“I didn’t ask for it first! Signor Ottavio said it was a birthday present between friends. Why is that a problem with my conduct?”

“Friends don’t give such gifts!”

Another object caught the eye of Cardinal de Mare, who felt his head about to explode at his daughter’s perception.

“What is this?”

It was a diamond ring that looked to be about three carats. When the father looked at the ring lying on the dressing table, the youngest, Arabella, quickly ran over, picked up the ring, and handed it to her father.

It was a classic design that looked like a wedding ring, with valuable materials and exquisite craftsmanship.

“Oh. This was given by Count Iacopo, who I recently became friends with, as a thank you for guiding him…”

“Why on earth would you have occasion to guide an outsider?”

Cardinal de Mare was truly surprised. He had never recklessly let his cherished eldest daughter outside.

“At San Ercole Cathedral. I guided him because he was lost.”

Cardinal de Mare sighed incredulously.

“How can a San Carlo person, of all people, get lost in San Ercole Cathedral?”

San Ercole Cathedral had a very simple structure, with a long central nave and side bays on both sides. It was a place that anyone from San Carlo, even a newborn, would visit every week.

Iacopo Atendolo was the son of the Atendolo family, who had been native to San Carlo for five generations.

He probably crawled, walked, and ran in San Ercole Cathedral every Sunday for more than 20 years since receiving his baptism there as a newborn.

“And who gives a diamond ring for guiding the way?”

Isabella seemed to have no understanding of the seriousness of the situation.

“I was very kind and helpful in guiding the way.”

Cardinal de Mare really wanted to dissect what was in his daughter’s head.

“Do you want to marry Iacopo Atendolo?”

Iacopo was an average knight from a decent family, but he was a second son who could not inherit the family title. He was not up to Isabella’s high standards. Sure enough, Isabella jumped.

“Father, why would you say such a terrible thing? No way!”

“The current situation could make Iacopo Atendolo the best marriage candidate you can get! Because of your foolish actions!”

“What did you say?”

Isabella de Mare had her sights set on Prince Alfonso at best, and Count Cesare at worst. Iacopo Atendolo, what kind of cruel joke was this?

“The rumor in society is that you are the mistress of the Duke of Campa.”

“What?!”

Isabella dropped the perfume bottle she was holding. The thick Porto glass rolled on the floor with a dull sound.

“Please don’t tell me that item is also a gift from another man. No, wouldn’t it be a blessing if it were from Iacopo Atendolo? If the rumor that you are the mistress of the Duke of Campa becomes an established fact, do you think Iacopo Atendolo would even be possible?”

Cardinal de Mare was a peculiar man. Even in the midst of this, he did not ask his daughter if she was truly the mistress of the Duke of Campa.

It was an extremely rational but far from religiously pious attitude, clearly showing that he was not interested in the immoral act itself, but only in the unfortunate consequences it brought.

However, there is a fundamental difference between forcibly suppressing a real incident and explaining a truly unfair one.

So Ariadne decided to point out that part. It was not to expose her sister’s sin at all.

“So, was it really Isabella who was in the garden with the Duke of Campa?”

She decided to add a little dramatic effect. Ariadne bit her lip and added a slight sob.

“…Could it be, while you were the one attached to the Duke of Campa, you kept your mouth shut and didn’t help me at all when I was accused of being the Duke of Campa’s mistress?”

Shock was evident on the Cardinal de Mare’s face. He was a leader who hated internal conflict within his team the most. It was something he had emphasized over and over again as a father. Please get along well. Please.

“Absolutely not!”

Isabella vehemently denied it, but Ariadne had heard things from her newly made social friends.

“You were the one who was there from the beginning at the Duke of Campa’s secret meeting place. Even the Count and Countess Dafiani said that you were already there when they arrived.”

The Count and Countess Dafiani were a noble couple known to be the first discoverers of the Duke of Campa.

“If you weren’t part of the secret meeting, why on earth didn’t you scream?”

Isabella had nothing to say. She considered for a moment whether to be honest about the situation at the time. The truth was as follows.

While Isabella was hiding in the bushes, the Count and Countess Dafiani arrived and found the Duke of Campa. The countess who discovered the Duke of Campa screamed first, and Isabella, who was quietly staying, was pushed by the fleeing woman.

However, if she told this truthful version of the story, it would include the detail that ‘she was hiding in the bushes and quietly watching until the Count and Countess Dafiani arrived’. She could not say that even if her mouth was torn.

“That, that is……”

Isabella’s pupils shook with anxiety for a moment. But she soon decided on a tone of excuse.

When you have nothing to say, it’s best to act weak.

“I was so shocked, I was so surprised.”

Instead of dealing with Ariadne, who would not be fooled at all, Isabella decided to appeal to her father, who had room for emotional appeal.

“The sight of a man and woman doing that was something I had never imagined in my life, and I was just frozen!”

Unfortunately, the pink chest cover sticking out between her robes undermined the persuasiveness of her testimony. But Isabella shamelessly pushed this tone.

“Is it wrong that I couldn’t do anything? I was just a passerby, what should I have done there?”

However, the Cardinal de Mare pointed out an additional point that Isabella had completely overlooked.

“If you had arrived earlier, you should have helped your sister who was in trouble!”

Isabella bit her lip. But even in this situation, there was a way.

“I’m sorry, Ariadne!”

With a pitiful expression as if it were crafted by the fairy of the eyes, she apologized with a sly voice.

“I was too scared, I couldn’t muster the courage. I sincerely apologize, okay?”

There was drama in Isabella’s features. Pain could be read from her grimaced face, and sorrow could be felt from her trembling lips. She appealed sincerely to Cardinal de Mare with a remorseful expression.

“I’m sorry, father. I really behaved in a way that was not like a sister. I sincerely repent. I’ll make it up to you over and over again!”

Isabella, who bowed her head, passionately appealed her injustice.

“But I swear to God, I’m really not the Duke of Campa’s mistress!”

The atmosphere was slowly turning. Lucrezia was almost ready to believe, and even the Cardinal de Mare’s expression was softening.

Just as Isabella was about to nail it with ‘even if others don’t know, you have to believe me, Father’, a loud ‘clang’ sound echoed in the room.

The entire family turned to the source of the sound, and there stood Arabella, doing what she did best as always, that is, rummaging through Isabella’s belongings.

Since handing the diamond ring that was on the dressing table to her father, the carriage had been lingering near the dressing table.

In Arabella’s hand was Isabella’s handbag, and the ‘clang’ sound was the sound of a bright red Marquise cut ruby rolling out from there and falling on the silver tray on Isabella’s dressing table.

The large red ruby glowed brilliantly.