Chapter 65

Alfonso couldn't believe his luck. He had thought he wouldn't see her, and he had tried to hold back his feet that wanted to go find her, walking out of duty. Yet, there she was right before his eyes, making him feel as if the heavens had bestowed a gift upon him.

"Ari, right?"

Ariadne's lips also curved into a smile. Though hidden by the mask, the warm breeze of her smile reached Alfonso.

"Yep! How did you end up here?"

The words "What about the Grand Duchess Larissa?" rose to her throat, but Ariadne didn't want Alfonso to know that she was aware of the Grand Duchess Larissa. It was a struggle to maintain her pride, however small it might be.

'I'll pretend I don't know since you didn't tell me. When everything is resolved, I'll come back to you as if nothing happened.'

Strictly speaking, Alfonso had never explicitly told Ariadne that he liked her, so she thought it was just her own wishful thinking. Therefore, she never voiced her thoughts, tightly wrapping them and burying them deep in her heart. However, the smile that spread across her face and the energy that coursed through her body when she saw Alfonso were impossible to hide.

"I wandered around the garden and ended up here. I just kept walking aimlessly, and there you were."

In Alfonso's mind, Larissa was already completely erased. He had forgotten his mother's warning. They talked about their appearances, the masked ball, and their future plans.

"By mid-November, the entire court will move to Taranto. You've never been to Taranto, right?"

"Yep, it's said to be the hometown of the Cardinal and 'Mother,' but I've never been there."

Cardinal de Mare was an orphan with no family or estate in Taranto. Lucrezia's birth family was better off not seen. Moreover, as a clergyman of the Holy See responsible for the San Carlo diocese, he couldn't follow the Etruscan court to the southern palace in winter.

"It would be great if you could come with us. The Prince's Palace can send an invitation."

Alfonso bit his tongue after saying this. Ah, it's not a sure thing. But he really wanted to go to the southern palace with her. He wanted to show her the sea scent in the dry air, the evergreen shrubs with a low saturation of green and olive, unique to the south. He wanted to see her eyes widen in surprise at the new sights and keep showing her amazing and beautiful things to keep her curiosity alive.

"An invitation?"

But Ariadne herself tilted her head. The Prince's Palace wouldn't be in a position to invite an unmarried noblewoman, let alone an outsider, to the southern palace. Alfonso quickly tried to salvage the situation.

"Due to various circumstances, it might be difficult to send an invitation in the name of the Prince's Palace. But I have a cousin, Bianca, in Taranto."

Alfonso, not wanting to disappoint Ariadne, revealed his initial idea, which he hadn't even mentioned to his secretary, Bernardino. It was uncharacteristic of the usually cautious Alfonso.

"Bianca is the sole heir of an unoccupied dukedom in Taranto. She always comes with us to the southern palace. If you receive an invitation from Bianca, you can naturally visit the Taranto palace."

Alfonso and Bianca of Taranto had a good relationship as cousins. Alfonso was a kind older cousin, and Bianca was a gentle younger cousin. So, asking Bianca to invite Ariadne was a reasonable request. Without hearing Bianca's opinion, Alfonso first proposed the idea to Ariadne. It was indeed uncharacteristic of Alfonso. Ariadne smiled brightly. She had also wanted to meet Bianca of Taranto. By then, the Grand Duchess of Valois would have returned to her own country.

"That would be great! Please invite me!"

* * *

While Alfonso and Ariadne were having a pleasant conversation by the abandoned fountain, two uninvited guests were approaching the fountain. The first uninvited guest was Isabella de Mare.

During her confinement, Isabella was even forbidden from sending and receiving letters, so she could only contact her friends right before the masked ball. They exchanged letters about where to meet, but the tight schedule meant they couldn't reach a conclusion before the ball. Isabella thought the meeting place would be the entrance to the grand ballroom based on the tone of the letters. However, when she arrived at the entrance, Leticia de Leonati and Camelia de Castiglione, whom she was supposed to meet, were nowhere to be found.

Instead, Isabella ran into Julia de Valdesar and the rest of her group. Unfortunately, Julia was wearing a Columbine mask that only covered half her face, and meeting them alone was the worst possible scenario.

"......!"

The group, spotting Isabella from a distance, started whispering to each other, fanning their faces. At least, that's what Isabella thought. She couldn't get close, but she made sure to convey that she was ignoring them, not the other way around. She gave a dismissive snort and left the grand ballroom, fanning her face.

After leaving the grand ballroom alone, she didn't want to be seen by others, so she wandered aimlessly to a deserted area, eventually reaching this spot. Isabella sniffled, feeling tears welling up.

'What a mess, the great Isabella de Mare......!'

She should have worn a mask that covered her entire face. Then she could have blended into the crowd......! But Isabella's troubles didn't end there. Walking through the garden in a bad mood, she heard voices ahead and cautiously approached.

"......The grapes at the Taranto palace are really delicious."

"Really?"

A couple was chatting. Not only their voices but also the woman's attire were familiar.

'Ariadne? Prince Alfonso?'

Isabella's eyes widened to the point of popping out. She felt a surge of jealousy. She quickly hid behind a shrub and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"There's an old vineyard behind the Taranto palace. The vines are too old to be used for wine, but the grapes that naturally fall from the old vines are the sweetest."

"Can you eat them after they fall to the ground?"

"Well, you won't eat the skin anyway, right?"

Isabella, ears burning, was ready to jump out and ruin the reputations of the couple if they said anything remotely inappropriate, but Alfonso and Ariadne's conversation was completely innocent.

'Ugh, this is killing me!'

* * *

In stark contrast to the first uninvited guest hiding behind a garden cover, the second uninvited guest boldly walked through the garden straight to the fountain.

Cesare was dressed as a perfect 'Plague Doctor' for the masked ball.

The Plague Doctor mask had a long, beak-like nose, typically plain white, but his was custom-made by the Collegio, with small, intricate fleur-de-lis patterns in black enamel and onyx starting from the eyes and covering the entire mask. The mouth was covered with black velvet, and he was dressed head to toe in black and red velvet, making it impossible for anyone to recognize him.

He was confident in his good looks but also wanted to confirm that his popularity wasn't just due to his appearance. Therefore, testing whether he could still appeal to the opposite sex while disguised was a game he played every year at the St. Michael's Day masked ball.

Moreover, this year had a more practical reason. Cesare had ignored and not replied to all the letters from the female comrades he had been in contact with. Since there were many of them, he was worried about running into an angry 'old friend' at the ball. So, he chose a costume that no one would recognize as Cesare at first glance.

Still, not feeling safe, Cesare ventured into the deserted garden. The Queen's Palace was one of his favorite hiding spots.

Before he received his own residence in San Carlo at the age of 13, young Cesare lived in the 'Mistress's Quarters' deep within the San Carlo Palace with Lady Rubina. When Lady Rubina would yell and throw a fit for some reason, young Cesare would hide in the Queen's Palace to avoid her.

The Queen's Palace was the safest place to hide from Lady Rubina, who had eyes everywhere. Moreover, Queen Marguerite believed that mistreating bastards was a vulgar act that lost a lady's dignity.

Even if Cesare was caught wandering the Queen's Palace, Queen Marguerite would scold him politely and give him a snack before sending him back to Rubina. Each time, Rubina would worry that her son had told the Queen about her misdeeds, and young Cesare would feel a sense of justice and repeatedly run to the Queen's Palace.

This behavior stopped when Alfonso grew older.

One day, when six-year-old Cesare was whipped thirty times by Lady Rubina for making three mistakes in his Latin dictation, he ran to the Queen's Palace as usual, played in the dirt, and met Queen Marguerite in the garden.

"Your Majesty, you are my stepmother, right? Can I call you mother?"

Queen Marguerite, with a porcelain doll-like expression but a gentle voice, replied,

"That depends on whether the King recognizes you as his son. Not now."

Cesare, not fully understanding the implications, continued to cling to Queen Marguerite like a puppy in the throes of adolescence. One day, he saw King Leo III, Queen Marguerite, and young Alfonso strolling in the garden.

The atmosphere between Queen Marguerite and King Leo III was colder than that between Lady Rubina and his father, but their attitude towards their golden-haired, chubby, and incompetent son was as sweet as honey.

"Our son! My successor!"

Queen Marguerite looked at the young, incompetent, and chubby Alfonso with a face full of happiness, a look that was never directed at Cesare. Hiding and watching, Cesare was first noticed by King Leo III, who was playing with Alfonso.

"......!"

He put Alfonso down and walked over to Cesare, slapping him.

* * *

Cesare, surprised by the slap, looked at his father with wide eyes.

"Father......"

"What do you think you're doing here? Get back to your mother!"

"But I want to play with Father and Mother......"

"Who is your mother? Who is your father?"

King Leo III, worried that his words might upset Queen Marguerite, who was standing behind him, became even more harsh.

"Because you were pampered, you don't know your place! You don't understand the difference between parents and children! Get out of here! This is not a place for you!"

Cesare looked at Queen Marguerite, hoping she would intervene. But she wasn't even looking at him. She was busy comforting young Alfonso, who had started crying after being handed over to her.

"Ah!"

"Our son, are you scared? Don't cry, my little one."

Cesare received no warmth. It all belonged to the golden-haired, chubby child. The loving mother and the kind father were taken by that golden lump.

After that, Cesare became a well-behaved child who obeyed Lady Rubina's unreasonable demands. No matter how harshly she scolded him, she was the only one on his side. He never set foot in the Queen's Palace again.

Today, he approached the Queen's Palace, perhaps because enough time had passed for the old wounds to heal. But every time he arrived at the Queen's Palace, he was destined to feel disappointment and frustration.

An elegant woman in a golden dress, wearing the mask and bracelet he had given her, was standing there, smiling tenderly and holding hands with the man he hated the most in the world.