Mainly about how great the knights are, who is the great knight recently, what is the topic among the knights, as if he was a knight himself, he implied that it is a much better job than a clergyman if the knight is well done while visiting his aunt’s house, and he was swaggering.

After bragging about himself for a while, the fool turned his gaze to the sisters.

“Oh, I heard there’s a lady among you that I should take to the debutante ball.”

He looked up and down the three sisters and passed over Arabella.

“You’re just a little girl, so no.”

Arabella, who hated being treated like a child, crumpled her face.

The fool, who turned his gaze to the side and saw Isabella, who was pure and beautifully compact, brightened his face, but he also knew something.

There was a story that the de Mare cardinal family has a beautiful eldest daughter worth a fortune, and a mediocre newly born second daughter and the original youngest daughter.

Since Taranto is at the very end of the south, it seemed that the story of ‘the girl who sees the truth’, which is making San Carlo tremble, has not yet been delivered.

The fool, who is not very good at selfobjectification, knew that the eldest daughter, famous for her beauty, was not his match. Today his date was the second daughter, who was said to be mediocre, not the beautiful eldest daughter.

With regret, the fool, who lost his appetite, extended his right hand towards Ariadne. He was asking her to put her left hand on his hand for a kiss on the back of his hand.

“It must be you. Janobi de Rossi. Your cousin brother.”

Ariadne’s left eyebrow went high into the sky. Sancha’s eyes, which were whispering in the back, also spewed out green flames. If Lucrezia wasn’t there, Sancha might have hit Janobi with a tray.

Ariadne hid her hands behind her back. Janobi’s right hand, which was put forward, was left awkwardly alone in the air.

“Let’s hold hands a bit.”

Gently turned her mouth and protested, ‘Are you short on words?’. Janobi was Lucrezia’s nephew, but he was essentially a stranger to Ariadne, who had no blood mixed with Lucrezia. It wasn’t a relationship to talk comfortably at first sight.

However, the fact that his gesture to kiss his hand was ignored made Janobi’s speech contentious.

“Our aunt! Huh? Since she’s your mother, I’m your cousin brother. Hey, can’t a relative brother speak to his younger relative sister?”

It was an attitude calling for a punch, but all of Janobi’s words were in principle correct.

In San Carlo, it was considered virtuous to treat and behave like a real mother to the lawful wife, and it was a courtesy for the people around to serve as if the child of the lawful wife was really their child.

The problem was that the backhand kiss had a sexual nuance and was not done between real relatives. It was highly impure to rush to kiss the back of the hand with the theme of a cousin brother.

Ariadne gritted her teeth and nodded her head with a smile.

“Janobi brother. I’m glad to meet you. Let’s do the backhand kiss next time since I’m not even wearing gloves now.”

It was etiquette that the gentleman’s side does not ask for a kiss on the back of the hand when the lady side is not wearing gloves.

If the lady is barehanded and inevitably has to kiss the back of the hand, it is a manner to do it in the air so that the lips and hands do not touch, but looking at the way Janobi was doing it, it did not seem like he would keep such a manner at all.

However, it seemed like the style of the guy in front of her would make a fuss saying, ‘I was going to kiss in the air, what do you see me as?’ if she pointed out the mistake.

Ariadne decided to let it go generously and consider herself as a sensitive person rather than squabble over trivial matters.

However, Lucrezia couldn’t resist butting in.

“What’s the big deal about a kiss on the hand, why are we so fussy among family? Poor Janobi must be upset.”

“Ariadne can be a bit prickly. She’s not considerate of others, very inflexible, that one.”

Isabella, the soulmate of her mother, chimed in and participated in portraying Ariadne as a strange person. Ariadne thought she couldn’t stand it any longer if she stayed here. She decided to make a quick escape.

“I’ll be back in a moment…”

Ariadne politely excused herself to go to the bathroom and stood up. She planned to hide in the bathroom for about an hour and then come back slowly.

Looking at Ariadne standing up from her seat, Janobi clicked his tongue.

“Wow, you’re really tall.”

Ariadne, not wanting to hear any more, swiftly turned to look at Janobi.

Despite restricting her diet greatly since she entered the residence of the Archbishop de Mare, Ariadne had grown rapidly like a waterfed bamboo and was already 3 piedi 10 dito (about 166 centimeters). She was quite tall for her age.

Janobi, who would be her debutante partner and dance the first dance with her at the ball, was unfortunately smaller than her peers.

“You’re so tall, and you wear heels?”

Ariadne inadvertently looked down at her own shoes. They were shoes with a low heel of about 1 dito (3.6 centimeters).

“I’ll give you a piece of advice since we’re relatives. Listen carefully.”

Janobi, as if about to reveal an incredibly important secret tip no one asked for, began a proud speech.

“These days, girls think they just have to stand out, so they wear high heels. But that’s really inconsiderate. A real standout girl is one who knows how to make the man by her side stand out.”

Janobi uttered with a smirk.

“On the day, come wearing shoes without heels. That’s what a really smart woman would do.”

Lucrezia was watching this scene with a satisfied face, and Isabella was enjoying the spectacle across the river, clutching her belly with laughter.

Arabella and Sancha, who were looking at Janobi as if they were looking at a repulsive lump, and Ariadne, were on one side.

Ariadne, however, managed to maintain a graceful expression and left a smile for everyone, including Janobi, as she exited.

Ariadne, who had left the room with a smile, made a sour face as soon as the door to the reception room closed with a thud.

She decided to give up on returning in an hour and ordered Sancha, who had followed her out, to tell them in 15 minutes that Miss Ariadne was not feeling well and couldn’t drink tea anymore today. She said grimly,

“I put up with most things, but this isn’t right.”

“Yes, I agree it’s not right, miss.”

A servant informed Ariadne, who had returned to her study, that a letter had arrived. The envelope the servant brought was decorated in gold and sealed with red wax with the initials “AFC” embossed.

“It’s from the prince, miss.”

“The answer is the prince.”

Ariadne and Sancha looked at each other and nodded.