From across the hall, a domestic servant who should have originally been attending to the guest came running. He appeared to have been goofing off somewhere. Upon the commotion, Giuseppe, the former coachman and now the house’s security chief, also rushed over.

“Take the guest to the first floor reception room, and inform Lady Lucrezia that her brotherinlaw has arrived.”

“Yes, Miss.”

The domestic servant tried to escort Stefano inside, but Stefano stood his ground and yelled at Ariadne.

“You, you ruined my son’s promising future! Our child is not like that!”

When Ariadne, who did not want to argue, turned her head to go inside, he yelled out loudly.

“You are ignoring me now? Does the noble de Mare not care about their inlaws?”

“‘Uncle.'”

At the sound of ‘uncle’, Stefano de Rossi’s expression softened slightly. So, she recognizes me as an elder?

“This is a place to mourn the dead. Please, let’s pray for poor Arabella’s peaceful rest more than anything else today.”

Despite Ariadne’s gesture of compromise, Stefano de Rossi, like a true servant’s father, stubbornly insisted. He was annoyed by her unyielding attitude.

“Are you lecturing your elder? What kind of home education is this in this house! It’s not acceptable, bring me a stick right now. Today I’ll correct your impudent head and pay back for the false charges against our servant!”

Stefano, who was in a rage calling for a stick, was stared at in disbelief by Giuseppe and the domestic servant. But anyway, Stefano was a relative of the household. Without Ariadne’s order, the two men couldn’t touch Stefano.

Ariadne looked at Stefano coldly.

“‘Uncle’, that was not anyone else, but His Majesty King Leo III himself, who confirmed that Janobi de Rossi attacked me, his cousin.”

She said this with halfsincerity.

“It’s for ‘uncle’s’ sake that I tell you this, if you go around saying that Janobi was framed elsewhere, you could be charged with lese majesty, so I hope you don’t say such things.”

“You damn girl…!”

However, Ariadne’s sincerity often failed to be properly conveyed to men who were older but of lower status than her.

Stefano stepped forward in an attempt to threaten Ariadne. But Giuseppe, with his sturdy build, blocked his way.

“This won’t be fun.”

He warned Stefano in a threatening tone.

“If you want to be treated as a guest, act like one.”

His face turned red with humiliation in front of the young man in his twenties. But unlike his arrogance in front of Ariadne, Stefano immediately backed down in front of the sturdy man.

“Escort him to the reception room.”

Seeing Stefano, who had become as docile as a baby rabbit, Ariadne clicked her tongue and turned away, leaving behind the portrait of the Rossi family.

She was planning to oust Lucrezia soon. Once Lucrezia was gone, she would no longer have to see the relatives of the de Rossi family spreading their wings in the de Mare mansion.

Although not a member of the Rossi family, another portrait heavily imbued with Rossi blood arrived at the funeral even later than the real Rossis. It was Ippolito.

Ippolito, who should have been the chief mourner, arrived at the de Mare mansion only on the day before the funeral and memorial service, 13 days late. He was worse than a guest.

Moreover, the one who announced Ippolito’s return was his lover.

“Is there anyone there?”

Maletta, dressed in black ‘mourning clothes’, confidently knocked on the front door of the house and entered.

The thick silk winter dress she wore was black, but every part except the color was inappropriate for mourning clothes that a subordinate would wear to express condolences to a superior.

The dazzlingly shiny black dress was excessively luxurious, and the ridiculously low neckline was merely covered with a black net as if trying to hide her eyes.

Moreover, Maletta had a pearl necklace, which looked to be about 2 piedi (approximately 86cm), coiled around her neck.

The gaze of all the family members who were downstairs in the afternoon instantly focused on Maletta.

“Mother! I’m here!”

Behind her, the shameless Ippolito, wearing a coat of indeterminate color—black or deep purple—arrived, draped in a luxurious white civet fur.

Even Lucrezia, who would indulge her son in anything, frowned at such an entrance.

Lucrezia quickly looked around and scolded her son.

“Do you have a mind or not! What kind of clothing is that, take off that white fur!”

Fortunately, the only people guarding the firstfloor hall at this moment were Lucrezia and Stefano.

The servants were all changing shifts, Cardinal de Mare had gone upstairs to rest, saying he had a headache, and Ariadne had gone out to prepare a luncheon for her relatives who would be in the house after the memorial service the next day.

Lucrezia continued to scold her son.

“Your brother died, and instead of caring about that, you should have come quickly! Are you the eldest son of this house and elder brother?”

Stefano clicked his tongue at Lucrezia’s admonition.

“Lucrezia. You really screwed up raising your kids. The children don’t care about each other. ―Is it because they are different?”

Lucrezia’s face turned red and she stepped on Stefano’s calf with the heel of her shoe.

“Ouch!”

He cursed at his younger sister who hit him.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Shut up!”

Lucrezia checked around, but fortunately, Ippolito and Maletta seemed to have missed her remark while taking off their coats, having just come in from the cold outside.

Ippolito, not seeing anyone to attend to him, was openly annoyed.

“Where is the domestic worker! Nicolo! Nicolo!”

As soon as Maletta entered the house, she saw that the first person she met was her archenemy, Lady Lucrezia, and was so startled that she sneakily hid behind Ippolito.

Seizing the moment when the two were distracted, Lucrezia gritted her teeth and spat at her second older brother.

“Brother. Keep your mouth shut while you’re here. Do the Rossis not know who they’re living off? Are you going to kill them all?”

“We’re not exactly rolling in money these days, are we.”

“Lower your voice!”

Lucrezia, casting a sideways glance at her son and the maid beside him, glared at her brother as if she was about to kill him.

“If you go around talking nonsense, I’ll kill you.”

Seeing that Lucrezia was unusually serious, Stefano raised both hands and showed a sign of surrender.

At this point, Lucrezia, feeling that the matter had been settled for now, urged her son.

“You, go change your clothes right away! After changing, go to your father immediately to greet him!”

“Yes, yes, I understand, Mom. Aren’t you happy to see your son after such a long time?”

Seeing Epolito climbing up to this floor with grumbles, Lucrezia felt relieved. From their silence, it was undoubtedly that the two hadn’t heard anything.

However, contrary to Lucrezia’s belief, Maleta, with her head down, followed Epolito but was in a state of deep thought.

“What…? What exactly did I hear just now?” she wondered.