Chapter 192

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: No Parent Can Win Against Their Child
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Upon hearing her husband say, ‘It was never officially announced,’ Duchess Bernadette immediately understood Duke Eudes’s intentions.

“Lari. That document… by any chance, does Prince Alfonso have a copy?”

Lariesa’s face went pale.

Unfamiliar with the practicalities of contracts and having followed only what she’d read in books, she had prepared just one copy of the marriage vows.

And contrary to what her parents thought, even if she had made two copies and Alfonso possessed one, nothing would change.

It was certain that Prince Alfonso would try to bury his relationship with Grand Duchess Lariesa if he could.

She remembered the sour expression on his face as he’d signed the marriage vows.

“Come here, darling. Won’t you give it to your father…?”

Duke Eudes took a step toward his daughter. Lariesa retreated a step, shouting.

“It’s no use doing this to me now!”

“Don’t be like that. If we just tear up that parchment…”

“I’ve already submitted this document to the Diocese of Montpellier! The Holy See knows about it too!”

“What?!”

The Diocese of Montpellier was under the authority of the Archbishop of Montpellier. And the Archbishop was a political bishop, notorious for his loose tongue.

He was the kind of man who would run straight to Philip IV and tattle.

When Duke Eudes, horrified, pressed his daughter, Grand Duchess Lariesa once again resorted to tears.

“Waaaaah!”

Duchess Bernadette, blaming her husband, desperately tried to soothe their daughter.

It was a futile effort, much like calming a wailing newborn.

Nearly an hour passed before they could get a meaningful answer out of Lariesa.

“You didn’t give it to the Archbishop?”

“…To a priest at the minor basilica…”

“Guards! Go at once and bring the priest from the minor basilica here!”

Duke Eudes, having immediately sent a man to ensure the priest’s silence, let out a sigh.

“So we can’t stop it from being listed in the Holy See’s records.”

The doctor of law, who had yet to leave, replied.

“Anyone can assert the contents of a document listed in the Holy See’s official register. The engagement is official.”

“How do we break the engagement?”

“The methods for breaking an engagement are…”

Sensing a long-winded explanation coming, Duchess Bernadette shot the doctor of law a glare.

The doctor, who had grown somewhat accustomed to his masters’ work style, cut to the chase.

“The consent of both parties is required. Prince Alfonso must appear.”

Duke Eudes’s mind started racing again.

“If the fiancé were to die…”

The doctor of law chimed in with an exclamation, as if to say, ‘Oh, what a brilliant idea!’

“That is also correct. If one party dies, the engagement cannot be enforced.”

“Father!”

Contrary to the doctor of law’s agreement with Duke Eudes’s policy, this time it was his daughter who lunged forward desperately.

She broke free from Duchess Bernadette’s embrace and rushed to her father, grabbing his arm.

“Father, if Prince Alfonso dies, I’ll die with him! Don’t you dare, don’t you dare do anything rash!”

“Lari!”

The duchess’s shrill scream echoed through the room. Duke Eudes, equally dumbfounded, yelled at his daughter.

“Lariesa, what are you saying? That you’ll follow a man to your death if he dies on the battlefield!”

Yesaek was soon to become a warzone. The Crusaders’ chances of victory weren’t even high.

The First Crusade had seen the Yesap forces achieve a partial victory and return safely, but the Second Crusade was annihilated in the wilderness without even getting close to Yesaek.

“That man is on his way to a battlefield! Who can guarantee the life of someone participating in a war!”

“You will, Father! You’re the one who taught me that a woman is devoted to one husband for life!”

Lariesa was in no state for a rational conversation.

“If Yesaek is dangerous, then you take responsibility and save Prince Alfonso. Bring him back alive!”

“Lariesa, that’s enough of this nonsense!”

“Nonsense or not, I don’t care!”

Grand Duchess Lariesa’s breathing grew ragged.

“I can’t imagine a life without Prince Alfonso! He is my everything!”

“Lari! How long have you even known him to say such things!”

Even Duchess Bernadette, unable to hold back any longer, rebuked Lariesa. Her mother was right.

Grand Duchess Lariesa had known Prince Alfonso for less than a year, at most.

But to a teenage girl, a year was like an eternity. Especially a year with the prince of her dreams.

“You’re the ones who sent me to the Kingdom of Etruscan!”

Outraged, Lariesa shrieked.

“Wasn’t I sent there to be married? Where else can a grand duchess who spent a year in a foreign palace with an unrelated man possibly marry?”

Duke Eudes let out a groan. Sending his daughter to the Kingdom of Etruscan had been a mistake.

He had sent her because he couldn’t defy Philip IV’s pressure, but at the time, he truly believed the king intended to pair Lariesa with Alfonso.

“My mother and father have ruined my life! And now you’re telling me to keep my hands off and be quiet? I can’t, I’d rather die than do that!”

“Lariesa.”

Duke Eudes tried to placate his daughter.

“Do you really think we can’t find a good match for you? Don’t worry about such things and listen to your mother and me.”

“A good match?”

Grand Duchess Lariesa whipped her head around to glare at her father. Her eyes were wild.

“Ha! A good match! Would he be the son of a monarch? Would he have a kingdom to inherit? At best, you’ll bring some nobody son of a count and try to pair me with him!”

“Lariesa!”

Duke Eudes rebuked his daughter, but honestly, he had nothing to say. That was precisely what he had been thinking.

In truth, Lariesa cared little for her future husband’s title.

She was under the delusion that she would remain a grand duchess forever, no matter where she went.

But in this moment, to defy her parents, there was nothing she wouldn’t say.

“Prince Alfonso is my life, my faith, my future! I will never, ever let him go!”

“You shouldn’t say such things!”

Duchess Bernadette was aghast at her daughter’s blasphemous words—that a man, not God, was her faith.

But Lariesa used her mother’s piety as leverage, pressing even more relentlessly.

“If Prince Alfonso dies, I will die with him! Where do those who take their own lives go?”

“They burn for eternity in the eighth circle of hell’s bottomless pit.”

The duchy’s doctor of law, who had been sitting awkwardly amidst the family’s chaotic drama, answered bluntly, completely missing the mood.

Duke Eudes wanted to banish the man, who had witnessed the family’s entire disgrace without leaving, to some godforsaken village at the northernmost edge of the duchy, but first, he had to deal with his daughter’s frenzy.

“Lariesa!”

Beside him, Duchess Bernadette was also becoming hysterical.

“If the prince dies, I’ll hang myself with my own hands! If the prince dies, your daughter will walk into hell of her own accord!”

“Heavens!”

At the repeated mention of ‘hell,’ the devout duchess placed a hand on her head and fainted.

The duke honestly suspected his wife hadn’t truly fainted but had simply chosen an easy escape from having to listen any longer. Still, it was the duty of the head of the household to manage the chaos, even in a situation like this.

“Go to your room for now.”

“Father!”

“Calm down. We’ll talk about this again later.”

“Promise me, Father! That you’ll protect Prince Alfonso!”

The Crusaders who had left for Yesaek were the army of the Duchy of Sternheim.

The Kingdom of Gallico, aside from sponsoring war funds, had no official connection to the Third Crusade.

In reality, however, the Kingdom of Gallico maintained a close relationship with the Republic of Porto, which was responsible for transporting supplies to the Crusaders and providing other logistical support for the holy war. The person in charge of coordinating with the Republic of Porto was Duke Eudes.

In other words, Duke Eudes was in a position to exert influence over Prince Alfonso if he so chose.

“Promise me!”

Lariesa wailed again. Duke Eudes, unsure of how much his daughter knew, couldn’t answer easily.

When her father remained silent, the agitated Lariesa grabbed a candlestick from a side table, threw the candle on the floor, and pressed the sharp end of the candlestick to her own neck.

“Promise me!”

At that, Duchess Bernadette, who had been lying collapsed on the floor, shot up with a start, screaming.

“My lord! The child is going to die!”

Finally, cornered by his crazed daughter and furious wife, Duke Eudes had no choice but to surrender completely.

“Alright, alright. I’ll see what I can do!”

Only then did Lariesa, still seething, lower the candlestick. Duchess Bernadette promptly collapsed back into her spot and fainted again.

Duke Eudes, the weakest link in this family, decided to vent his frustration on a scapegoat.

He glared with his piercing eyes. His target was the doctor of law, who had remained through the entire chaotic scene, watching with wide, unblinking eyes.

“You, prepare yourself.”

“?”

The doctor of law had no idea what he had done wrong.

* * *

While Prince Alfonso was making a narrow escape from Gallican territory, the Kingdom of Etruscan was facing the full-blown outbreak of the Black Death.

“My lady. The central city of Beccaria has completely fallen to the plague.”

Representative Caruso, seated in Ariadne’s study, reported with a grim expression.

“Beccaria’s administration is paralyzed. The city itself has become a massive infirmary, and those still able to move are fleeing the city without any restraint, heading north.”

Beccaria was a city only half a day’s walk from San Carlo.

It was only a matter of time before plague-infected refugees from Beccaria entered San Carlo.

No, it was likely a delusion to think San Carlo was still safe.

“Have the guild members who reported on Beccaria’s situation all been safely quarantined?”

“Yes, we prevented them from entering the city walls at all. The report itself was received outdoors, and our guild members who came up from the south are being separately quarantined in the guild building outside San Carlo, as per your instructions.”

“Good. Other than that, have there been any instances of infection within San Carlo?”

Just as Representative Caruso was about to answer ‘no,’ a voice came from the entrance of Ariadne’s study.

“Um… My lady…”

It was Sancha, sounding as if she were about to cry.

“What is it, Sancha?”

Sancha was not one to interrupt important business like this.

“I’m sorry to interrupt. But…”

“Go on, it’s alright.”

“…They say a riot is about to break out at the Rambouillet Almshouse. No, it might have already started…”

Ariadne’s eyes widened.

“Why, what happened?”

“It seems food distribution was halted for three days due to a shortage. The destitute residents have gathered in the courtyard and are protesting. But the protest is turning violent… They say it looks like they could break down the gates and pour out at any moment…”

Tension filled Ariadne’s green eyes.

In her past life, the Rambouillet Almshouse was the original epicenter of the Black Death in San Carlo.

The poor, deprived of food, had risen up and escaped the almshouse. The plague patients mixed in among them had spread throughout San Carlo, shattering the city’s quarantine efforts.

“Sancha. Get my cloak. We’re going to the almshouse at once.”

“What? You’re going yourself, my lady?”

Even Sancha, who had brought the news, hadn’t expected that. She was startled and tried to stop Ariadne.

“It’s unsanitary there, and now it’s dangerous! It’s not a place for you to go, my lady. If you give the order, I’ll go and deliver it.”

“No. The situation at the Rambouillet Almshouse won’t be resolved unless I go myself. Call Giuseppe.”

Realizing that Ariadne was about to conclude their private meeting, Representative Caruso hurriedly stopped her.

“One moment, my lady. Please let me ask one thing before you go.”

This was the main point of today’s meeting.

“The price of grain has already soared by one and a half times. Shall we start releasing wheat into the market now?”

Ariadne looked at Representative Caruso as if to ask if his nerve was truly so small.

“Representative Caruso.”

“Yes, my lady?”

She spoke decisively.

“We haven’t even begun.”