I don't think he would make excuses for the chemise he wore. Anyone can see that it's a kitchen clothes.
"Lucrecia seems to be raising Cardinal De Mare's second daughter to be less than a maid."
"Even distant relatives and maids wouldn't wear clothes like that. It really is a maid outfit."
Isabella's pupils trembled like an earthquake. She didn't know what else to do. As her face turned red and she was weighing whether to add to her lies or run away, Queen Marguerite, who had been keeping her mouth shut, threw a single word at Isabella.
"Is that chemise the one you were wearing?"
Isabella turned blue and closed her mouth like a seashell. For a girl of only seventeen, Isabella was quick to judge her situation. If you're cornered by her one-shot, it's best to keep her quiet and escape. But Lucrezia, who was not as smart as her own daughter, tried to defuse her situation somehow.
"That is… … . I didn't dress it like that, it looks like the maids swapped it out!"
Queen Marguerite clicked her tongue. Lucrezia tried to insist that she did not harass her daughter-in-law, but she confessed that she did not manage her household at all. Queen Marguerite resolutely threw her hand out and with a gesture stopped Lucrezia from speaking.
"It happened. Take that child and give him a proper chemise to change into."
Queen Margaret's maid bowed her head and took Ariadne's hand to raise her up. Ariadne brought out her acting skills to the fullest, her eyes wide open as if she didn't know anything, and she looked around and stood up, being led by the hand of the queen's handmaid. Leaving the queen's drawing-room, the boundary of her sight was Lucrecia, her face red from her shame, gasping for breath. Queen Marguerite sentenced Lucrezia to social death.
"place. as. city. Yang, the cardinal's second daughter, I'll change her clothes and keep her some more, then I'll send her off. You and the cardinal's eldest daughter, please go back."
The banquet order, which did not show respect, was the highlight of the show. The title for an unmarried daughter, the ignoring that the children belonged only to the cardinal, and the command to get out of the group were the summation of the hospitality that could only come out of Lucrecia's worst nightmare. * * * Following the maid to the queen's inner palace was a road that Ariadne was very familiar with. It was the palace where she stayed for nine years as the fiancée of the regent. This was the back road leading to the queen's inner palace through a side gate, but there were few passers-by, so Ariadne always went through it when she had to go undercover for Cesare. In other words, it was the starting point of all the evil deeds of Ariadne in her previous life.
'I want to erase it from my memory.'
If I erase everything from my memory and don't do the sin again, if I can live as the upright and good person I wanted to be this time, wouldn't the sins of the past be gone? Wouldn't it be possible to forgive the sins already committed? Ariadne, wrapped in her thoughts, took her steps and bumped into the back of the queen's handmaiden, who stopped her.
"ouch."
But the maid's voice was high.
"Meet Prince Alfonso."
The queen's maid stopped walking and bowed deeply, and Ariadne, bumping into her back, hurriedly took a step back and bowed her head an hour later. Her sins she had committed in her past were looking at her as her boyish features, white and clean.
"Ariadne?"
"Alfonso?" * * * The dark back road was not very sunny, but a ray of sunlight that penetrated at the right time illuminated Prince Alfonso's blond hair. Ariadne smiled bitterly at the memory of the day she went out of the palace through this back road and met Prince Alfonso and drove her to death. But the Prince Alfonso in front of him was an innocent seventeen-year-old boy who had nothing to do with power struggles.
"Alfonso, was he a prince?"
But even in this life, Ariadne couldn't be honest. Honesty was the leisure of those who had it. As she had nothing, she had to make her way to safety with a mix of lies and deceit. She needed Prince Alfonso's crush and, yes, maybe a marriage proposal. She will face many obstacles to get there. But, if you succeed... … ?
"Lady Demare! Awesome!"
Ariadne was worried about her own performance, but the jumping lady-in-waiting made up for the lack of acting skills of the lead actress.
"This is His Highness Prince Alfonso de Carlo, the only blood relative of His Majesty King Leo III and His Majesty Queen Marguerite!"
Alfonso restrained the queen's handmaid who had done so.
"Carla, stop it. I didn't tell you on purpose. Ariadne didn't know."
Carla, the handmaid, shouted 'Does that make sense!' with her eyes and glared at Ariadne. Ariadne lowered her head, avoiding her glare.
"I apologise, Your Highness the Prince."
Ariadne greeted Alfonso politely, noticing the maid Carla.
"Since I have committed disrespect for a young girl, I earnestly beg you to forgive me just once with generous generosity."
Strictly speaking, the cardinal's daughter did not have to bow to the queen's maid. However, judging from her situation, this lady-in-waiting was the queen's direct subordinate and confidant, and everything that happened here was sure to reach the ears of Queen Marguerite. Even if Queen Margaret had taken Ariadne's side and humiliated Lucrezia, it was not because Ariadne was pretty, but because Lucrezia hated her, precisely because she hated all her mistresses and concubines. Queen Marguerite suffered quite a bit of trouble all her life because of Cesare's mother, Leo III's mistress, Countess Rubina. It was just that Lucrecia took that anger out instead. The queen would change her attitude like flipping the palm of her hand when she found out that Ariadne had abused her one and only son.
"Hmm, hmm. You received good etiquette education."
Ariadne's formal apology made the corner of the maid Karla's raised eyes soften, and Prince Alfonso's mouth came out sullenly this time.
"I hate that."
"yes… … ?"
"In the palace, everyone calls me prince, but no one calls me Alfonso. After a long time, I met someone who didn't know I was a prince. What is this again?"
hmm. You've been tricked... … .
"Your Highness the Prince. Depending on one's social status, one's position differs, the nobility also differs, and the innate character also differs. It is natural to see His Highness as a prince, not as an individual, so you should accept it."
Alfonso's handsome, good-natured eyes darkened as if drawn by the maid Karla's nagging. Bored, annoyed, that kind of expression. Even for the most upright person, the rebelliousness of her adolescence was inevitable. Suddenly, the prince's eyes sparkled. As if something interesting had happened, Alfonso, with a smile on his eyes, suddenly grabbed Ariadne by the wrist and sprinted outside the queen's inner palace.
"Ariadne, let's go!"
"Aaaaa!!"
Only the cries of the bewildered maid echoed.
"Prince!! Where are you going!! Prince!!!" * * * The place Prince Alfonso dragged Ariadne to was a small fountain that was not often found. Ivy vines rolled up the old water fountains and daffodils bloomed here and there untouched by the gardener.
"… … So pretty."
Prince Alfonso smiled proudly. The adolescent boy's cheeky smile looked cute, so Ariadne smiled softly as well. She let go of her words. Her etiquette, she was whispering, meant that she was no-nonsense, but her intuition as a woman was okay.
"I must have really hated it, being treated like a prince."
"This is much better."
The two met face to face and laughed together, giggling at the sense of deviation that I don't know why. A comradely bond of doing something that shouldn't be done together grew. Ariadne, who laughed until her stomach hurt, played the tune to Alfonso.
"Last time at the relief centre, only for you… … They gave me another meal."
A shadow fell on Alfonso's face. He seemed unhappy about being treated specially as a prince like a bird in a cage. Ariadne paused for a moment before asking.
"But what shall we call it? you?"
"Call me 'Alfonso.'"
Ariadne laughed and shook her head at the prince's easygoing expression.
"You can't do that, Prince."
"Why are you suddenly like this?"
"Didn't you see Mrs. Carla's face earlier? He was going to beat me to death."
Certainly, he jumped up and down, saying he was arrogant.
"If I get caught calling you 'Alfonso,' you'll leave me alone."
"I don't like the prince."
"Then, we."
Ariadne smiled brightly.
"Let's make a secret name."
Alfonso looked at Ariadne. There was not a trace of malice on the boy's face, but his demeanour showed the inertia of a man accustomed to privilege.
"Then, would you call me more solemnly by the nickname of the only Etruscan heir to the throne, rather than by name? Are you overconfident, young lady?"
A young lady would have thought that she had made a mistake here and would have been depressed. However, Ariadne, who had gone through all the battles before and after childbirth, did not blink an eye. Instead, she raised her eyebrows and put on a stern expression.
"Do you keep calling me prince?"
Jackpot. Alfonso's expression showed disgust.
"please. That's it."
"Your prince, the castle is in vain. I congratulate you for not being in prison. throw it away?"
"No, no. That's not right."
After vehemently refusing, Alfonso surrendered with a white flag.
"Sorry. do whatever you want. Anything is fine."
Ariadne, seizing the victory, made an ordinary offer.
"So, 'Al'?"
The prince shook his head. It seemed he didn't like it.
"'Fonso'?"
"'Ponso' is more like a normal person's name than a nickname. It's not a nickname, it's like a pseudonym."
The prince's resistance to the type of nickname was strong. There are other answers to this. Ariadne strode up to Alfonso and took his hand. His hands were uncharacteristically large and thick for a boy. She knew that in a few years these hands would grow even stronger. Ariadne forced Alfonso's palm open and wrote on it with her finger. -A.
"Dear A. Let's do this."
Alfonso, who caught his hand unexpectedly, stared at Ariadne with a stiff look. The woman in her girl's mask smiled brightly and removed her hand from Alfonso's. A warm body temperature left Alfonso.
"I think I should go now."
Ariadne stood up and looked back at Alfonso. Even the simple ivory dress looked good among the old water fountain and scattered ivy leaves. Alfonso suddenly thought that the girl in front of him fit in perfectly with this place, like a part of this castle.
"I was following the lady-in-waiting because the queen said she would give her clothes, but I ran away like this. If you stay out too long, you will hear bad things."
I wanted to hold on to it, but it was the reason I had no choice but to accept it.
"Ah, indeed. Mama won't like it very much if she finds out I've been with you."
Ariadne, a little startled, looked straight at Alfonso. He was so bright and clear that I thought he would have no thoughts, but this prince was unexpectedly able to accurately see through the situation he was in. He was very interesting. Alfonso shuddered and spoke.
"Actually, there is something I haven't talked about."
'If I haven't talked about it, I have a lot. I knew you were a prince, and I killed you with my own hands in a past life. You were married to my sister. Oh, by the way, I'm a regressor.'
"What?"
"Actually, Mama probably called you today because of me."
Ariadne smiled. It was as clear as looking into the palm of his hand to see what might have happened.
"You said I met you at the relief centre."
she spoke without hesitation.
"I guess you were curious about what kind of child your son's friend was."
"How did know?"
Alfonso couldn't help but be surprised. It was the first time he had ever been in and out of his heart. It was a little like an obsessive mother-in-law to bring the girl right after her son met a girl, conduct a family survey, and find out what she was like, but looking at the 17-year-old Prince Alfonso through the eyes of a 30-year-old, I thought that this kind of son deserves it. Prince Alfonso was the perfect prince, handsome as if he had come straight out of ancient mythology, with deep blue eyes, a high nose and a firm jawline. If Ariadne had had a son like this in the past, she would have set the curfew at 4pm, banned maids from entering the palace, and used only servants instead.
"But Mama didn't tell me that she invited you today. I just came to see you because I thought you called today for some reason."
I hadn't seen it that far, but it seems that Queen Marguerite was full of the qualities of an obsessive mother-in-law. Ariadne racked her brains for a moment to know what to answer. Usually, when someone talks about their mother, it is the basis of social life to praise them unconditionally, but when an adolescent boy is swearing at his mother to himself as he is seeing it for the first time, saying 'Your mother must have had his own circumstances' It was like saying 'I'm an old man, so please don't interact with me from now on'. For Ariadne, who had spent nine years at the top of the social circle, all these calculations were over in an instant.
"You won't be free."
Ariadne took a step closer and tucked Alfonso's hair behind his ear instead.
"It will be frustrating."
The girl's hand ran through the boy's smooth hair. The boy stared stiffly at the girl who strode closer to her, her eyes wide open. A person who understands me, can communicate with me, and smells good. Her green eyes, high nose, and red lips entered his eyes in turn. He thought her eyes were just eyes, but he could read a lot of stories in her thick green eyes with black eyelashes. Until yesterday, Alfonso de Carlo was only a child. He was not particularly interested in other people. He was even more so if the other person was a woman and not of the same age with whom he shared interests. He was more curious about events that would happen, play to be played, and studies to be done rather than people. Only today did he seem to have become a man, at least a boy. His heart raced, and he kept thinking of her green eyes. After drawing the glitter of the green eyes, the eye smile, and the eyelashes, the nose, and then the lips. It was the first time that someone else's features were meaningfully imprinted on his mind.