“I heard a saint has come from Acereto.”

“Shh! He’s not a saint yet! The Holy See hasn’t officially canonized him. Watch your words.”

“But still, rumors say he’s an apostle from Acereto! They say he’s a virtuous scholar who knows everything!”

Acereto was a duchy and a large island at the bottom of the Etruscan Kingdom.

Though they shared the same race, language, units of measurement, and currency, their accent, national character, and customs differed slightly from the Etruscan Kingdom. The ‘Apostle of Acereto’ was a priest who gained popularity through his sermons in the Duchy of Acereto.

The core of his sermons was that ‘Yesak’s Son’ was not the son of God but the son of man, and that we ordinary humans can become as great as Yesak’s Son if we try.

This became a school of thought, and nowadays, his followers have become as numerous as clouds.

It was an undesirable phenomenon for the establishment.

Those who followed Pope Ludovico asserted the doctrine of the Holy Father and the Trinity, and proposed holding a council in Trebero to have a decisive debate on whether Yesak’s Son was indeed the son of God or the son of man.

− “It’s a matter that needs to be theologically established clearly, who Yesak’s Son really is.”

− “If we let the discussion flow naturally, the Acereto region will end up believing in a different religion from the mainland.”

− “It’s an opportunity to make the true truth known to the central continent!”

Everyone was anticipating the Trebero Council with different thoughts.

In principle, all clergy of bishop rank and above from across the continent were supposed to gather in Trebero, the northern continental territory directly under the Holy See, to attend the Trebero Council.

However, Cardinal De Mare was not a clergyman belonging to Pope Ludovico’s faction, and Pope Ludovico, to secure a stable number of votes, came up with all sorts of reasons to prevent those not in his faction from coming to Trebero.

Cardinal De Mare also remained in San Carlo on the logic of ‘who will tend the cows’.

The same went for the Apostle of Acereto himself, who was at the center of all this controversy. He was not qualified to participate in the Trebero Council because he was a mere priest, not a bishop.

Instead, at Pope Ludovico’s arrangement, he was invited to San Carlo, the capital of the Etruscan Kingdom, the epitome of civilized secular society, and was bundled together with Cardinal De Mare, Pope Ludovico’s thorn in the side, to give the sermon at the High Mass in place of the Cardinal. This was the whole story of today.

While outside, people were gathering in clouds at the square in front of the Great Cathedral of San Ercole, eager to meet the Apostle of Acereto, Cardinal De Mare’s household was busy preparing for the High Mass.

“Pull it tighter! Tighten the rubber!”

Isabella had recently started using something called a ‘breast pocket’.

It was a device Isabella, with her flat chest, had devised to imitate her mother’s voluptuous décolletage. As soon as a peddler who arrived at the house presented it as a product from the Moorish Kingdom, Isabella snatched it up without even asking the price, and it became her most beloved item since then.

As the breast pocket alone wasn’t enough to gather her breasts, Isabella stuffed cotton balls inside the breast pocket and then tightly bound it again with a wide muslin cloth.

Only then, when she wore a dress with a deep décolletage that was fashionable in the Etruscan Kingdom, did it create a perfect optical illusion of having what was not there.

“Young lady! You’re so beautiful!”

Maletta, who had been sticking close to Isabella and risking her life to flatter her since leaving Ariadne, loudly praised Isabella’s beauty.

“How should I do your makeup?”

“With pearl powder from Taranto. Use rose water from Gaeta for the rouge and lip tint.”

Makeup was taboo in San Carlo, but everyone did it.

A woman with a beautiful bare face was considered the most beautiful, but who on earth would engage in fair competition in this San Carlo? Noble ladies, without exception, touched up their faces a little, making sure it didn’t look like they were wearing makeup.

“You’re a genius, young lady. Everyone else just bathes in rose water, no one thought of using it to tint their lips.”

Isabella smiled brightly.

If one had to pick the most outstanding person in all of San Carlo in terms of grooming, it would undoubtedly be Isabella De Mare.

There was no need to blame Isabella’s slow progress in Latin lessons or court etiquette. Isabella was not a slow or dull student. She was a very intelligent student who pursued efficient study.

It’s just that she spent all day looking in the mirror, pondering which blush would best suit her purple eyes, or how to pluck her eyebrows to create a naturally even arch, leaving her little time for Latin, theology, history, or court etiquette.

Time is equally given to everyone, usually.

“Let’s wear the dress we had tailored last month.”

The collar of the sky-blue silk dress was decorated with golden lace, and a long pearl necklace with large beads was worn over the deeply cut décolletage. A golden cross pendant the size of a palm hung from the pearl necklace.

The tip of the cross pendant just touched the cleavage created by the breast pocket.

Isabella knew very well that every man within sight would not be able to take their eyes off her whenever the pendant swayed.

As she descended to the first floor where her family was waiting, she pondered how to pretend not to notice when men’s gazes focused on the pendant and her cleavage.

‘Should I turn my head to the side? Should I talk to someone next to me? Who should I talk to? Ariadne?’

As her thoughts wandered, Isabella looked her half-sister up and down, who was waiting demurely in the first-floor entrance.

‘Why does she dress like that? She’s not bad-looking, she’d be much better if she just put in a little effort.’

Unlike Isabella, who was like a bouquet of bright sky-blue flowers, Ariadne was wearing a simple black dress.

Her hair was neatly braided and pulled up, and she wore no makeup or earrings. The only accessory was a small silver cross hanging from a thin chain around her neck.

There was absolutely no way this half-sister could threaten her position.

Isabella’s heart softened, and she couldn’t help but say a word to Lucrezia.

“Mom, look at her appearance. What will people say if we take her to the High Mass looking like that?”

Lucrezia’s eyebrow twitched, but she was always weak to her eldest daughter.

“Giada. Bring her my gold earrings. The ones in the bottom drawer of the second box.”

Ariadne’s eyes sparkled at the mention of ‘gold’.

Reluctantly, Lucrezia had the head maid bring the earrings for Ariadne and put them on her with rough hands full of emotion. Then she hurried her two children and the extra mouth into the carriage.

“Come on, get in! We’ll be in big trouble if we’re late!”

It was always thrilling to enter the San Ercole Cathedral in a lavish carriage adorned with pure silver, cutting through the crowd of poor people filling the square.

“Make way! If you don’t want to be trampled by horses, move aside!”

“Oh my, whose carriage is that!”

“It must be the Cardinal’s carriage!”

Watching the expressions of shock and dismay on the faces of the poor through the transparent curtains of the window as the coachman whipped them to clear the way was one of Isabella’s favorite pastimes.

‘Look at them, only running away when they’re about to be whipped. Why don’t they move aside earlier, those lazy paupers.’

It was exactly like chasing pigeons in the square, but chasing people was much more exciting than chasing pigeons. Only during such moments did Isabella feel truly alive, her usually empty and boring daily life suddenly becoming clear and exciting.

The situation after entering the San Ercole Cathedral always pleased her as well.

− Clang!

The central doors at the narthex swung open noisily on both sides.

While others entered through the side doors, they made a grand entrance through the massive main doors at the front of the cathedral, marching triumphantly down the central aisle to the very front of the altar, like a bride walking down the virgin road at a wedding.

Only upon reaching the altar did they turn left, climb to the second floor, and take their seats in the balcony. Apart from their family, only the royal family and Count Cesare and Countess Rubina could sit in the balcony.

− ‘She’s here. It’s Isabella De Mare!’

− ‘She’s wearing a blue dress today.’

− ‘That golden cross, isn’t it from Luca’s jewelry shop?’

Today was just like any other day.

As she gracefully walked down the central aisle crossing the nave, women scrutinized her with eyes half filled with envy and half with jealousy, examining what she was wearing and what she had applied, while most of the men sitting on the pews on both sides craned their necks to look in Isabella’s direction.

It didn’t matter whether their wives were beside them or not.

− “Darling! Mind your manners!”

− “Ahem!”

Not just in the nave, but even men sitting far away in the aisles could be seen peeking out their heads at the edge of her vision. Isabella had to suppress the urge to laugh out loud from delight.

Today, Count Cesare had arrived first and was sitting in the balcony on the right side, where the royal family sits. He was like the leader among the men who ogled Isabella during the High Mass.

His gaze was always both pleasing and displeasing.

‘I wish others would desire me as much as he does, always looking only at me. But I don’t want to date Count Cesare, and I wish Prince Alfonso would be jealous seeing Count Cesare fawning over me. I wish Prince Alfonso would be interested in me.’

It was a perfectly self-centered wish.

As she neared the end of the nave, Isabella’s and Count Cesare’s gazes met in mid-air.

Isabella gave Cesare her most lovable eye smile while maintaining eye contact, with the heart of saying she wouldn’t date him but please continue to treat her well in the future.

Ariadne followed a step behind Isabella, observing the desire-filled gazes.

She had never received such gazes in her life.

When she was young, men didn’t look at Ariadne like that because she was plain, and when she grew up, she was already Cesare’s, so no one dared to look at her with such lustful eyes.

Women only pitied or ignored her, never shooting such anger-filled glances at her.

With a mix of slight disgust and envy, she followed Isabella, the target of those gazes. That’s when it happened. When she met the gaze of that unforgettable person.

A cold-looking handsome young man in his early twenties, like a marble statue, stood on the right low balcony with his arms crossed, looking down haughtily.

His attitude suggested he believed he ruled over everything on the ground from his higher position.

Unlike Alfonso, who was young but had strong features, he had delicate features and a slim jawline. He was tall, but his overall build was slender.

His hair, a dark brown close to black, reflected a reddish tint in the light of the many candles lit in the cathedral, and his two blue eyes, those blue eyes in which Ariadne had desperately longed to see warmth, were fixed without movement on the beautiful amethyst-colored Isabella walking radiantly just in front of Ariadne.

Ariadne’s two emerald green eyes filled with an emotion that might be pain, regret, or perhaps anger.

Although she had vowed never to associate with him again, it still hurt. The feelings built up over 14 years were inevitably separate from her resolute reason.

But today was an important day. She couldn’t ruin the plan because of someone like Cesare.

‘Please, let the same things from the past life happen exactly as they did, let the plan succeed.’

Ariadne tightly grasped the hem of her dress.