Chapter 558 - The True Intentions Revealed in the End

<Episode 558> The True Intentions Revealed in the End

"...It is a small and insignificant ambition."

Guatieri clicked his tongue. He expected Rubina to ask him to put Cesare on the throne. In fact, that was what Rubina truly wanted. However, she was a suspicious woman.

"Unlike some, I do not cross lines that I must not cross."

She held back the next words

'At least on the first day of negotiations.'

Guatieri was destined to be tormented by Rubina for a very long time

***

"What happened, Marquis?"

As soon as Rubina left, Baron Giordini rushed into the secret room. The Baron found Marquis Guatieri running around the room, tearing at his hair and cursing profusely.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

'Ah, yes, it doesn't look like the negotiations ended very splendidly.'

However, it didn't look like it had completely collapsed either. If it had, the Marquis Guatieri would have been frantically packing his bags to flee to the Republic of Porto.

"Marquis, I asked what happened!"

Baron Giordini, who normally would not have dared to press Marquis Guatieri, demanded a proper explanation today. This was because he, too, had been caught by the late Grand Duchess Rubina and was now completely in the same boat. The Marquis agreed that Baron Giordini deserved to know more details than that. And he needed someone to curse with.

"That bitch is just like me, no, she's a step above me!"

The Marquis vented his frustration.

"That bitch called me a traitor!"

Rubina pressed Marquis Guatieri, demanding to know why on earth he had a relationship with the Apostle of Aceretto, a heretic and a foreigner. 

Guatieri persistently defended himself, claiming that he had merely 'failed to drive away the beggars who had wandered into my territory.' 

However, when Rubina asked why, then, there were financial dealings with the Apostle of Aceretto, he was left speechless. Furthermore, what Rubina had overheard was that the Apostle of Aseretto had money to 'take' from Marquis Guatieri.

"You! Didn't you pay Apostle Aseretto to recruit a private army to rebel against His Majesty the King, gathering ronin!"

Surprisingly, Rubina came quite close to the truth without knowing anything. Seeing her go this far, Guatieri had no choice but to reluctantly blurt out a part of the truth.

"Your Highness, the late Grand Duchess... It is not like that..."

They were training the Aseretto bandits and unleashing them throughout the Etruscan kingdom. That much was true. However, their goal was not something grand like rebellion against the King.

"What do you mean it's not? Raising secret soldiers without reporting to the central authorities is a grave crime punishable by the extermination of an entire clan under national law."

Rubina sneered at the Marquis Guatieri, calling him a rat in a trap. She had no idea that just minutes earlier, Guatieri had seriously considered killing her. Had she known, she would have been more polite.

"Are you perhaps making offerings to a cult leader?"

She added with a big smile.

"Or are you going to tell His Majesty that you are gathering men because your taste has changed to indigo? Either way, the Holy See will cheer, and I think it would be faster to just find them in San Carlo than to pick from a horde of beggars in the backwater of Aseretto."

Guatieri really wanted to kill that old woman who was getting on his nerves after he had coddled her. However, he held back and spoke nicely. It was because life was precious.

"Those fellows... It is not His Majesty the King; please do not doubt my loyalty. We are intended to keep Unaisola in check."

At those words, Rubina's eyes lit up. Unaisola was currently Prince Alfonso's greatest achievement and his biggest supporter.

"Unaisola?"

"Yes, I mean the newly established autonomous city of merchants."

Rubina knew it all too well. They were a thorn in her side. She was convinced that cash was flowing from Unaisola to Prince Alfonso. No matter how wealthy Countess de Mare was, she could not provide an indefinite amount of money for military expenses.

Besides, the Countess de Mare was in a position where she bowed to His Majesty the King to the very end. If she had funded it entirely, the Prince would have bowed down to His Majesty by now.

She said that because she had no idea how sincere Ariadne was about fulfilling the wish of the man she was so deeply infatuated with. If she had known this, she would have gone to Cardinal de Mare back when they broke off their engagement and crawled on her knees, begging him to look after her son just once.

"But how can a merchant city be kept in check by a band of bandits?"

"...If public security deteriorates, land travel becomes blocked. Since we cannot send out caravans without a substantial escort, logistics costs rise. That places a burden on the entire city."

Rubina didn't understand exactly, but she roughly grasped the situation. 

It was likely something like this: since people don't want to leave the house on bad weather days, one must give a servant who refuses to go outside an extra silver coin to get them to leave. After all, if that amount increased, it would become a burden on the household finances. 

Guatieri had actually only told half the story. 

He trembled slightly with fear whenever the peacock feather fan fluttering in Rubina's hand came into his sight. That fan in Rubina's hand held the other half of the secret.

According to the plan, the containment of Unaisola was supposed to take place simultaneously on land and sea. The Republic of Porto on the sea, and Marquis Guatien on land.

Furthermore, it was not enough to simply raise logistics costs by using pirates and bandits; they had to precisely target Unaisola's merchant caravans and traders coming via land routes, harassing Unaisola to the point where they could not pay the direct taxes they paid to the King.

'If it becomes known that the Republic of Porto intervened, and if it is revealed that the Republic's warships were involved in sinking the Etruscan Kingdom's merchant ships, this cannot escape the charge of treason.'

However, because Porto was playing it safe, they were only applying pressure on land, and even then, only indirectly. The Marquis of Guatieri felt so wronged by this that he deliberately did not act proactively.

'It makes no sense for me to strike first when those Porto guys aren't striking first.'

Rubina spoke slowly to Guatieri, who was extremely nervous.

"You want... to get rid of Unaisola."

A brief silence passed, and this time, the Marquis Guatieri opened his mouth. His tone of voice had changed slightly. His eyes, too, were filled with deep-seated resentment.

"Have you ever had the disgusting experience of your pet dog biting your foot?"

Rubina laughed lightly.

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

There was a time when a dog, which she had not intended to raise but was forcibly left with her, bit her.

"I learned the painful lesson back then that you shouldn't show mercy to insignificant people."

Back then, she should have framed Isabella and gotten rid of her, no matter what. 

Whether it was that her jewels went missing, or that she poisoned His Majesty's food, or simply throwing her off the castle wall at night and claiming it was a suicide, she would have done whatever it took.

Guatieri joined in Rubina's laughter. However, it was not out of empathy for her pain, but to lick his own wounds.

"It was even a dog that had been raised with excessive pampering since my father's father's generation.'

His story was that of Baron Castiglione. Marquis Guatieri would never forget the insult he suffered at the hands of Baron Castiglione, that is, Camellia's father.

"Guatieri, you idiot! Do you still think I'm your retainer?"

He grabbed the back of his neck again. No matter how much he thought about it, he was angry.

"The dog was becoming aggressive, so I let it out to live well, but af grinding its teeth for over twenty years, it finally pounced and bit me. It doesn't even appreciate the kindness of raising it!"

It was a regret that completely lacked any consideration of what on earth had been done while raising him for him to harbor a grudge for twenty years and return to bite. 

However, Rubina was not someone who could see the whole picture comprehensively enough to point that out, nor did she care enough about the Marquis to tell him even if she did. Instead, she egged him on.

"You must hate Unaisola enough to want to kill rhem."

"Yes. I hate them."

Rubina savored this newly discovered grudge in her mind. The direct target would be Baron Castiglione, but since it had expanded to Unaisola, this was now a rage aimed at Caruso Vitelli. 

Caruso Vitelli was an ardent supporter of Prince Alfonso and a close confidant of the Prince's wife, Countess de Mare.

'The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That would be very useful.'

Marquis Guatiari spoke as if making a promise to himself.

"An ungrateful dog should return to its place."

To a comer of the Marquis of Guatieri. To a place where one would lease land and hand over most of one's produce to the lord, a place where one would be worn out and die from eternal, punishment-like labor.

He dreamed of the day he would strip Baron Castiglione naked and make him work. It would be quite a sight to see the father-in-law and son-in-law working side by side.

"...In that case, the prince must be a thorn in the side."

Guatieri simply smiled. The two were trapped in the same snare. They could neither affirm nor deny what they truly wanted from the other.

Guatieri had no choice but to answer indirectly like this.

"...Yes. I can do anything to get rid of Unaisola."

Rubina smiled broadly, judging that he had revealed his true feelings first.

"If my child becomes the King of this country, I will destroy Unaisola."

She made a bold claim.

"That city will once again become the empty mudflat to which it rightfully belongs."

***

"...So this is how it turned out. She beat me around in circles, but in the end, she just wanted me to put Grand Duke Cesare on the throne."

"Still, it is a great relief that she did not go directly to His Majesty the King."

"Ha! You trust women?"

Unlike the Marquis Guatieri, who treated his wife like an expensive accessory, Baron Giordini, who was in a harmonious marriage with his Baroness, kept his mouth shut.

'...I believe it.'

Paying no attention to the other person's reaction, the Marquis Guatieri excitedly spouted his nonsensical philosophy.

"Women are inherently fickle creatures. You can't trust them! How can you know when that woman might suddenly be seized with fear and go to His Majesty the King?"

Marquis Guatieri paced around the room, trying to sort out his thoughts. Cooperate with Rubina, beg Rubina for silence, leave Rubina alone, grant Rubina's wishes, eliminate Rubina.

"Why don't we just oust the King's new government to oust the former Grand Duchess, and then quickly get rid of her when she's sent to a place like a convent?"

"The King's new government?"

"Right, you know Countess Contarini. The one that caused such a stir."

Baron Giordini sensed something ominous. However, Marquis Guatieri seemed thrilled by his new idea.

"Let's give her a big push. What do you think?"

It was not that Baron Giordini distrusted women themselves, but neither did he trust every woman just because she was one. 

Whether male or female, some are trustworthy, some are tolerable, and some should not be approached at all.

In Baron Giordini's view, Leo III's young mistress belonged to the last category.

"...This really shouldn't get out."

"Yes?"

"Could you please keep this a secret, Marquis?"

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