<Episode 569> Each Person's Best
Julia Helena's shoe heel eventually broke as she walked the mountain path following Cesare with a heavy heart.
"Ouch!"
Cesare suddenly grabbed the opposite foot of her as she slumped down.
"Ugh! What are you doing!"
Julia Helena, with her legs lifted up, screamed.
'Are you trying to drag me along? What if my underwear shows?!'
However, without answering, he snapped off the remaining heel as well.
Cesare explained only as he threw his hoof into the bushes.
"This way will be much better for walking."
The Princess plopped down on the floor and grumbled.
"... Are there no options like carrying me on your back?"
Cesare did not reply. He had to use his remaining strength to drive on. If the wind was not favorable, he would row to make it in within the time limit. He resumed walking.
At that, Julia Helena got up on her own, scurried after Cesare, and chattered incessantly.
Her feet were truly comfortable now that he had blown off her heels. She used all the energy she had left there to talk to Cesare.
"Grand Duke, how can you not even help me up?"
The Princess glanced sideways at Cesare's back. The Grand Duke's back was already heavily laden with sails and provisions.
"Even if we overlook the fact that you're carrying me."
Before leaving the burnt-out tent, the Grand Duke and the Princess scoured the dock where they had originally anchored. It was the closest. However, if anything resembling a ship had remained, Rubina would not have left it alone.
So, they gathered some less sand-covered provisions, a few drinks, and a bottle of strong liquor from the shore and set off toward the center of the island.
Cesare's destination was actually a small bay on the opposite side of the island. It was a place where a tiny stream-too small to even be called an estuary-flowed into the sea and formed a sandy beach. If a ship remained, it was highly likely to be anchored on that sandbar.
It would have been easier to follow the coastline, but he insisted on passing through an abandoned house in the center of the island to gather supplies. The Princess had hoped he would rest for a while, but the Grand Duke silently rummaged through the ruins, collecting a hunting knife, rope, sail, and emergency medicine.
The bundle on his back was the spoils of a loot raid.
"I'm not asking you to carry me like a Princess, you know?"
Cesare ignored Julia Helena's words for a while, then finally spoke.
"... Princess."
"Yes!"
She was delighted by Cesare's reaction. Cesare, drenched in sweat and wearing only a shirt, looked unexpectedly much more attractive in profile than when he was dressed up.
If the Grand Duke looked like a handsome playboy when he was all polished up, now a masculine scent, accompanied by a rebellious bad temper, was pungent.
"Be quiet before I leave you behind."
Julia Helena flinched in surprise and closed her mouth.
However, it was not that Cesare had absolutely no interest in her. He continuously checked on Julia Helena's condition from time to time.
When he saw the Princess showing signs of falling behind on the mountain path, he turned around and asked first.
"...How are your fingers?"
"It feels numb around there."
This was a symptom that Julia Helena had not complained of earlier. There was no time to hesitate, no room to sigh, and no leeway to waver. Cesare stopped right there and opened the strong liquor he had brought from the seashore.
Pong!
He silently poured the finest grappa, likely 70 degrees, onto the Princess's hand.
"Ouch."
"You said you didn't feel any pain."
"It still hurts!"
"Just bear with it. I'm sharing your drink. Stop grumbling."
He roughly finished disinfecting. There was nothing more he could do here.
'The tribute girl shouldn't have a fever.'
Well, seeing that its mouth was still full of life, it seemed like it would be fine.
'If you chatter away again, I'll singe you and disinfect you.'
He glared at his young ward, who was terribly disobedient.
The mountain path in the center of the island was far from easy to climb; Mediterranean pines, taller than the buildings, cast their shade, while the spaces between them were densely filled with silvery-white olive trees and lemon trees with bright light-green leaves.
It was all the more difficult because he was escorting a precious young lady who was not in good health, carrying a backpack that included a small sail and even liquids. The original footpath had been overrun by thistles.
Cesare, walking while nervously swatting away blades of grass with a hunting knife he had found in an abandoned house, realized that the small, gasping sounds of her breathing had suddenly disappeared. He turned around.
An exhausted Julia Helena was lagging far behind. He was about to scold her for wasting time. Her face was bright red. It was about time she would inevitably start to get a fever, yet Julia Helena was still following Cesare, gritting her teeth.
He couldn't tell if her flushed face and profusely dripping sweat were due to the physically demanding hike or a fever. It didn't matter which it was. For a moment, he felt sorry for her
'I will be able to return safely.'
Because he would do his best. Even though he was ugly, useless, and good at nothing, he would pour his heart and soul into it.
He slowed his pace so she could catch up. However, he could not bear the thought of rushing ahead so that the Princess would not slip out of his sight.
Standing near the summit, Cesare briefly turned his gaze away from the Princess and scanned only the area below. In that instant, he shouted in ecstasy.
“I found it!”
A small boat was anchored on a sandbar in the bay.
***
Bianca of Taranto set sail with one flagship and two patrol boats.
"The Duke must absolutely not meet a misfortune after going out just once!"
This was because the nanny, Baroness Giannelli, and her right-hand man, Viscount Gennarosso, pleaded in unison.
Thanks to this, the departure was delayed, but a refreshing breeze that began blowing in the late afternoon gave them strength. Riding the wind, the three sailing ships of the Taranto family approached Dolphin Island as if flying.
They arrived at the island with at least half an hour to as long as an hour left until sunset.
"Thank you so much for your help.'
Bianca answered stiffly at Irene's awkward attitude.
It hasn't been a success yet.
They had to climb onto the island and find Cesare and Julia Helena before sunset, in a safe condition.
"Oh come on, they must be at the coast."
Irene was optimistic. Her Princess had even pitched a tent on the beach for her, so she wasn't the type to go anywhere. Grand Duke Cesare didn't look like a particularly enterprising figure either. The two of them were likely holed up inside the tent, peeling and eating grapes.
However, Irene, standing on the deck holding onto the railing, had to doubt her eyes as she approached the dock.
That huge tent was not there.
To be precise, only the remains of the tent were left. The massive structure had been burned black and lay collapsed sideways on the snow-white sandy beach.
"Where is the Princess?!"
Bianca's expression also turned serious as she realized there was a fire. She gave a command.
"The patrol boats must anchor at the island quickly. Everyone who has disembarked must scatter and find the Grand Duke and the Princess!"
As soon as her order was given, the flag bearers waved colorful flags to convey the message to the patrol boats on either side. From both small boats, green flags were raised high to indicate that the order had been successfully received.
- Whoosh!
In response, the trumpeter on Bianca's flagship blew a loud horn, and almost simultaneously, numerous small boats were thrown into the sea from the patrol ship, and the Duke's private soldiers began rowing into the island in an instant.
"...It's spectacular."
One of the subjects of the successor state muttered. However, Irene was not in the presence of mind to answer him.
"My Lady! Where are you, my Lady!"
She, too, was hanging onto the deck, and as soon as the flagship anchored at the island, she was the first to run out.
***
The boat Cesare found was a tiny sailboat that barely exceeded the size of a rowboat. However, this was actually a good thing. If the boat were too big, he couldn't look around alone. He felt this way even more because it seemed impossible to use the tribute girl as an assistant crew member.
"You must not lose your mind, Princess."
"...I feel chills."
Cesare looked around. He had already given the jacket he had worn to Julia Helena.
Finally, he sighed, took off his shirt, and wrapped it around her neck like a scarf. Julia Helena was startled by the sudden, strong scent of a man.
"What is this!"
“You said it was cold.”
Cesare spoke without looking back.
"I won't be cold anyway, since I'll either keep rowing like a slave hanging from the sail or do one of the other."
He licked his thumb to gauge the wind direction. Just as late afternoon approached, the wind direction changed. It was a land breeze blowing from land to sea.
Cesare, who had proudly declared that he wasn't cold, shivered in the biting winter wind. No matter what resolutions one makes, it is only natural to feel cold when exposing one's upper body in winter.
However, there was no time to hesitate.
'I'll probably sweat if I move.'
It was time to take that child to land.
***
Bianca and her party, anchored at the front pier of the island, did not notice Cesare's sailboat leisurely sailing out of the back bay, unaware that rescue was right behind them.
This was because they had to first recover the burnt and collapsed tent and check if there were any bodies inside.
"Princess! Princess Julia Helena! Baby! Come out, hurry!"
Fortunately, no charred bodies were found. However, terrified, Irene began running around in all directions, screaming at the top of her lungs. She was so out of her mind that she involuntarily started singing Julia Helena's childhood song.
Bianca was relatively calm. She spread out Taranto's soldiers to gently search the entire island.
The one hundred and fifty soldiers were well-trained. They systematically cleared the island from the beach to the mountains.
However, the sun was slowly setting. There wasn't much time left.
"Viscount Gennaroso."
“Yes, Duke!”
Bianca's focused gaze bore a striking resemblance to Alfonso's. She muttered with a furrowed brow.
"There are days when it is good to listen to the nanny."
"Yes?"
"I will leave the soldiers and patrol boats on this island and return to the flagship."
Bianca intended to return to Taranto.
"You stay here and take overall command of the search, and if you happen to find Princess Julia Helena, please act as her escort."
“I will stay with you too!”
Irene, who happened to overhear this, cried out.
No matter how trustworthy Viscount Gennaroso was, he was a man.
From an outsider's perspective, the Viscountess might not have been sufficient as a sycophant for the Princess. She did not want to tarnish her Princess's reputation in the slightest.
It was a great offense for a Viscountess to interfere in this manner, but Bianca generously overlooked Irene's rudeness.
"As you like."
"Thank you."
"If you leave one more person behind, it will be that much faster."
While Viscount Gennarosso and Viscountess Panamere were searching the island, Bianca herself was thinking of expanding her business on the mainland.
'If the Grand Duke and the Princess spend an unsavory night on the island, Taranto will have gained nothing by getting involved in this matter.'
Bianca thought deeply.
'We absolutely cannot go down the drain like a dog chasing a chicken. What is the next best option?'
Even if the two were to marry, it was enough not to give the Grand Duchy of Pisano a chance to step in. Whether Leo III ordered them to lie low, or their reputation was shattered and they were driven out of the capital and confined to their estates, either way was fine.
And Cesare was a man who lived without a care in the world. Even young Bianca could see it.
The main body of the Grand Duchy of Pisano was the former Grand Duchess Rubina.
'As for why on earth the Princess ended up alone on the island with the Grand Duke... I’m going to have to raise the issue of the previous Grand Duchess’s responsibility.'
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