Ariadne followed Cardinal de Mare into his residence. The Cardinal’s library was accessed by opening another door from the reception room.

It was an unfamiliar door she was opening for the first time in her life.

When the Cardinal pushed open the hefty oak door, a beautiful library decorated with white marble and gold appeared. It was an artistic space, carefully selected furniture and decorations reflecting exquisite taste.

“This place…!”

Overwhelmed by the grandeur of Cardinal de Mare’s library that she was entering for the first time, Ariadne swallowed. There was a unique sensation in entering a space where she had not been allowed before.

Large bronze antique furniture was intricately carved, with new documents and old ones piled up on top. The wooden bookshelves built into the wall were densely filled with various rare theological books.

While the administrative documents showed recent signs of being handled, the theological books were just neatly lined up. There were some traces of dust shaken off, indicating they hadn’t been looked at for a long time.

“Sit.”

The cardinal, sitting at the large desk in the center of his library, pointed to a small chair in front of him for Ariadne. Ariadne bowed respectfully and sat on the small green velvet chair.

“I don’t think you were simply Her Majesty the Queen’s companion. What happened?”

Unless she threw a fitting bone here, Cardinal de Mare would not let go. Ariadne lightly calculated how much she should reveal to her father. It wasn’t a difficult task.

“As you may have heard, the Duke of Mireiyu was found dead in the palace of Palazzo Carlo.”

“Yes.”

Cardinal de Mare had already found out as much as he could through various connections. Rumors had been leaking out from within the royal palace that this was related to Prince Alfonso, but he couldn’t confirm them.

“Was it really Prince Alfonso’s doing?”

Without bothering to save face in front of his second daughter, Cardinal de Mare asked directly. They were family. Family should be in the best interest of each other.

However, Ariadne responded straight without blinking an eye.

“No.”

She owed no loyalty to this ‘father’. She was still doubtful. The reason why Isabella from her previous life could have become the wife of Cesare, the prince regent, who was about to ascend to the throne as the king.

At that time, she thought that Cesare, who was head over heels for Isabella, put her at the very top. But after returning, the more she thought about it, the more strange it seemed. The Cesare de Como she knew was a person who wouldn’t move without a blatant benefit.

If he truly desired Isabella de Mare, he could have kept her hidden somewhere as a concubine. Cesare at that time had the power to do so.

But Cesare went out of his way to secure the position of queen for Isabella. And she was the wife of Prince Alfonso, whom he hated the most.

No matter how much Cesare suppressed it, it was a decision that would inevitably invite gossip in the social circle. It would become a laughing stock, either dirty jokes about women or an imbecile being ridiculed by men.

‘Cardinal de Mare must have intervened.’

Cardinal de Mare must have piled up some kind of power onto Isabella and exchanged it. What did he receive in return? Was I not his daughter after all?

Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to get a satisfying answer from the Cardinal de Mare of this life. Because he wouldn’t know. But he’s still a person, even so.

Ariadne did not trust her father. She had no duty to him either.

So, she told her father the ‘official’ version of the story pushed by Queen Marguerite. Adding a little bit of confidential information that hadn’t been disclosed to the public only served to increase credibility.

“However, the situation was complicated. There was some confusion regarding the chain of command.”

“Hmm?”

“The person who killed Duke Mireiyu directly turned out to be Sir Elko, a knight under Prince Alfonso. The place where Duke Mireiyu’s body was found was also a barn under the management of the prince’s palace.”

A splendid lie, it is often said, is built upon nine parts truth and one part falsehood. She had passed along to Cardinal de Mare the information about the unknown location where Duke Mireille was discovered.

“For that reason, it seems that rumors are swirling that the murder of Duke Mireille was carried out under the orders of Prince Alfonso. Queen Margaret has been trying to quell these rumors.”

It was a plausible story. She subtly omitted the tale about the mad clown.

If Leo III had kept his mouth shut about the clown, ensuring that its tale didn’t reach Cardinal de Mare’s ears, that would have been ideal. Even if the Cardinal knew about the clown’s testimony, in the end, the clown’s testimony was nothing more than hearsay.

It was best to downplay as much as possible, to bury the matter, and if it came to the forefront, to attack its credibility until it was killed.