Chapter 576 - What I Did

<Episode 576> What I Did

Julia glared at Cornelia with piercing eyes. Surely you don't want to tell Ari about such a huge incident... do you?

"Actually, me."

Cornelia opened her mouth, mumbling.

"I've already written a letter to Ariadne. Grand Duke Cesare..."

And, at the time, a reply hadn't come back yet.

"Ah."

It felt a bit strange to write another letter when she hadn't even received a reply. It felt like she was being obsessive... or maybe she was clinging to them...

Originally, they tended to drop harassment-level letter bombs on each other without caring, but after Ariadne became the Princess, they became somewhat cautious.

She felt like she should observe proper etiquette, but she also felt embarrassed to make such a fuss and pretend to be close.

Julia said awkwardly.

“Actually, I also..."

So, she intended to deliver the news using Cornelia's name, assuming that she hadn't written a letter yet. However, after a moment of consideration, Julia concluded that the trivial matter of not receiving a reply was not important.

"Then let's share it!"

"Yes?"

"It would be less strange if you and I wrote it together on one letter and sent it!"

Cornelia nodded vigorously.

"I should introduce Bedelia to Ari next time."

Julia burst out laughing.

"Are you going to call your younger sibling over and make them write a letter?'

"Oh, how did you know?"

The two burst into laughter. After laughing for a while, Julia added with ragged breath

"And, are we really in a position to worry about things like that?"

"That's also true."

"Did you write a letter to Camellia about Grand Duke Cesare's matter?"

"Of course I wrote it."

"Then my hand hurts, so let's skip writing together. Let's each write a letter and send one to Ari and Camellia. Is that okay?"

They told their maids to bring writing instruments and grabbed a quill pen. Then, they began to write so fast that sparks flew between the paper and the nib.

They could not delay even a single second in delivering this interesting news to San Carlo and Unaisula.

***

Ariadne held the letter from Taranto in her hand. Her hand trembled as she read Julia's letter first and then checked Cornelia's.

“Ari, what are they saying?”

Upon seeing that they were letters from old friends, Felicite's eyes sparkled as she intervened. Ariadne silently handed both letters to her only lady-in-waiting and old friend.

After reading the first letter, Felicite glanced at Ariadne. This was because her expression was unusual.

'Is the news that Grand Duke Cesare is likely to get married the problem soon...?'

No matter how much one might dislike him, the Grand Duke was Ariadne's former fiancé. It was not some childish game arranged by parents when she was young, but a marriage arranged when she was truly on the verge of marriage.

Felicite thought it would be difficult to remain calm upon hearing the news that someone she used to date seriously was marrying another woman.

However, Ariadne's somber expression was not due to Cesare's marriage.

'Left hand ring finger...'

That is the finger she lost in her previous life after drinking poison for Cesare.

If Julia and Cornelia had been in front, she would have grabbed them by the shoulder, shaken them, and asked for details.

Ariadne calmly grasped the trembling tip of her pen and wrote a reply to her friends.

[If by any chance something happens later where the Princess's fingers are cut off, please be sure to let me know.]

She wanted to know everything: how she was injured, whether it was healed, and if it could be treated.

She stood up from her seat and told Felicite.

"I'll be right back from Rambouillet Center for a moment."

"Suddenly?"

"Yeah. I just remembered something urgent."

Sancha, having overheard the news of her departure, scurried over and wrapped a thick cloak around her. Ariadne whispered to Sancha.

"Tell them to bring the Moorish grandmother to the relief center."

"Yes, Miss."

Sancha, after hesitating for a moment, said.

"Miss, please take me with you."

Ariadne nodded, and Sancha's face lit up with joy.

***

However, as always, the only place Sancha could go was the waiting room on the first floor. Ariadne went in alone to meet the old priestess.

"Grandma, look at this."

She handed a letter to the priestess Salman without warning and almost got hit with a staff.

"Hey, you rascal! How am I supposed to read Etruscan text!"

“Oh, that’s right.”

Ariadne was completely out of her mind.

"Because you learned to speak so quickly, people keep mistakenly thinking you can read too."

"I don't have time to learn trashy stuff like your writing!"

"Yes, yes."

"If you ask what I've been researching lately..."

"A barrier, a barrier."

"It’s not that I’m not researching barriers, but my main topic these days is..."

"That's not it. I'm saying hit it quickly."

Ariadne waited anxiously, biting her nails, while the old priestess grumbled about why she was being so impatient as she cast the barrier. She spoke as soon as the old woman laid the last cornerstone of the Four Guardian Gods.

"In my previous life, I had my finger cut off."

The grandmother turned around with a serious expression.

“It must have hurt.”

"It hurt my heart."

However, they could not avoid the gaze of the awakened for long using the barrier. They had to get straight to the point. Besides, there was no way Ariadne would have asked for a barrier just because she wanted to tell an old story.

"What do you want to tell me?"

"I did tell you that I was Grand Duke Cesare's fiancée in my previous life as well, didn't I?"

***

It was a time when the great lords' tax refusal movement was at its peak. As evening approached, Ariadne entered the palace dining room for dinner with her fiancé.

Regent Cesare, who had been breaking records for his level of displeasure every day, seemed to be in a particularly good mood today.

Ariadne was quite nervous about Cesare's unusual attitude.

Today, he was staring straight at Ariadne. This was in contrast to when he was always out of his mind when he was in the same room with her.

However, his focus was on his fiancée's face, not the meal. Cesare clenched his fists tightly and did not take a single spoonful of food. The banquet prepared with such skill by the chef for just the two of them was already cold.

"Why didn't you send a servant to call me..."

It seemed the food had been served earlier than usual. She looked around the cold table and gently made an offer. However, the moment she spoke, she realized her mistake. It was because she was blaming him.

Ariadne anticipated the loud scream Cesare would unleash while glaring at her. She could vividly picture Cesare shouting, "It is your fault for being late, not mine for not calling you earlier. You are always like this—it is all someone else's fault, and you bear no fault at all!"

Cesare answered Ariadne, who had her eyes tightly closed, in a smooth voice half-mixed with nasal tones.

"No, consort. I did that because I wasn't hungry."

Calling her "Consort" when she was unmarried was either his greatest compliment or his worst sarcasm. However, judging by the soft tone of his voice, he was clearly not being sarcastic.

Ariadne felt relieved. Feeling awkward eating alone, she offered again.

"Then, please have a spoonful before it cools down any further."

However, his good mood did not last long. He immediately glared and raised his voice.

"Are you ordering me around right now?"

Continuing to talk back to Cesare at a time like this was the worst possible move. Ariadne silently picked up her fork.

The material of the fork was slightly different from usual.

She thought the tableware was a bit light. The tableware used when she was at her home was made of iron and weighed slightly less than silver. The royal family all used silver tableware to prevent poisoning. The Regent and his fiancée were no exception.

However, right in front of her were the cooling food and the angry Cesare. Without a moment to spare for such trivial matters, she hurriedly scooped up food with a fork and put it into her mouth.

And the sky spun. I felt an unbearable urge to vomit, but it didn't actually lead to throwing up. Soon, everything went black.

And when she woke up, her left ring finger was missing.

The palace doctor said that she had been poisoned with the intent of the Regent. Cesare did not come to visit.

Instead, his right-hand man, Count Ottavio Contarini, came to visit and conveyed that the Regent was grinding his teeth, searching for the mastermind behind the plot against him, and greatly praised his fiancée, Ariadne de Mare, for saving his life.

This was the whole story of how Ariadne lost her left ring finger.

She wondered until the day she died. Was this a staged act orchestrated by Cesare himself?

In any case, the Marquis Guatieri bore the responsibility for her finger.

As he cut off his ten fingers one by one with a guillotine, Cesare affectionately stroked the cheek of Ariadne, who was left with only nine fingers.

When the Marquis lost his left ring finger from the ninth blow, his family signet ring slipped off his finger and rolled on the floor.

Over the sound of a lump of gold rolling on the floor, the Marquis’s tireless, shrieking screams overlapped with every finger severed. Amidst this, Cesare whispered.

"This is revenge for you."

Ariadne was confused.

"So that you won't feel wronged about losing your finger, I will even strip their souls bare."

'Those people' refers to a group of people. The Marquis was the only one whose finger was cut off.

Indeed, a whirlwind of purges swept through after that.

***

The old Moorish woman finally opened her mouth.

"...So many things are different from now."

"Yes."

Ariadne was gripped by fear. However, even in the midst of it, her green eyes shone brightly.

"However, the same incidents are happening one after another."

Ariadne relayed the news from Taranto: that Cesare was about to marry Princess Manchike, that Princess Manchike had injured her left ring finger, and so on.

"...Grandmother. I thought I had changed everything by defeating the invasion of the Kingdom of Gallico and defending the Gaeta Territory."

Sancha, who should have died, was by her side, while Lucrezia, who should have been alive and soaring, was dead.

The head of the Vitelli Merchant Guild, who had not distinguished himself in her previous life, became a leading merchant representing the country, and Ariadne herself also amassed great wealth.

She also prevented Philip's illegitimate child from acquiring legal status and secured the safety of the young Prince Louis, who is currently first in line to the throne of the Kingdom of Gallico, in the Etruscans.

Above all, she saved Alfonso. He was the leader of a real power backed by force and escaped his fate of marrying Isabella.

"However, Philip IV is once again eyeing the territory of Gaeta at the border, and the woman who received Cesare's engagement letter has lost her left ring finger again."

Ariadne looked straight at the Moorish grandmother.

"Did I bring about a change in this world?"

The shaman smiled broadly.

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