Ariadne replied to the inquisitor in a calm but loud voice that could be heard by everyone in the great hall.

“My father, His Eminence the Cardinal, was by no means cooperating with the excommunicated Alejandro.”

She stepped forward and looked straight at the inquisitor.

“His Eminence the Cardinal was greatly concerned about the heresy of the Apostle of Acereto. Thus, he prepared for a public refutation!”

‘Prepared?’

The inquisitor snorted.

“You say he prepared? Then he should have stepped up as a debater himself or put forward another properly qualified priest, not put forward a young girl. What are you doing, Cardinal De Mare? Is this child’s play?”

It was a continued question about qualifications from earlier. He spoke with his upper body turned diagonally towards Cardinal De Mare, half turning his back on Ariadne. Ariadne decided to counter-attack in response.

“His Eminence did so out of respect for the Holy See!”

Ariadne’s voice rose.

“The Apostle of Acereto was a guest of His Holiness Pope Ludovico, whom the Holy See personally sent to San Carlo! If His Eminence the Cardinal had directly engaged in a religious debate with such a guest, how would it reflect on His Holiness Pope Ludovico!”

She stepped forward once more, not backing down at all, and pointed at the inquisitor.

“Moreover!”

Her finger flew up to the nose of the inquisitor who wasn’t looking at her.

“The content of the Apostle of Acereto’s sermon today was not discussed at all beforehand. The content of any sermon by an ordained priest should be sacred, and censoring a sermon in advance would be absolutely unacceptable even if the censor were His Holiness Pope Ludovico himself! The people of San Carlo simply believed that the Apostle of Acereto, no, Priest Alejandro, would give a more general sermon out of consideration for His Holiness Pope Ludovico who invited him, the people of San Carlo who are the hosts, and His Eminence Cardinal De Mare.”

Ariadne glanced at the Apostle of Acereto, who was being forced to kneel by the priests under the inquisitor.

“He should have discussed it beforehand, or exercised self-restraint! It was rather the Apostle of Acereto who did not respect the people of San Carlo and Cardinal De Mare!”

She skillfully shifted the blame for the heretical sermon that echoed through the San Ercole Cathedral today from Cardinal De Mare to the Apostle of Acereto.

In fact, anyone could have predicted that the Apostle of Acereto would give such a sermon if put on the podium. He was someone who would spread the word by any means necessary.

Strictly speaking, this was mainly the responsibility of Pope Ludovico, who deliberately invited the Apostle of Acereto to San Carlo and created a situation where he would give a sermon at the High Mass, and if we were to add another responsible party, it would be Cardinal De Mare’s negligence in knowing but doing nothing.

The inquisitor seemed to feel somewhat burdened by Ariadne’s nitpicking that kept dragging Pope Ludovico into it. But she had no intention of stopping there.

“Moreover, His Eminence the Cardinal was already conducting theological studies out of concern for the heresy of the Apostle of Acereto. All the theological grounds for public refutation were prepared. It’s just that he couldn’t officially set up a debate forum as it would have been disrespectful to the Council of Treves and His Holiness Pope Ludovico! Isn’t that right, Father?”

Cardinal De Mare was completely flustered. He usually hated it when his children, except Isabella, called him father in public, but now was not the time to reproach Ariadne for such a trivial thing.

Even if Ariadne had called him ‘Woof woof’ instead of ‘Father’ now, he couldn’t have complained.

He grabbed the rope that had rolled down from heaven.

“Yes, yes, of course! Inquisitor, I have been taking the heresy of the Acereto school very seriously for a long time. What on earth did His Holiness Pope Ludovico see in the Apostle of Acereto to send him to San Carlo and have him preach at San Ercole Cathedral!”

“Perhaps His Holiness’s clear eyes were momentarily clouded by Priest Alejandro’s wickedness. Doesn’t heresy always appear under the guise of holiness?”

Ariadne smoothly picked up Cardinal De Mare’s line. The father-daughter give-and-take was spot on.

“We couldn’t publicly restrain him out of consideration for His Holiness’s face, but when the sermon on the podium became increasingly disrespectful, I couldn’t hold back and rushed in!”

The inquisitor, who had arrived late, didn’t know exactly that Ariadne had been engaging in a theological debate with the Apostle of Acereto during the High Mass.

“Such a thing… happened?”

The inquisitor, who had been looking only at Cardinal De Mare throughout the conversation, looked at Ariadne for the first time as he answered. His tone had become more polite than at first.

− “That’s right! That young lady interrupted the Apostle of Acereto’s sermon in the middle.”

− “She saved San Carlo’s face!”

− “How embarrassing it would have been if we had just quietly listened to the heretic’s sermon until the inquisitor arrived!”

− “She was brave. It’s amazing.”

− “The level of theology seems to have been impressive too.”

− “Like father, like daughter.”

The murmuring voices of the crowd in the hall gave Ariadne even more strength.

Cardinal De Mare did not miss the opportunity that had fallen from heaven. He shrewdly pushed the inquisitor out of the center of the stage.

“Inquisitor! I… no, the Diocese of San Carlo has fulfilled its responsibility to be faithful to the faith! Don’t say anything more about this matter until you bring a decree from His Holiness!”

“But Cardinal De Mare…”

“Do you have the authority? If you want to link a faithful diocese with heresy, you can’t do it without His Holiness’s permission. Come on, hurry up and transport the sinner. Let’s quickly wrap this up and everyone return to their places.”

The inquisitor could no longer hold Cardinal De Mare accountable and left, dragging the Apostle of Acereto tied up with ropes.

It would take at least 3 weeks for the author to report by letter to Pope Ludovico and receive instructions again. They were safe until then.

In the chaotic cathedral where Cardinal De Mare had driven people out, Ariadne finally let out the breath she had been holding. Her palms were all damp with sweat. Her face was flushed red with tension and excitement.

The people who had been murmuring glanced in Ariadne’s direction even as they went outside the cathedral.

Although it had started to thin out, all the people in the huge cathedral, which could accommodate up to 50,000 people, were focusing on Ariadne in her humble black dress.

At this moment, no one remembered the beautiful Isabella.

In the carriage on the way home, Ariadne pondered over the events that had happened today.

Her family had left first when the commotion broke out and returned to the cardinal’s residence, and Cardinal De Mare was busy dealing with the aftermath of what had happened, so Ariadne was riding back alone in the cardinal’s luxurious silver carriage.

Cardinal De Mare was nervous about being held accountable, but this matter would be concluded without disciplining the cardinal.

This time, Ariadne, the cardinal’s flesh and blood, had stepped forward and stopped the heretical priest’s sermon in front of everyone. There wasn’t enough grounds to condemn the cardinal for not being faithful enough.

In her past life, everyone in San Carlo had listened blankly to the sermon of the Apostle of Acereto, unable to resist him, who would soon be excommunicated.

But even then, Pope Ludovico eventually couldn’t impose any real disadvantage on Cardinal De Mare and concluded this incident.

‘Instead, I ended up engaged to Cesare de Como.’

Ariadne let out a hollow laugh. It was a single lifetime, yet she had been thrown into a pit for such a trivial reason.

At that time, Pope Ludovico had tried to demote Cardinal De Mare to bishop for failing to properly manage the diocese and putting San Carlo in danger of heresy, and to entrust the San Carlo diocese to a newly appointed cardinal.

Facing his end, Cardinal De Mare begged and pleaded to Leo III. Leo III could leisurely enjoy the rare situation of having a cardinal groveling at his feet.

Favors are not given without a price. Leo III eventually put pressure on Pope Ludovico in exchange for his illegitimate son Cesare forming a marital alliance with Cardinal De Mare.

Even in that situation, Cardinal De Mare’s skill in pushing Ariadne instead of Isabella was either fraudulent or simply genius.

‘Now that I think about it, Cesare must have been furious.’

While which sister he married was a big deal for Cesare himself, it wasn’t really that important to his father, Leo III.

He just wanted to make his illegitimate child’s position in the Etruscan Kingdom a bit more solid by giving him a cardinal father-in-law.

This engagement from her past life, made by a deal between fathers, was something she desperately wanted to avoid in this life.

‘Since I’ve completely eliminated the cause of the engagement, I should be able to get through this safely.’

“Hahaha! That young lady is no ordinary person!”

On the top right balcony of the second floor, Leo III, the king of Etruria, was clapping his hands and laughing loudly.

“To think it would be resolved like this, it’s like watching a well-crafted play! I’d believe it even if someone told me that girl had planned this in advance with Pope Ludovico. How could the timing be so perfect?”

The secretary smiled and agreed.

“They say reality is more dramatic than fiction.”

“Hahaha. We should reward that pious young lady. What would be good?”

Leo III thought for a moment and quickly made a decision.

“Let’s award 50 gold ducats (about 50 million won) and a box of jewelry. She practically saved the country from foreign powers, so it would be appropriate to award one of the Etruscan Orders of Chivalry, but it’s a shame we can’t do that out of consideration for the Pope!”

The king then turned to Queen Marguerite, who was seated next to him, and suggested.

“Would you like to choose what goes into the jewelry box, Your Majesty?”

It was very rare for the king to directly address the queen. Queen Marguerite, whose mood had improved along with this, gladly agreed.

“Let’s do that.”

Leo III, in high spirits as things had gone well, exchanged a few words of blessing with Prince Alfonso before heading to his own carriage, separately from Queen Marguerite and Prince Alfonso. They always traveled separately.

After boarding the carriage, Leo III revealed his true thoughts to his secretary.

“Having the queen personally choose the contents of the jewelry box will be a gesture of reconciliation towards Cardinal De Mare’s wife. Didn’t something happen between them recently?”

The king stroked his beard with satisfaction, seemingly pleased with the good idea he had come up with.

“If I had told the queen to comfort the cardinal’s wife, she would never have listened. Such a contrary woman.”

The secretary, who had been watching carefully, cautiously interjected.

“Um… Your Majesty, the daughter of Cardinal De Mare who will receive the award now is the second daughter, born to a concubine other than Lady Lucrezia. Will giving her an award really appease the cardinal’s wife?”

Embarrassed by the pointed remark, Leo III answered somewhat irritably.

“Actually, what really matters isn’t the cardinal’s wife. It’s enough if Cardinal De Mare understands my goodwill.”

“Your words are true. You are wise, Your Majesty.”

“Ah! That will do!”

The king clapped his hands.

“There was a jewel that Cardinal De Mare was very interested in recently. Do you remember the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’?”

“How could I not remember that treasure! But surely… You’re not planning to give the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’ to that young lady…?”