Sister, I'm the Queen This Life (330 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 450

“But⋯⋯ why. Isn’t Princess Yulia Helena there?”

In truth, the greatest blunder Sir Del Pianosa had committed was not merely being listed as one of Countess Clemente de Bartolini’s endless string of lovers.

Among a hundred men, not one stood out. Just as jaywalking or stable theft becomes unnoticeable when a hundred people do it together, the responsibility was so diluted that the old Count Bartolini could not single out Sir Del Pianosa for any particular punishment.

The real problem lay in the marriage alliance document he had casually sent off to the Grand Duchy of Manchike.

‘The clause stating that the princess must be welcomed as Principessa of the Kingdom of Etruria within six months⋯⋯.’

That clause, unfortunately, carried a penalty clause. Leo III had already received roughly one-tenth of Princess Yulia Helena’s dowry as an advance contract payment. The marriage alliance document stipulated that if the contract was not fulfilled as agreed, five times that amount would have to be repaid.

‘It was a clause added because of the precedent with Grand Duchess Larisa, fearing it might not happen within six months⋯⋯ but who would have thought the Principessa position itself would become impossible⋯⋯.’

Leo III had boldly signed it, boasting, “What reason would I ever have to break a promise?” Yet even for the king of a nation, there are things that cannot be done at will. Matters concerning one’s children, especially, were like that.

‘His Majesty King Leo III is not the sort of man to spit out 36,000 ducats with nothing to show for it.’

If the king did not wish to pay the money, he had only two choices: adopt Princess Yulia Helena as his daughter, or somehow marry her off to a man eligible to receive the title of Principessa.

‘Adopting her is absolutely not an option His Majesty the King would ever choose.’

Sir Del Pianosa knew Leo III extremely well. An ordinary monarch would refuse to take in an adopted son or daughter even at swordpoint. It would tangle the line of succession and risk sparking a war of succession.

Yet the reason Sir Del Pianosa was certain the king would not even consider making the princess his adopted daughter was not because the king worried about the succession, but because if she became his daughter, her entire dowry would have to be passed on intact to whichever man she eventually married.

‘Marchioness Sinadenos would never agree to sending the princess in as His Majesty Leo III’s second wife.’

That left only forcing the marriage with Prince Alfonso, or raising Duke Cesare’s title and dumping the princess onto Cesare.

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