Chapter 193

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Proof of Capability
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Cardinal de Mare's silver carriage, with Ariadne inside, headed straight for the Rambouillet Almshouse.

As soon as she boarded, she regretted not having ordered a plain, unadorned black carriage.

She had not wanted to attract attention upon her arrival.

But there was no time to switch carriages. And it wouldn't be right to scold her servants for bringing the silver one.

Lately, whenever the Cardinal wasn't using it, the silver carriage had naturally become Ariadne's to use.

“Let’s take the carriage all the way in.”

Instead of alighting at the main gate, she decided to have the carriage drive right up to the front door.

Normally, she would have entered on foot as a sign of respect for the almshouse, but today, safety was the priority.

“An excellent idea, my lady!”

Sancha welcomed the decision. As they entered, the main gate of the almshouse closed once more behind them.

She relayed what she saw through the curtained window.

“Right now, the poor are swarming against the iron bars of the almshouse’s rear garden. It seems they haven’t managed to get into the front yard between the main gate and the entrance, but if those bars break, they’ll pour out in an instant!”

Ariadne planned to meet with the head of the almshouse immediately.

“I hope Mr. Caruso is here.”

“Will you meet with the Director right away through Mr. Caruso?”

“Yes.”

As the carriage stopped before the entrance, the horse reared and neighed. It seemed even the horse sensed the unusual atmosphere.

*Hee-hee-hing!*

The horse’s spirited cry instantly drew the attention of the poor gathered in the rear garden.

“Looks like the person in charge is here!”

“Whose carriage is that? Who’s in charge?”

“Food! Soup! Bread!”

Even inside the carriage, Ariadne could not miss the fact that the crowd’s attention was on them. She spoke with a sense of urgency.

“Let’s hurry inside.”

Ariadne quickened her pace, trying to avoid meeting the crowd’s eyes. The almshouse’s main entrance, usually kept open, was firmly locked.

*Knock, knock.*

Ariadne knocked on the door and waited for a moment. When the door didn’t open right away, she knocked again, harder this time.

*Thump, thump, thump!*

But the door remained shut. Growing impatient, Sancha stepped forward in Ariadne’s place and pounded on the almshouse door.

*Bang! Bang, bang!*

“Lady Ariadne de Mare has arrived! Open the door!”

Hearing her voice, a rustling sound of people moving could be heard from inside.

Ariadne, who had been nervously watching the rear garden, let out a silent sigh of relief, thinking the door was about to open. Just then.

*Crack!*

A chilling sound of something breaking echoed through the air.

“That’s…”

Sancha, who grasped the situation first, shouted urgently.

“Open this door, now!!!”

The iron bars separating the rear garden from the front yard had just collapsed, and the poor were now pouring out unchecked.

Those inside the almshouse building must have seen the bars fall as well.

The sound of someone being scolded for trying to open the door was heard, and then the movement inside fell silent.

“Hey!!! I said open the door!!!”

An enraged Sancha yelled from the front, but the firmly shut door didn't budge.

Meanwhile, the crowd that had poured into the front yard like a herd of bison fixed their gaze on Ariadne's party, who were isolated in front of the main entrance.

“Who is that woman?”

“She looks rich!”

“Food! Food!”

A few bold children approached Ariadne’s group.

They were children who had survived by begging even before being forcibly confined to the almshouse. Their outstretched hands were quite practiced. Their lines were rehearsed, too.

“Miss, do you have anything to eat?”

“Have mercy!”

Having lived among such children, Sancha knew all too well how the atmosphere could shift in an instant. She stepped in front of them before they could get any closer.

“Stop right there!”

If she didn't cut them off at the start, they would be surrounded by the poor like a swarm of gnats, and her lady would be trapped.

“Do you have any idea who you’re approaching so insolently!”

But Sancha had misjudged. Beggar children usually moved on to the next target when shouted at fiercely.

However, they were now isolated.

There was no one else before them but Ariadne's party. The poor had the overwhelming advantage in numbers, and more people were pressing in from behind.

This was not a crowd with a destination in mind, but a mob being pushed forward simply because of the pressure from the back.

“Stop pushing!”

“We’ll all die if we stay in here, let’s get out!”

The desperate cries of the people could be heard. The children, fearing they would be separated from their potential benefactor by the surging crowd, rushed forward desperately.

“Spare a coin!”

“If you don’t have bread, then money…!”

Sancha gave up trying to restrain the children and gritted her teeth, using her body to block the path between the poor boys and her lady. Three of the attendants helped her.

Ariadne’s party held their ground on the isolated porch in front of the almshouse entrance.

The pillars and railings offered some protection from the throng.

Standing there, Ariadne anxiously glanced back and forth between the almshouse entrance and the main gate.

She had sent Giuseppe on a separate mission. At first, she had hoped for his swift return, but now she wasn't so sure.

If Giuseppe returned at just the right moment, could he calm them? Or would he just become another target for plunder?

“Let’s get out!”

The poor seemed to have decided to break out of the Rambouillet Almshouse. A middle-aged man, who appeared to be a leader, was egging on the crowd.

“Let’s break it! Let’s get out! Let’s go to San Carlo for freedom!”

Witnessing the incitement, Ariadne collected herself. That had to be stopped.

“Wait!!!”

Her voice was a rich, low tone, but her raw cry was not enough to halt the enraged crowd.

Ariadne decided to risk it. This was why she had come here today—to prevent this.

If she let them pour into the city, her dangerous journey here would have been for nothing.

*Clink!*

It was the sound of a florin silver coin rolling on the ground.

Ariadne had reached into the purse tied to her dress, grabbed a handful of florin silver coins, and tossed them into the crowd.

Everyone reacted to the sound of money hitting the ground. Ariadne felt the crowd momentarily hesitate.

The mob, which had been surging toward the main gate, briefly lost its momentum to pick up the fallen florins.

*Clink! Jingle!*

Ariadne reached into her purse again and tossed another handful of coins. This time, it was half ducat gold coins, half florin silver coins.

“It’s a ducat gold coin!”

“Where?! Where?!”

The crowd’s charge toward the main gate died completely.

Instead, they began to swarm toward Ariadne’s party. Sancha’s face turned pale as she cried out.

“My lady! It’s dangerous!”

Ariadne knew that all too well, but she could not let them leave like this.

“Everyone!”

Despite Sancha’s attempts to stop her, she raised her voice and shouted.

“Going to San Carlo is not the answer.”

San Carlo was also groaning under the weight of soaring grain prices. Moreover, the city was extremely sensitive to outsiders due to the plague.

If a thousand poor people were to flood the streets, it would be nearly impossible for them to receive alms from ordinary citizens or find jobs to buy bread with their own hands.

“Then are you telling us to starve to death here!”

An angry voice rang out. It was the middle-aged man who had been leading the crowd.

“That’s right! We haven’t had any rations for a week!”

“My mother starved to death!”

“What do you high and mighty nobles know!”

The ducats and florins on the ground were quickly snatched up, and those who got nothing grew twice as angry.

“Out of the way!”

“She must have more money!”

“My lady! Mercy!”

“Hand over everything you have!”

“Let’s just leave her and get out of here!”

The roar of the crowd pierced the sky. They couldn’t even seem to agree amongst themselves.

The almshouse door behind them cruelly showed no sign of opening.

There were a thousand of them, and only four or five of her party. She had to talk her way out of this.

“I will take responsibility for procuring food!”

At the word ‘food,’ a stir went through the crowd.

“I will normalize the rations at the Rambouillet Almshouse. Starting today, you will be able to have bread and soup twice a day here.”

The leader-like man shouted.

“Do you see us as pigs and dogs? You think food is all that matters?”

He continued.

“Besides, who are you to make such a promise? Even the king has given up on this place!”

Since Queen Marguerite’s death, the Palazzo Carlo had cut off the budget for the Rambouillet Almshouse.

The almshouse’s operating costs had been supported by the queen’s private funds, but the person who administered those funds was gone.

Whenever the almshouse director went to the palace to plead his case, some emergency funds were provided, but it was only enough to put out the most urgent fires. Once grain prices began to rise, it was nowhere near enough.

“I am Ariadne de Mare, a member of His Eminence Cardinal de Mare’s household.”

She announced her name.

“‘The Girl Who Sees Through the Truth’!”

And there were some who knew of her fame.

“They say she’s the second daughter of the famous Cardinal de Mare!”

“The one who drove out the Apostle of Acereto?”

“I heard she had a thing with the prince, too?”

A famous figure whose reputation was well-known throughout the capital was now before them, vowing to take responsibility for their food.

The crowd, which had been on the verge of rushing out to San Carlo, hesitated.

“Maybe it’s better to listen to her? It’s not like we have a clear plan if we leave.”

“She has money, but can she get us food?”

It was the leader-like man who put a stop to the crowd’s wavering.

“Fools!”

He raised his voice, looking at the poor around him.

“Food is a secondary issue! Freedom is the problem!”

The middle-aged man admonished them.

“And you’re so naive! So what if she’s the Cardinal’s daughter? Is she the Cardinal himself? What can a young woman with no authority do to bring us food?”

Someone asked, filled with hope.

“What if she’s courting the prince! Couldn’t she persuade the king to get us food?”

“Wake up!”

The middle-aged man shouted coldly.

“You believe that? Besides, the king won’t lift a finger, so it wouldn’t matter if she were the king’s girlfriend, let alone the prince’s! We’ve been fooled once, we won’t be fooled again!”

At these words, the crowd murmured. They seemed to agree. They had been deceived by too many lies from the establishment.

The middle-aged man seized the momentum and raised his voice even higher.

“It’s a trick to keep us locked up in here! We have to escape the almshouse when we have the chance. If we hesitate here, sniffing around for handouts, we’ll be trapped in this almshouse for the rest of our lives, living like animals!”

The Rambouillet Almshouse was less an almshouse and more a forced confinement camp.

The local cooperatives formed in each piazza would hand over any unfamiliar vagrants in their area to the Rambouillet Almshouse.

It was the same when the king’s Royal Guard caught troublemakers or beggar children.

And once inside, there was no getting out.

Children were let out once when they came of age, but adults were confined until they died in the Rambouillet Almshouse.

“If you go outside, is there an answer?”

Ariadne retorted.

“You say it’s the same whether you die here or die out there, but you’re wrong! If you stay inside, you will live. If you go outside, you will die!”

More accurately, if they went outside, not only would they die, but they would take everyone else down with them.

“We don’t believe you! What reason do we have to believe you! We’re people abandoned even by the king. You expect us to believe His Eminence the Cardinal will save us?”

“Yeah! Show us proof!”

“Bring the Cardinal here!”

The crowd grew restless. The shouts that had briefly subsided began to rise again.

“Liar!”

“Hand over everything you have!”

“Let’s take her purse!”

Ariadne bit her lip and looked toward the main gate again. It was about time for Giuseppe to arrive.

“My lady!”

Sancha’s shrill voice rang out.

“It’s Giuseppe!”

Sancha spotted him even before Ariadne. Beyond the main gate, a sturdy, dark brown horse was galloping toward them.

Giuseppe’s resounding shout was heard.

“Lady Ariadne! I’ve brought what you asked for!”

Seeing Ariadne’s situation, Giuseppe immediately drew his sword.

It was a foolish act to draw a sword against a crowd when he was alone, but soon, nearly fifty armed men appeared behind him.

Dismounting their horses, they drew their swords in unison and approached the almshouse gate.

“We found the winch!”

The gate was closed, but the armed men quickly found its locking mechanism.

*Clang!*

With the chain broken, the winch spun, and the main gate swung wide open.

The fifty armed soldiers rushed into the front yard of the almshouse.

In terms of sheer numbers, fifty soldiers should have been no match for a thousand poor people, but the crowd consisted mostly of children and women, and the men of fighting age were nearly all infirm.

Moreover, they had been starving for some time, were unarmed, and were nothing more than an untrained mob.

Faced with a properly trained unit, the gathering of civilians began to break apart and scatter.

And there was something else that quelled the crowd’s will to resist.

“Look at that!”

Someone cried out.

Toward the main gate, a steady stream of wagons loaded with sacks of grain was arriving.

One, two, three… Over ten wagons crested the hill and came to a stop before the gate.

“It’s grain!”

“It’s wheat!”

“What that lady said was true!”

The middle-aged man who had been inciting the people at the front had already fled without a trace. Ariadne shouted to the crowd.

“You will not starve! The first meal of the day will be served in three hours!”

Sancha’s piercing voice followed.

“Return to the rear garden!”

The scattered crowd did not immediately and obediently turn back to the rear garden, but the main tide was already obeying Ariadne’s words.

Aside from a few who slipped away to the sides like eels, mothers began to find their children and return to their places inside the almshouse.

They didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but for now, they had to get their evening meal.

And Ariadne had no intention of simply putting food in their mouths.

She hadn't expected to start now, but she had a plan for the Rambouillet Almshouse, one she had been developing since her time as the acting Princess Regent.

This was the beginning of the legend of the Rambouillet Almshouse.