Ariadne broke off and, as if in a trance, picked up all the papers under the label.
The first part was what she expected. It's a common story.
Ignore the petition of Madame Gentilini, who was urging her to marry Count Cesare de Como, as she was pregnant with his child. The person who made the request was Rubina, who was the Countess at the time.
'There was a child...'
Surprisingly, Ariadne wasn't heartbroken or shocked. Emotionally, it was truly over. Cardinal de Mare's love letter, if anything, left a deeper impression on her.
Cesare's work... rather, she began to look at it as if it were someone else's business.
"If she's Madame Gentilini, then she has a husband, Mr. Gentilini. Is she a widow? Or is she a married woman having an affair?"
This must have been an important matter to Cardinal de Mare as well, as he wrote in detail about the follow-up measures.
The child was registered as a child of the Gentilini family, but died soon after. Madame Gentilini died two years later.
The fact that the child was registered as a child of the Gentilini family meant that Madame Gentilini was a married woman who had an affair.
There was a strong possibility that it was her husband's child, but Madame Gentilini, unless she was crazy, wouldn't have made such a fuss. Was it really Cesare's child? Why did Madame Gentilini die?
Ariadne was curious, but at the same time, she wasn't curious.
Ariadne absentmindedly picked up the last document, thinking that she should also hand over Cesare's data to Sir Manfredi in its entirety.
A thin, worn piece of parchment fell to the floor with a clatter. It looked to be decades old.
Ariadne bent down and picked up the piece of parchment.
Ricardo de Sansevieria
It was a name she's never seen before, written on a very small piece. The letters weren't even complete.
But the moment Ariadne saw Cardinal de Mare's handwriting on the last document, she realized it.
1123. At his request. Creation of the birth certificate of Biagio de Como.
What was important about that piece of parchment was not the name written on it, but the shape in which the piece of parchment was cut.
This is a fragment of the paper that became the birth certificate of Cesare's father, the "Crown Prince" Biagio de Como. If you were to place this piece of paper with "Riccardo de Sanseveri" written on it against the name field on Biagio de Como's birth certificate, it would fit perfectly.
This is because Biagio de Como's birth certificate is a forged document created by scratching out the name column of Mr. Ricardo's birth certificate and adding his name.
This was indisputable evidence proving that Cesare was the King's illegitimate son.
“No, just a moment.”
Ariadne stopped Sir Manfredi, who was about to enter, leaving his torch outside at her call. A strange, metallic sound escaped her throat as she tried to lie.
“I guess I’ll have to get the box first. Could Sir Manfredi please bring it to me?”
Sir Manfredi knew little about the interior layout of the de Mare mansion. However, Ariadne insisted on entrusting Sir Manfredi with the task of finding the chest.
“Miss, I can come find it...”
“No! I have a torch. I can just go and come back.”
Despite Sancha's harmless interference, Manfredi pulled out his torch again and marched away with it in his hand.
With or without the torch, most of the luggage in de Mare Mansion has been removed, moved, or thrown away, so it will take a while to find the chest.
As soon as Manfredi had disappeared, she hid in her bosom a piece of parchment inscribed with the name 'Riccardo de Sanseveri' and the rest of the documents relating to the secret of Cesare's birth.
Still uneasy, Ariadne quickly gave a series of instructions.
“Giuseppe. When Sir Manfredi brings the box, you put the documents in it yourself.”
“Yes, Countess.”
Sir Manfredi was better at his job than Giuseppe. Leaving things like label organization to Sir Manfredi would have been less of a hassle for Ariadne, but she chose this path.
“Sancha, prepare a bedspread or something to cover yourself with, and cover it whenever Giuseppe fills the box with documents.”
"Yes."
Ariadne is a bit of a stretch to call Cardinal de Mare's 'blackmail material' or 'a collection of the corruption of aristocratic society', so let's call it 'memoirs'.
Anyway, she quickly made up an excuse in her head as to why she suddenly changed her mind and hid Cardinal de Mare's memoirs from Alfonso's men.
'It's embarrassing to reveal that my father made this...'
The suspicious behavior of her family was like a stain on her face.
Simon de Mare was a respected priest, thanks to his black magic practices remaining unknown to the general public.
But if it is said that the confessions of the people of San Carlo were left in a memorandum, that respect will be crushed to dust by Cardinal de Mare and blown away by the wind.
'I won't use it...'
She was going to write it, but she didn't want anyone to find out she had written it. She made excuses to herself.
'It can also be used to filter out families with vicious behavior...'
Ariadne had a strict rule of not even engaging in financial transactions with anyone with a complicated relationship. Those who betrayed others in private relationships were bound to betray them in public ones, too.
'No, but even so, if there's someone I absolutely have to persuade, I'll have to use threats to get them to come over...'
Ariadne hoped she wouldn't have to write this again. She wanted to save Cardinal de Mare's reputation—well, not much of it—especially with Alfonso.
However, the hiding of information regarding Cesare's birth certificate was not for the sake of his father's reputation.
Ariadne instinctively knew that this would be Cesare's lifeline.
'This will keep your life.'
If Rubina had seen it, she would have burned it immediately. But if she truly cared for Cesare, it would have been right to keep this paper as a sacred reliquary.
'Cesare cannot have the throne.'
Ariadne was certain. So many things had changed since her previous life.
First of all, Alfonso was alive. Not only was he alive, but he commanded the most powerful military force in the Central Continent.
The threat of the King's collapse was initially thwarted by Ariadne's money. Even then, the only remaining dangers were the obvious ones.
'Assassination.'
Alfonso wasn't a man who would go anywhere and be stabbed to death, but there were countless ways to assassinate a key figure. As Alfonso had been in his past life, he had to be careful with poison.
Before launching his coup, Count de Como, in her previous life, had considered several ways to assassinate the Prince. He had a few pretty good plans, but the biggest problem with these plans was that Ariadne, in her current life, knew all about them.
'Actually, if I weren't there, those plans might not even come to fruition.'
Without Ariadne, Cesare's coup might have been nothing more than a plot hatched by friends at a drinking party, or a plot so sloppily discovered that it would have led to his execution.
'The next thing to watch out for is treason.'
Treason is always the best excuse to dismiss an undesirable heir. Leo III was a man of such a capricious temperament that he couldn't afford to frame his own son, the sole heir to the throne, for treason.
One, the King does not have much time left.
'If everything goes the same as in her previous life, Leo III will barely make it through the next year and die.'
In fact, being called "Countess de Mare" instead of "Princess Consort" at the palace was an insult. It was an insult to herself and to Prince Alfonso.
It was also an insult that Alfonso, a fully grown Prince, had not yet been crowned Crown Prince. But Ariadne let it slide without a word of complaint.
'I didn't hold it in for nothing.'
In the early spring of 1129, as the last of the ice melted and preparations for sowing began, the former King died of old age.
'Cesare did make a few last-minute changes, but even without them, he wouldn't have lived long.'
Until then, until next spring comes, she just has to hold out without getting caught.
There was no need to quarrel with someone who was destined to die anyway. It was enough to simply wait with a compassionate expression until the day when everyone except Ariadne would hear the end of Leo III's life.
Alfonso had now entered a path where he could simply defend the castle and bide his time. He had already proven himself at Yesak. The pressure to take the initiative and achieve something was no longer there.
They say that a siege requires ten times the number of soldiers as a defense. Or perhaps a divine strategist receives divine assistance.
Cesare had neither ten times as many soldiers nor a brilliant strategist.
'The next King is Alfonso.'
If you ask a gambler to predict the Battle of the Etruscan Succession, she will give you 2 to 1 odds for Alfonso and 15 to 1 odds for Cesare.
If the gambler knew everything Ariadne knew, Alfonso's odds would get infinitely closer to 1, and Cesare's odds would increase exponentially.
Ariadne didn't hide this paper because she wanted to make Cesare King. Quite the opposite. She saw it after Leo III's death.
The Duke of Pisano will fall with the death of Leo III.
'Even if Alfonso wanted to save him, those around him wouldn't let him go.'
There will be those who encourage Alfonso to execute the Grand Duke and those who encourage Cesare to usurp the throne, especially since Ariadne cannot produce a legitimate heir.
Rather, this paper becomes Cesare's only lifeline at that time.
- Grand Duke Pisano, being merely the illegitimate son of the previous King, has no right to the throne.
Cesare must survive without a right to the throne.
Ariadne's hands trembled. But why am I hiding this from Alfonso's entourage?
'Because I love Cesare?'
No. She shook her head firmly.
Ariadne rejected Cesare's confession. Whether he was Count de Como, the Grand Duke of Pisano, or the King of the Etruscan Kingdom, he wasn't the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. But that aside...
'I want him to live his own life.'
It was because she hoped Cesare would not die.
Life goes on only when you're alive. Ariadne wanted to give him a chance to be happy, too.
Everything about Cesare was an escape. Womanizing, drinking, gambling, and other frivolous pursuits were all impulsive acts he did while hiding in the shadow of Leo III and Rubina, their weight crushing him.
But no matter how sympathetic the reasons for the deviation may be, the decisions a person makes repeatedly determine his or her life.
Ariadne wanted Cesare to figure out for himself what he really liked and disliked, and what kind of life he wanted to live, rather than what Leo III and Rubina expected of him.
'In my last life, you too lived a life consumed by the times.'
Only in this life did Ariadne realize that Cesare was far from being a man of lust for power.
Cesare always sought the praise of others, but he had little interest in power, in other words, in having others do what he wanted. He simply wanted to be the center of attention and be loved—qualities unbecoming of a King.
In her last life, he ran greedily toward the throne, as if the moment he got his hands on the royal seal, all his other problems would magically be solved.
It was someone else's desire. Perhaps the scars were left by Rubina, who died prematurely.
'Please, don't get entangled any longer and just leave.'
Ariadne quietly reached into her pocket containing the piece of parchment.
The first part was what she expected. It's a common story.
Ignore the petition of Madame Gentilini, who was urging her to marry Count Cesare de Como, as she was pregnant with his child. The person who made the request was Rubina, who was the Countess at the time.
'There was a child...'
Surprisingly, Ariadne wasn't heartbroken or shocked. Emotionally, it was truly over. Cardinal de Mare's love letter, if anything, left a deeper impression on her.
Cesare's work... rather, she began to look at it as if it were someone else's business.
"If she's Madame Gentilini, then she has a husband, Mr. Gentilini. Is she a widow? Or is she a married woman having an affair?"
This must have been an important matter to Cardinal de Mare as well, as he wrote in detail about the follow-up measures.
The child was registered as a child of the Gentilini family, but died soon after. Madame Gentilini died two years later.
The fact that the child was registered as a child of the Gentilini family meant that Madame Gentilini was a married woman who had an affair.
There was a strong possibility that it was her husband's child, but Madame Gentilini, unless she was crazy, wouldn't have made such a fuss. Was it really Cesare's child? Why did Madame Gentilini die?
Ariadne was curious, but at the same time, she wasn't curious.
Ariadne absentmindedly picked up the last document, thinking that she should also hand over Cesare's data to Sir Manfredi in its entirety.
A thin, worn piece of parchment fell to the floor with a clatter. It looked to be decades old.
Ariadne bent down and picked up the piece of parchment.
Ricardo de Sansevieria
It was a name she's never seen before, written on a very small piece. The letters weren't even complete.
But the moment Ariadne saw Cardinal de Mare's handwriting on the last document, she realized it.
1123. At his request. Creation of the birth certificate of Biagio de Como.
What was important about that piece of parchment was not the name written on it, but the shape in which the piece of parchment was cut.
This is a fragment of the paper that became the birth certificate of Cesare's father, the "Crown Prince" Biagio de Como. If you were to place this piece of paper with "Riccardo de Sanseveri" written on it against the name field on Biagio de Como's birth certificate, it would fit perfectly.
This is because Biagio de Como's birth certificate is a forged document created by scratching out the name column of Mr. Ricardo's birth certificate and adding his name.
This was indisputable evidence proving that Cesare was the King's illegitimate son.
“No, just a moment.”
Ariadne stopped Sir Manfredi, who was about to enter, leaving his torch outside at her call. A strange, metallic sound escaped her throat as she tried to lie.
“I guess I’ll have to get the box first. Could Sir Manfredi please bring it to me?”
Sir Manfredi knew little about the interior layout of the de Mare mansion. However, Ariadne insisted on entrusting Sir Manfredi with the task of finding the chest.
“Miss, I can come find it...”
“No! I have a torch. I can just go and come back.”
Despite Sancha's harmless interference, Manfredi pulled out his torch again and marched away with it in his hand.
With or without the torch, most of the luggage in de Mare Mansion has been removed, moved, or thrown away, so it will take a while to find the chest.
As soon as Manfredi had disappeared, she hid in her bosom a piece of parchment inscribed with the name 'Riccardo de Sanseveri' and the rest of the documents relating to the secret of Cesare's birth.
Still uneasy, Ariadne quickly gave a series of instructions.
“Giuseppe. When Sir Manfredi brings the box, you put the documents in it yourself.”
“Yes, Countess.”
Sir Manfredi was better at his job than Giuseppe. Leaving things like label organization to Sir Manfredi would have been less of a hassle for Ariadne, but she chose this path.
“Sancha, prepare a bedspread or something to cover yourself with, and cover it whenever Giuseppe fills the box with documents.”
"Yes."
Ariadne is a bit of a stretch to call Cardinal de Mare's 'blackmail material' or 'a collection of the corruption of aristocratic society', so let's call it 'memoirs'.
Anyway, she quickly made up an excuse in her head as to why she suddenly changed her mind and hid Cardinal de Mare's memoirs from Alfonso's men.
'It's embarrassing to reveal that my father made this...'
The suspicious behavior of her family was like a stain on her face.
Simon de Mare was a respected priest, thanks to his black magic practices remaining unknown to the general public.
But if it is said that the confessions of the people of San Carlo were left in a memorandum, that respect will be crushed to dust by Cardinal de Mare and blown away by the wind.
'I won't use it...'
She was going to write it, but she didn't want anyone to find out she had written it. She made excuses to herself.
'It can also be used to filter out families with vicious behavior...'
Ariadne had a strict rule of not even engaging in financial transactions with anyone with a complicated relationship. Those who betrayed others in private relationships were bound to betray them in public ones, too.
'No, but even so, if there's someone I absolutely have to persuade, I'll have to use threats to get them to come over...'
Ariadne hoped she wouldn't have to write this again. She wanted to save Cardinal de Mare's reputation—well, not much of it—especially with Alfonso.
However, the hiding of information regarding Cesare's birth certificate was not for the sake of his father's reputation.
Ariadne instinctively knew that this would be Cesare's lifeline.
'This will keep your life.'
If Rubina had seen it, she would have burned it immediately. But if she truly cared for Cesare, it would have been right to keep this paper as a sacred reliquary.
'Cesare cannot have the throne.'
Ariadne was certain. So many things had changed since her previous life.
First of all, Alfonso was alive. Not only was he alive, but he commanded the most powerful military force in the Central Continent.
The threat of the King's collapse was initially thwarted by Ariadne's money. Even then, the only remaining dangers were the obvious ones.
'Assassination.'
Alfonso wasn't a man who would go anywhere and be stabbed to death, but there were countless ways to assassinate a key figure. As Alfonso had been in his past life, he had to be careful with poison.
Before launching his coup, Count de Como, in her previous life, had considered several ways to assassinate the Prince. He had a few pretty good plans, but the biggest problem with these plans was that Ariadne, in her current life, knew all about them.
'Actually, if I weren't there, those plans might not even come to fruition.'
Without Ariadne, Cesare's coup might have been nothing more than a plot hatched by friends at a drinking party, or a plot so sloppily discovered that it would have led to his execution.
'The next thing to watch out for is treason.'
Treason is always the best excuse to dismiss an undesirable heir. Leo III was a man of such a capricious temperament that he couldn't afford to frame his own son, the sole heir to the throne, for treason.
One, the King does not have much time left.
'If everything goes the same as in her previous life, Leo III will barely make it through the next year and die.'
In fact, being called "Countess de Mare" instead of "Princess Consort" at the palace was an insult. It was an insult to herself and to Prince Alfonso.
It was also an insult that Alfonso, a fully grown Prince, had not yet been crowned Crown Prince. But Ariadne let it slide without a word of complaint.
'I didn't hold it in for nothing.'
In the early spring of 1129, as the last of the ice melted and preparations for sowing began, the former King died of old age.
'Cesare did make a few last-minute changes, but even without them, he wouldn't have lived long.'
Until then, until next spring comes, she just has to hold out without getting caught.
There was no need to quarrel with someone who was destined to die anyway. It was enough to simply wait with a compassionate expression until the day when everyone except Ariadne would hear the end of Leo III's life.
Alfonso had now entered a path where he could simply defend the castle and bide his time. He had already proven himself at Yesak. The pressure to take the initiative and achieve something was no longer there.
They say that a siege requires ten times the number of soldiers as a defense. Or perhaps a divine strategist receives divine assistance.
Cesare had neither ten times as many soldiers nor a brilliant strategist.
'The next King is Alfonso.'
If you ask a gambler to predict the Battle of the Etruscan Succession, she will give you 2 to 1 odds for Alfonso and 15 to 1 odds for Cesare.
If the gambler knew everything Ariadne knew, Alfonso's odds would get infinitely closer to 1, and Cesare's odds would increase exponentially.
Ariadne didn't hide this paper because she wanted to make Cesare King. Quite the opposite. She saw it after Leo III's death.
The Duke of Pisano will fall with the death of Leo III.
'Even if Alfonso wanted to save him, those around him wouldn't let him go.'
There will be those who encourage Alfonso to execute the Grand Duke and those who encourage Cesare to usurp the throne, especially since Ariadne cannot produce a legitimate heir.
Rather, this paper becomes Cesare's only lifeline at that time.
- Grand Duke Pisano, being merely the illegitimate son of the previous King, has no right to the throne.
Cesare must survive without a right to the throne.
Ariadne's hands trembled. But why am I hiding this from Alfonso's entourage?
'Because I love Cesare?'
No. She shook her head firmly.
Ariadne rejected Cesare's confession. Whether he was Count de Como, the Grand Duke of Pisano, or the King of the Etruscan Kingdom, he wasn't the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. But that aside...
'I want him to live his own life.'
It was because she hoped Cesare would not die.
Life goes on only when you're alive. Ariadne wanted to give him a chance to be happy, too.
Everything about Cesare was an escape. Womanizing, drinking, gambling, and other frivolous pursuits were all impulsive acts he did while hiding in the shadow of Leo III and Rubina, their weight crushing him.
But no matter how sympathetic the reasons for the deviation may be, the decisions a person makes repeatedly determine his or her life.
Ariadne wanted Cesare to figure out for himself what he really liked and disliked, and what kind of life he wanted to live, rather than what Leo III and Rubina expected of him.
'In my last life, you too lived a life consumed by the times.'
Only in this life did Ariadne realize that Cesare was far from being a man of lust for power.
Cesare always sought the praise of others, but he had little interest in power, in other words, in having others do what he wanted. He simply wanted to be the center of attention and be loved—qualities unbecoming of a King.
In her last life, he ran greedily toward the throne, as if the moment he got his hands on the royal seal, all his other problems would magically be solved.
It was someone else's desire. Perhaps the scars were left by Rubina, who died prematurely.
'Please, don't get entangled any longer and just leave.'
Ariadne quietly reached into her pocket containing the piece of parchment.
Cesare ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜!!! I want him to be happy too!!!ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapter!