Chapter 18

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Count Cesare's Desire
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Cesare de Como. The illegitimate son of Leo III and, on paper, the son of Count Como, he was always dissatisfied with his life. Glory was always within reach, but just before it entered his grasp, it would fall into the hands of another, someone less deserving. The title of prince, held in the hands of that greenhorn Alfonso who still smelled of his mother's milk, was a prime example.

He occupied a balcony box to the right of the grand cathedral's central nave, yet he was still dissatisfied. This was not the uppermost balcony box where the 'true royal family' gathered to observe High Mass, but one installed a level below. The King always endured High Mass from the top-right balcony box, alongside his estranged queen and their precious, puppy-like son. The atmosphere in the royal couple's box was always frigid, yet Leo III never once made his way down to the lower balcony, which overflowed with laughter and jokes. Cesare and Countess Rubina could only have Leo III to themselves in the privacy of his chambers, never at official functions. His entire attention was fixed on the top-right balcony box, but his pride would never allow him to look up. The very thought of meeting the condescending gaze of that brat Alfonso—who had accomplished nothing on his own—looking down from above while Cesare himself was looking up from below was horrifying. Cesare hated kneeling and looking up from below more than anything in the world. To distract himself, he glanced down at the grand nave below, where the beautiful Isabella, the Cardinal's daughter, was ostentatiously crossing the central aisle. Judging the act itself, he thought it was in poor taste, but the sight of a beautiful seventeen-year-old girl, like an excited fairy, putting on airs was a pleasant spectacle in its own right. Isabella possessed a magic that drew the eyes of the crowd. Looking down from above, it was quite a spectacle. Following the sway of her steps, the heads of men turned sequentially toward the central nave.

*'What is this, a wheel formation?'*

Cesare inwardly scoffed at the common folk on the floor below, who, bewitched by a woman, couldn't even control their own heads. He considered himself special. The King's firstborn son, born of royal blood. It was only natural that he, with his superior lineage, should have the entire world. And the most suitable mate for him, the finest male, would be Isabella de Mare, the most coveted female in all of San Carlo. He wanted Isabella. It was in the same vein as wanting the fist-sized ruby brought by a merchant from the Republic of Porto last month, the exotic, dark-skinned Moorish slave, and the new cannon said to have come from the Duchy of Valois. He wasn't interested in the objects themselves, but in the admiration from those around him that would be lavished upon him, Cesare, for possessing them.

- 'That's Count Cesare for you! Don't the finest stallions all belong to him?'

- 'Not just stallions. The beauties of San Carlo are all his captives.'

- 'To have even Isabella de Mare! Count Cesare is truly remarkable.'

The corners of his mouth lifted automatically as he imagined his cronies, who followed him around making trivial jokes, praising him like that. From the floor below, the golden-haired girl looked up at him and smiled sweetly. For a shy lady to so boldly show her interest in him—it was a signal that, as a gentleman, he could not fail to answer. He gave a slight nod, returning a reply to her flirtatious glance.

*'I should ask Cardinal de Mare about a potential match again soon. I'll have to broach the subject when I see Father next month, too.'*

While gazing greedily at Isabella, a black-haired girl following behind her caught Cesare's eye. The black-haired girl's dreary and plain appearance stood out awkwardly between the radiant Isabella and the flamboyant Lucrezia. He asked his mother, Countess Rubina, who was behind him.

"Mother, who is that dark girl mixed in with Cardinal de Mare's family?"

Countess Rubina answered without even lifting her head, filing her nails with a long file.

"She's the Cardinal's second daughter, from another mistress. I hear she's already found favor with Queen Marguerite."

"On what grounds?"

"Don't judge people by their appearance. For one so young to have already caught the eye of the fastidious Queen Marguerite, she must be no ordinary girl."

"What use is a clever girl, anyway?"

Countess Rubina narrowed her eyes and looked at her son.

"Do you think I got to where I am today just because I have a pretty face?"

"You didn't?"

Countess Rubina—a slender, cold-featured beauty who looked just like Cesare—glared disapprovingly at her son, who was rebelling now that he was grown.

"Pathetic boy."

Just then, the grand cathedral's pipe organ began to play majestically. It was the melody that signaled the start of the sermon. Against the backdrop of the music, a man dressed in coarse burlap robes and the flat cap of a common priest slowly ascended to the central altar. His unusually great height, his piercing eyes set deep within their sockets, and their brilliant gleam marked him as no ordinary man.

"It seems the sermon is beginning. That must be the Apostle of Acereto."

Wanting to deflect his mother's anger, Cesare feigned concentration on the sermon, despite his simmering insides. The once-boisterous grand cathedral gradually fell silent as the Apostle of Acereto ascended the altar. The atmosphere was even more focused and filled with anticipation than when they usually waited for Cardinal de Mare's sermon. In contrast to Cardinal de Mare's sermons, which were in Latin, the Apostle of Acereto's was in the Etruscan-Acereto tongue used by the common people.

"- He was born a man."

From its very first words, his sermon was provocative.

"Born the son of a shepherd in a barn in Yesak, He laughed, lived, and learned as a man until the age of thirty, when He received the command of the Holy Spirit and became the Son of the Holy Spirit."

The people held their breath, focusing on the Apostle of Acereto.

"Only when the Holy Spirit, through the first sacrifice, chose Him as His Son, did He who was born a man finally become the Holy Son and acquire the same divinity as the Holy Spirit."

Upon reaching this part, the audience's reaction was dramatically divided. While some affirmed it with fervor, others looked uncomfortable.

- *'Then does this mean the Lord of Yesak wasn't the Son of the Holy Spirit from birth, but was originally the son of a man?'*

- *'Isn't that too radical?'*

The Apostle of Acereto's sermon drew vastly different reactions from the people. Among the poor and struggling, his sermon was explosively popular. The tale that even the lowliest person, by embodying, learning, mastering, and practicing the teachings of the Holy Spirit, could be personally chosen as His son and placed upon the highest throne in the thousand-year kingdom under heaven was attractive beyond compare. On the other hand, to the literate and ruling classes, the Apostle of Acereto's sermon was sedition itself. To the nobility, the Apostle's sermon that 'even the lowest can rise to the highest places' was a grave threat. The established Holy See and its cathedrals taught their followers the following:

- 'Noble spirits are born as royalty or aristocrats to perform good deeds, while lowly spirits are born as commoners to atone for their sins. Only by doing many good deeds can one be born a noble in the next life, and royalty and nobility are those whose very status proves they possess qualities deemed excellent by the Holy Spirit.'

Royalty and the nobility were able to acquire the legitimacy of their rule based on this teaching. To say that a commoner could skip these steps and directly become a son of God was a challenge to the existing social order. For the clergy, the Apostle of Acereto posed an even more practical problem. The Holy Scripture consisted of the 'Meditations' left by the Lord of Yesak and the 'Gospels' left by his six disciples. While the Gospels, as records left by men, were open to interpretation, the Meditations were the direct words of the Son of God, and every single punctuation mark and typo was imbued with sacred meaning. The authority of the Holy See was derived primarily from the 'Meditations'. When secular powers took actions that opposed the Holy See, the Holy See would extract a single line from the Meditations to refute them. Combined with the Pontiff's authority of excommunication, it was invariably effective. A few years ago, when the Grand Duke of Acereto tried to cast aside his first wife and take the seven-year-old Bianca of Taranto as his second, Pontiff Ludovico, unable to withstand the pressure from neighboring monarchs including Leo III—who feared the inheritance rights of the Taranto territory would pass to Acereto—resolutely thrust passages from the 'Meditations' at the Grand Duke.

- "Treat your wife well." "Marriage is sacred." "The old shall not covet the young."

When the divine authority of the Meditations was acknowledged, these excerpted passages were categorical imperatives. They simply had to be obeyed unconditionally. On the other hand, if the Meditations were relegated to being nothing more than the words of a man, written like the Gospels during the time when the Lord of Yesak was human, then they would become open to interpretation.

- "Treat your wife well."

If these are merely the words of a man and not of God, might they not apply to a wicked and jealous wife, rather than a virtuous one deserving of good treatment?

- "Marriage is sacred."

If marriage is sacred because one can produce a blessed heir in the bosom of the Holy Spirit, must that marriage still be respected if the wife is barren?

- "The old shall not covet the young."

What if the young person is mentally mature for their age? If the young person loves the older one first, isn't it reasonable that the above passage be waived? The Grand Duke of Acereto could not long withstand the threat of excommunication based on Pontiff Ludovico's excerpts from the Meditations and had to give up Bianca of Taranto. However, after the affair of coveting Bianca of Taranto was thwarted, the Grand Duke of Acereto gave his full support to the Apostle of Acereto, a man who at the time was simply called 'Priest Alejandro'. He provided the man, who was merely a common priest, with a grand cathedral in which to preach, and allocated funds from the duchy's budget to feed and clothe the young priests who came seeking the Apostle. And the result, after only a few years, was what they were seeing now. Priest Alejandro had now become the Apostle of Acereto, threatening the clergy and nobility with the people at his back. Ariadne, who had been keeping her place like a shadow at the very back of the left balcony of the nave behind Lucrezia, Isabella, and Arabella, quietly stood up, trying not to be noticed. Arabella looked at the rising Ariadne, but Ariadne quickly whispered to her.

*'I'm just going to the restroom.'*

Ariadne removed all the gold earrings Lucrezia had given her and slipped them into her sleeve. A perfect stage required a perfect costume. Holding her breath, utterly silent, Ariadne descended the steep stairs to the first floor of the nave, then hid behind the banister of the staircase to wait for the decisive moment. The Apostle of Acereto's sermon was building toward its climax.

"The Lord of Yesak is, in the end, the son of a man!"

Just as the middle-aged man's deep baritone voice rang thunderously through the grand cathedral and the audience listened with complex emotions, a voice—heavy for a girl, with a pleasant, husky tone—pierced the space and echoed out.

"Have you no shame!"

It was Ariadne.