Ariadne and Alfonso thoroughly kept their promise between each other.
Ariadne sat in the front row of the general seats with Eupolito and Isabella. The royal family members passed by her side and headed to the balcony seats set up on the second floor for the royal family.
Ariadne bowed her head towards the royal family passing by and paid her respects to Leo III, but she didn’t even turn her head towards Alfonso. Alfonso also looked straight ahead with dignity, without even glancing in Ariadne’s direction.
The Archduchess Lariessa, following a step behind Prince Alfonso, felt a slight sense of discomfort.
‘Something…is strange.’
Ariadne, the second daughter of the Archbishop of De Mare, and Prince Alfonso were definitely acquainted. It was because Prince Alfonso rescued Ariadne, who was in trouble at the masked ball due to Count Cesare.
A noble lady who had received such help should at least show some signs of pleasure. But that lady completely ignored the prince as if he were a man made of wood.
Moreover, the affectionate Prince Alfonso, even during the royal family’s parade, would have at least greeted her with his eyes. This was a high mass repeated every month, not a place where strict ceremonies were observed.
But now, even Prince Alfonso was calmly watching somewhere else as if such a lady didn’t exist in the world.
Lariessa was not bright enough to clarify or explain all of this clearly. But a woman’s intuition, an uneasy feeling that did not fall from her chest, definitely came. That feeling did not disappear quickly, but lingered in her heart for a long time.
[This is the time separator]There were men who pretended not to know Ariadne deliberately, but there was also a man who pretended to know her deliberately. It was Count Cesare.
“Lady De Mare!”
After the mass ended and everyone was leaving the cathedral, he went against the crowd heading for the exit to greet Ariadne who had been sitting in the front row of the cathedral.
“I have missed you greatly. When I returned to San Carlo, the spring flowers greeted me in full bloom, but the most beautiful spring flower among them is you!”
Ariadne answered with a slight smirk on her lips. She was dressed in mourning clothes in memory of Lucrezia.
“Do spring flowers bloom in black these days?”
Cesare caught her words without flinching.
“The black tulip, a specialty of Touloure, is this spring’s hit item.”
He showed his white teeth and laughed out loud. Ariadne couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“You’re the same as always, Count De Como.”
“Cesare. We decided to drop formalities, remember?”
Ariadne responded with a frown.
“We agreed to call each other by names, not titles, but we never agreed to be informal, did we?”
“Oh, so you remember to use first names but deliberately keep your distance?”
Count Cesare twirled around laughing as he reprimanded Ariadne.
“You should keep your promises, Lady De Mare.”
He’s a persistent man. Ariadne rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh as she replied.
“Count Cesare. Are we done now?”
“Wow, cold, so cold. Even though you push me away like this, you wore the gift I gave you.”
Looking at the deer skin gloves she was wearing, he took her left hand and elegantly pressed his lips to it. Ariadne wanted to shake off his hand immediately, but she didn’t want to cause a commotion in front of everyone looking at them, so she held back his handkiss.
But only her left hand was still; her mouth viciously attacked Cesare.
“You must have gotten confused because you sent gifts to too many ladies at the same time. This is not the gift you sent.”
“Ah. Yes. What I sent was not the glove but the ebony rosary. You sent it back.”
Busted. This guy, he knew and did it anyway. Ariadne momentarily froze, then soon regained her composure and answered.
“I didn’t like it. Should I accept all the gifts from Count Cesare without question?”
Cesare narrowed his eyes and stared at Ariadne.
“There’s no way you wouldn’t like that rosary.”
Ariadne replied coldly.
“It seems you’ve mastered my taste.”
“I am wellversed in all women’s tastes. But this isn’t that kind of issue.”
Cesare scrutinized Ariadne from head to toe.
“You are too kind to reject gifts sent by others.”
‘Kind.’ That was a story she hadn’t heard in a long time. At least not much since her return. Ariadne retorted lightly with a smile.
“Do you not remember the numerous gifts from Count Cesare that I rejected?”
“That was before we got close. Since then, we’ve become quite close, haven’t we? We’ve suffered together on hunting grounds, and you’ve saved me in crisis at masquerades.”
Ariadne let out a hollow laugh. We got close. The time when we were really close was in the distant past. That was when we were intimate. Compared to that, the events at the hunting grounds and masquerade were child’s play.
“Stop deluding yourself. We are not close at all.”
“Oh no. You’ve changed. It seems you’ve reverted back to your original state after being away for a few months.”
Cesare licked his lips.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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