Chapter 217

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: A Matter of Mood
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Giulia de Valdesal read the new letter she had received with a peculiar expression.

Sitting at her desk in the public study, she spoke to the person seated across from her.

“Not that I should meddle in another family’s affairs, but.”

At her words, the handsome young man with soft, blue-gray eyes looked up at her.

“Should I say that Ariadne is sometimes too soft?”

She tapped her fingers and continued.

“Letting the household staff run this free can’t be entirely good for them, either. Won’t it give them strange ideas?”

The man’s expression was inscrutable. When she didn’t get the response she expected, Giulia added awkwardly.

“I mean, the sentiment is admirable. They are looking out for their mistress, after all.”

But she couldn’t hide her true feelings.

“Still, isn’t it crossing a line for a servant to send a letter to her mistress’s friend?”

On Giulia’s desk lay a letter from Sancha.

Written in a polite tone, the letter identified the sender as Ariadne’s handmaiden, Sancha. It explained that her lady seemed very downcast recently and that she would be infinitely grateful if Signora Giulia, her lady’s dear friend, could visit and comfort her.

“A hired hand has a place to keep. It’s true I want to see Ari, but her handmaiden is not someone who can summon me, is she?”

The young man, François, the Valdesal family’s *il domestico*, quietly retorted.

“Do you see me that way as well?”

Only then did Giulia realize her slip of the tongue and cover her mouth.

Although François was the Valdesal family’s *il domestico*, he effectively served as Giulia’s personal attendant.

He tried his best to fulfill his duties of managing protocol for visiting guests, but his young lady’s invitations were persistent.

Moreover, with the plague bringing the flow of outside visitors to a halt, his primary duties had vanished, leaving him no excuse to refuse.

“You’re different.”

Giulia said, rushing to find an excuse.

“You’re… far more cultured than most nobles, and you’re an expert in etiquette. You would never do something so presumptuous.”

“How am I different? I am merely your ladyship’s *il domestico*.”

François replied, a hint of scorn in his expression.

“That fact doesn’t change just because I can read and write Ratan or compete in a joust.”

His handsome brow and the eyes beneath his long lashes seemed tinged with resentment.

“What is the line for what I am permitted to do? If you were ill and your family could not be reached, may I fetch a doctor without your command?”

“That’s different! Of course, you can do that when someone is sick!”

He replied cynically.

“What your friend’s handmaiden has done is exactly the same.”

François spat out, his tone slightly angered.

“Your friend is sick, and she needs help. If only her ladyship could see the substance of the matter instead of the form.”

Just then, a cheerful voice cut through the air.

“Who’s sick?”

It was Giulia’s older brother, the young Marquis Raphael, who had come into the study to find a book.

Upon seeing Raphael, François couldn’t hide his discomfort. He gave a deep bow and immediately left the room.

Giulia looked at her brother with a chagrined expression.

“Well…”

After hearing a rough explanation from his sister, Raphael clicked his tongue.

‘She really scraped his pride raw.’

He had a general sense of the tension between his sister and the household’s *il domestico* but had never added his own comments.

He didn’t want to stir up trouble when nothing was likely to come of it.

In his view, this spark was unlikely to ignite, not because his sister had good sense, but because the *il domestico* was a strangely high-nosed and impenetrable fortress.

However, his interest lay elsewhere.

“So, are you going?”

“Ari isn’t well, so I feel like I should go see her, but…”

“Your pride is wounded, isn’t it?”

Giulia didn’t answer. He had hit the nail on the head.

The Valdesal family’s aristocratic streak wasn’t a mutation that had appeared only in Raphael. Giulia had been raised with the same education.

In truth, her friendship with Ariadne, the Cardinal’s illegitimate daughter, was the result of a series of coincidences.

If she hadn’t found Isabella de Mare’s bullying of Ariadne so distasteful, and if Ariadne hadn’t navigated the ordeal with such remarkable grace, Giulia would never have deigned to share a table with Ariadne de Mare—whom she privately thought should more accurately be called ‘Ariadne Mare.’

“How dare a mere maid summon me? Right?”

“…If I go meekly, it’ll seem like I’m someone who just comes when called.”

Giulia didn’t deny it but made her excuse with a troubled look.

“If Ari had asked me herself, I would have gone, of course! I swear!”

“Then let’s do this.”

Raphael offered a solution with a bright face.

“I’ll go in your place.”

“Huh?”

“This maid’s invitation was for you, not me. Correct?”

“Well, yes.”

“I’ll just be a friend who heard she was feeling unwell and came to visit. But the Valdesal family will have sent a representative, so we won’t be seen as ignoring a friend’s plight. How about it?”

“Ah… That’s fine, but.”

Completely oblivious to her brother’s cunning intentions, Giulia seemed to find either option unsettling.

“Brother, if you go, you have to ask Ari something for me.”

“What should I tell her?”

“Ask if she wants Giulia to come too!”

Torn between wanting to see Ariadne and refusing to answer a maid’s summons, Giulia eagerly added.

“Get Ari to say she misses me!”

“Alright.”

Raphael smiled beautifully.

“A simple errand like that is no trouble. I’ll ask. What answer I get is not up to me, though.”

Giulia scowled and snapped.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying Ari won’t want to see me?”

“No, no. I’m just saying I can’t make such predictions. Whether she invites you or not is entirely up to her.”

Raphael added.

“I’ll ask, but there’s no guarantee I’ll bring back the answer you want. How could I possibly dare to impose my will upon her?”

But he fully intended to get her consent. If a meeting between her and his sister was arranged, couldn’t he tag along and see her one more time?

“I’ll be right back.”

* * *

Sancha, the de Mare family’s maid, was surprised three times.

First, because the response to her letter to the Valdesal family came so swiftly. Second, because it came not as a reply letter but in the form of a person visiting. And third, because the person who appeared was not Signora Giulia, whom she had requested, but the young Marquis Raphael de Valdesal.

“I’ve come in response to the invitation.”

Raphael bowed his head and greeted Sancha. Startled, Sancha stammered.

“Oh, h-hello. I sent the letter without knowing my place, thank you so much for coming…”

“Not at all. It was a letter full of loyalty and concern for your mistress.”

Raphael replied with a refreshing smile. Sancha, dazed as if his face were glowing, barely managed to hold onto her senses and ask.

“But why has the young Marquis Valdesal come instead of Lady Giulia…?”

“It seemed urgent, but Giulia had other commitments.”

Raphael smiled brightly again. It was his ultimate weapon. As expected, the red-headed maid couldn’t ask anything further.

“So I readily accepted in her stead. Is Lady Ariadne at home?”

“Ah, yes, yes. Her ladyship is in her room. I’ll fetch her right away…”

Raphael stopped Sancha as she hurried to leave.

“By any chance, how is Lady Ariadne’s condition?”

Raphael held up the straw basket and lap blanket he had brought.

“If Lady Ariadne is amenable, I was thinking of taking her out for a short stroll.”

While Sancha had been sharp and dismissive when Duke Cesare had come, her guard naturally lowered before the seemingly harmless Raphael. She answered without thinking.

“Ah, I will go and ask her.”

Raphael added to that, accompanied by another innocent smile.

“Yes, yes. Please don’t feel pressured. If she’s not feeling up to it, I am more than content with a cup of tea in the drawing-room.”

Though he had no intention of settling for that.

* * *

“My lady…”

Ariadne, who had fallen into an exhausted sleep after being consumed by melancholy the night before, simply turned her head on the pillow.

She felt disheveled from head to toe. The thick curtains blocked out all sunlight, making it impossible to tell the time.

“What time is it?”

“A little past noon. Aren’t you hungry?”

“…I don’t want to eat.”

She didn’t have a single shred of appetite.

Sancha wasn’t the least bit surprised by Ariadne’s refusal to eat.

Instead, she delivered the news. Her plan was to set out finger foods in the drawing-room instead of a meal.

“You have a visitor.”

“What?”

“Someone from the Valdesal family.”

Sancha strategically omitted specifying who from the Valdesal family it was.

She worried that her lady might refuse if it were a man.

“What? Why all of a sudden?”

“They hadn’t heard from you in a long time and came because they were worried…”

With the subject of the sentence missing, Ariadne assumed Giulia had come. With a groan, she pushed herself up in bed.

She couldn’t just turn away a female friend from high society who had come all this way out of concern, especially in these times.

It would be a different story if Ariadne were truly deathly ill, but she was merely depressed.

“I’ll get ready and come down. Please call Anna to help me dress.”

Ariadne added.

“Tell Anna to be sure to bring gloves. No, don’t have Anna do it, could you bring them yourself?”

As she spoke, Ariadne looked thoroughly dejected.

Sancha wanted to ask, ‘Would you like to go out with your guest?’ if the opportunity arose, but seeing her state, she knew it wasn’t the right time to bring it up.

It was a relief that her lady hadn’t just sent the guest away and declared she would continue to ail.

‘Well, the young Marquis Valdesal himself said a cup of tea in the drawing-room would be fine.’

Sancha rationalized the situation and gave Ariadne a positive smile.

“Gloves, I’ll bring all the different kinds. Let’s pick out a pretty pair.”

* * *

When Ariadne went down to the drawing-room, she asked blankly.

“…Why is Raphael here?”

“You didn’t hear?”

Raphael flashed a dazzling smile, revealing his white teeth. His red eyes and pale skin were exquisitely beautiful.

Ariadne found herself thinking that this man might be prettier than she was.

“I came in Giulia’s place.”

“Pardon?”

He came uninvited because he was worried, but he sent someone else instead of coming himself? Was he on an errand for Giulia? What did this mean?

Completely unaware of Sancha’s invitation, Ariadne was plunged into confusion.

Raphael didn’t give Ariadne a moment to grasp the situation. He tossed a lap blanket to her.

“Come on, let’s go out and play.”

“Excuse me?”

“Staying cooped up inside will only make you feel sluggish. Let’s go on a picnic.”

Raphael gestured to Ariadne.

“Ask for a cloak. I’ve prepared everything else.”

Without forcing the dumbfounded Ariadne to do the labor of calling a maid herself, Raphael pulled the bell cord to summon someone.

“You there, please bring a cloak for her ladyship. We’ll be stepping out for a bit.”

“Huh? Wh-what?”

“We’re keeping it casual, so there’s no need to change into a riding habit. I’ll have the horses brought out as well.”

Everything after that happened in a flash.

And so, Raphael succeeded in going on an outdoor date, something Duke Cesare had only thought about but never managed to achieve.