At breakfast, he had to sit in the family dining room because he had to show his face to his father, Cardinal De Mare. He disliked waking up early, but he had no choice.

During breakfast, his mother, Lucrezia, kept talking to Ippolito.

‘Try this, how does it taste?’ ‘My god, you don’t eat anything else, bring the next plate’, ‘No, you eat so clean, you must have liked it, bring more of the same’ and so on. He felt like his stomach and eardrums were about to burst.

He thought he could take a break after crawling back to his room, but then a maid who should be quietly nestled in his arms was nagging him for some reason.

Ah, why are women such creatures? Why do I like women?

‘Just don’t see them.’

Suddenly, a genius idea passed through Ippolito’s mind.

‘Right. Just don’t see.’

It wasn’t an idea to change his sexual preference or to live an ascetic life. Ippolito liked women too much for that.

Just stay physically away! Then he wouldn’t see them.

Ippolito sprang to his feet and shouted.

“Let’s go to Taranto.”

“What?”

Maretta, who was next to him, asked back with a surprised look. Ippolito, feeling better, excessively used a futile oath he had no intention of keeping.

“I will take you to Taranto. The whole court is there now and there are plenty of my friends.”

“Wow, really?”

Maretta, who mistakenly thought that Master Ippolito chose to go to Taranto to escape the persecution of Madam Lucrezia and save her, looked up at Ippolito like a hero, her small black eyes twinkling.

“The winter social scene is not official, but there are plenty of parties. I will take you!”

“Master Ippolito! I’m so happy I’m going to faint!”

Oh my, a party! Social life! Maretta, who used to pick up garbage in the Lambouille Orphanage, in the winter court’s social life!

Maretta threw herself at Ippolito first, her face glowing.

“I’m so happy! Master is the best!”

Ippolito, who was stunned by Maretta’s kiss, fell backwards onto the bed, holding Maretta who had thrown her weight onto him.

Oh my, such an assertive woman is a first. Is it because she’s a maid, not a noble lady?

“Maretta, Maretta, gently!”

“Aww, Master!”

After receiving Maretta’s frenzied kisses, Ippolito made a few more difficult, empty promises. The trip to Taranto, originally intended to escape from both his mother and Maretta, ended up being a trip to escape only from his mother.

In Ippolito’s mind, there was no trace of Cardinal De Mare’s instruction to ‘take care of your mother’.

“What? You’re leaving for Taranto?”

Upon hearing Ippolito’s declaration, Lucrezia shook her legs like a betrayed wife and collapsed onto the soft sofa behind her. Ippolito softened his mother with smooth words.

“Ah, mother. It’s not been long since we saw our relatives from the maternal side, has it? You know, we have to check on the servants as well.”

This cousin of Lucrezia, whose limbs were all severed due to the hands of Cardinal de Mare, was because of Ariadne.

It took Ippolito a while to remember his name.

“Ah, poor servant….”

It was always a subject that aroused Lucrezia’s interest.

“Among our family, there was no one who directly checked on him, right? I will go and pay a visit.”

“Yeah, we do need to go see him…..”

“And mother, currently, all of San Carlo’s court has moved down to Taranto. If I go, I could build some connections and see what might happen in the future. If your son is going to do something big, he needs some big friends, doesn’t he?”

Lucrezia was very weak when it came to her son’s future. Ippolito was also the magic button for squeezing out pocket money. This time was no exception.

“My son, do you have enough spending money?”

“Mother, I was running a bit short…. It’s okay. I don’t need to ride a private carriage, I can share a public carriage.”

It was modesty of a son who knew that Lucrezia would never let him go emptyhanded. As expected, Lucrezia was greatly surprised and waved her hands.

“Oh, no! A shared carriage! How can we make our son go through such hardship!”

Lucrezia, who was driven to the Bergamo farm by her husband, had a major blow to her financial situation. But she took out 10 ducats (about 10 million won) from her poor purse and put them in her son’s hand.

Her son didn’t visibly confirm how much his mother was handing over. However, after estimating the weight of the ducat coins by hand, his expression distorted.

“Mother, is this all?”

Lucrezia lowered her head like a guilty person.

“Well, mom is a bit strapped these days….. I will try to be flexible until you come back.”

“Sigh. It’s okay, mom. It can’t be helped.”

Ippolito, a few days ago, received plenty of gold coins as emergency money from his father while drinking Grappa.

He was not in great need of pocket money to begin with. If he unnecessarily mentioned that he was short of money, ‘wait a few days, mom will convert what she has into money and add 10 more ducats’ could be a big problem.

He didn’t pressure his mother any further, put the ducat coins in his pocket, and kissed Lucrezia on both cheeks.

“Mom, I’ll be back.”

At the front door, Maleta was waiting, her hands full of Ippolito’s packed belongings. Seeing Maleta wrapped in a travel fur coat, Lucrezia’s eyes narrowed instantly.

“No, is she coming too?”

“Oh, mother. In a foreign land, a son should have someone to take care of him.”

“Why does it have to be that foxlike girl!”

“She is good at getting things done leisurely.”

Ippolito added another comment while looking at Maleta.

“And she makes delicious food.”

The talk of food slightly softened Lucrezia’s anger.

“That’s true, it’s important to have food that suits your taste. Take good care of your meals when you’re away.”

“I’ll see you when I get back!”

Ippolito got into the carriage and waved at his mother. Maleta, who followed Ippolito into the carriage, kept her head down and tried her best not to meet Lucrezia’s eyes.

Off we go!

As the coachman cracked the whip cheerfully, the carriage set off on the snowcovered winter road.

‘Oh dear, I forgot to ask him to take letters and gifts to de Rossi.’

In this era, there was virtually no way to send longdistance mail or parcels safely.

Therefore, whenever someone was traveling long distances, they would always ask them to take letters, etc. on their behalf. It was customary for a person embarking on a long journey to ask those around them if they had anything to take with them.

‘Oh dear, boys. They are clumsy and forgetful.’

Lucrezia, who didn’t imagine that her son had hurriedly left that morning without telling her in advance because the gifts and letters he was supposed to take to de Rossi were cumbersome, was unknowingly blaming her son.