Ippolito’s eyes widened as he looked at his father, thinking his father was proposing to shift the blame for his own murder onto his mother. What startled him was not guilt, but the desperate feeling of being caught.

‘Does Father already know I’m involved?!’

But Cardinal de Mare was telling a slightly different story. He never suspected that his son was the real culprit. He just intended to sacrifice his wife, no, his mistress, for the honor of his family.

“You are still young in life. You are still a sprout. You haven’t yet established your position, nor have you married.”

Cardinal de Mare said, looking at Ippolito.

“Your mother is now quite certain to be the murderer in the streets. If things stay this way, it seems like some rascal named Scampa will soon accuse Lucrezia in the ‘Royal Court’.”

“What?! The ‘Royal Court’?”

That was a situation that all nobles greatly feared. The ‘Royal Court’ was a temporary trial where a temporary judge, appointed by the king, came to the scene, investigated the case from various angles, and then rendered a verdict.

If the king happened to appoint someone he had always disliked as a temporary judge, the situation became extremely difficult. There were too many instances where they suffered disgrace and justice was completely lost.

Even if it wasn’t the worst situation, the temporary judge would investigate things like the family’s accounting books or financial status under the pretext of investigating the case.

The content was directly reported to the king. After that, the palace would either impose sanctions based on the relevant details, or habitually demand donations from the noble family, even if nothing came out of it.

“Do you think your future will be promising if your mother becomes a murderer accused in the ‘Royal Court’?”

Ippolito was speechless.

“Who would give their daughter to you, the son of a murderer! You know this best? You need a woman with a title.”

To be precise, he needed a sole daughter of a titlebearing woman without a son. Preferably with a title of at least count.

Such women were rare and proud. They were crowded with all sorts of men. The second son of a major noble family who could not inherit the title, a selfmade merchant, a handsome beggar they all sought such a woman.

“… Your mother is now nothing more than a burden to the de Mare family.”

Cardinal de Mare gritted his teeth.

“We should have cut her off during the black magic incident. We dragged it out because of feelings, and it has led to this.”

“Father!”

“Ippolito! I know she’s your mother, but think if you have a brain! If we were caught during the black magic incident, we would have been dragged to the inquisitor and killed!”

Because what he said was completely correct, Ippolito could not answer his father.

“It’s time to end this. Hand her over.”

“……”

Ippolito bowed his head in silence.

Although he seemed like a dutiful son who couldn’t rebel against his father demanding to expel his mother, and also couldn’t abandon his mother, unlike his appearance, Ippolito was slowly starting to have different calculations.

There were three things Ippolito had to hide from Cardinal de Mare.

Firstly, the fact that the murder of the maid was more his fault, Ippolito’s, than Lucrezia’s. Secondly, the fact that Maleta was carrying Ippolito’s child. Thirdly, the fact that Ippolito might not be Cardinal de Mare’s son.

‘If only Mom… If only Mom is gone, nobody will know, right?’

The only other person who could mention this fact, Maleta, was already dead.

He didn’t know how much his maternal relatives in Taranto knew about the secret of Ippolito’s birth, but they were people who had kept their mouths shut for over 20 years now, so they probably wouldn’t stir up trouble now.

And could there be any evidence? Most of these kinds of things are extremely secretive, so there is usually no evidence left behind.

While Cardinal de Mare was completely unaware of what kind of evil calculations were spinning in his son’s head, he spoke his plan.

“Let’s bring the relatives and reach an agreement. I will kill Lucrezia within the family and give her up, and let’s announce that it was all a misunderstanding.”

“……!”

“Paola Scampa’s death was an unfortunate accident caused by nasty vagrants, the de Mare family was wrongly implicated due to misunderstanding, and Lucrezia de Rossi died of illness.”

It was… a highly tempting proposal.

“I’ll go negotiate with the Scampa survivors and representatives of the local cooperative.”

Cardinal de Mare scoffed, saying neither his steward Niccolò nor his son were any good.

“Make sure to convey the message to Isabella.”

The most unsettling part was Cardinal de Mare cleverly entrusting everything to Eppolito. Because he did not want to tell his mother and his beloved elder daughter, ‘I plan to kill your mother today’.

“The decision will be made today, and the execution seems likely tomorrow or the day after. Proceed accordingly.”

Eppolito did not end up vomiting.

“…Yes, father.”