Chapter 39

Lucrezia decided to be brazen.

"Yes, he's my blood nephew. Janobi, the son of my second brother, Stefano."

Giovanni, the Latin teacher who had come before, was a distant cousin of Lucrezia, but this time it was a closer relative. It seemed he was determined to take proper care of him. Arabella, who had just finished a month of penance, naively interjected.

"Oh, that ugly brother?"

"Shut up and stay out of it."

Lucrezia growled at Arabella from the head of the table, and the cowed Arabella only ate her food, her nose buried in her plate.

"There aren't many relatives in the family, so what can I do? If there were any relatives on my father's side, I would have naturally invited them, but since there aren't, I have to do this."

This was a subtle jab at the fact that Cardinal de Mare, an orphan, had no relatives on his father's side. Indeed, when Cardinal de Mare heard this, he did not respond and only let out a sigh.

"What is that brother doing these days?"

In response to Isabella's question, Lucrezia gave a lengthy answer. Words like "promising future," "kind," and "diligently preparing for the future" were used, but in essence, it was about a squire, not a knight or even a squire-in-training. A squire is someone who, in exchange for learning martial arts from a knight, performs menial tasks such as leading the knight's horse, helping the knight into armor, and feeding the horse. If a noble boy from a knight's family works as a squire, he usually becomes a squire-in-training around the age of twenty. However, if a boy from a family in another profession works as a squire, there is no guarantee when he will become a knight. Most of them spend years, even decades, dreaming of knighthood and advancement, living off their parents. In other words, it is a position chosen by a boy from a well-off family who is not smart enough to become a lawyer or merchant but finds farming too trivial to do.

"Isn't that a bit low-class?"

Finally, Cardinal de Mare could not hold back and spoke. Although it was not something he should say to his wife's nephew, Lucrezia's family had, in fact, been living off Cardinal de Mare's blood and sweat for the past twenty years. It was only natural that his words were not gentle. However, from Lucrezia's perspective, it seemed that this was not the case. She snapped back with a fit of temper.

"Are you suggesting I marry Janobi to one of them? It's just a temporary debutante partner! If not Janobi, do you have any other relatives to take his place?"

When Lucrezia acted this way, it usually led to a cold atmosphere and a barrage of nagging and complaints for at least four days, and Cardinal de Mare had to be cautious in his own home. Cardinal de Mare, suffering from an impending headache, rubbed his forehead and waved his hand.

"Fine, fine, there are no people! It's my fault for having no relatives! Do as you please!"

* * *

Lucrezia's decisiveness was remarkable. Her nephew, Janobi, had already received a message from Lucrezia a week ago and had left his hometown, the Tarento estate. By the time Lucrezia announced to Cardinal de Mare at lunch that she would bring Janobi, Janobi had already crossed the city limits of San Carlo. He arrived at Cardinal de Mare's residence that afternoon and was immediately invited to the tea party to meet Ariadne.

"I am Janobi de Rossi, invited by the lady of the house. Your mansion is truly magnificent. Oh, were you all living so luxuriously without me?"

As the son of a family that depended entirely on Lucrezia for living expenses, Janobi was greedy and quick to complain, not knowing gratitude. He was a young man in his early twenties, short and stocky with a thick neck and short limbs. His small eyes, chubby cheeks, and lack of a chin made him look younger than his age. The three sisters, Isabella, Ariadne, and Arabella, sat in the parlor, each with different thoughts as they looked at this "cousin."

Arabella was the simplest.

'He is ugly, just as I thought.'

Ariadne felt a sense of cheapness from the young man's appearance.

'His eyes are dull.'

Isabella, before Janobi even sat down properly, sensed that he was a pushover.

'This type. He won't listen to me.'

Janobi, unaware of what the sisters were thinking, strutted and greeted his aunt.

"Aunt Lucrezia! It's been five years since I last saw you at my grandfather's funeral. How have you been?"

"Janobi, I heard you've been working hard lately."

"Of course."

Janobi then began to boast about himself in front of Lucrezia and the sisters. He talked as if he were a knight, discussing how great knights are, who the recent excellent knights are, and what topics are popular among knights. Despite visiting the home of his uncle, the cardinal, he boasted that if things went well, being a knight was a much better profession than being a clergyman. After a while, he turned his gaze to the sisters.

"Oh, by the way, one of you will be my debutante partner."

He scanned the three sisters and dismissed Arabella.

"You're just a kid, so no."

Arabella, who hated being treated like a child, scowled. Janobi, turning his gaze, saw the pure and delicately beautiful Isabella and his face lit up, but he had heard something.

The de Mare family had a beautiful eldest daughter, a newly born second daughter, and the original youngest daughter. Since Tarento was at the southern end of the territory, the story of the "girl who sees through the truth" that was spreading in San Carlo had not yet reached there. Janobi, who could not objectively see himself, knew that the beautiful eldest daughter, known for her beauty, was not his match. Today, his date was the second daughter, who was said to be plain. Disappointed, Janobi extended his right hand to Ariadne, signaling for her to place her left hand on his for a hand kiss.

"It's you, then. Janobi de Rossi, your cousin brother."

Ariadne's left eyebrow shot up. The two guards behind her glared with green eyes. If Lucrezia hadn't been there, the guards might have hit Janobi with a tray. Ariadne hid her hands behind her back, leaving Janobi's extended right hand hanging awkwardly in the air.

"Just a little."

She indirectly protested, "Are you being too forward?" Janobi was Lucrezia's blood nephew, but in reality, he and Ariadne, who shared no blood, were strangers. It was not appropriate to speak casually on their first meeting. However, Janobi, feeling insulted that his gesture for a hand kiss was ignored, became confrontational.

"Our aunt! Oh, you are my cousin, right? Hey, can't a cousin brother speak casually to a cousin sister?"

His attitude was confrontational, but his words were technically correct. In San Carlo, it was virtuous for a recognized illegitimate child to treat the legitimate wife as a mother, and it was polite for others to treat the illegitimate child as if they were the legitimate child. The problem was that a hand kiss had a sexual connotation and was not done between real relatives. For a cousin brother to insist on a hand kiss was highly inappropriate. Ariadne clenched her teeth and smiled, nodding.

"Brother Janobi, it's nice to meet you. I'm wearing gloves, so let's do the hand kiss next time."

It was impolite for a gentleman to request a hand kiss when the lady was not wearing gloves. If a lady was not wearing gloves and a hand kiss was unavoidable, it was proper to kiss the air above the hand to avoid contact. From the look of it, Janobi would not follow such etiquette. However, if she pointed out his mistake, he would likely claim, "I was going to kiss the air, what do you take me for?" Ariadne decided to let it go, pretending to be sensitive.

But Lucrezia, who could not keep quiet, chimed in.

"What's wrong with a hand kiss? Why are you being so picky among family? Brother Janobi must be hurt."

"Ariadne can be a bit prickly. If she doesn't like it, she doesn't like it. She doesn't consider others' feelings and has no flexibility at all."

Isabella, the soulmate of Ariadne's mother, joined in to make Ariadne look strange. Ariadne decided to escape quickly, knowing that staying would only make things worse.

"I'll be right back..."

Ariadne excused herself to go to the bathroom and stood up. She planned to stay in the bathroom for an hour before slowly returning. Janobi, seeing Ariadne stand up, clicked his tongue.

"Wow, you're really tall."

Ariadne, hearing the unwanted comment, turned to look at Janobi. Since entering Cardinal de Mare's residence, Ariadne had been extremely careful with her diet, yet she had grown like a bamboo shoot, reaching 3 piedi 10 ditto (about 166 centimeters), a considerable height for her age. Janobi, unfortunately, was short for his age.

"You're so tall, and you wear heels too?"

Ariadne glanced down at her shoes, which had a low heel of about 1 ditto (3.6 centimeters).

"Since you're my cousin, I'll give you some advice. Listen carefully."

Janobi, despite no one asking, began a grand speech as if sharing a crucial secret tip.

"These days, women think they need to stand out, so they wear high heels, but that's really inconsiderate. A woman who knows how to make the man next to her stand out is the one who truly stands out."

Janobi strutted.

"On the day of the event, wear flat shoes. A truly wise woman would do that."

Lucrezia watched this scene with a pleased expression, and Isabella clutched her stomach, enjoying the spectacle. Arabella and Sancha, along with Ariadne, looked at Janobi as if he were a repulsive lump. Ariadne, maintaining her composure, managed to leave the room with a smile. As soon as the parlor door slammed shut, her expression turned sour. She decided not to return in an hour and instructed Sancha to tell everyone that Miss Ariadne was not feeling well and could not continue drinking tea.

"I can tolerate most things, but this is a bit too much."

"Yes, Miss, I agree."

Ariadne, who had returned to her study, was informed by a servant that a letter had arrived. The envelope, adorned with gold, was sealed with red wax bearing the initials AFC.

"It's from the prince, Miss."

"The answer is yes."

Ariadne and Sancha looked at each other and nodded.