<Episode 552> What are you thinking?
It was a path that yielded no benefit if set out on a sense of responsibility alone. "By this time, next year, His Majesty Leo III will no longer be in this world, Alfonso. And fellow Knights. Just endure for one year. Turn a blind eye to the national interest, to the suffering of others, and to the tears of the people. If we can just hold out for one year without being caught in any pretext, it is a battle we will win."
However, these were words that could not be spoken. After carefully choosing her words for a long time, Ariadne could barely manage to say just this.
"Your Majesty is an extraordinary person."
Alfonso let out a hollow laugh. She was right. Sir Bernardino and Sir Manfredi could not hide their bitter smiles either.
"His Holiness, no matter how favorably he approaches, cannot perfectly protect the Etruscan Prince in distant Trevero."
And above all, the Pope had nothing to offer Alfonso. Alfonso's current priorities were two things: his investiture as Crown Prince and the recognition of his morganatic marriage with Ariadne as a formal marriage. The investiture was a typical domestic issue; if the Pope were to intervene, he would face a backlash for interfering in internal affairs. The morganatic marriage was also a matter governed by secular law, so it was not something the Pope, as the head of canon law, could resolve.
Moreover, both were issues related to Ariadne. She did not want to appear as though she were pressuring Alfonso for her own benefit. In her view, everything would be resolved anyway if she simply left.
"...Time is on our side."
This was all Ariadne could say. How wonderful it would be if she could pour out everything she knew to them. "I know the future. So please trust me and follow me. I beg of you." However, she could not confess her past, and neither Sir Bernardino nor Sir Manfredi was genuinely persuaded by Ariadne's story.
It was only natural. It was nothing more than an unfounded claim, a self-serving measure lacking even a noble cause. And Alfonso, too, was not completely convinced by Ariadne's opinion.
She looked at his tightly pressed lips. Ariadne's gaze followed, in order, Alfonso's stubbornly interlocked lips, the tension in his tightly clenched jaw, and his two cautious, bluish-gray eyes. Clear, watery pupils. They were the sharp eyes of the one she loved so dearly, a man who fulfilled his duty by looking after not only his own safety but everyone who followed him. Perhaps he was someone who lived on a different plane than herself.
What obligations do I owe? To whom do I owe what obligations? Ariadne slowly opened her mouth.
"But you want to deploy troops, don't you?"
Alfonso did not answer. His jawline, rigid and motionless like a statue, actually spoke of the vibrations within him. It was not her job to force an answer upon him. After gazing at him for a while, Ariadne bowed very elegantly. It was the greeting of a courtier.
"Whatever it is, I will follow your decision."
"I will live for a greater good than personal gain."
It was the knight's oath she had sworn to Alfonso. Although she had memorized it by heart, she had never considered herself a knight upholding 'chivalry'. She was too busy looking out for herself. Her only goal was survival. However, her lord, her life, and her love seemed to have seen something greater than the individual on the battlefield of Yesak. Perhaps it was because his very birth demanded it of him. Born with the duty to protect all the small things growing on this land in exchange for gathering and dedicating all the earth's energy, the boy embodied noblesse oblige as his identity. It was the work of taking in the weak, tending to the defeated, and providing for the wounded under the name of the heavens.
He turned his days in Yesak, which could have easily ended in meaningless slaughter, into an opportunity to dedicate himself to a greater cause. If he wished to move toward a greater good, it was her role to open the path for him
"I will protect him and pay my respects in the face of any adversity, and I will place my lord's safety before my own life."
"I will place everything you desire at your feet." That was Ariadne's love. Sir Bernardino and Sir Manfredi held their breath, watching the Prince's lips. It was a critical juncture regarding how the Prince's forces would move. And the only person who could make that decision was Alfonso. Alfonso's lips trembled.
"Let's disband for now..."
The Prince rose from his seat without saying a word. He opened the door leading from his office to his private quarters and disappeared inside. From there, it was a private space.
Sir Bernardino looked at Ariadne and spoke.
"I look forward to working with you, Your Highness."
Even Sir Dino himself was not entirely sure what he was asking for. Was he asking for the Prince to go on an expedition, or to keep him from going? However, Ariadne smiled gently and nodded.
Despite the smile, her face was grim. It was because she knew that this was a very critical turning point.
***
The Pope's envoys spent a tense night in the luxurious guest room. Ariadne had not had a peaceful night either. She fell asleep late and tossed and turned all night. The Prince, who was likely the one with the most worries, had entered the bedroom and immediately lay his head down to sleep, leaving no time for conversation.
The next morning, Ariadne, who had woken up a little earlier than usual, found Alfonso sitting at his desk looking at a map, dressed in a light shirt and appearing to have been awake for quite some time. She lay in bed with her eyes open, watching him for a while, then quietly slipped out from under the covers and approached him from behind. Alfonso still did not move.
"Alfonso."
He did not hear her first call.
"Alfonso."
As Ariadne called out to him and reached for his arm, Alfonso flinched and turned around. Only then did he realize that he had been standing behind Ariadne for quite some time, silently resting his chin on his hand and looking at a map.
"Uh, sorry."
"No, I haven't waited long."
She came over to the side and nudged him with her elbow.
"At this rate, you'll get stabbed without even realizing an assassin is coming?"
Alfonso smiled. He was confident he could win even after taking a hit or two. It wasn't like he hadn't tried before.
"That doesn't matter."
What he feared were other things. Rampaging plagues, predetermined fate, and things too fragile to be protected by a sword. For a single wildflower by the roadside to fully bloom, it needed not an army, but the right temperature, just the right humidity, and scorching sunlight. Happiness could not be achieved with guns and swords.
He rose from his seat and pulled her into his embrace.
"I'm just feeling a bit down."
The most merciless woman on the entire continent, held in his arms, did not tolerate his lies.
"You're debating whether to march to Trevero, aren't you?"
Alfonso considered shaking his head, but eventually smiled. He set aside the map spread out on the desk. The map he had been looking at was not of the Prinoyak Mountains.
"My woman knows my inner feelings that even I didn't know."
He lifted Ariadne up and headed toward the bed. With a long stride, the snow-white canopy and the blanket behind it were there in an instant. Just before being thrown onto the bed, Ariadne, still in his arms, asked back.
"You don't want to talk?"
At those words, Alfonso stopped walking and paused in his tracks. This time, she had accurately guessed his own psychology, something even he himself was unaware of. Ariadne was right. Alfonso did not want to talk right now. He remained silent for a moment before answering.
"How did you know?"
He wore a slight smile on his lips. Being caught was embarrassing, but he loved Ariadne because she was capable of doing this. Ariadne responded with a light laugh. It was easier to know Alfonso's true feelings than to eat sorbet. At least sorbet melts, but Alfonso always stayed right there.
"You haven't bothered me lately."
Alfonso did not have relations with her after she suffered a miscarriage. It was not because his desire had diminished, but out of consideration for her health.
"I heard a story about someone scolding the doctor, saying that they needed to rest for three months, when the doctor said a month would be enough."
Alfonso clutched his forehead
"Manfredi."
"Hmm. Don't try to find out my informant."
Ariadne playfully kissed Alfonso's forehead. The touch felt good. Alfonso inadvertently recalled how Queen Marguerite used to kiss his forehead before bed when he was a child.
The barriers in his heart, too, melted away like sorbet. He eventually set Ariadne down on the bed, but instead of pouncing on her, he offered her his arm as a pillow and spoke.
"It's not just Trevero, but the Knights also recruited people to form search parties and dispatched them in all directions."
"So you were trying to check how far the bandits had come."
Alfonso nodded.
"But why is that a cause for concern?"
The Prince fell silent. His silence grew long. Ariadne knew the answer, but she wondered if he did. She crawled onto Alfonso's stomach. Her ebony hair was disheveled without restraint, and although her dress was originally modest, the angle caused her breasts to spill out dizzyingly.
"Ah."
Alfonso let out a short groan. There was still plenty of time left before the period of abstinence he had set for himself was over. In the meantime, Ariadne asked a question.
"You didn't send a search party to the south, did you?"
He asked through groans in a dazed state
"How did you know? Did Manfredi tell you that, too?"
"No. I just thought so."
Her hand slipped between the shirt. His lower body ached. Alfonso groaned and muttered through his teeth.
"Did I marry a wizard? Honey, if you can cast a spell, tell me tomorrow's weather, too."
She doesn't know tomorrow's weather. She didn't memorize such details from her past life. However, Alfonso's true intentions were clearly visible even without the magic of regression.
"Which of the two reasons do you think you didn't send a search party to the South?"
Ariadne's hand rested gently on Alfonso's chest like swaying seaweed. Although it clearly looked like it was pushing him away, he thought it felt as if a suction cup was pulling him in.
"Is it because you trusted Bianca of Taranto?"
There was undoubtedly a pulling force in her hand. Before he knew it, Ariadne's face was very close to Alfonso's ear. She whispered just as she was.
"Or maybe it's because you don't want to run into His Majesty the King and the search party."
Alfonso froze, forgetting the blood rushing to his lower body. It felt as if he had been struck on the head with a hammer. It was the latter. He did not want his father to know that his Order was surveying the entire country. Ariadne read the answer to her question in his shocked expression. She gently stroked his thick blonde hair.
"It's okay. It happens."
Alfonso asked back.
"What do you mean? What do you mean it's okay?"
Ariadne smiled faintly. Despite his overwhelming power and the dominance of public opinion, and despite the betrayal his father had committed against him, Alfonso did not rally his own forces, denounce the King, or stage a show of force. She whispered quietly to Alfonso.
"You still love your father."
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