Leo III was left alone in the courtyard of the Winter Palace, where Isabella had wandered off with a burly Moorish man. The King paced the garden, unable to conceal his anger.
“I knew it!”
He didn't know what his anger was about, but one thing was certain: Leo III was very angry.
His back ached throughout the entire trip to Taranto, keeping him immobile in his carriage, but Leo III was no dummy. He could clearly see what Rubina had been up to. She must have been running around like it was her own world.
“It’s so cute, it’s so cute!”
He was so angry that he couldn't wait for Sir Delpiano to return and suddenly shouted.
“Hey, is there anyone here?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A low-ranking servant ran up and bowed his head politely.
“There, Rubina, there’s no need to wait. Change Isabella’s quarters to ‘Casa della Amanti’ immediately!”
When the servant blinked and didn't immediately understand the instructions that were unrelated to his duties, he snapped in annoyance.
“Hey, there’s a place Rubina used to use!”
There was no consideration whatsoever about what would happen if Rubina were to write there again.
Fortunately, Rubina had chosen the Queen's bedroom as her own quarters, so the catastrophe of Isabella being put in Rubina's place did not occur.
However, Leo III's unilateral move of the young government's residence without consulting Rubina failed. Rubina herself, upon hearing that Leo III was looking for her, rushed over.
"Your Majesty!"
Rubina called Leo III in a sweet voice, but her feelings were deeply unsettling.
'The devil doesn't fit my fancy, I don't like it at all.'
In fact, Rubina had been on her way here even before she met Sir Delpiano, as soon as she heard that Leo III and Isabella had met in the forecourt of the villa. Otherwise, she wouldn't have appeared so quickly.
Since arriving at the Winter Palace, she had carefully planned her itinerary to avoid any overlap between Leo III and Isabella.
Out of sight, out of mind. That's what she was aiming for.
But then, the guardsmen suddenly appeared with a Moor and started a commotion. Because of this, the King and his new concubine met.
Rubina asked about the King's well-being as gently as possible.
“Your Majesty! How is your back?”
“You think I’m funny!”
Leo III fired back without warning. The anger he had inflicted on Isabella earlier spilled over onto Rubina.
“You’re letting things run wild like this just because I’m not looking?”
“That’s not it...”
“‘The Queen’s Theatre’? What a bother, what a bother! Isabella’s quarters were renamed ‘Casa della Amanti’, so you know!”
"Your Majesty!"
Rubina didn't even respond to the suggestion that her symbol was annoying. She admitted it, and that wasn't the point right now.
“No Casa della Amanti!”
Leo III, who was in a state of confusion, shouted.
“You are the King?!”
Rubina took a step back in surprise. Leo III angrily pressed on.
“What are you doing, Master?! Just throw me in the back room and rule over me!”
“Oh, Your Majesty, it’s all for Your Majesty’s safety!”
“You wish I were dead! I made you act like a Queen who wasn’t worthy of your position, and what do you think you’ve become?!”
Despite the continued verbal abuse, Rubina firmly covered herself with her fresh outer shell and tried her best to appease Leo III.
“You should live a long life!”
This woman and that woman both wished him a long life. After hearing it from a young, stunning beauty, with tears in their eyes, hearing it from a wrinkled, middle-aged woman for the second time was a bit less touching.
“Stop talking nonsense!”
"That's not a good thing! If Your Majesty weren't here, what would become of Cesare and me? You must protect us for a long time!"
Leo III's anger subsided slightly when he realized that Rubina's objective advantage lay in his own longevity. Rubina quickly seized the opportunity to persuade the King.
“Didn’t Countess Contarini just now bring in that Moorish slave?”
Leo III reacted clearly to those words.
“...He's a skin care professional.”
"Whatever the name! If he were a skin care professional, wouldn't he be visiting Countess Contarini's quarters as if it were his own, even entering her intimate areas?"
Rubina deliberately chose provocative words. Countess's quarters. Like his home. An intimate place. Leo III's blood pressure rose.
“Casa della Amanti is too close to His Majesty's residence. It's a location where you can reach His Majesty's bedroom without the need for guards!”
Hearing those words, the old King's hands trembled. He wanted to summon Isabella immediately and cancel the Moor's entry into the palace. But he feared the contemptuous gaze the young Isabella would cast at him, calling him unmanly.
Taking advantage of the gap, Rubina whispered. She could play the villain. She decided to propose a compromise.
But this was Rubina's downfall.
Like Isabella, she should have pushed through while she could. Had she offered to drive out Isabella's new Moor, Leo III would have feigned defeat and complied.
However, Rubina was so shocked by Leo III's anger that she gave up.
"Your Majesty, as you have said, I will move Countess Contarini's quarters to the main building of the Winter Palace. However, the Casa della Amanti is not permitted. There is absolutely no place where a foreigner can enter Your Majesty's bedroom without going through the guards."
Rubina's argument had some merit. Leo III nodded slowly.
“Instead, the Countess’s quarters will be located in a place with frequent foot traffic in the main building.”
Leo III looked at Rubina suspiciously, who insisted on placing her government's residence in a prominent location. This meant that even when the King visited Isabella, he would be exposed to public view.
“It is not an exaggeration for Your Majesty to seek out Countess Contarini.”
That was true. Leo III had done too many strange things to lose public favor over something like that. Unless he was going to visit his mistress naked and on his head, he wouldn't have been a subject of gossip.
But the question remains, why?
Rubina lacked Isabella's animalistic instincts and boldness, but she possessed a talent: sowing suspicion. Rubina whispered to the King, who was glaring at her with suspicion.
“Isn’t the most important thing to prevent people from doing something stupid?”
“Nonsense..?”
The subject was cleverly twisted.
"Yes, there's been so much gossip. With so many eyes watching, you have to be more tidy, and you have to be more careful about who you come in and out of, and what time of day you go."
Leo III's mouth dropped open. Rubina was clearly hinting that Isabella might be having an affair with a younger man while leaving the King.
But she immediately changed her subject in the next sentence, using the same rhetoric as Isabella.
"It's impossible to know whether a foreigner will properly observe court etiquette. What if they disrupt court discipline? If several people pass by and observe, it also serves as a watchdog."
“...Hmm.”
"If he breaks etiquette, won't he be banned from the palace? If Your Majesty truly desires to use him, perhaps he could be sent out of the palace and occasionally summoned, but it would be difficult to have him reside within the palace."
It was a proposal that Leo III liked very much.
“I cannot trust a foreigner, not even a fellow Christian, let alone a pagan from the Moorish Empire.”
Rubina, who had no respect for the believers, persuaded the King with her cunning tongue.
"Your Majesty's safety is my top priority, and I will keep a close eye on the Moors and what they are doing to the kingdom. Please grant me your permission."
Leo III, whose anger had subsided, accepted Rubina's proposal.
“...Do that.”
Thus, Rubina averted a crisis. However, she was too busy responding to Leo III's whims to give Isabella time to keep a close watch.
Of course, she had warned the Marchioness Cepinelli in advance to be on the lookout. However, she wasn't skilled enough to proactively design a system. Deborah, who couldn't even do what she was told, was at a level where it was pointless to even talk to her.
Whatever it was, Rubina had to personally give orders at the time for things to go smoothly. By failing to assign Isabella a position, Rubina missed a golden opportunity.
Having barely managed to appease Leo III's tantrums, Isabella walked alongside Agosto down the corridor, an open corridor between elaborately carved columns that was the pride of Taranto's red sandstone villas.
“I didn’t know you would actually show up.”
The formal language she had used that night during her ignominious escape from the Bartolini mansion was nowhere to be found, and Isabella shamelessly treated Agosto with contempt.
“Didn’t I tell you?”
But Agosto didn't care about Isabella's scheming.
“You are a woman with so many twisted desires that you want to achieve.”
He naturally, as if it were a given, addressed Isabella as his equal. In relationships between men and women, any distinction in social status is usually ignored.
“I knew you would find me.”
Isabella snorted.
“You don’t necessarily have to show up just because I’m looking for you. Why did you come?”
“You are looking for me, so of course I should come.”
These words, which sounded like something a lover might say, irritated Isabella. She snapped harshly.
“Don’t act like you accomplished anything just because you slept with me once!”
She growled fiercely.
“You are a Moorish slave, and I will hang your head in the marketplace for one word to His Majesty the King!”
Agosto simply smiled at Isabella's attempts to insult him. Nothing she said could possibly hurt him.
“I just finished up some work and came back.”
While Isabella was tumultuous in the palace, Agosto was carrying out his own duties in the Etruscan kingdom. The reason Agosto, or Akirilou, crossed the timeline and brought Agosto to the Etruscan kingdom was purely Isabella's fault.
In the end, coming to see Isabella now was also an extension of the work he had to do.
“You can’t kill me.”
He spoke slowly. The woman he absolutely had to have was slowly being destroyed. Just the right size for him to embrace.
“Yoy need me to be here so I can fix the scar on your cheek.”
Isabella's face lit up with joy.
“I knew it!”
He didn't know what his anger was about, but one thing was certain: Leo III was very angry.
His back ached throughout the entire trip to Taranto, keeping him immobile in his carriage, but Leo III was no dummy. He could clearly see what Rubina had been up to. She must have been running around like it was her own world.
“It’s so cute, it’s so cute!”
He was so angry that he couldn't wait for Sir Delpiano to return and suddenly shouted.
“Hey, is there anyone here?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A low-ranking servant ran up and bowed his head politely.
“There, Rubina, there’s no need to wait. Change Isabella’s quarters to ‘Casa della Amanti’ immediately!”
When the servant blinked and didn't immediately understand the instructions that were unrelated to his duties, he snapped in annoyance.
“Hey, there’s a place Rubina used to use!”
There was no consideration whatsoever about what would happen if Rubina were to write there again.
Fortunately, Rubina had chosen the Queen's bedroom as her own quarters, so the catastrophe of Isabella being put in Rubina's place did not occur.
However, Leo III's unilateral move of the young government's residence without consulting Rubina failed. Rubina herself, upon hearing that Leo III was looking for her, rushed over.
"Your Majesty!"
Rubina called Leo III in a sweet voice, but her feelings were deeply unsettling.
'The devil doesn't fit my fancy, I don't like it at all.'
In fact, Rubina had been on her way here even before she met Sir Delpiano, as soon as she heard that Leo III and Isabella had met in the forecourt of the villa. Otherwise, she wouldn't have appeared so quickly.
Since arriving at the Winter Palace, she had carefully planned her itinerary to avoid any overlap between Leo III and Isabella.
Out of sight, out of mind. That's what she was aiming for.
But then, the guardsmen suddenly appeared with a Moor and started a commotion. Because of this, the King and his new concubine met.
Rubina asked about the King's well-being as gently as possible.
“Your Majesty! How is your back?”
“You think I’m funny!”
Leo III fired back without warning. The anger he had inflicted on Isabella earlier spilled over onto Rubina.
“You’re letting things run wild like this just because I’m not looking?”
“That’s not it...”
“‘The Queen’s Theatre’? What a bother, what a bother! Isabella’s quarters were renamed ‘Casa della Amanti’, so you know!”
"Your Majesty!"
Rubina didn't even respond to the suggestion that her symbol was annoying. She admitted it, and that wasn't the point right now.
“No Casa della Amanti!”
Leo III, who was in a state of confusion, shouted.
“You are the King?!”
Rubina took a step back in surprise. Leo III angrily pressed on.
“What are you doing, Master?! Just throw me in the back room and rule over me!”
“Oh, Your Majesty, it’s all for Your Majesty’s safety!”
“You wish I were dead! I made you act like a Queen who wasn’t worthy of your position, and what do you think you’ve become?!”
Despite the continued verbal abuse, Rubina firmly covered herself with her fresh outer shell and tried her best to appease Leo III.
“You should live a long life!”
This woman and that woman both wished him a long life. After hearing it from a young, stunning beauty, with tears in their eyes, hearing it from a wrinkled, middle-aged woman for the second time was a bit less touching.
“Stop talking nonsense!”
"That's not a good thing! If Your Majesty weren't here, what would become of Cesare and me? You must protect us for a long time!"
Leo III's anger subsided slightly when he realized that Rubina's objective advantage lay in his own longevity. Rubina quickly seized the opportunity to persuade the King.
“Didn’t Countess Contarini just now bring in that Moorish slave?”
Leo III reacted clearly to those words.
“...He's a skin care professional.”
"Whatever the name! If he were a skin care professional, wouldn't he be visiting Countess Contarini's quarters as if it were his own, even entering her intimate areas?"
Rubina deliberately chose provocative words. Countess's quarters. Like his home. An intimate place. Leo III's blood pressure rose.
“Casa della Amanti is too close to His Majesty's residence. It's a location where you can reach His Majesty's bedroom without the need for guards!”
Hearing those words, the old King's hands trembled. He wanted to summon Isabella immediately and cancel the Moor's entry into the palace. But he feared the contemptuous gaze the young Isabella would cast at him, calling him unmanly.
Taking advantage of the gap, Rubina whispered. She could play the villain. She decided to propose a compromise.
But this was Rubina's downfall.
Like Isabella, she should have pushed through while she could. Had she offered to drive out Isabella's new Moor, Leo III would have feigned defeat and complied.
However, Rubina was so shocked by Leo III's anger that she gave up.
"Your Majesty, as you have said, I will move Countess Contarini's quarters to the main building of the Winter Palace. However, the Casa della Amanti is not permitted. There is absolutely no place where a foreigner can enter Your Majesty's bedroom without going through the guards."
Rubina's argument had some merit. Leo III nodded slowly.
“Instead, the Countess’s quarters will be located in a place with frequent foot traffic in the main building.”
Leo III looked at Rubina suspiciously, who insisted on placing her government's residence in a prominent location. This meant that even when the King visited Isabella, he would be exposed to public view.
“It is not an exaggeration for Your Majesty to seek out Countess Contarini.”
That was true. Leo III had done too many strange things to lose public favor over something like that. Unless he was going to visit his mistress naked and on his head, he wouldn't have been a subject of gossip.
But the question remains, why?
Rubina lacked Isabella's animalistic instincts and boldness, but she possessed a talent: sowing suspicion. Rubina whispered to the King, who was glaring at her with suspicion.
“Isn’t the most important thing to prevent people from doing something stupid?”
“Nonsense..?”
The subject was cleverly twisted.
"Yes, there's been so much gossip. With so many eyes watching, you have to be more tidy, and you have to be more careful about who you come in and out of, and what time of day you go."
Leo III's mouth dropped open. Rubina was clearly hinting that Isabella might be having an affair with a younger man while leaving the King.
But she immediately changed her subject in the next sentence, using the same rhetoric as Isabella.
"It's impossible to know whether a foreigner will properly observe court etiquette. What if they disrupt court discipline? If several people pass by and observe, it also serves as a watchdog."
“...Hmm.”
"If he breaks etiquette, won't he be banned from the palace? If Your Majesty truly desires to use him, perhaps he could be sent out of the palace and occasionally summoned, but it would be difficult to have him reside within the palace."
It was a proposal that Leo III liked very much.
“I cannot trust a foreigner, not even a fellow Christian, let alone a pagan from the Moorish Empire.”
Rubina, who had no respect for the believers, persuaded the King with her cunning tongue.
"Your Majesty's safety is my top priority, and I will keep a close eye on the Moors and what they are doing to the kingdom. Please grant me your permission."
Leo III, whose anger had subsided, accepted Rubina's proposal.
“...Do that.”
Thus, Rubina averted a crisis. However, she was too busy responding to Leo III's whims to give Isabella time to keep a close watch.
Of course, she had warned the Marchioness Cepinelli in advance to be on the lookout. However, she wasn't skilled enough to proactively design a system. Deborah, who couldn't even do what she was told, was at a level where it was pointless to even talk to her.
Whatever it was, Rubina had to personally give orders at the time for things to go smoothly. By failing to assign Isabella a position, Rubina missed a golden opportunity.
***
Having barely managed to appease Leo III's tantrums, Isabella walked alongside Agosto down the corridor, an open corridor between elaborately carved columns that was the pride of Taranto's red sandstone villas.
“I didn’t know you would actually show up.”
The formal language she had used that night during her ignominious escape from the Bartolini mansion was nowhere to be found, and Isabella shamelessly treated Agosto with contempt.
“Didn’t I tell you?”
But Agosto didn't care about Isabella's scheming.
“You are a woman with so many twisted desires that you want to achieve.”
He naturally, as if it were a given, addressed Isabella as his equal. In relationships between men and women, any distinction in social status is usually ignored.
“I knew you would find me.”
Isabella snorted.
“You don’t necessarily have to show up just because I’m looking for you. Why did you come?”
“You are looking for me, so of course I should come.”
These words, which sounded like something a lover might say, irritated Isabella. She snapped harshly.
“Don’t act like you accomplished anything just because you slept with me once!”
She growled fiercely.
“You are a Moorish slave, and I will hang your head in the marketplace for one word to His Majesty the King!”
Agosto simply smiled at Isabella's attempts to insult him. Nothing she said could possibly hurt him.
“I just finished up some work and came back.”
While Isabella was tumultuous in the palace, Agosto was carrying out his own duties in the Etruscan kingdom. The reason Agosto, or Akirilou, crossed the timeline and brought Agosto to the Etruscan kingdom was purely Isabella's fault.
In the end, coming to see Isabella now was also an extension of the work he had to do.
“You can’t kill me.”
He spoke slowly. The woman he absolutely had to have was slowly being destroyed. Just the right size for him to embrace.
“Yoy need me to be here so I can fix the scar on your cheek.”
Isabella's face lit up with joy.
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