When asked about his identity, the face of the Porto merchant, which had been red, turned blue. He rolled his eyeballs unstably from side to side and threw himself towards the exit of the nearest hall without a word.

– “Catch him!”

– “We can’t let him get away!”

A group of people threw themselves towards the fleeing Porto merchant, but it was not easy to catch the desperate escaping merchant.

– Bam!

In the end, it was Prince Alfonso who caught the Porto merchant. Being tall and well-built for his age, his athletic ability was unrivaled.

When the collapsed, he was sitting in the center of the guest of honor seating, escorted the noble ladies to the right side to avoid harm. He did not miss the Porto merchant running towards the right door, and swiftly tackled him with his shoulder, sweeping him to the floor at once.

With the Porto merchant facing down on the floor, Alfonso restrained him by putting his hands behind his back and called his subordinates.

“Tie this man up and lock him in the royal palace prison!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“Also, appraise the authenticity of the remaining artworks. If they are forgeries, invalidate the transaction, and if they are genuine, settle the sale price with the original owner, not that merchant!”

“I will follow your orders!”

The Chivo Marquis’ mansion was reminiscent of a war zone.

The fake marble artwork that had penetrated and crashed into the middle of the party hall on the first floor, the palace security officers who were running around the house questioning the Porto merchant’s entourage and the Marquis and Marchioness of Chivo, and the chattering noise of the socialites saying that San Carlo was leaving were all very noisy.

– “The second daughter of the De Mare family was active in the Apostle of Aseretto case, and she was amazing today as well!”

– “Is this level of scholarship possible for a 15-year-old girl?”

– “Theology, art, and history… The fields are diverse, and at this point, it’s not just knowledge from studying, but could it be that she has eyes that can see through the truth?”

Ariadne was given the nickname ‘eyes that pierce the truth’.

The person with the ‘eyes that pierce the truth’ herself was engaged in a heated argument with a man in the backyard of the Chivo Marquis’ mansion, whose thoughts were unfathomable even when considering her past and present life.

“Count De Como, what are you thinking?!”

The way she addressed him was not ‘Count Cesare’ but ‘Count De Como’.

Originally, it was the rule to address someone by their family name, not their first name, following their title. However, no one in San Carlo applied that rule to Cesare and his mother, Marchioness Rubina.

Addressing someone by their family name and title was a sign of respect for the family, but it was widely known among the upper class social circles of San Carlo that the former ‘Count De Como’, whom Cesare inherited the title from, was a nonentity that only existed on paper.

In the midst of this, insisting on using the title ‘Count De Como’ sounded like pointing out his weakness in bloodline.

But Ariadne, who was angry, saw nothing in front of her eyes.

“How could you just push it onto someone else with lies without even thinking about the aftermath?”

Cesare just shrugged his shoulders.

“Look, little miss. In the end, it all ended well.”

“Be respectful! Are we close? I am the second daughter of the cardinal of this diocese!”

“Whoa, look here.”

Cesare pressed Ariadne’s forehead with one finger.

“You haven’t even made your debutante ball yet. Then you’re still a child. How can a child tell an adult to speak respectfully or not?”

Cesare looked Ariadne up and down and added a word.

“Look at this. Wearing a completely childish yellow chick dress.”

Ariadne trembled with anger. Cesare continued teasingly.

“I’ll address you respectfully when you become a young lady.”

“I won’t have any reason to speak with an irresponsible person like you again!”

Cesare finally began to defend himself.

“I’m not as irresponsible as the little miss sees me. It wasn’t done without any leads. I knew the fact that the real ‘Vincenzio del Gato’ had floated in the Tiber River three months ago.”

His investigation was a bit more extensive than that, but he didn’t bother to reveal it all to Ariadne.

“Then you should have solved it yourself, why push it onto me?”

“You know my situation, right?”

Cesare put on a pitiful expression. With the pitiful expression added to his sculptural features, he was indeed a remarkably handsome man who drew attention.

“If it looks like I, the king’s illegitimate son, the abandoned son, am coveting power, I’ll be finished that very day.”

He made a gesture of his throat being cut.

“In my position, how can I make a statement like ‘That merchant has a suspicious background, let’s use administrative and military power to investigate his background’?”

“Then you should have stayed still!”

“In the end, it all worked out well. It seems like the little miss and I are a good match. Aren’t we a pretty good combo? A noble count who investigates and sets the stage, and a clergyman’s daughter who solves the mystery up front!”

Cesare, who was pushing his luck, was someone she had seen a few times when she was young. It was a side he occasionally showed to Ariadne when he was in a very good mood, and in most cases, it was when he was trying to charm someone to get something from them.

A princess from a neighboring country, an ambassador, or Isabella. His hospitality, jokes, and playfulness towards the beautiful widow Isabella at the regular tea parties hosted by Ariadne.

She had thought positively that he was being nice to her sister-in-law out of respect for Ariadne, but her goodwill had turned into a fatal betrayal in the past.

Cesare, who was almost begging like a child, was quite charming, but seeing his attitude towards her now, she felt strange.

It would be a lie if she didn’t feel a petty sense of victory, thinking, ‘You who used to treat me so badly are now trying to please me.’

But if she had gone through death and come back, and fell for her ex-fiancé who had abandoned and taken her life just because he approached her once, then she would have the memory of a sea anemone, not a human.

He was still very attractive, and she wanted to accept his advances, but she absolutely didn’t want to.

“Aren’t you the villain who pushes all the responsibility onto a girl who hasn’t even made her debut or turned her face? Don’t even mention that we’re a combo anywhere. I’m afraid you might appear in my dreams.”

“I’m not as bad as you think. It was an outburst of my sense of justice that couldn’t bear to see a scammer swallow 2,000 ducats from my dear brother with fake imitations. Friendship? Brotherly love? Courage?”

“Ha.”

Ariadne, who judged that there was no point in talking further, tried to turn and leave, but Cesare reached out and grabbed her wrist.

“Wait a minute. I have something to discuss today, so I specially came all the way here to meet the little miss. I had a hard time sneaking in because the Chivo Marquis didn’t even send an invitation. Let’s talk for a bit.”

Ariadne pulled her wrist back slightly to push away Cesare’s touch.

She didn’t say anything, but Cesare noticed the subtle displeasure in Ariadne’s expression and raised both hands in surrender.

It was a subtle change in expression that most men wouldn’t notice, but Cesare was remarkably good at catching these things.

“Sorry, sorry. My apologies. Grabbing the young lady’s wrist. I was wrong. I’m a gentleman. You don’t have to be nervous. The matter is simple.”

Looking at Ariadne, Cesare brought up the topic as if he had a very good proposal.

“Let’s make a deal like a gentleman and a lady.”

“I have no deal to make with you.”

“Don’t be like that and listen to what I have to say.”

He leaned his upper body towards Ariadne in a friendly manner. The wind blew, and the perfume made of rose, frankincense, and sandalwood that Count Cesare favored tickled her nose.

He used to approach her like this and take her to a beautiful world.

He always broke down her defenses. If she took Cesare’s outstretched hand, she could go on his fantastic adventures without thinking about the consequences. Cesare De Como made today’s proposal.

“Would you sell me the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’? I’ll pay you well.”

“…Ah.”

The sound of Ariadne’s heart shattering could be heard. The pain piercing her chest. After the pain, a burning shame rushed in, and immediately after that, an indescribable anger burned fiercely.

He recited the items he would pay in exchange for the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’.

“Have you heard of the ‘Swan of Linvil’? It’s a considerably valuable diamond even among the jewels I own.”

Ariadne knew the ‘Swan of Linvil’ very well. It was a brooch that set a 15-carat, flawless diamond with excellent color in a teardrop shape along with pearls.

It was an item that came with the collection to the mansion in San Carlo that King Leo III bestowed upon Cesare when he turned thirteen, and it had the nickname ‘a jewel given to a truly loved woman’.

In her past life, Ariadne desperately wanted the ‘Swan of Linvil’.

Not only the value of the jewel itself, but if she received a jewel with the nickname of being given to a truly loved woman, it would feel like confirming that Cesare’s elusive heart truly belonged to her.

He never gave it to her during their engagement period, but when she whined about wanting it as a wedding gift, he readily agreed for some reason. It must have been because he knew she would never receive that wedding gift.

“In exchange for the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’, I’ll give you the ‘Swan of Linvil’ plus 6,000 gold ducats (about 6 billion won) and various small jewels.”

But now, this young Cesare was offering the ‘Swan of Linvil’ to Ariadne, who had done nothing.

In this life, Ariadne didn’t devote her youth to him, didn’t aid in murder, didn’t get sick, and didn’t risk her life.

All she did was raise her own value. Yet the ‘Swan of Linvil’, which never came to her even when she was so devoted to him, was about to fall into her hands so easily.

No, in fact, he wasn’t giving her the ‘Swan of Linvil’. He was saying he would exchange it for the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’.

To Cesare, Ariadne De Mare could be a trading partner or an object of use, but could never receive a jewel filled with love.

She couldn’t stop the hollow laughter from coming out. As her anger soared to the sky, all that came out was laughter.

“Count Cesare De Como. You are truly a fool.”

“Me?”

‘You lost the person who sincerely gave her all to you in your previous life. You suffered a great loss.’

But Ariadne’s lips spoke different words than the ones deep in her heart. She couldn’t bring herself to say her true feelings. It would sound like a crazy person.

“You may have insulted His Majesty the King by calling yourself the King’s son and whatnot, but let’s leave that aside. I’m also the Cardinal’s illegitimate daughter, so we’re both in positions that aren’t exactly honorable.”

It was an attack that pierced Cesare’s weakest point like a needle.

“But if you carry the King’s blood and are excluded from both politics and military, relying on a thin thread of divine grace to maintain that fragile lifeline, shouldn’t you at least properly mind His Majesty the King?”

Cesare looked surprised by the unexpected attack. No one had ever come at him so sharply, piercing right to the core of his dislikes while he was trying to charm them with all his might.

“Do you think His Majesty the King gave me the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’ to barter away? Do you think he would be happy if I sold it as I pleased?”

“What?”

“Do you think it would be a pleasant sight for His Majesty the King if I sold it to the Kingdom of Gallico or the Republic of Porto, saying they’re offering a good price?”

Ariadne fired back in an agitated voice.

“The ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’ is close to an item that His Majesty the King has entrusted to me. I am the practical keeper, not the owner. This is not something that can be bought with money.”

Up to here were the facts. But from here on, it was emotion.

“Seeing that you, who call yourself his son, can’t even think of the sincerity that even I know and come here telling me to sell or not sell the ‘Heart of the Deep Blue Sea’, it’s truly fitting! You can’t even distinguish what’s right or wrong, what’s good or bad, what you should have and what you shouldn’t have, yet you’re dreaming too big. Come to your senses.”

‘In your previous life, you couldn’t discern the woman you really should have had and the woman you shouldn’t have had. It’s the same this time. The only difference is that the subject is a jewel.’

Ariadne was determined to leave this time. As someone who had been with Cesare through thick and thin for 14 years, even if she couldn’t understand him, she had memorized his patterns. At this timing, it was obvious that he would lose control and get angry.

“You there! Stop!”

As expected, Count Cesare grabbed the wrist of Ariadne, who turned around and walked away with big strides.

Ariadne shook him off more violently than before, but this time Cesare didn’t budge, as if he was serious. The wrist bone pressed by the grip of an adult man’s hand hurt.

“Let go!”

Above Ariadne’s sharp scream, a deep male voice overlapped.

“Let go of that hand, Count De Como.”