Sister I am the Queen in This Life [Novel] Chapter 148

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Deeply Hidden Intentions
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Ariadne followed Cardinal de Mare into his quarters. To reach the cardinal's study, one had to pass through another door from the drawing room.

It was an unknown door she was opening for the first time in her life.

When the cardinal pushed open the heavy oak door, a beautiful study adorned with white marble and gold was revealed. It was an artistic space, with furniture and decorations selected with refined taste.

*So this is it…!*

Awed by the grandeur of Cardinal de Mare's study, which she was seeing for the first time, Ariadne swallowed hard. Entering a space where she had never been permitted felt special.

The massive, dark brown antique furniture was intricately carved, with stacks of new and old documents piled high upon it. The wooden bookshelves built into the walls were packed with all sorts of rare theological texts.

The administrative documents showed clear signs of recent handling, but the theological books remained neatly shelved. A light layer of dust, only partially disturbed by a feather duster, indicated they had not been looked at in a long time.

"Sit."

The cardinal sat at the large desk in the center of his study and gestured for Ariadne to take the small chair in front of it. Ariadne bowed her head in a nod and sat on the small, green velvet chair.

"I don't believe you were merely keeping Her Majesty the Queen company. What happened?"

If she didn't throw him a decent bone, Cardinal de Mare would not let go. Ariadne quickly calculated how much she should tell her father. It wasn't a difficult task.

"As you may have heard, Father, Duke Mireille was found dead within the grounds of Palazzo Carlo."

"Indeed."

Cardinal de Mare had already used his various connections to find out as much as he could. Rumors had circulated within the palace that Prince Alfonso was involved, but he had been unable to confirm anything.

"Was it truly Prince Alfonso's doing?"

Cardinal de Mare didn't bother with pretenses in front of his second daughter and asked directly. They were family. Family should serve each other's best interests.

But Ariadne answered immediately, without batting an eye.

"No."

She owed no loyalty to this ‘father.’ She still harbored suspicions about how Isabella, in her past life, had become the queen of Prince Regent Cesare, who was soon to be crowned king.

At the time, she had thought Cesare, completely smitten with Isabella, had elevated her to the highest position. But looking back after her regression, the more she mulled it over, the stranger it seemed. The Cesare de Como she knew was a man who never acted without a clear benefit.

If he truly wanted Isabella de Mare, he could have simply hidden her away and made her his mistress. Cesare had the power to do so back then.

Yet Cesare went so far as to secure the position of queen for Isabella. For the widow of Prince Alfonso, the man he hated most in the world.

It was a choice that would inevitably cause gossip in high society, no matter how hard Cesare tried to suppress it. It was as clear as day that she would become the subject of dirty jokes, and he, the butt of ridicule for being a cuckolded fool.

*Cardinal de Mare must have been involved.*

Cardinal de Mare must have somehow attached a benefit to Isabella and made a trade. What did he receive in return? Was I not even a daughter to him?

Unfortunately, she wouldn't get a clear answer from the Cardinal de Mare of this life. He wouldn't know, after all. But he was still the kind of man who would do such a thing.

Ariadne did not trust her father. She felt no loyalty toward him.

So she told her father the 'official' version of the story that Queen Marguerite was pushing. Throwing it at him plainly would make the shrewd cardinal suspicious, so she skillfully mixed in some confidential details not known to the public to enhance its credibility.

"However, the situation was complicated. There was some confusion regarding the chain of command."

"Oh?"

"The man who directly murdered Duke Mireille was identified as Sir Elko, a knight under Prince Alfonso. The place where the Duke's body was found was also a barn under the supervision of the prince's palace."

A good lie, as they say, is built on ninety percent truth and ten percent falsehood. She passed on the information about where Duke Mireille was found, a detail not known to the outside world, to Cardinal de Mare.

"For that reason, rumors seem to be circulating that Duke Mireille's murder was ordered by Prince Alfonso. Her Majesty Queen Marguerite wished to put a stop to them."

It was a reasonable story. She conveniently left out the part about the mad jester.

If Leo III had managed to keep everyone quiet and the jester's story hadn't reached the cardinal's ears, that would be for the best. Even if the cardinal did know about the jester's testimony, it was ultimately just hearsay.

Her plan was to downplay it as much as possible, and if it did come to the forefront, she would just have to attack its credibility and bury it.

"Duke Mireille was found dressed in the clothes of a stable hand from Palazzo Carlo. The carriage was found wrecked in an area the Gallican delegation would never enter, and the real stable hand was found drugged and in his undergarments. Her Majesty the Queen, based on these facts, wished to frame this incident as being unrelated to Prince Alfonso, and I offered my advice."

"You did?"

Cardinal de Mare asked back with a look of bewilderment. No matter how famous she was as a theological prodigy, his second daughter was, in the end, a fifteen-year-old girl.

In his mind, Ariadne's cleverness was something she had acquired from the printed words in books. His second daughter had never had the chance to be exposed to politics or schemes.

But Ariadne answered without any hesitation.

"Yes. I was fortunate. Her Majesty Queen Marguerite, aware that this could stir anti-Gallican sentiment, wished to hear the opinion of a native Etruscan."

She had to add a natural reason for her involvement in the situation. Excuses were easy enough to invent.

"Lady Carla, the queen's confidante, is a skilled courtier, but being Gallican, she had difficulty grasping the sentiments of the Etruscans. And Countess Marquez, upon whom Her Majesty usually relies heavily, was unsuitable to be summoned for her opinion because her husband was deeply involved in the practicalities of the marriage treaty with the Kingdom of Gallico."

Ariadne decided to take it a step further. The thing that could move Cardinal de Mare was ‘greed.’ The desire for the de Mare family to become a truly noble house, for all eternity.

"Father. This is my chance to establish myself as Queen Marguerite's confidante."

Normally, the queen would be dead by the end of the month, making her a connection without a future. But what if Ariadne actually saved the queen's life?

"I will go and bring great honor to the name of de Mare."

Royalty kept noble ladies they favored around them as ladies-in-waiting. Getting into that inner circle brought many benefits.

Not only would it arrange a good marriage—though she was aiming for her mistress's son—but it could also lead to good business opportunities, appointments to positions, and if she made a good impression on the king and queen, even the bestowal of a title, which Cardinal de Mare dreamed of.

"Y-yes. Be careful in your conduct so as not to be faulted, and serve Her Majesty well by her side."

Cardinal de Mare did not forget to add a word of caution.

"If a good opportunity arises, be sure to share it with your brother and sister. We are a family. We rise and fall together."

*Why didn't that wonderful talk of family apply to me in my past life, Father?* Biting her tongue to stop herself from asking, Ariadne bowed her head.

"Of course."

At Ariadne's docile reply, Cardinal de Mare nodded and said.

"If you need support from the family, don't hesitate to ask."

These were the words she had been waiting for.

"Speaking of which, Father."

Ariadne deftly brought up a topic that was, strictly speaking, unrelated.

"The wheat harvest is approaching. I would like to purchase a large quantity of wheat."

"Wheat? Why wheat all of a sudden?"

Wheat sown in the autumn was harvested from May to June. Ariadne was determined to go through with hoarding wheat, a plan that had failed last time due to Lucrezia's interference. If she had bought it then, she would have had to buy old wheat, but now she could stock up on new wheat when it was at its cheapest. This was a much better time.

"The Rambouillet Almshouse, which Her Majesty the Queen oversees, runs into trouble every winter when its food supplies run low. They get through the winter on turnips they grow themselves, but if the poor start dying, it reflects badly on the queen's palace, so it's a huge worry every year."

"Oh..."

"If we stock up on wheat this summer and donate it to the Rambouillet Almshouse in the winter, wouldn't that be a great help in becoming one of Her Majesty's close confidantes?"

Of course, Ariadne had no intention of donating it for free. When the plague broke out, the following year's harvest would be ruined as well.

Ariadne intended to be the only person in the entire Kingdom of Etruscan holding food supplies in the year 1124.

"What sort of amount did you have in mind?"

In truth, Ariadne wanted to stockpile at least 100,000 ducats' worth of wheat. Enough to feed all of San Carlo for a year. Ariadne knew for a fact that the price of wheat would skyrocket. This was a sure bet.

But there was no way Cardinal de Mare, who didn't know the circumstances, would approve such a large sum. In fact, unless he embezzled funds from the Holy See, it wasn't an amount the de Mare family could procure on their own.

"...Well, how about 20,000 ducats?"

She named the most compromised amount she could and watched Cardinal de Mare's reaction.

Cardinal de Mare stared at Ariadne as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head.

"What? Twenty thousand ducats?"

From the cardinal's perspective, spending 20,000 ducats to get into the queen's good graces was an absurd amount. It was grain for refugee relief. It wasn't something that would make money; it was purely an expense.

"That's ridiculous..."

Cardinal de Mare stopped himself and cleared his throat. He had no emotional bond with his second daughter, whom he had only brought into his home when she was fifteen. They were not on terms where he could speak casually, relying on familiarity.

The reason Cardinal de Mare had been so unreserved with Ariadne until now was simply because he was in a position of power, and his illegitimate daughter was not.

But now, Ariadne had the potential to marry one of the king's sons—either one—and was on the verge of becoming the queen's closest confidante. The cardinal cleared his throat again and chose his words carefully.

"...You have grand ambitions."

But 20,000 ducats was an impossible sum. It would not only consume the de Mare family's entire annual budget, but they would also have to mortgage all their assets to even come close to raising it.

The grand residence and the Bergamo estate belonged to the Holy See, so they were not assets the cardinal could dispose of personally.

"However, even if you wish to win Her Majesty's favor, there must be a limit. Favors should be bestowed in increments."

Cardinal de Mare quoted the old saying, 'Commit your evil deeds all at once, but bestow your favors little by little,' as he collected his thoughts.

"One thousand ducats is the upper limit I have in mind."

He named the most generous amount he could muster.

"Spending any more than that on relief is neither possible nor desirable for us. If you feed the poor for free, they will only demand more and more. How will you manage next year?"

Ariadne simply bowed her head.

"Yes, Father."

But Ariadne was the type of person who saw the glass as half full.

*I've secured a budget of one thousand ducats, at least.*

She was determined to find a way to make up the remaining nineteen thousand ducats.

After leaving Cardinal de Mare's study, Ariadne immediately summoned Giuseppe.

"Giuseppe."

"Yes, my lady."

He didn't waste time with unnecessary pleasantries like asking how she had been, but got straight to the point. She liked that about him.

"Take one or two of your men and find a warehouse on the outskirts to store grain. Preferably in San Carlo, but the Bergamo estate will do as well."

She added.

"I'd like it to be a location we can defend with our own people, in case of an emergency."

"Yes, my lady. What size should I look for, and what is the budget?"

"The target is 200,000 cantari. For now, 500 ducats for a year's warehouse rent. That includes the cost of hiring and training guards if we don't have enough."

The sheer scale of the plan made even the taciturn Giuseppe's eyes widen.

"Can you do it?"

"Yes, my lady."

Giuseppe never said that something he was ordered to do was impossible. She liked that even more.

***

Countess Rubina found the recent state of affairs utterly incomprehensible.

"There's definitely something going on..."

According to her informants, it seemed Prince Alfonso had caused some trouble, and Leo III was covering it up. But she couldn't dig any deeper than that.

The jester, who had witnessed the scene firsthand, was executed before she had a chance to investigate further. The king's confidants would not speak to Countess Rubina. When she tried to broach the subject with Leo III himself, he flew into a rage and refused to see her for ten days.

"Is now the time?"

Countess Rubina picked up a small porcelain vial decorated with jade, opening and closing the lid to smell its contents.

She fiddled with the jade-decorated porcelain vial for a while before shaking her head.

"...No. Let's not be hasty, Rubina."

*Click.*

She finally closed the lid of the vial and tucked it away deep inside a drawer.

She had already endured alone for nearly a quarter of a century. She was more than accustomed to waiting. She could wait longer, until a better opportunity arose.