What Ariadne reached out for was the iron lock made of silver and lead.

“It’s important. You can’t lose it by playing around.”

“This is…?”

The iron lock looked so pitiful among the silver lace and the gemstudded silk ribbon. Arabella hesitated, then handed the lock to her sister.

As Arabella put a slight pressure on the lock, despite its sturdy appearance, it bent easily.

“Don’t bend that!”

Hic!

Arabella jumped, hiccups catching her by surprise. Seeing Arabella’s hiccups, Ariadne looked sorry. Thinking she might have been too stern, she comforted Arabella by patting her shoulder.

“You should go drink some water. That’s very important to me. It’s going to be useful later. You can’t lose it or damage it. You can play with the other things as much as you want.”

“Why is this Hic! so important?”

The iron lock Arabella had been playing with was evidence that Isabella had tried to tear Ariadne’s dress at her debutante ball.

Though Isabella is now imprisoned, if Ippolito returns and Lucrezia gets her lottery, she will naturally be released along with him. After that, she needed a decisive blow to bring Isabella down.

Cardinal de Mare hated it when family members damaged each other’s ‘market value’. It wasn’t because he valued cooperation highly. It was because it meant his assets were being ruined by his own subordinates.

In the Cardinal’s mind, that was betrayal and usurpation. A matter of authority. The patriarch does not compromise in matters of authority.

Now Isabella was imprisoned for ruining her own reputation and not helping her endangered younger sister.

‘What would Cardinal de Mare do if he got evidence that Isabella tried to sabotage her own healthy younger sister?’

If he could prove that the damage to the dress at the debutante ball was Isabella’s doing, Cardinal de Mare would inflict greater punishment on Isabella than just imprisonment.

Even if that were not the case, Isabella, who was uncontrollable, would never be offered as a potential bride when a good marriage proposal appeared.

‘Soon, a very good marriage proposal will appear for the de Mare family.’

It was none other than the position of Prince Alfonso’s wife. Before that, Ariadne had to expose Isabella’s misdeeds to their father. That was Ariadne’s plan.

However, she did not know how much of this story she should tell young Arabella. Arabella was already separated from her mother.

She might not have been a good mother, but such things wouldn’t matter much to a child. Besides, she didn’t particularly want to tell a young child about the wickedness of her own sister.

So, Ariadne decided to gloss over the truth somewhat.

“It’s because it’s an interesting item. I wanted to make one myself later.”

“Ari, do you like these iron shackles?”

“Indeed.”

Arabella’s eyes sparkled. If Ariadne was this obsessed with it, there was no doubt that she really liked it.

Arabella decided that if she found something like this later, she would definitely bring it to Ariadne.

Arabella, who was about to leave Ariadne’s dressing room to drink water, suddenly remembered something she wanted to ask her sister.

“That’s right, Ari.”

“Hmm?”

Ariadne, who was delicately picking up a green ribbon that had fallen on the floor, looked up at Arabella’s call.

“You know, my application for music college hasn’t come back yet, has it?”

When Ariadne suggested applying to a music college, Arabella initially pretended to be confident. She complained about why she needed to apply, saying things like ‘I’m young, so I’m bound to fail.’

“When do you think it will come?”

Though she talked that way, it seemed that she was very anxious because of the silence from the music college in Padua.

“They’re probably still reviewing the applications.”

Ariadne smiled softly.

“If you don’t get a reply by the end of this month, I’ll ask a nun.”

The color instantly returned to Arabella’s face. Ariadne, thinking that her little sister looking radiant was too cute, kissed Arabella’s forehead.

Arabella protested, saying she wasn’t a baby, but Ariadne scolded her, saying that a sibling who rummages through her older sister’s wardrobe deserves to be scolded, and she should choose whether to act like a baby or not.

Arabella, who couldn’t choose either, was on the verge of crying. Ariadne, who had been happily teasing her younger sister, had to rush to comfort her youngest sister. It was a peaceful afternoon.

Having rushed on horseback to the Bergamo estate early in the morning and returning just before dinner, Ippolito was barely able to attend the dinner with his father. He made a splash at the dinner table of the de Mare family, pretending to be unaffected.

“Father. Since it’s the New Year and your birthday is coming soon.”

As he cut into the filet mignon steak that was crispy on the outside but oozing with juices inside, Cardinal de Mare looked at his son.

Having lived for a long time, he was now experiencing his child bringing up his birthday first. He wondered what kind of special story his son would present.

“Shouldn’t the family gather together once for a dinner? Including mother and Isabella, let’s have a birthday feast with your favorite roast cuttlefish.”

Thump.

The sound of Cardinal de Mare putting down his knife reverberated loudly in the main dining room of the de Mare mansion.