Chapter 80

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Lucrezia's Fortune Teller Incident (2)
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Lucrezia returned to the Cardinal de Mare’s residence filled with hope and passion. However, the words that had seemed so persuasive when she heard them from the fortune teller now felt uncertain upon her return home. When it came to actually putting the plan into action, she wondered if it wasn't far too dangerous.

‘That gypsy, she knew who I was.’

Lucrezia first heard about the fortune teller from a gypsy peddler. To be precise, a peddler who visited with goods from the Moorish Empire had told Lucrezia that Countess Rubina’s personal fortune teller had remained in San Carlo this year instead of following the Countess down to the southern villa. This was top-tier information. When Countess Rubina was in the capital, she kept the fortune teller close and never let her out of sight. But the peddler had only told her where to go to meet the fortune teller, not arranged a formal meeting. Therefore, the fortune teller couldn't have been introduced to Lucrezia by the peddler. At least, that's what Lucrezia believed.

‘Did she really know I was the Cardinal’s wife through psychic powers?’

…And the crystal ball! The figures that had moved so vividly inside that crystal ball were undoubtedly Isabella, Arabella, and Ariadne.

‘Something like that has to be real.’

Recalling the crystal ball, where silhouettes danced in the smoke, Lucrezia shook her head, dismissing the thought that the fortune teller might be a fraud. Besides, the fortune teller hadn't asked for any money at all. She couldn't possibly be a swindler.

‘If I just take the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea,’ all my troubles can be solved.’

She wasn’t even asking to keep it forever. All Lucrezia had to do was borrow it for a short time, have it undergo a purification ritual, and then return it to its original place. Compared to the potential gains, wasn't the risk almost nonexistent? Having thought this far, Lucrezia resolved that she must carry out the fortune teller's instructions.

* * *

The sun shone brightly in a deep blue sky, devoid of a single wisp of cloud. It was technically early winter, but judging by the intense sun and the warm breeze blowing across the deck, the weather on the ship was like an Etruscan autumn.

—*Crackle!*

“Goodness me!”

The old woman, who had been sitting on the deck of the sailing ship and gazing into a basin of holy water, jumped up in surprise. Her right hand tingled from the electric shock, and she frantically shook her arm, holding a sacred metal bell to ward off the evil energy.

“Which bastard cast the ‘Curse of the Golden Rule’ again!”

The old woman grumbled with all her might.

“From the structure of the spell, it’s the work of those Amhara again! Do they have brains or not?”

Dressed in a red skirt, she had yellowish skin, small, slanted eyes, and hair as black as ebony. She was a member of the ‘Balasa Ordo,’ a nomadic tribe from the eastern continent.

“Grandma, are you hurt?”

The old woman’s grandson peeked out and examined her hand. He looked to be about eight or nine years old.

“I’m not hurt. I cut it off as soon as it grazed me, so nothing really splashed out. I don’t know what those Amhara fools think they’re doing, unleashing the ‘Curse of the Golden Rule’ upon the mortal world. And not even in their own lands, but on the central continent! Where did they find such a peculiar case?”

On the central continent, anything coming from the eastern continent was blithely called ‘Moorish.’ However, what the people of the central continent thought of as the ‘Moorish Empire’ was mostly limited to the Ethaelkoze people, who had established a powerful empire in the old Yesak region, and the Amhara tribe, who lived in the deep black lands. In truth, there were three more nations that the central continent’s people failed to distinguish. The Moorish Empire was a loose confederation where the kings of five nations took turns holding the highest position of power. The old woman was a shaman of the ‘Balasa Ordo,’ who had established their empire in the furthest east. After suffering from a divine illness in her youth, she received the power of a divine vessel and reigned as the greatest female shaman of the Balasa Ordo, but the ruler was always the problem. When the newly crowned young Khan of the Balasa Ordo began to rule with tyranny, she fell into deep thought. As the foremost shaman, the old woman had a duty to advise the Khan. But as soon as the Sanua-Khan stained his hands with the blood of his kin, she used the holy water to glimpse the heavens, and without a second glance, she grabbed her only blood relative, her grandson, by the wrist and fled the capital. And so, the old woman was now leaving the Balasa Ordo behind, traveling west along the Silk Road, and had finally boarded a sailing ship bound for Etruscan. The vessel, crossing the ‘Black Salt Sea,’ sailed swiftly through the hot southern air, relying on a single gust of wind. Her mind and body were not at ease on this escape. The grandson asked the old woman, who was grumbling more than usual.

“Grandma, why is the ‘Judgement of the Golden Rule’ a curse? If you succeed, you can achieve anything!”

The old woman, horrified, swung her metal bell and quickly formed a barrier by making signs in the four cardinal directions. After pulling her grandson inside the barrier, she scanned her surroundings warily. Only after confirming that she didn't feel the gaze of the ‘High Ones’ did she click her tongue at the boy’s perception of reality.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, you foolish child! In the thousands of years that thousands have tried, who has ever succeeded!”

“There was Prometheus of the Hellenes! The bringer of fire, the prophet, the one who sees first!”

The old woman shook her head.

“And so, did that Prometheus become happy?”

At his grandmother’s point, the boy could only hang his head.

“No.”

But it seemed he couldn't hide his naive fervor.

“But he brought fire to mankind! He is praised to this day! His name is remembered in history as a hero!”

The old woman couldn't hold back any longer and smacked the back of the boy’s head.

“It seems there’s no point in this old woman giving up everything to take you to the land of the western barbarians, you brat!”

With her grandson clutching the back of his head, the old woman’s nagging knew no end.

“Let’s be generous and say Prometheus succeeded. Do you not think of the countless ‘Judged Ones’ who couldn't even achieve their goals? Common sense, boy. If one in a thousand succeeds, are you more likely to be the one, or part of the rest?”

The old woman’s voice grew louder.

“Changing the past is not an easy task. Is breaking the chain of causality easy? How many *species* do you think hang by a single thread? In most cases, the threads of fate are so tangled like a spider's web that you can't even touch them. Just because you prevent one event doesn't mean the fated *species* won't occur!”

Still uneasy, she implored the boy.

“You, keep your eyes shut tight. We saw nothing. When we get to Etruscan, even if you see a ‘Judged One’ walking around with two dots, one under each eye, you keep your mouth shut and your ears closed. I don’t want you to be a hero. I just want you to eat well, live well, and enjoy a full life before you go.”

There was a definite price to pay for stepping out of the private sphere and becoming a public figure. The old woman had lived long enough to make her own value judgment on whether sacrificing an individual for the causality of the world was worth it. But she also knew very well that children often made different judgments than the elderly.

“Please, let this old woman feel that it was worth it to abandon everything and bring you to a land where the causality surrounding us is thin.”

At his grandmother’s pleading tone, so different from her usual self, the boy looked down at the floor and reluctantly agreed.

“Yes…”

* * *

Arabella, having decided to apply to the music conservatory, was enthusiastically composing. In addition to the Missa Brevis, for which she was credited as a co-composer with Isabella, Arabella already had one or two completed lute solos and a string quartet. Nevertheless, Arabella wanted to include more in her portfolio. Lately, she had been working on a soprano solo aria that she was determined to include in an opera one day. Ariadne, having no expertise in composition, could only cheer on her sister's efforts. But she knew very well whose heart needed to be won over for admission to the convent's music conservatory.

‘In the end, the recommendation letter from Cardinal de Mare to the Mother Superior is the key.’

While encouraging Arabella’s work, she drafted the letter that Cardinal de Mare would send to the Mother Superior. People who just had to stamp their seal were often lazy. Without a pre-written draft, Cardinal de Mare might procrastinate until the deadline passed. Ariadne sat next to Arabella as she wrestled with staff paper and instruments, and in her spare moments, she completed the Cardinal's letter. The recommendation was ready to be sent as soon as it had Cardinal de Mare's signature. Ariadne began spending much more time with Arabella in the girls' drawing room. Naturally, Ariadne's study was left empty for longer periods. From then on, however, Ariadne would feel a strange sense of unease whenever she sat in her study.

“Sancha, how did the ink bottle end up on the floor?”

“I don’t know… I’m sure I put it away properly before leaving. And there’s no one who would really come in and out of the study.”

Once she felt something was off, everything started to seem suspicious. On Ariadne’s orders, her personal maids began to take turns guarding her room around the clock.

‘This won't do…!’

The person most anxious about this measure was Lucrezia. Lucrezia had first sent the head maid, Giada, to find out where Ariadne kept the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea.’ After a thorough search of Ariadne’s rooms, Giada had come to the rather correct conclusion that the necklace was likely in Ariadne's safe in her study. But in the process, she had knocked over an ink bottle, which had heightened Ariadne's vigilance. After that, she could make no progress at all.

‘Oh, this is so frustrating!’

Lucrezia had intended to send someone to find out the combination to Ariadne’s safe, but now that no one could even get near the room, she was out of options. Bribing one of Ariadne’s maids was another possibility, but Anna disliked causing unnecessary trouble, and Vicenta was young and uncompromising. Besides, neither of them had access to the safe. The only one who could get that close was Sancha. But there wasn't a single crack to slip a knife into with that damn Sancha. Giada, who had approached with an awkward smile, was shot down before she could even speak.

“I suppose you need something from my lady's room?”

“Uh, um?”

“Seeing you come all this way in person, I know perfectly well who was rummaging through the room in the first place!”

Sancha even gave a sharp snort before walking away. Giada couldn't bring herself to confess to Lucrezia that this whole mess was her fault for dropping the ink bottle. In such situations, emphasizing the enemy's strength was the best course of action. So, she only reported that the Sancha girl was extremely sharp and deeply loyal, and that there seemed to be no way forward.

“Are you saying there’s truly no way!”

Lucrezia exploded in frustration, venting her anger at Giada. Lucrezia had initially gone to meet the fortune teller alone to be discreet. But she was naturally loose-lipped. Unable to keep the amazing things she had witnessed to herself, Lucrezia had negated the point of going alone and told Giada everything. Giada, now an unwilling accomplice in a matter she wanted no part in, was in an awkward position. Giada carefully added a word.

“The young lady is extremely cautious and watertight in how she manages her people, my lady.”

“So, you’re telling me to just sit here and twiddle my thumbs?”

“No, no, of course not, my lady! Instead of targeting the young lady, why don’t you try visiting that fortune teller again? If she’s as skilled as they say, couldn’t she perform a purification ritual even without the actual object?”

Right, that was a valid point.

“You’re right. Since she’s the most renowned fortune teller in the capital, she must have some way.”

Lucrezia once again donned a black robe and, this time taking Giada with her, rode in the de Mare carriage toward the alleys of San Carlo. What Lucrezia didn't know was that Ariadne was watching her black carriage depart from behind the curtains of her second-floor suite.