Chapter 74

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Grand Duchess Lariesa Ruined Everything
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Isabella was horrified. Missing the winter social season in Taranto was bad enough, but she had to get out quickly and spread the rumor that Countess Bartolini was Marquis Campa's real mistress. How else was she supposed to escape this filthy mire!

“Enough! Stop! How can you still be so defiant and refuse to listen to your parents, even in a situation like this!”

“No, no, Father, that's not it…”

Lucrezia's sharp rebuke followed.

“Be quiet! Listen to your father! I'm so ashamed I can't even show my face in public!”

Lucrezia usually took Isabella's side no matter what, so Isabella's face crumpled even more. Cardinal de Mare's sentence continued.

“All correspondence with the outside is forbidden. You are not to go to church. Stay out of sight and live as quiet as a mouse.”

“No correspondence! Please don't cut me off!”

She had to at least tell her few remaining friends that Marquis Campa's mistress was Countess Bartolini, not her! But seeing his eldest daughter insist so vehemently on exchanging letters, Cardinal de Mare concluded that Isabella must have a secret pen pal with whom she was having an affair. She had to be crazy about some man to act this way. While his conclusion was wrong, it was a very reasonable inference given the gifts from men scattered around her room.

“You still haven't come to your senses, even in this state! What kind of girl is so blinded by men that she doesn't see her own reputation crumbling! Do you have a brain in your head or not!”

Cardinal de Mare roared.

“All the luxuries in this room are confiscated! I will take them all and return them when you've come to your senses!”

Cardinal de Mare gestured to the butler, Niccolo, who was waiting outside the room.

“Niccolo! Box up all the luxuries in this room that look like they came from a man—no, anything that's beyond this child's means—and move them to my chambers!”

“Yes, Your Eminence!”

The butler Niccolo and three or four sturdy servants swarmed into the room and began haphazardly tossing Isabella's valuables into a large wooden chest. They confiscated not only the cosmetics and jewels on her vanity but also her furs and dresses. The luxuries were one thing, but then a servant's hand reached for the box containing Isabella's hairpiece, which sat next to the vanity. The hairpiece was evidence that Isabella had tampered with Ariadne's hook. Horrified, Isabella screamed. They absolutely could not find that!

“Father!”

“Enough!”

Seeing that Isabella was still not compliant, Cardinal de Mare felt his temper flare.

“It seems *The Book of the City of Ladies* wasn't enough to bring you to your senses. This time, it will be the Holy Scripture! Don't even think of leaving this room until you have transcribed the entire *Meditations*!”

Isabella's face went white. Last time, it was confinement within the house. This time, it was confinement to her room. It was a punishment Arabella often received, but one Isabella herself had never experienced.

“And what's this? You coveted a ruby so much you let your younger sister be disgraced? Do you even have a concept of sisterly love?”

Cardinal de Mare pounded his chest in frustration.

“After I'm gone, you'll only have each other! You must rely on one another to survive!”

Isabella muttered to herself. *After Father dies, I'll whisper in my brother's ear and have her kicked out of the house immediately.*

As if he had heard his eldest daughter's thoughts, Cardinal de Mare bellowed.

“Reflect on what you've done wrong as you carefully transcribe the *Meditations*! In the Book of Carlo, the Apostle Barnabas taught, 'Place no stumbling block before your brother,' meaning the elder must set an example and practice self-control so as not to cause their sibling to fall! Yet you, the eldest sister, instead of setting an example as the Holy Scripture commands, only think of how to torment your younger sister. I truly don't know where things went so wrong!”

He was revising his judgment of his eldest daughter. His eldest daughter, renowned as the greatest talent and beauty in San Carlo, was also an unparalleled troublemaker with a personality as striking as her face. Could he really push a girl like her as a match for Prince Alfonso?

Even if, by some miracle, he succeeded in getting her into the royal family, could she be trusted to make sound judgments that would benefit their house? Yet Cardinal de Mare did not give up all hope. He pronounced the punishment with the hope of her rehabilitation. *That child—no, that beauty—can be married off somewhere, no matter what. Please, my daughter, as beautiful as a snowflake, come to your senses while transcribing the Holy Scripture.*

“Transcribe the entire *Meditations*, reflecting on it two and three times over! Start with the Book of Carlo, which teaches of sibling affection! No, start with Deuteronomy, which emphasizes a woman's purity!”

His daughter's reputation was the top priority. Then came sisterly love. No, was sisterly love more important? His head began to ache.

“Don't come out of this room until you've copied it all! In the meantime, you will have two meals a day, only water and dry bread!”

A startled Isabella stared at her father. Cardinal de Mare did not forget a final warning.

“This goes without saying while you're in your room, but even after you're out, don't even dream of going within a hundred *piedi* of a man! I won't be sending you anywhere alone from now on! No more solo outings!”

*Thud!* The heavy oak door slammed shut right in the astonished Isabella's face. It was the last glimpse of outside light she would see until she finished transcribing the *Meditations*. By a stroke of luck, the hairpiece box remained on the vanity. Niccolo must not have thought it looked valuable, so he hadn't collected it. Isabella scrambled over, shoved the box into a chest beneath the vanity, and then, trapped in her room, thrashed about and cried alone.

*It's unfair! Unfair! What on earth did I do wrong!*

***

The day after the masquerade ball, King Leo III, his queen, Prince Alfonso, and Grand Duchess Lariesa were taking a morning stroll together. Leo III was old, but he was confident in his stamina. Wanting to show off his robust health to the Gallican party by waking up early even after a party, he had scheduled the walk for the crack of dawn. Thanks to him, the other three had been deprived of their morning sleep, dragged out at the break of day to forcibly admire the autumn foliage of Palazzo Carlo.

“So, Grand Duchess Lariesa, how did you find the masquerade ball last night?”

When the accompanying interpreter relayed Leo III's question to Grand Duchess Lariesa, she smiled and waved the interpreter away.

“I will speak for myself.”

“But custom dictates…”

“If I am to marry into San Carlo, I will eventually become an Etruscan, will I not? I should start getting used to the local language now.”

The interpreter looked troubled. In the end, she failed to dismiss the interpreter completely but compromised by having him stand aside while they talked. Grand Duchess Lariesa smiled at Leo III and replied.

“Ball fantastic. Because you. Thank you.”

Her grammar wasn't perfect, but it was at a level that could be considered cute. How could the king not find it endearing when the grand duchess of the Kingdom of Gallico—a nation whose rapidly growing power had been giving Leo III a headache—was being so deferential? Leo III laughed heartily and replied cheerfully to Grand Duchess Lariesa.

“Grand Duchess, did you meet many people?”

He had meant to ask if she had made new friends, but Grand Duchess Lariesa took it to mean 'who did you see?' She naturally began to talk about the people she had seen the previous night.

“Etruscan people. Very handsome and pretty.”

“Haha, you could see all that through their masks? You must have enjoyed an… intimate masquerade!”

It was a wholly inappropriate joke. At a masquerade, one only removed one's mask for a kiss, or something more. Mentioning an "intimate masquerade" was tantamount to asking the unmarried grand duchess of a foreign country which man she had been physical with. Just as Queen Marguerite frowned slightly, Grand Duchess Lariesa dropped a bombshell.

“King's two sons. Mask off. Both handsome and very close.”

Leo III's eyes widened. *Two sons? I officially have only one son. No, I only assigned one son to the Grand Duchess of Gallico. How could she have seen both their faces?*

*And what's this about them being close? They couldn't possibly be close… Surely she doesn't mean she kissed them both?!*

Prince Alfonso and Queen Marguerite were also failing to maintain their composure at Grand Duchess Lariesa's scandalous description. At that moment, the king's secretary, Sir Cipriano del Pianosa, who was following a step behind, quickly stepped forward to correct her.

“Your Majesty, Count Cesare removed his mask in front of people, which is when she saw him. Nothing untoward happened with Prince Alfonso, either.”

“Ah. Was it related to that incident?”

“It was.”

Leo III had also received a brief report about what had happened the previous night. It was something along the lines of 'Marquis Campa was discovered committing lewd acts at the masquerade ball, causing a slight disturbance. Count Cesare resolved the situation.' But even though the initial situation had been handled, his frown did not ease.

“However, two sons?”

Leo III officially had only one son. Within the kingdom, rumors might circulate secretly that Cesare was the king's bastard. It was impossible to stop everyone's mouths. But it was certainly not a story that should reach the ears of a foreigner, let alone a grand duchess who was in marriage talks with the legitimate prince. In this awkward situation, Grand Duchess Lariesa was no help at all. She failed to read the mood and nodded with a bright smile.

“Your Majesty the King. Two sons! So close. Prince Alfonso, lie for Count Cesare's girlfriend.”

Grand Duchess Lariesa's chaperone was Count Levien, a close aide to the Duke of Valois. He was not a member of the royal family, so he was not present. In other words, there was no one to keep Lariesa's mouth shut. To stop Lariesa from dropping any more bombshells, Queen Marguerite nudged her lady-in-waiting, ordering her to quickly fetch Count Levien from wherever he was in the palace. The interpreter, pale as a sheet, tried to prevent this disaster by quickly suggesting to Grand Duchess Lariesa.

“Your Highness, perhaps it would be better to speak in Gallican for smoother communication?”

Lariesa, who was feeling a bit frustrated anyway, agreed with a bright smile.

“Shall I?”

Freed from the limits of the language, Grand Duchess Lariesa unleashed a torrent of words. To the king's secretary, Sir del Pianosa, it sounded like bombs exploding all around him.

“I almost misunderstood, but Prince Alfonso personally stepped in to save Count Cesare's betrothed from being disgraced. She was mistaken for that bad man's lover, but the Prince testified that he had been with her! Later, Count Cesare came and expressed his gratitude to Prince Alfonso. The chivalry of Etruscan men is truly wonderful, isn't it?”

“Cesare's betrothed…?”

Cesare was not betrothed. But the king's intuition was pointing in a certain direction.

“If you mean Cesare's betrothed, are you perhaps talking about Cardinal de Mare's second daughter?”

The interpreter immediately conveyed this to Grand Duchess Lariesa, who stared at Leo III with wide eyes.

“Yes, that's her… but… does Your Majesty not know who Count Cesare's betrothed is? Has the Count not yet received Your Majesty's permission? For him to step in anyway, oh, how romantic!”

Leo III was a seasoned monarch. As soon as he heard Grand Duchess Lariesa's story, he pieced together a rough picture of what had happened the night before. Cesare was not betrothed. Alfonso had probably been up to some mischief in the palace gardens. His partner must have been Cardinal de Mare's second daughter. And Cesare must have cleaned up the mess for him. In the process, he probably flaunted the fact that he too was the king's son. His bastard son was not the type to act purely for others in a situation that offered him no benefit. He must have either found the situation amusing or put Alfonso in his debt. Leo III slowly turned to Sir del Pianosa, who was already trembling like an aspen leaf.

“Sir del Pianosa? I believe there are more reports I should be receiving.”

Del Pianosa, already so nervous his armpits were soaked with sweat, understood immediately and bowed deeply to Leo III.

“I will arrange for you to be briefed immediately.”

With an inscrutable, enigmatic expression, Leo III gave a nod to Grand Duchess Lariesa, then glanced at Queen Marguerite and Prince Alfonso. Queen Marguerite held her breath. That was the expression the king wore when he was furious.

“You. Come with me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

In front of Grand Duchess Lariesa, Leo III omitted the honorifics he should have used for his own queen and headed toward the king's study, leaving the rest of the party behind. Realizing why his father was angry, Prince Alfonso moved to follow Leo III and Queen Marguerite to the king's study. But Queen Marguerite stopped her son.

“Shh. You go back to the prince's quarters. There's no need for you to come.”

She hurried after Leo III and Sir del Pianosa as they entered the king's study, leaving Prince Alfonso and Grand Duchess Lariesa behind. Left alone with Prince Alfonso and not understanding what had happened, Grand Duchess Lariesa asked him.

“Your Highness, did I make a mistake?”

Unable to bring himself to say, 'It's not your fault,' Prince Alfonso opted not to blame the foreign grand duchess and instead gave a short reply.

“It is a domestic matter and of no concern to you, Grand Duchess. Let us go, I will escort you to your quarters.”

Count Levien, the head of the marriage negotiations and Grand Duchess Lariesa's guardian, came rushing over, but it was already too late.