This time, Isabella contemplated whether to confess the truth. But to do so, she had to admit some painful truths and her own misdeeds.

‘The truth is, Count Cesare willingly took the blame to save Ariadne.’

Admitting that Count Cesare had sacrificed himself to save Ariadne was a difficult thing for Isabella. His affection was originally meant for Isabella.

If her father found out that his interest had shifted elsewhere, he would approve. What if the betrothal progresses smoothly with the party changing? And above all, she didn’t want to confirm it by saying it out loud.

‘This bracelet wasn’t owned by the Duke of Compa, I found it next to the abandoned fountain.’

She could never admit the distasteful fact that she had picked up Ariadne’s bracelet as a windfall. Furthermore……

‘Why did it come out next to the Duke of Compa? I threw it at the scene to frame Ariadne as the Duke of Compa’s mistress.’

If she said that, her father would surely kill her. He probably wouldn’t kill her, but he might send her to a nunnery, the final destination for aristocratic girls who cause trouble.

Isabella had already been warned twice by her father, at the debutante ball and the hunting competition. Three strikes were the limit for the Cardinal de Mare. She absolutely could not be caught.

“The Duke of Compa’s mistress gave me only the ruby and asked me to keep it a secret.”

Isabella, determined to keep up her lie to the end, dabbed at her resurgent tears and protested again.

“Really, I’m not like the Duke of Compa’s mistress! Not such an ugly, bloated old man! I swear it’s not true!”

There was something Isabella overlooked. The Cardinal de Mare stared at Isabella incredulously.

“Does that make sense? Does that woman have the audacity to remove only the gemstone from the bracelet and hand it to you?”

The ruby had fallen from the bracelet when Isabella was playing with it. Annoyed at her father’s standards, Isabella cursed at Collezioni for making such a shoddy item.

“And, if she was in a hurry to escape, would she have given you the entire bracelet as a bribe, or would she have stood there and removed only the ruby to hand to you?”

But persisting in her story was something Isabella was very good at.

“I don’t know! She just handed me the gem and left. How should I know what’s in her mind!”

The real point of Cardinal de Mare’s logical argument was yet to come.

“And then, knowing full well that the Duke of Compa’s mistress is someone else, and even when your sister is in trouble, did you keep quiet just because you coveted a jewel?”

Isabella was startled and fell silent.

“Was it so hard to say that someone else was the Duke of Compa’s mistress, that I saw her escaping! Or are you so lacking in sisterly affection!”

“Ah, right. Regardless of how this version of the story proceeds, I was still the uncaring elder sister to Ariadne.”

Even while gnashing her teeth internally, Isabella continued to be evasive verbally. The circling words instinctively flowed from her mouth. It was not her brain, but the tip of her tongue that knew what to say.

“I didn’t see the woman’s face! If I knew who she was, I would have told you, of course!”

Lady Bartolini was wellknown for her sincerity and service activities. She was a woman who often volunteered at the childcare center attached to the San Ercole Cathedral.

Isabella thought that even if she mentioned Lady Bartolini’s name, her father would believe that she was lying.

And, some secrets hold more value when kept to oneself.

“If you don’t know who that woman is, will you shut up about her being crazy and give me the ruby!”

“It seems like you think I saw it! We were both so flustered, I lost my mind!”

Isabella’s room was a mess. From Cardinal De Mare with his face flush, to the ranting Isabella, and the various precious stones or accessories strewn all over the room, gifts from men and (according to Isabella) one woman. There was not a single peaceful and intact thing.

Exhausted, Cardinal De Mare held his forehead.

“I have failed in raising my children.”

Lucrezia looked around surprised. Cardinal De Mare lowered his voice even more and sighed. His hoarse voice truly seemed drained.

“Isabella, Isabella. I am greatly disappointed. I have no idea where to start teaching you.”

Facing her father boldly, with only a robe draped over her chest, Isabella stood firm. Cardinal De Mare, with a faint shake of his head, made his declaration to her.

“I will believe you are not the Count of Campa’s mistress. If I don’t believe my own child, who will?”

Listening from behind, Ariadne’s nose wrinkled. However, Cardinal De Mare, who did not notice this, continued his speech.

“But San Carlo won’t think so. And honestly, your story is too suspicious, there’s nothing to strongly refute it with.”

Isabella’s eyes widened. No, just tell them that Lady Bartolini is the mistress, Dad!

But because she had said just a minute ago that ‘she did not know who the woman was, she had not seen her face’, she couldn’t say anything and just defended herself like this.

“Dad! No, I can fix everything!”

Isabella was planning to discreetly spread rumors among her friends. ‘The Count of Campa’s mistress is actually Lady Bartolini.’

Since that was the truth, once the rumor was out, the evidence would follow. She just needed to light a fuse in the social circle.

But Cardinal De Mare had no intention of letting his reckless eldest daughter loose near the social circle anymore.

“Be quiet! What more are you planning to do here!”

Right now, that child was completely without sense or decorum. If she was acting like this despite having them, then her conscience was buried deep.

Cardinal De Mare chose the 1) Lack of sense, over 2) Lack of conscience, from the two hypotheses, the one that made his daughter seem less like trash.

Accidents caused by a lack of sense were less bad than those caused by malice in terms of being less evil, but depending on how you looked at it, if uncorrectable, they could be worse.

Cardinal De Mare was a priest, but he was a natural rationalist, so rather than judging the morality of an action, he evaluated its potential for correction.

It wasn’t easy. He chose not to let his senseless eldest daughter mingle with others until she could be reeducated.

“Luckily, the entire San Carlo court society will soon be moving to the winter palace in the south. Do not think about going there, stay at home and do not move a muscle until everyone has gone to Taranto.”

“Dad!”