Even Cardinal de Mare himself, if he had mobilized the priests under his control and led them to longterm group tasks, he did not have confidence to come to such a conclusion alone at his desk.

It was not content that a fifteenyearold child could understand on her own by studying theology for two months.

Ariadne decided to show off her knowledge here. It was a section that had to be broken through in one breath, even if it was mixed with bluff.

“I was most impressed with Wycliffe’s ‘On the Nature of the Saints’ and Pelagius’s ‘Letters Studying the Trinity’.”

These were the works that actually laid the foundation for deriving the conclusions of the Council of Trevero, which would become widely known later.

They were books that would become required reading to be recited throughout the central continent as essential education for children in just two years, but they were rare enough to have a handwritten copy in the Cardinal’s residence at this time.

“You’ve read all that?”

“I was most interested in the part where Wycliffe seized the structure of the sentence and proved that the saint and the father are one, based on the fact that there are many repeated parts in the ‘Meditations’ where ‘the saint passed through the father’.”

Ariadne exaggeratedly showed the suspicious Cardinal de Mare that she really knew the contents of the books she named.

‘Just say you knew it, or you saw the future, then I’m done.’

What Ariadne wanted to avoid the most was being called a ‘saint’. It was a problem without the approval of the Holy See, and it was a problem even if there was.

If she was called a saint without the canonization of the Pope, it was just right to be dragged to the heretical judge.

And she didn’t even like to be officially canonized. Pope Ludovico was a terrifying person, and it was very common historically for a person who was declared a saint or a saint while alive to suddenly be declared a heresy and dragged to the stake.

It may be thought that Cardinal de Mare could stop it within the Holy See, but Cardinal de Mare had already sold his own daughter in his previous life. A daughter who was elevated to sainthood would be a good piece to use.

She didn’t even know the intimate inside of how the power relations in the Holy See worked, and she didn’t trust her father at all.

Ariadne wanted to make the most of the hand she had in a familiar board, that is, in the noble world of San Carlo.

Cardinal de Mare looked suspicious.

But even if he based his sharp theological questions on the latest documents of the Council of Trevero that she had not yet accessed, Ariadne answered them accurately as if she had memorized the answer sheet.

Whether he asked about doctrine, asked about the basis clause, or asked about the latest Q&A, the answer was as perfect as if a machine had printed it.

Despite many questions, he eventually had to admit that his second daughter was a theological genius and had reached the same conclusion as the theologians of the Council of Trevero on her own.

He was suspicious, but if this was true, it was a talent that would appear only once in a thousand years, so he could not but suggest it to his daughter.

“There are priests studying theology in the cathedral. Will you participate?”

Ariadne refused, jumping up.

“No, Father! My knowledge is too shallow to feel embarrassed. I will study at home and occasionally ask you about the unknown. Please allow me that.”

Her shortcomings couldn’t be exposed. Moreover, Ariadne’s talent, if we must define it, was in bookkeeping or administrative work, not in theological studies at all.

But half of the Cardinal de Mare didn’t believe Ariadne could really have any talent despite what he saw and heard. The other half of him thought theology was not a woman’s task. So, he considered Ariadne’s desperate refusal as a girlish shyness and did not insist any further. It was a godsend.

The story of the genius girl of San Carlo was exaggerated a bit and spread throughout the Etruscan kingdom.

“She singlehandedly expelled the heresy from the Cathedral of San Ercole!”

“She must be deeply faithful.”

“Well… she may have a dubious birth, but she’s the Cardinal’s child.”

The person who reacted most sensitively to this was surprisingly Lady Rubina, the queen’s government official.

“Cesare. Listen to this.”

Lady Rubina made her son sit down and listen to Ariadne’s highly ringing praises.

“You are going to be a king. For a spouse, you should meet someone with high virtue, it’s beneficial.”

Cesare sneered.

“Mother. Get a grip. How could I become a king when Alfonso takes up that spot like that?”

“You’re being crooked again! Your father loves you!”

“Is it because he loved me so much that he only bestowed upon me the title of a petty noble with no fiefdom! Just a count!”

Bang!

Cesare roughly put down the glass of wine he began drinking as soon as noon passed.

“Mother, wake up from your dream. If my father had any intention of putting me on the throne, he would not have left me as Count de Como, but would have officially announced me as the royal blood. Even now, if lightning strikes the damn castle and Alfonso and my father die at the same time…”

He paused there as if he had some conscience and continued the conversation.

“The one with the right to succeed the Etruscan throne is Bianca of Taranto, a twelveyearold girl, not me. Do you understand?”

He finished off the remaining wine in one go and growled roughly at his biological mother.

“So, stop the pointless talk. I’ll choose my woman.”