However, Countess Rubina was not an easy person to deal with. If her son was as fierce as a wolf, the Countess was like a great tiger descending from the mountain.

She struck with the edge of her hand the wine glass that her son had roughly set down on the table, sending it flying off the table.

– Crash!

The glass that fell on the marble floor shattered with a loud noise. She stood up, stepping on the shards of glass, and thrust her face close to her son’s, yelling.

“How dare you raise your voice to your mother, you who came from my womb.”

They were so close that their down hairs touched, and their body heat and breath could be felt. Rubina Countess harshly berated the motionless Cesare.

“You will become king. Just try saying you can’t do it. If it’s not possible, you have to make it possible, you fool!”

Standing up straight, Countess Rubina began to pace around the reception room, her shoes clicking.

“I hear that His Majesty will bestow the ‘Heart of the Blue Abyss’ on that child. The ‘Heart of the Blue Abyss’! Do you know why your mother wanted it?”

“I know, I know, Mother’s astrologer-.”

“Drop that sarcastic tone!”

Countess Rubina turned to look at her son, greatly angered.

“It was said that the one who possesses the ‘Heart of the Blue Abyss’ will become king.”

Her eyes held conviction, as if possessed by something.

“The person who predicted that I would become the king’s woman, that you would be my son, predicted it all. So-.”

She approached her son and firmly pressed her finger against his chest. The force pushed Cesare’s upper body backward.

“It’s all for you. Bring the ‘Heart of the Blue Abyss’.”

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The king’s gift was to be received at an audience with the queen at the palace. In principle, it should be bestowed by the king since it was the king’s gift, but due to Leo III’s urgent meeting schedule, it was decided that Queen Marguerite would bestow it on his behalf.

Lucrezia, who had been thoroughly humiliated by Queen Marguerite last time, this time also received an earful from Cardinal De Mare due to the incident where Ariadne repelled the apostle of Acerreto.

“All of San Carlo saw it. The child had nothing to wear and looked shabby!”

“My dear, I gave that child everything I could! I even gave her gold earrings!”

“Why are you using such terms of address! After disgracing my face, how dare you call me ‘dear’ and ‘you’? So, are you saying you were proud to show others what you put on Ariadne?”

They argued back and forth heatedly.

From Lucrezia’s perspective, she must have felt quite wronged, but in the end, when Cardinal De Mare went so far as to suggest opening Ariadne’s closet, they all went up to the third floor attic and opened the second daughter’s humble wardrobe. At that moment, Lucrezia had no choice but to admit her wrongdoing in front of the Cardinal.

In Ariadne’s closet, there were only three outfits hanging. One cream-colored outerwear worn to the Queen’s mass, one black outerwear worn to the San Ercole Cathedral, and lastly, an indoor dress that could not be worn outside.

Moreover, aside from the shoes worn on the farm, there was only one pair of round-toed children’s shoes. Ariadne wore these shoes to the backyard, to the grand mass, and to the palace.

“Oh, my head!”

Cardinal De Mare, who had opened the closet, held his forehead, and Lucrezia became as silent as a mute who had eaten honey. If she talked back here, the issue of where the living expenses were spent would undoubtedly come up.

“I don’t know where on earth you spend the money. The second daughter almost met the queen twice wearing the same clothes. Make sure that no matter who looks into this child’s life, they won’t say that the second daughter is poorly fed and clothed in our house!”

Thus, Ariadne encountered the luxurious new custom of a dressmaker’s shop for the first time after her regression.

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“She’s young, but her limbs are quite long and slender.”

Behind the street of high-end clothing stores gathered by the Tiber River, there was a quality dressmaker’s shop that Lucrezia dealt with, well hidden.

The Ragione dressmaker’s shop was known for its good price compared to its craftsmanship, and Lucrezia often used this place to make clothes for the rapidly growing Arabella.

Today, Madame Marini from the Ragione dressmaker’s shop had come to the Cardinal De Mare’s residence to measure Ariadne and discuss how to make summer outerwear and autumn clothes.

“She’ll grow quickly. Not just in height, but also in chest and other areas.”

Madame Marini winked at Ariadne. Ariadne frowned slightly.

“Shall we cut the décolletage a bit? I know you haven’t had your debut yet, but your figure will soon be like that of young ladies. She’s too grown now to be fitted like a child.”

Usually, a mother would sit together and give detailed advice on how to fit clothes for a teenage girl, but Ariadne was alone with Sancha.

After being severely scolded by Cardinal De Mare about Ariadne’s closet problem, Lucrezia said she would only feel worse if she were there, and entrusted the entire authority to the Ragione dressmaker’s shop, asking them to make as many types of summer outerwear and autumn outerwear as possible within a limit of 5 ducats (about 5 million won), without even looking.

So instead of a mother who would make a fuss about how they could cut the décolletage of a child, and ask to button up to the neck and make the skirt length as long as possible, Ariadne had to restrain the dressmaker’s owner herself.

“That won’t be necessary. Raise the collar as much as possible and don’t cut the neckline deep.”

After her regression, Ariadne had some complaints about the various mistreatments from Lucrezia, but the only area where Ariadne and Lucrezia’s interests aligned was meals.

When Cardinal De Mare’s eyes were not on her, Lucrezia did not properly give food to Ariadne. But Ariadne had no complaints about that.

– “They say you’re too big, like hugging a man. Your breasts are so big and saggy, they thought you were a cow.”

Before her regression, Ariadne had a tall and large-boned, slender body.

But she always hunched her body that looked bulky. Even though she was tall, she didn’t want to look huge next to Cesare, who had a slim build despite his height.

In this life, Ariadne desperately ate less. She absolutely did not want to grow. She wanted to be small and delicate like Isabella, who could fit snugly into Cesare’s arms.

And she hated anything that revealed her figure. Ariadne wished that others’ gazes would never scan over her.

“I hope it’s not too eye-catching. Don’t make it tight or revealing, make it loose-fitting to cover as much as possible.”

Madame Marini seemed not to understand Ariadne’s request.

“What…? No, I understand what you’re worried about, My Lady.”

She loosened the fabric she had been draping while measuring Ariadne and showed it directly to Ariadne in front of the mirror.

“You basically have volume. And you’ll have more in the future. But if you wear a voluminous top… Look at this. Doesn’t it make you look even fuller?”

Conversely, she tightly pulled the draped fabric from behind to show the silhouette.

“If you wear it fitted like this, it defines your contours and actually makes you look slimmer. It’s the same if you don’t want your chest to stand out. Rather, it’s better to use slightly thicker fabric to firmly press down so that the chest contours are not noticeable.”

Seeing it with her own eyes, the expert’s words were indeed accurate. It was awkward to insist further. Ariadne thought she would have to wrap muslin around her chest to press down the volume in the chest area once more, even as she had her clothes fitted as Madame Marini recommended.

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In the end, what ended up in Ariadne’s hands was one outfit in a bright light green, one in a lovely yellow, and one elegant white dress.

The shoemaker was to send custom-made shoes soon. In addition, some miscellaneous indoor clothes were added, and the rest were to be prepared by autumn.

The outfit to wear when meeting Her Majesty the Queen today was the white dress.

Made of thick satin produced in Etruscan with a subtle sheen, it was neatly cut to give an elegant feel with little exposure. It didn’t look like a young lady’s clothes at all.

“My goodness, no one would recognize you, young lady!”

This was the exclamation Sancha made while arranging Ariadne’s hair. Ariadne frowned and smiled.

“Was I that ugly before?”

“Well, there were aspects that weren’t entirely absent.”

Ariadne hit Sancha’s shoulder. Sancha stuck out her tongue.

“Ah, it’s a compliment, a compliment! You’re pretty now.”

While braiding Ariadne’s hair and putting it up in a half-up style, Sancha sighed slightly in disappointment.

“But our young lady is still so young, it would be nice to decorate it in a cuter and more glamorous style.”

Ariadne was disgusted.

“That doesn’t suit me. Don’t even think about trying it.”

Sancha gave Ariadne a sly smile.

Since the only accessories she had were Lucrezia’s gold earrings and a silver cross necklace, Sancha got fresh flowers and put them in Ariadne’s hair. They were white lisianthus in season.

She made a small bouquet with the same flowers, tied it with a ribbon, and put it on her wrist, creating a fitting adornment even without accessories.

“Now, let’s go meet the Queen!”

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Cardinal De Mare took her to the palace, but Ariadne had to enter the Queen’s audience alone.

This was partly because the Queen’s audience was to take place in a small reception room where only women gathered, making it inappropriate for Cardinal De Mare to enter, and partly because Cardinal De Mare had a separate schedule at the palace.

But above all, Cardinal De Mare lacked the will to take care of his second daughter.

“Don’t cause any trouble and stay quiet.”

This was Cardinal De Mare’s instruction as he dropped Ariadne off at the entrance of the Queen’s palace. Ariadne laughed in disbelief.

“Of course.”

Does my father think of me as a walking powder keg?

But there are often times when parents know their children’s temperament better than the children themselves. Ariadne was supposed to wait in the waiting room at the front of the Queen’s palace until the time for Her Majesty the Queen’s audience.

However, looking at her reflection in the glass mirror on the wall, her appearance without any accessories seemed much shabbier than she had thought.

She had adorned herself abundantly with fresh flowers instead of jewels, but lisianthus flowers are not very large, so there was a limit to their brightness.

‘They must be growing peonies in the back garden of the Queen’s palace.’

With everything from head to toe in white, just one pink peony would make her look much more lively and eye-catching.

There was more than an hour and a half left until Her Majesty the Queen’s audience time.

Ariadne knew the Queen’s palace like the back of her hand. Once inside the palace, there were no guards to block entry to the interior, and there was more than enough time to quickly visit the back garden.

Ariadne slightly lifted her skirt, looked around like a squirrel, and then quietly slipped out of the waiting room.

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The fastest way to the back garden of the Queen’s palace was to walk along the central corridor, but through the abandoned fountain, one could enter the backyard without being noticed by anyone.

Ariadne swiftly crossed the abandoned fountain towards the backyard. This was originally the most secluded place. The possibility of encountering people was lowest here.

“Ariadne?”

But probability and reality were different.

“Who is it?”

In Palazzo Carlo, the only person who would call her by name was Prince Alfonso. However, when Ariadne looked around, there was no one to be seen nearby.

“I’m here, up above.”

Through the backlight, the silhouette of a man sitting in the elm tree was visible.