<Episode 578> An Old Connection
When parents fail to provide a sanctuary for the heart, friends often step in to fill that role. Apart from Rubina, the only person Cesare allowed to enter his room was not Princess Julia Helena, but Count Ottavio de Contarini. As soon as Ottavio entered, he shouted loudly.
"Cesare! Your face is a mess!"
Cesare also retaliated immediately.
I don't think that's something you should be saying right now.
The saying that you cannot tell a truly ugly person they are ugly was not applicable among childhood friends.
"You look rotten. Did you do some farming?"
Ottavio, who had actually gone out to the lord's direct farmland and farmed for a while, felt guilty and quickly changed the subject
"I heard you're getting married soon! Congratulations on finding a rich wife!"
It was a compliment Ottavio offered with great courage, as he repeated to himself that he should live boldly. Since the two things he lacked were money and a wife, it was the highest praise he could offer. However, the moment Cesare heard these words, his expression soured. He immediately regretted letting his old friend into the room. But Ottavio was oblivious.
"Wow, I'm dying of jealousy! Someone's wife ruined the family and ran away, while someone else snagged a beautiful rich girl!"
Cesare kept his mouth shut. If he were to pour out the trivial reasons why he disliked Princess Julia Helena here, it would sound like deception to Ottavio, and he did not want to tell him such things. Their circumstances had changed too much for them to open up frankly like they used to.
"Isn't she a virgin? I heard rumors are rampant that you've already slept with her."
Ottavio grinned and patted Cesare on the shoulder. Cesare frowned, making no attempt to hide his displeasure. No matter how close Cesare and Ottavio were, touching his future wife was crossing the line. However, Ottavio was so twisted up right now that he simply couldn't bear it without saying a word. His true feelings had slipped out of his mouth without him even realizing it. Still, the advantage of being old friends certainly played a part. Instead of punching Ottavio in the face, Cesare endured it a hundred times over and offered the explanation that no one believed.
"...I didn't touch her."
"What?"
"I didn't touch her!"
However, as expected, Cesare failed to persuade his old friend even in his one hundred and first attempt to explain himself. Ottavio blinked exaggeratedly.
"You? You're saying you didn't touch her?"
"What on earth do you think of me?"
"Think about what you did while you were with me."
Even Cesare, the king of escapism, had no way to retort to such a valid point. Seducing married women, sleeping with virgins and cutting off contact, stealing a friend's fiancée these were all things Cesare had done while hanging out with Ottavio. However, this was not a rebuke to be leveled against a man who had taken in a woman abandoned by a friend, made her the mistress, only to have his wife stolen by the friend's father. Cesare casually changed the subject.
"What brings you to Taranto?"
Ottavio forced a smile.
"Yeah, I'm trying to borrow some money from my ex-wife."
He pronounced 'ex-wife' with emphasis. It was his way of trying to convey that it was a family matter. However, Cesare asked abruptly.
"How much do you need?"
It was a question that made no sense, whether it was considerate or not.
Ottavio instinctively waved his hand.
"N-no. It's fine."
Strictly speaking, the debt Ottavio needed to settle was the money Clemente had borrowed from Rubina. It would have been far more constructive to beg Cesare to persuade his mother rather than Isabella. However, his inability to beg Cesare to resolve the money issue was his last shred of pride.
"Only that woman needs to pay me back."
Although the money was spent by Ottavio himself to break off the engagement with Baron Castiglione, he considered it Isabella's money because it was ultimately used to win her over. However, Cesare urged him again. He didn't care about the other person's reaction. This is what happens when a self-centered person acts kindly.
"What about jobs?"
"... Job?"
While Ottavio wavered for a moment, Cesare added.
"We need someone to count how many sheep there are on the estate."
Leo III's law limiting the number of sheep per household shook the entire Etruscan kingdom. Feudal nobles, including Guatieri, were scheming how to avoid complying with the order, but Grand Duke Cesare's estate of Pisano was not in a position to refuse the King's command.
To obey the King's order, they first had to accurately determine how many sheep were on the estate. It seemed like a trivial task, but it was a crucial one. Locals were out of the question. If they were locals, family, relatives, acquaintances, brothers of brothers, in-laws of distant relatives, and so on would be entangled, making a fair count impossible. On the other hand, appointing just any outsider was not an option; they had to be proficient in writing and numbers, and on top of that, trustworthy.
However, Ottavio's face contorted at the mention of a 'position to count sheep.' This was because he did not consider himself the kind of person suited for such menial work.
"No, never mind."
Ottavio, feeling that his words had come out too sharply, quickly added.
"Thanks for thinking of me. However, I don't think I can go up to Pisano right now."
He began rambling on about the whereabouts of his daughter and sister. It was an excuse for why he could not head to Pisano. Cesare, who had absolutely no interest, began to let it go in one ear and out the other. Sensing that boredom was overflowing on his friend's face, Ottavio rose from his seat.
"I'll be going now."
"Yes."
Cesare did not stop Ottavio even once as he turned to leave. And Ottavio should have accepted this proposal from Cesare. Even Leo III, who had refused to meet the Trevero envoys citing illness on Saturday and divine instruction on Sunday, could not prevent Monday from coming. After all, they were the Trevero delegation. He had to treat them lavishly. And that lavish treatment absolutely had to include a meeting with the King.
True to his habit of postponing unpleasant tasks, Leo III decided to meet the Trevero envoys at the banquet hall in the evening. Lord Delpiano gave the guests the reason that the King wished to treat them with great care, accompanied by a meal, but in truth, he had simply arranged for them to be placed at the very end of the table. Had it been in accordance with etiquette, he would have invited them for a drink late at night.
Leo III filled the empty Monday morning with Isabella. After having a simple breakfast at his quarters, he called his young concubine for a walk in the garden.
"Those Trevero bastards won't say anything about walking outdoors, right...? Tsk."
"Surely not."
Isabella said with a bright smile.
"I am supporting Your Majesty, so if someone were to criticize even that, that would be truly wrong."
Leo III was already dressed in royal attire for the audience scheduled for that evening. Except for the crown, the garments he wore were enormous, ranging from a ceremonial robe embroidered with gold thread to a purple cloak. Objectively speaking, it was an outfit that required someone to support him. Isabella assured her.
"A cleric wouldn't do that."
She knew better than anyone that a clergyman could be heartless. However, regardless of the truth, the image of a gentle and good clergyman was a trump card she could use to her advantage as the daughter of a clergyman.
"The clergy is..."
Isabella fell silent in the middle of the conversation. It was because she had glimpsed a figure over there, beyond a pillar. Someone who should not have been in the palace had entered. It was none other than Count Ottavio de Contarini.
"Who let that in!"
Although his attire was slightly less shabby than the appearance she saw in front of the shrine yesterday, the ingrained squalor could not be hidden.
"Your Majesty, wait a moment!"
Isabella shouted
"Uh, uh, wait a moment. I..."
Leo III asked innocently
"Where are you going?"
Isabella instinctively smiled brightly.
"No one can defy the call of nature."
It meant she was going to the restroom. She absolutely could not let Ottavio and Leo III run into each other, even if it meant abandoning the air of mystery she had maintained for the person she needed to impress and who held her life in his hands. It was a woman's intuition. Fortunately, the old King seemed to have failed to spot Ottavio, who was half-hidden behind a pillar far away, whether due to poor eyesight or a lack of attention.
Isabella scurried at full speed out of Leo III's sight. She slipped behind the pillar facing the restroom, which was diagonally opposite Ottavio, and scurried between the pillars like a rat. Once she was close enough, she called out to Ottavio in the loudest voice she could manage while keeping her voice down.
"How dare you come in here!"
"Isabella!"
Ottavio's face lit up as he approached Isabella. His ex-wife's expression was terrifying enough to tear apart even a bull champion in an instant, but Ottavio had not been married to Isabella in vain. He was already used to this woman getting angry.
"Have you thought about what I told you..."
"Can't you just get lost?!"
As Isabella suddenly started yelling at him, Ottavio's expression also turned grim
"It's no fun for either of us if you act like this."
He...
"I heard you've been pretending to be childless lately while flirting with His Majesty the King?"
Isabella did not reply, but inwardly her heart sank.
"Before I take Giovanna to the capital and declare to the whole world that she is the child of the King's mistress, 4,000 ducats..."
Otavio's words were cut short by a sudden fanfare.
Bam, pa-ba-ba-bam, pa-ba-ba bam-pa-ra-bam-bam bam-bam-bam!
Bam, bam-pa-bam-bam!
Startled by the unusually long beat, Ottavio turned around. Isabella showed no sign of being flustered and immediately knelt down on one knee.
- "Here comes His Majesty Leo III, the worthy monarch bestowed by the Heavens, ruler of the Etruscan Peninsula and its surrounding islands, guardian of the faith, and the Sun of the Etruscan Kingdom...!!"
From the direction of the garden, Sir Delpiano and Leo III were walking out slowly, accompanied by an honor guard. Upon seeing the King's splendid purple cloak and gold-embroidered robes, Ottavio knelt a beat late and prostrated himself on the ground.
"Ah, I greet the Sun of the Etruscan Kingdom!"
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