Sister, I'm the Queen This Life (330 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 412

Fortunately for Cardinal de Mare, Pope Ludovico agreed to meet him without much resistance. What the Pope wanted was explanation and reassurance—not condemnation or punishment.

Reasonable people could reach a reasonable conclusion.

However, this did not mean they would reveal the whole truth and discuss it openly together. That kind of honesty was reserved only for those bound as a single unit—family or marriage alliances.

Since the Pope and the Cardinal shared nothing more than a business relationship, the Cardinal presented a suitably altered version of the truth—that Ippolito was not actually his biological son, and that upon this revelation last May, he had already expelled him from the household; furthermore, Ippolito had fraudulently claimed familial ties for personal gain, he informed the Pope.

This way, the Cardinal would be left guilty only of allowing Ippolito to maintain the false appearance of belonging to the de Mare family.

The Cardinal also played the victim appropriately, saying, “I pitied the child and refrained from making any official announcement—but to think he would exploit my name for such dreadful acts is utterly intolerable!”

It was a mere oversight born of compassion—nothing even remotely comparable to deliberate simony or trafficking heretical narcotics.

Ludovico accepted all of de Mare’s explanations—but made one stipulation to guarantee the truth of his claim.

“Publicly declare, in an official statement, that Ippolito de Mare has no connection whatsoever to your house.”

It was a reasonable request, and there was genuine practical necessity behind it.

“To prevent any further victims, it must be done.”

Cardinal de Mare agreed as well. However, the announcement was issued not under the Cardinal’s name, but under that of Countess Ariadne de Mare.

After all, as a clergyman, it would have seemed somewhat absurd for the Cardinal to formally declare he had removed an illegitimate child from his register.

With the council drawing near, there was no reason for him to take such unnecessary risk when a titled family member was already available.

‘Ippolito de Mare was originally an orphan taken in and raised by Cardinal de Mare. For twenty-seven years, he was cared for with love and affection, yet his nature proved vile, his conduct wicked, and his ingratitude beyond measure.

Read full content of this chapter on r e d c a t t y . c o m