Chapter 57

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: The Punishment of Zanobi de Rossi
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Zanobi, unnerved by his own actions that morning, drank heavily to forget the sliver of fear. The official drink of the party was champagne from the Kingdom of Gallico. After downing one, then two glasses of the crisp, bubbly fruit wine, by evening, Zanobi was in a state where he could barely recall his own mother’s face. He was panic-stricken when people suddenly swarmed him, bound him, and dragged him to the VIP section in the center of the tent, but thanks to his inebriation, he couldn’t put up a decent fight. Tightly bound, he was forced to his knees on the bare ground below the VIP seats, his body pressed low.

“Zanobi de Rossi of Taranto!”

The one delivering the thunderous command before him was none other than the one and only sun of Etruscan, His Majesty Leo III himself. Seeing the face from commemorative coins actually speaking and moving right in front of him felt completely unreal. Zanobi answered as if mesmerized.

“Yes, yes!”

“Insolence! You fail to show proper respect to His Majesty the King!”

Conscious of the Gallican delegation watching, Leo III was harsher than usual, and his retainers were stricter with formality and etiquette. A kick flew from somewhere, striking Zanobi in the small of his back and forcing his head to the ground. The man who kicked him had wanted the greeting, ‘I greet the Sun of Etruscan,’ but Zanobi seemed too drunk and startled to manage it. Leo III gave up on receiving the greeting and proceeded with a swift interrogation.

“Is it true that you shot a crossbow at Ariadne de Mare, the second daughter of the de Mare family?”

Zanobi, either drunk or because he was drunk, was certain he must not affirm that statement.

“No, it wasn’t me! I absolutely did not do it!”

He added more, rambling nonsensically.

“I was inside the tent the whole time, so how could I have shot an arrow at Ariadne’s horse’s rear?”

Cesare watched Zanobi with an expression of utter contempt, as if observing a lower life form. Ariadne interjected at the perfect moment.

“Your enlightened Majesty, I am deeply sorry to have troubled your mind with such a trivial matter.”

As the victim herself spoke up, Leo III nodded, granting her permission to speak.

“Count Cesare only ever said that Zanobi de Rossi ‘shot a crossbow at me.’ He never said a single word about whether the bolt hit me, missed me, or hit the horse.”

A murmur went through the crowd as people realized the point Ariadne had made. Leo III also frowned and nodded. Zanobi, forced to his knees on the ground, jerked his head up and shook it wildly.

“No! It’s a misunderstanding! I just… I saw Ariadne walking without a horse and assumed it must have been hit!”

His quick thinking was impressive. But there was irrefutable proof. Ariadne nodded to Cesare, and on her signal, he produced Zanobi’s arrow from his coat and respectfully placed it before Leo III.

“Your Majesty, this is the arrow that was lodged in the horse’s rump.”

The arrow, still crusted with the horse’s dried blood, was a type where the fletching was dyed with the unique colors and crest of its owner’s house to distinguish whose prize the game was. To make matters worse, Zanobi had fired the very first arrow he had loaded that day at Ariadne. The first arrow was typically inscribed with the family crest and name on its shaft as a prayer for good fortune in the hunt. Zanobi’s arrow was clearly engraved with the de Rossi family crest and name. When Leo III couldn’t read the name due to his aging eyes, his secretary, standing beside him, quickly read it aloud for him.

“De Rossi of Taranto…! It is indeed an arrow of the de Rossi family.”

After receiving a whisper from a nearby attendant, the secretary announced in a loud voice for all to hear.

“The only participant from the de Rossi family of Taranto in today’s hunt is Zanobi de Rossi!”

The crowd gasped once more.

- “My, why would he tell such a lie that would be exposed so quickly.”

- “He must have a hopeless life to shoot a crossbow at someone during a hunt, don’t you think?”

- “A crossbow, not even a longbow! Heavens! Is he mad?”

Ariadne added fuel to the fire.

“Zanobi de Rossi followed me without provocation as I was strolling along a path near the hunting grounds this morning and shot a crossbow at my back! This is attempted murder!”

Just then, a piercing scream erupted from the crowd.

“It’s a misunderstanding, it must be a misunderstanding!”

It was Lucrezia. She glided forward, stood beside Zanobi, and pointed an accusing finger at Ariadne.

“It hit the horse in the end, didn’t it? He couldn’t have been aiming for you! My nephew Zanobi is such a sweet, kind boy. The idea that he’d shoot a crossbow at a person is absurd! And you must have done something to upset him! That’s why he shot the horse!”

Emboldened, Zanobi took advantage of Lucrezia’s support.

“That’s right! It’s just, I heard Ariadne was bullying Isabella, so I tried to discipline her a bit. When she wouldn’t listen, I shot an arrow at the horse as a warning! As her cousin, isn’t this a level of discipline I’m allowed to… Gack!”

The same retainer of Leo III kicked Zanobi again to shut him up for speaking without permission. He looked as if he wanted to beat Lucrezia into silence as well, but he couldn’t dare lay a hand on the Cardinal’s mistress. It wasn’t just the military officials who found Lucrezia disagreeable; the civil officials felt the same. Count Marquez, who had just returned to the hunting tent after a difficult day at the negotiation table, glanced nervously at both the Gallican envoys and the King before hissing at Lucrezia in a low voice.

“My lady! Do you know where you are, to be acting so rashly!”

But despite the retainers taking her side, Ariadne was now in a moment of grave peril. She was effectively silenced. Lucrezia was publicly known as Ariadne’s stepmother, so Ariadne could not openly argue with her in a public setting. Zanobi claimed Ariadne was bullying Isabella, and Lucrezia insisted that Ariadne was simply ‘misunderstanding’ Zanobi’s actions. It was a situation where she could not offer a rebuttal. The one who saved her was Count Cesare.

“Your Majesty! The crossbow bolt fortunately hit the horse, but the animal bolted for a long time, causing Lady de Mare to be thrown off deep in the Orte Forest, where she nearly died. Had I not saved her, she would be dead. Whether he aimed for the person or the horse, it is still attempted murder.”

And he added one more thing.

“I nearly died in the process as well. Rescuing someone from a rampaging horse is a dangerous task. Does this not mean he nearly killed a peer holding the proud title of Count of the great Kingdom of Etruscan? And what is he? A baron? A baron’s son? Ah, not even a baronial house, was it? Does he even have a title?”

He had said ‘a peer,’ but everyone present, including Leo III and the Gallican delegation, knew Cesare’s true lineage. This was an incident where a royal bloodline, albeit a half-tainted one, could have been extinguished. Zanobi, even in his drunken state, instinctively realized this was very serious trouble.

“That arrow is mine, but…! It’s a misunderstanding…!”

Leo III’s retainer delivered a third kick, and a solid blow to the ribs finally silenced Zanobi. Leo III suppressed his rising anger and mentally weighed the factors he had to consider in punishing the man before him. First, while it was true Zanobi had shot an arrow at the back of the Cardinal’s illegitimate daughter, it was impossible to confirm whether he had aimed for her or her horse. Was it attempted murder or destruction of property? Or, as Cesare argued, was shooting the horse itself attempted murder? The sentence would hinge on this judgment. Second, Cesare’s injuries were a result of his own decision to save Ariadne, not something Zanobi could have foreseen. It would be difficult to charge Zanobi with attempting to kill a member of the royal bloodline. Besides, with the Gallican delegation watching with wide eyes, he couldn’t exactly acknowledge Cesare as royalty. Third, he wanted to maintain a good relationship with Cardinal de Mare. Although the Cardinal’s child had nearly come to great harm at the hands of his mistress’s nephew, he wasn’t sure if the Cardinal would appreciate a harsh punishment for Zanobi, especially with Lucrezia defending him so vehemently in public. Men were often more lenient with the women they shared a bed with than with their own children. Fourth, despite all this, the man named Zanobi seemed rotten to the core, lying with every breath and showing no respect for his superiors. Fifth, with the Gallican envoys watching the entire spectacle, Leo III felt the dual pressure of needing to appear as a merciful sovereign while also delivering a wise verdict to display his authority. After weighing all these factors, Leo III decided on Zanobi’s punishment.

“Zanobi de Rossi, you have tormented a lady, a person you, as a knight, should protect, and then you lied to cover it up. Considering you attacked your own cousin, you also lack familial affection.”

Hearing this, it sounded as if he was acknowledging the attempted murder of Ariadne. But Leo III’s verdict continued.

“Therefore, for shooting the crossbow at the horse, you are sentenced to twenty lashes. For your lies, ten lashes. And for forsaking the bonds of kinship, ten lashes. A total of forty lashes.”

A stir went through the crowd. People seemed a bit surprised by the merciful sentence. While a flogging could be fatal if administered poorly, it was a punishment typically reserved for minor crimes like theft. Zanobi, still kneeling, and Lucrezia, watching anxiously, breathed a sigh of relief that he was being punished for shooting the horse, not for the attempted murder of Ariadne, and that the sentence was flogging, not imprisonment or exile. His honor was not tarnished. This was just a mishap. With time, everyone would forget and move on. If they sent Zanobi back to his hometown, no one there would ever know. But Leo III’s sentence was not yet finished.

“However! Zanobi de Rossi seems to have no understanding of the concept of chivalry. Placing a sharp blade in the hands of a fool will only bring harm to the people. Therefore, I hereby forbid Zanobi de Rossi from ever being knighted, for the rest of his life. That is all!”

Zanobi felt a shock as if he’d been struck on the head with a hammer. Forgetting all etiquette, he jerked his head up to stare at Leo III.

“No!”

Zanobi let out a long, wailing cry like a stuck pig.

“Anything but that! A knight! A knight! I have to become a knight!”

“Silence! Enough! Drag this man away!”

Leo III’s secretary urged the nearby soldiers. Half a dozen fully-armored soldiers rushed in, seized the thrashing Zanobi, and began to drag him out of Leo III’s sight.

“What’s the big deal about tormenting some impertinent little wench! Aaargh! I’m meant to be a great man, a great man…!”

Watching Zanobi scream, Lucrezia felt the blood drain from her head as the world began to spin. That brute, for all his faults, had been the hope of the de Rossi family. Today, the door to Lucrezia’s hopes had slammed shut—the hope that her family would one day become a respectable house of knights, that Zanobi would earn his own living and no longer need aid that came with fawning and groveling before his aunt, and that she herself could one day rely on Zanobi and her family to hold her head high and speak with a loud voice. - Thud!

“Good heavens, someone’s collapsed over here!”

“It’s Cardinal de Mare’s mistress! She’s fainted!”

“Mother!”

Isabella’s sharp scream pierced the air. Chaos erupted all around. But the ordeal awaiting Zanobi was not yet over.