offered to do it.
“I think it would be better for us to pack our bags too.”
Sir Manfredi, taken by surprise in several ways, turned to Sir Bernardino. It wasn't just that he wanted to avoid responsibility; the person who would personally lead the packing was Sir Dino, the palace's housekeeper. It was a decision he had to make.
Dino's judgment seemed uncertain. However, if he wanted to send the horses and carriage by 6 o'clock, he had to prepare immediately. From the staff's perspective, it was better to stop preparing halfway than to not prepare at all.
“Would, would that be okay?”
"No."
A deep voice cut off Sir Manfredi's words firmly. It was Prince Alfonso.
He walked from the far end of the corridor under the high marble arches, wiping the sweaty nape of his neck with a towel.
“Alfonso!”
"Ari."
Prince Alfonso threw a towel at Sir Bernardino and stood behind Ariadne. The smell of manly sweat wafted through her. He wrapped one arm around Ariadne and pulled her into a hug.
Alfonso spoke softly, his voice unwavering.
“The General Affairs Department, no, His Majesty the King, seems to be taking the Prince’s Palace quite lightly.”
Muscles rose and fell lightly on his square jaw. He was determined not to expose his wife to any threat, including the King's mistress, Isabella.
Ariadne felt a firm arm around her and glanced sideways at Alfonso. She should have disliked him, but she didn't. The sticky smell of sweat, the unasked dismissal of her opinion. Alfonso's arm around her felt like a protective fence.
She doesn't have to make decisions. She can be wrong. But others will take care of things, protect her, and take responsibility for her.
She just felt strangely relieved, even though she didn't entirely agree with Alfonso's conclusions.
Ariadne raised her hand and grasped Alfonso's finger tightly. He absentmindedly stroked her cheek with his hand, perhaps knowingly or not.
“The palace does not move.”
Alfonso looked around. His closest associates, including the Knights of the Black Helmet, were 100% his men. They would obey any order he gave them, even if it meant treason.
“If the King wants to take away his people, I can’t stop him.”
Here, Alfonso raised his voice. The spacious office was filled with his booming, deep voice.
“But we don’t go!”
“Yay!”
“Hoo hoo―!”
"Yep!"
The core members of the Black Helmet Knights, who were scattered throughout the office, responded with cheers.
“We do not cooperate with the movement!”
Prince Alfonso demanded, as a condition of his move to Taranto, that the royal palace be restored to its budget, and more precisely, that the Etruscan kingdom directly cover the upkeep of the Black Helmet Knights. Leo III gave him no time to do so, so he never had the opportunity to make this request directly or in writing. However, the entire Etruscan kingdom knew that it was the natural course of action.
Not only was the national defense budget not restored, but the budget for the palace was also not restored.
“There is no need to conscript horses and wagons!”
“Wow!”
“Yeah!”
The knights, having been assured that they would not have to give anything away, all screamed together once again.
“Of course, we’re not the only ones here.”
Prince Alfonso glanced around once more. Among the shadowy figures pouring water, bringing towels, and changing clothes, some turned their heads away, avoiding the Prince's gaze.
In addition to the loyal servants who had served the Prince since childhood, the palace also housed a considerable number of rotating staff. It was impossible to guess which of them might be spies for Leo III or Rubina, so it would have been a welcome change if the General Affairs Department had taken them all out on this occasion.
“If His Majesty wishes to take the Palazzo Carlo staff to the Prince’s Palace, the General Affairs Department will have to take care of that.”
The idea was to compile a list of whom to bring, arrange transportation to get them there, and determine how to cover their wages and other expenses.
"Convey this directly to the General Affairs Department. The Prince's Palace will not be moved, and it will have no involvement in this southward advance."
Alfonso had no intention of bowing to Leo III, especially after the humiliation his companion had suffered that afternoon.
He muttered under his breath.
“You are very mistaken in many ways, Father.”
The Prince then suddenly looked at Sir Manfredi.
“Why don’t you go right now?”
Sir Manfredi was startled by the Prince's nomination. He remembered the 40 laps he'd completed on the parade ground that afternoon. But soon, he saluted with a slightly excited expression. Let's see the expressions on the faces of those in the General Affairs Department.
“Yes!”
“If you are going to issue a general mobilization order, would it be possible for me to go down with the Grand Duchess’s party?”
Rubina's smile deepened. She had been planning to make the first suggestion if the Princess hadn't asked.
“Of course.”
She looked at Julia Helena as if nothing had happened.
“Your Highness’s hair is a bit tangled right now. Could you please...”
Julia Helena quickly inspected her appearance. She felt a clump of hair sticking out of her neatly curled style. Objectively, it was a mess. A look of dismay spread across the young princess's face.
“Wouldn't you like to wash up and sleep in my quarters? Of course, you'll have to return to your quarters, since you'll need to pack your bags for Taranto...”
“No, it’s fine! I want to wash!”
Julia Helena tried to act strong belatedly.
“I’m sure Viscountess Panamere will take care of my luggage!”
Rubina didn't answer, only offering a meaningful smile. Would they pack the Princess's belongings and obediently follow her? Or would they kidnap her and attempt to board the ship?
'If it were up to me, I would rather send you to Villa Sortone than let you sleep in my quarters.'
But this was good enough.
Taranto was the perfect 'romantic' city to advance the relationship between a young man and a young woman so that the Marquis of Manchike could no longer turn it upside down.
Rubina planned to do something to make Taranto a little more romantic. She also wanted to isolate the Manchike's party from the Princess, to keep her "safe."
***
Sir Manfredi was startled by the sudden order to move to the palace.
"You're moving to Taranto tomorrow? Does that make sense? It's four o'clock in the afternoon?"
He ran in a hurry and reported this to Sir Bernardino.
“The General Affairs Department wants us to move everything immediately. What should we do?”
Sir Bernardino wasn't exactly a savvy man. He hadn't told them what to do when Prince Alfonso declared his boycott of the Taranto expedition, but Leo III ignored it. From there, it was beyond their control.
The Palazzo Carlo Secretariat, which followed the wishes of the Grand Duchess Rubina, or rather Leo III above her, acted as if it had forgotten that the Prince's Palace had declared that it would not move south.
"Of course you're participating, right? It's an annual event."
They also imposed various obligations. They set a limit on the amount of luggage they could carry, making it the default to depart the next morning. Conversely, they arbitrarily decided on the number of horses and carriages they could commandeer.
Sir Dino reviewed the orders given by the General Affairs Department.
“By 8 p.m. tonight, we need to hand over to the General Affairs Department 80 pack horses... 40 open wagons...”
Sir Manfredi exploded in anger.
"But the maximum load we can take is 25 carriages? We have to match the number of carriages we're requisitioning. Are you kidding me?"
Prince Alfonso was out on the outskirts of the palace inspecting the training of the knights. No one knew what time he would return. If they were to requisition and deliver the requested supplies by 6 o'clock, they had to start preparing now.
“Shall I report to the Princess first?”
Sir Dino and Sir Manfredi looked at each other.
Ariadne was already treated as a titled Princess among them. More precisely, she was treated as a mistress.
This atmosphere was born primarily among the Prince's closest associates who had fought alongside him in the Battle of Yesak. These were the people who, in the early days of the Crusades, were suffering without food or weapons, and who felt the deep gratitude of the 10,000 ducats that had arrived.
When they learned that Ariadne had sent the water of life after Elko's death, they accepted Ariadne as Alfonso's companion without a second thought.
However, Sir Dino hesitated to report this to Ariadne. This was not because he did not recognize Ariadne as his mistress.
“If I bring this trouble to Him now...”
Prince Alfonso commanded absolute security for Princess Ariadne. He even ordered that all external invitations to her be sent through him first.
Prince Alfonso exploded with rage this afternoon after Ariadne had been invited to Grand Duchess Rubina's disastrous tea party.
“Who sent Ari to do this nonsense!”
No one sent Ariadne to Rubina's tea party. She went on her own.
But if they really have to be specific, Ariadne's assistant in the palace was Sir Manfredi.
“You should have stopped it!”
The innocent Sir Manfredi, who could not bring himself to say that he had stopped the horse, was dragged to the field and made to run 40 laps.
That place was originally a training ground, not for people, but for horses. A lap of that field meant a lap for a horse. For humans, the difference in stride length between a horse and a human was added to the lap.
Even Sir Manfredi, the hero of the Battle of Yesak, was worried that he might suddenly die on the dirt floor while running in full gear.
'I have to get married before you die.'
Sir Manfredi, who immediately remembered the disaster he had suffered that day, agreed with Sir Bernardino's idea with a pale complexion.
“Yes, that’s right. I’d rather not say anything...”
“What are you not telling me?”
A soft yet clear female voice, a voice rarely heard in the palace for the past twenty years, rang out softly. Sir Manfredi turned around in surprise.
“That’s... there... nothing special...”
It was Ariadne. She smiled brightly.
“I’m sorry, but I heard it all from the beginning.”
Sir Manfredi was terrified. "If that's the case, why don't you just try it?" Sir Manfredi grumbled, still haunted by the nightmare of the parade ground.
“You’re better at killing people than most assassins...”
"I think incorporating court etiquette into the Assassin Training Manual would be beneficial. I can give it to you if you need it."
She'd been told her gait was "old-fashioned," like that of a country woman, but for over a decade, she'd gritted her teeth and worked hard, and she'd achieved anything. Now, she walked with such grace and ease that you couldn't even hear the hem of her dress flutter.
A woman who spent the first act of her life on a farm and the second in high society even boasted of her talent as an assassin and offered to do it.
“I think it would be better for us to pack our bags too.”
Sir Manfredi, taken by surprise in several ways, turned to Sir Bernardino. It wasn't just that he wanted to avoid responsibility; the person who would personally lead the packing was Sir Dino, the palace's housekeeper. It was a decision he had to make.
Dino's judgment seemed uncertain. However, if he wanted to send the horses and carriage by 6 o'clock, he had to prepare immediately. From the staff's perspective, it was better to stop preparing halfway than to not prepare at all.
“Would, would that be okay?”
"No."
A deep voice cut off Sir Manfredi's words firmly. It was Prince Alfonso.
He walked from the far end of the corridor under the high marble arches, wiping the sweaty nape of his neck with a towel.
“Alfonso!”
"Ari."
Prince Alfonso threw a towel at Sir Bernardino and stood behind Ariadne. The smell of manly sweat wafted through her. He wrapped one arm around Ariadne and pulled her into a hug.
Alfonso spoke softly, his voice unwavering.
“The General Affairs Department, no, His Majesty the King, seems to be taking the Prince’s Palace quite lightly.”
Muscles rose and fell lightly on his square jaw. He was determined not to expose his wife to any threat, including the King's mistress, Isabella.
Ariadne felt a firm arm around her and glanced sideways at Alfonso. She should have disliked him, but she didn't. The sticky smell of sweat, the unasked dismissal of her opinion. Alfonso's arm around her felt like a protective fence.
She doesn't have to make decisions. She can be wrong. But others will take care of things, protect her, and take responsibility for her.
She just felt strangely relieved, even though she didn't entirely agree with Alfonso's conclusions.
Ariadne raised her hand and grasped Alfonso's finger tightly. He absentmindedly stroked her cheek with his hand, perhaps knowingly or not.
“The palace does not move.”
Alfonso looked around. His closest associates, including the Knights of the Black Helmet, were 100% his men. They would obey any order he gave them, even if it meant treason.
“If the King wants to take away his people, I can’t stop him.”
Here, Alfonso raised his voice. The spacious office was filled with his booming, deep voice.
“But we don’t go!”
“Yay!”
“Hoo hoo―!”
"Yep!"
The core members of the Black Helmet Knights, who were scattered throughout the office, responded with cheers.
“We do not cooperate with the movement!”
Prince Alfonso demanded, as a condition of his move to Taranto, that the royal palace be restored to its budget, and more precisely, that the Etruscan kingdom directly cover the upkeep of the Black Helmet Knights. Leo III gave him no time to do so, so he never had the opportunity to make this request directly or in writing. However, the entire Etruscan kingdom knew that it was the natural course of action.
Not only was the national defense budget not restored, but the budget for the palace was also not restored.
“There is no need to conscript horses and wagons!”
“Wow!”
“Yeah!”
The knights, having been assured that they would not have to give anything away, all screamed together once again.
“Of course, we’re not the only ones here.”
Prince Alfonso glanced around once more. Among the shadowy figures pouring water, bringing towels, and changing clothes, some turned their heads away, avoiding the Prince's gaze.
In addition to the loyal servants who had served the Prince since childhood, the palace also housed a considerable number of rotating staff. It was impossible to guess which of them might be spies for Leo III or Rubina, so it would have been a welcome change if the General Affairs Department had taken them all out on this occasion.
“If His Majesty wishes to take the Palazzo Carlo staff to the Prince’s Palace, the General Affairs Department will have to take care of that.”
The idea was to compile a list of whom to bring, arrange transportation to get them there, and determine how to cover their wages and other expenses.
"Convey this directly to the General Affairs Department. The Prince's Palace will not be moved, and it will have no involvement in this southward advance."
Alfonso had no intention of bowing to Leo III, especially after the humiliation his companion had suffered that afternoon.
He muttered under his breath.
“You are very mistaken in many ways, Father.”
The Prince then suddenly looked at Sir Manfredi.
“Why don’t you go right now?”
Sir Manfredi was startled by the Prince's nomination. He remembered the 40 laps he'd completed on the parade ground that afternoon. But soon, he saluted with a slightly excited expression. Let's see the expressions on the faces of those in the General Affairs Department.
“Yes!”
Thank you very much
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