Chapter 14

Prince Ming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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The prince had successfully befriended the prince and returned home wearing the new clothes given by the queen, but the aftermath was problematic. As expected, the Cardinal de Mare's residence was in chaos due to the furious tantrums of Lucrezia.

"Miss de Rossi? Miss de Rossi?! Has Queen Marguerite gone mad, how could she treat me like this?!"

- Clang! Lucrezia threw a vase, which split the air in the parlor.

"Filthy Gallic kingdom woman! How dare you speak to an Etruscan like that, you foreigner?!"

This time, a letter opener she had thrown at random flew and embedded itself in the fireplace. Arabella was cowering in the corner of the parlor, covering her ears and trembling, while Isabella was egging on her mother.

"You're right. Just because she's a queen, does that mean everything? She's been married for almost twenty years and still can't get rid of her accent? When she opens her mouth, she sounds so rustic, it's shocking!"

"Because she doesn't even try to adapt, she doesn't receive her husband's love! She can't even hold onto the king's affection, so she only sees her husband's face five times a year!"

"What's the point of being a legal wife if you can't receive love and live like a piece of straw? It would be better to be a concubine!"

"An incompetent woman, just because she's incompetent, she resents and insults women who understand men's hearts!"

Their tirades were escalating.

"Countess Rubina is actually the real power. If you want to petition the king at court, it's said that going through Countess Rubina is the fastest way."

"You're better than this mother. You don't even have any social connections, oh, what a life!"

"How skilled Countess Rubina is. It's said that the fief of the border will be granted to the newly born Count Cesare from Countess Rubina."

"Count Cesare, born to a concubine, is older than the prince born to the queen. What a sight! How does Marguerite think she can capture the king now, when she couldn't even when she was young! Alfonso hasn't even been named the crown prince yet! It's all because of her incompetence!"

"So you're just taking out your anger on me! You're so mean! So low! So despicable!"

'I heard your introduction well.'

Ariadne had no intention of getting involved in this mess. If she went in now, she would be like a piece of meat thrown to a hungry hyena. The enraged Lucrezia and the inciting Isabella would surely tear her apart.

'I need to quietly go to my room.'

To get from the front door to the third-floor attic, she had to go up the central staircase, which unfortunately was right next to the first-floor parlor. Ariadne decided to hide in the first-floor corridor and wait until they had calmed down and gone to their rooms. Since she was the second daughter, her mother and sister didn't keep track of when she returned home, so they wouldn't notice if she was late.

"Why isn't this girl coming in!"

'Ah...'

It seemed they were waiting for her not to check her return time but to vent their anger. As soon as Malleta came out of the parlor to ask the butler, she ran into Ariadne, who was hiding in the corridor.

"A... Miss Ariadne has arrived."

'So inflexible!'

Ariadne glared at Malleta and cursed under her breath as she moved her heavy feet toward the parlor, where the furniture was being destroyed in real time. - Whoosh! As soon as she entered the parlor, a piece of porcelain flew past her face. - Clang! The porcelain shattered against the wall, and the fragments stuck to her hair and dress. Ariadne bowed her head expressionlessly.

"I'm back, Mother."

"Mother? Mother? You must have thought a lot of me to embarrass me so much at the queen's mass!"

When Lucrezia was angry, it was best not to talk back. But Ariadne, who had always forgotten this since childhood, instinctively talked back.

"I didn't do anything, Mother."

"Talk! Can't! You! Don't!"

Lucrezia picked up a poker and threw it at Ariadne. Ariadne barely dodged it by turning her head to the left, but it hit Arabella, who was crouching behind her, on the leg.

"Aaaah!"

The ten-year-old child screamed like an animal, but no one paid attention to the unfortunate Arabella. Lucrezia, consumed by anger, didn't care that her own child had been hit by the poker she threw. Arabella was sobbing alone. Ariadne frowned and took a step back, crouching down to embrace Arabella. It was questionable whether the thin, malnourished arms of a fifteen-year-old could provide much comfort, but Arabella gratefully clung to her. The warmth of human touch was a comfort not only to Arabella but also to Ariadne. However, the threat was too overwhelming to find peace in such a way. Lucrezia, standing with her legs spread wide, leaned forward, her eyes wide with fury.

"You! Did you do that on purpose with the chemise?"

'So stupid, yet so perceptive.'

Though there was no evidence, Ariadne was amazed at how accurately Lucrezia had hit the truth and shook her head obediently.

"That's impossible, absolutely not, Mother."

Ariadne bowed her head deeper while straightening her posture. The only clothes Ariadne was wearing, except for the new chemise sent by Queen Marguerite, were cheap items sent by Lucrezia.

"I really had nothing else to wear."

It was a complete lie. As soon as she said it, Ariadne felt a throbbing pain in the last joint of her left ring finger, which had been regrown after rotting due to a disease instead of Cesare, when she returned to this life.

Lucrezia's eyes darted around the room.

"Who is responsible for this girl's clothes? Who stole them?"

The maids in the room turned their heads away to avoid Lucrezia's gaze. However, Malleta's demeanor was unusual. She was looking around and fidgeting, as if deciding whether to do something. Ariadne took a deep breath, sensing that something was about to happen.

'I should have warned her to keep quiet...'

Threats? Bribes? Malleta, whom Ariadne had known all her life, was the type who would risk her life for a small gain. She shouldn't have given the chemise to the maid. If she had, she should have at least hinted at future benefits for Malleta. She had been shortsighted.

'Please, please, just let it pass smoothly...'

Ignoring Ariadne's anxious and restless gaze, Malleta bowed her head deeply and, after about three seconds, pointed at the maid standing next to her.

"Her, this one!"

The maid, Sancha, with freckles on her cheeks, had dull green eyes that widened in shock.

"She's the one who takes care of Miss Ariadne's clothes!"

Lucrezia's high cheekbones twitched nervously. Ariadne couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that she was off the hook, and Sancha, out of fear, took an involuntary step back.

"You stole that woman's undergarments."

"No, no, Madam."

As Sancha waved her hands, Lucrezia bared her teeth at Malleta and issued an order.

"If you stole the expensive chemise Miss Ariadne was wearing, it would be in this maid's belongings. Malleta, go and search!"

"Yes, Madam!"

Malleta happily accepted the order and quickly ran up to the third floor where the maids lived. As she watched Malleta's back, Lucrezia threatened the trembling Sancha.

"If that woman's chemise is found in your belongings, be prepared."

Ariadne was conflicted about whether to tell the truth now. Although she was no longer accused of intentionally defaming Lucrezia, it was Ariadne who had suggested changing the chemise, and Sancha was about to be unjustly punished. Even if Sancha claimed her innocence, Lucrezia wouldn't believe her, as the chemise would indeed be found in Sancha's belongings. If the evidence that supported the belief was presented, the belief would be unshakable. Sancha would undoubtedly become Lucrezia's scapegoat. However, Ariadne didn't have the courage to step forward and tell the truth in front of the madly raging Lucrezia. The growling sound of Lucrezia, which she thought she had forgotten after nine years of dominating the social scene, brought back the deep-seated fear from her childhood. The memory of her mother being whipped by Lucrezia, her mother being kicked and Ariadne's hair being pulled, the memory of her mother's buttocks being tapped by her eldest son Ipolito, and the memory of running away and hiding in the stable out of fear of encountering Lucrezia while kneeling and crying in front of her mother's wooden coffin on a rainy day, all resurfaced. - Uh, uh, uh.

Sancha, huddled tightly, trembled and sobbed. She couldn't even close her eyes properly, and her wide-open eyes tried to suppress the sound as much as possible, with tears like chicken droppings rolling down her cheeks. Seeing the pitiful back of Sancha, Ariadne felt as if her heart was being torn in two between fear and guilt. She felt too guilty to pretend she didn't know, but she couldn't bring herself to raise her voice and step forward. The guilt she felt when she left her mother's coffin and ran to the stable on that rainy day, trembling, was tearing her heart apart. However, standing there frozen like an icicle, second by second, was unbearable. - Throb!

Her left ring finger felt as if it had been burned. The hot blood forming the new ring finger was spreading, bubbling under the skin.

'...It hurts!'

She thought she heard a voice, but it was not a human voice.

- The Golden Rule.

A divine voice, not of this world, whispered. The meaning was directly implanted in her mind, making it impossible to distinguish the sound.

- Treat others as you want to be treated. You have mourned and grieved over the betrayals you have suffered. Have you really never betrayed others for your own gain?

It was both a whisper and a rebuke. While everyone in the parlor was suffering, Malleta returned from the maids' quarters in a flash. She proudly took out a clean chemise from the old cloth bag she was holding and presented it to Lucrezia.

"It's her. I found it in her belongings, Madam."

Lucrezia, with a demonic expression as if rising from hell, took the chemise in one hand, waved it in the air, and threw it at Sancha's face, who was kneeling.

"Do you have anything to say, you rat-like thief?"

Sancha only trembled, her mouth tightly shut and her hands clenched. Enraged, Lucrezia began to throw whatever she could grab at Sancha. The first thing to fly through the air was a poker, followed by an ink bottle. - Whoosh! - Thud

The blue ink bottle hit Sancha's forehead directly, splattering the parlor with blue ink. Sancha, with her hair red, her face blue from the ink, and her eyes green with injustice and shock, was a sight to behold. Lucrezia, not stopping there, began to beat Sancha with an ivory pen in her hand. - Thud

Sancha didn't even make a sound as she was beaten, but her whole body trembled with each blow. Each time Sancha was hit, Ariadne's body trembled in sync. Each time Sancha was hit, more precisely, each time Ariadne turned a blind eye to Sancha's beating, the blood in her left ring finger burned and spread. The red aura was clearly growing.

- Those who benefit from the suffering of the good will pay the price. This is the curse of the Golden Rule.

However, Ariadne couldn't tell if the pain she was feeling was purely from the red aura or because she felt as if she was being hit herself when Sancha was hit. When Lucrezia's right arm, holding the ivory pen, rose high into the air, Ariadne couldn't hold back any longer and shouted.

"Stop!!"