The prince’s letter was more of a note than a letter.

“To the astounding Ariadne,

Did you arrive well that day? I am contacting you because the palace garden is full of hydrangeas in bloom and it reminded me of you. It would be nice if there was an occasion to meet at the palace.

– A.”

The message sent by the prince was quite romantic. He even included the secret nickname they had decided upon before.

However, for Ariadne, who now had to make her once-in-a-lifetime debutante ball entrance with a fake cousin she abhorred, there was no time to read between the lines. She hastily wrote a reply saying only what she needed to say.

“Dear Alfonso,

I did not expect you to use your wish so soon. I need help. Will you be my debutante partner? I must become a debutante who enters with the prince. I will let you know the details later.

– Ariadne.”

The reply came much faster than expected. Ariadne had sent the reply letter by messenger in the late afternoon of the day Janobi arrived, and the prince’s courier arrived at seven o’clock the next morning.

It was a speed impossible unless the palace had urged them to send it express the next morning.

“Dear Ariadne,

There is no need for you to even use a wish to become a debutante entering with the prince. Let me know the date and place.

– Alfonso.”

Ariadne stood blankly for a moment after receiving Alfonso’s note. The first thing that struck her was the difference between her past life and the present.

In her past life, she had started out being treated equivalent to a married woman at a tender age without even having a debutante ball. But now, she was in a position to have a solo debutante ball with the escort of the prince, which every girl dreams of.

‘This isn’t a dream, is it?’

She lightly pinched the back of her hand, but it definitely hurt.

The second thing that struck her was the unfamiliarity of the prince’s unconditional favor. Since her mother passed away long ago, no one had shown her unconditional goodwill.

Even the few acquaintances Ariadne had in her previous life only exchanged conditional favors or interactions with her.

They would comfort Ariadne’s feelings or listen to her stories because Ariadne could give them some benefits, or because Ariadne sincerely listened to their complaints.

As for the people of the Cesare and De Mare households, she had given so much that her mouth hurt from complaining, but received nothing in return. Love, affection, youth, trust, devotion, effort, and loyalty were all betrayed and used.

To Ariadne, who was only accustomed to such relationships, the prince’s favor brought forth a little gratitude, mostly awkwardness, and a bit of fear.

While Ariadne stood there blankly, Sancha came running and poked her head in.

“Young lady, what did the prince say?”

Sancha, who received the note in Ariadne’s hand, exercised her recently learned reading skills to stumblingly read the contents and screamed.

“Eek!!!! Is it true, young lady?!”

“Shh, shh, be quiet.”

“This is so great! That Janobi fellow… No, let’s flatten the young master’s nose!”

Although Ariadne’s debutante partner was decided like this, Ariadne and Alfonso agreed to keep it a secret until right before the ball.

For Ariadne, it was a headache to officially announce that Prince Alfonso had agreed to be her debutante partner and then endure the glares of Isabella and Lucrezia at home for a few weeks.

Isabella would harass Ariadne out of pure jealousy, and Lucrezia would do the same on top of losing the opportunity to give her nephew some compensation money.

While it was not a written law, the debutante’s partner was usually arranged by the parents’ connections if not a relative. So in effect, it was customary for the parents to decide.

If she informed Lucrezia in advance that she had changed her partner to Alfonso, Lucrezia might object, saying, “Mom doesn’t agree.” If that happened, there was a risk that the prince’s escort would be in vain.

Lucrezia was not a quick-witted person, so if the prince appeared on the day of and said he would be the partner, it seemed unlikely that she would be able to raise an objection to that.

Ariadne decided to crush Lucrezia’s opposition with the prince’s authority and the element of surprise.

Moreover, Isabella was the type of person who would surely do something nasty if her mind was bothered. It was hard to fathom what kind of petty act she would commit. The fewer variables, the better.

And then there was Janobi. For the sake of Janobi’s dignity, it would have been better to let him know in advance, but that jerk needed to suffer a little.

Ariadne’s mood brightened at the thought of Janobi trembling with rage upon being notified only on the morning of the event that he had been replaced by the prince.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, you unpleasant fellow.”

Keeping it a secret that he would be escorting Ariadne as her partner at her debutante ball was also a way of handling things that suited Alfonso.

For him, there was the issue of his schedule, which might seem trivial, but on a larger scale, there was a diplomatic issue.

In principle, Prince Alfonso’s schedule was supposed to be set by the prince himself, but until now, his mother, Queen Marguerite, had been closely involved in every detail.

If he got permission and went, there would be no problem at all, but according to Alfonso’s intuition, Queen Marguerite and Leo III would not allow Alfonso to become Ariadne’s debutante partner.

“There are talks of marriage with the princess of Gallico. You must behave even more properly.”

That was what his mother had hinted to him a few days ago.

“It’s just helping a friend in trouble, though.”

Alfonso was unconsciously deceiving himself that it had nothing to do with grand matters like talks of marriage or marriage alliances. He checked his schedule with his secretary.

“Bernardino, do I have any schedules on the third Saturday of next month?”

“It is still open, Your Highness.”

“Keep that day open. Do not arrange any schedules. This includes being summoned by Her Majesty the Queen Mother and His Majesty the King Father.”

“What is the occasion, if I may ask?”

At this point, it would have been the usual way of handling things to say, “I will be participating in the debutante ball for the second daughter of Cardinal De Mare held at the Cardinal’s residence.”

However, Alfonso chose silence. He had not yet realized that his atypical way of handling things reflected the state of his heart.

“I have some personal matters to attend to. Make sure to keep the entire day open from morning until late at night.”

It was not only Janobi and Prince Alfonso who were aiming for the position of Ariadne’s debutante partner.

“That child is holding a separate debutante ball this time?”

“Yes, that is correct, Countess.”

At the maid’s report, Countess Rubina leaned back on the long velvet chair, reflecting the burgundy wine, the exact same color as her eyes, in the candlelight to examine its hue.

“And who did you say the partner was?”

“I heard it was a nephew on Lucrezia de Rossi’s side of the family.”

A smile appeared on the lips of Countess Rubina.

“He must be a nobody then. No matter how you look at it, our son is far superior. Don’t you agree, son?”

She looked at Cesare, who was sitting in the corner of his mother’s drawing room.

“I heard that child revealed the Rastera statue to be a fake this time? They say people at court talk about nothing but that child. Apparently, she has high popularity among the commoners?”

“Mother, I know what you’re going to say. Just stop there.”

Cesare was crumpled in the corner of his mother’s drawing room, living a bitter life. Nothing was going his way.

The case of the Porto Republic merchant, which he had investigated with great ambition, turned out to be a complete dud. At first, he thought that Benacio del Gato, the finance minister of the Porto Republic, was using his nephew to smuggle assets out of the country.

If it was Benacio del Gato, he was a significant influential figure in the Porto Republic who was even mentioned as a candidate for the next president. If they seized the assets he had smuggled into the Etruscan Kingdom, it would be like putting his opposition in debt.

Or, conversely, he had hoped that after discovering that Benacio del Gato’s nephew had been murdered, he could catch the killer and put Benacio del Gato in his debt, but upon investigation, it turned out to be a simple murder due to gambling.

While that brat Alfonso was diligently kicking a ball around, Cesare wanted to show his father that he had political prowess, but it was all for naught, just wasted effort.

“Cesare, don’t be stubborn and listen to your mother. To become king, you need high popularity and a spouse with a high reputation to help with that―”

“I told you to stop right there!”

Cesare exploded in anger.

“I have my own thoughts too!”

Although things hadn’t been going well.

“Is she some princess with the right of succession that just marrying her will make the throne fall into my lap? Think more rationally!”

Countess Rubina’s brow furrowed deeply at her son’s rebellion.

“And that little runt has a terrible personality!”

Countess Rubina was not one to back down here.

“It would be strange if a fifteen-year-old child going through puberty had a docile personality! Seeing you come whining to me here, unable to win over a young girl, doesn’t that show your incompetence?”

Irritation and anger filled Cesare’s blue eyes.

“I said stop it! You’re telling me to apply to be her debutante partner now, right? I’d rather die than do that!”

And his inner thought that he couldn’t bring himself to say to his mother was, ‘Even if I applied, I’m sure I would be rejected.’ But his mother was still his mother, and Countess Rubina saw right through her son’s true feelings.

“You have the attitude of a complete loser, too scared to even try.”

“Ah, seriously!”

At his mother’s sarcasm, Cesare grabbed the cloak he had tossed on the chair and stormed out of his mother’s drawing room.

– Bang!!

“That, that, that one! With such a terrible temper!”

Countess Rubina became angry seeing the back of her son who took after her.

“He won’t listen to his mother’s words even if it kills him! Does he think I can’t do as I please just because he says so?”

As her hand roughly swirling the wine glass became rough with anger, the burgundy wine splashed over the glass onto the velvet chair.

Countess Rubina’s maid quickly approached and politely wiped the wine, then poured the next glass at her mistress’s signal.

“Countess, do you have a good plan?”

Countess Rubina’s eyes gleamed wickedly at the maid’s question.

“Of course I do. In all my life, there has never been a single thing I set my mind to that I failed to achieve.”

While the villain of the palace was aiming to take a free ride on Ariadne’s glory, the villain of Cardinal De Mare’s residence was relatively honestly scheming to undermine Ariadne’s glory.

“It’s true that she’s having her dress made at Ragione, right?”

“Yes, I heard that Madam Marini from the Ragione dressmaker visited.”

“What confidence does she have, really?”

Beauty was cultivated with money. The more you invested, the more stunning you became.

Isabella could not understand how a child, who was not even that exceptionally pretty in her opinion, was having her debutante dress made at a dressmaker, not even a couturier.

“You will be the prettiest, miss.”

Isabella’s dress, which was being prepared at the Collegioni couturier, was being made with organza, a Moorish Empire fabric imported through Porto merchants.

Organza, a type of thin, shimmering, and flowy silk, could not yet be produced in Etruscana, where the sericulture industry was not well developed.

“I think so too.”

Although she said that, Isabella nibbled at her fingernails. She felt uneasy about something.

“Isn’t there a sure way for me to stand out more?”

At the request of the young lady she served, Malletta suggested a simple-minded but definite method.

“Shall I spill some wine on her dress that day?”

Isabella became irritated at the maid’s extremely short foresight.

“Then it would be too obvious that someone did it on purpose! And it would make her look pitiful!”

After reprimanding Malletta, Isabella seemed to have a good idea and asked her a question.

“Right, didn’t you say that Ariadne also seems to use a ‘chest pocket’?”

“I’m telling you it’s unmistakable, miss. I saw that wench Sancha taking out a cotton cloth and regularly washing it. What would she use a cotton cloth for if not a ‘chest pocket’?”

Isabella had been creating her lacking bust using a ‘chest pocket’ and cotton cloth specially procured from the Moorish Kingdom. That part was Isabella’s biggest complex.

“It would be quite a spectacle if her ‘chest pocket’ slipped out at the ball, wouldn’t it?”

Isabella’s aquamarine eyes narrowed. Malletta chimed in.

“If the cotton cloth comes loose, clumps of cotton will pop out! It will be very noticeable and unsightly! Plus, rumors will spread all over high society that she was wearing a vulgar thing like a ‘chest pocket’? She won’t be able to show her face!”

In the high society of San Carlo, a noblewoman had to be beautiful to be praised, but she had to be naturally pretty.

Excessively heavy makeup or artificial corrections were frowned upon and brought about gossip of resembling a courtesan from Carampana. It was needless to say that it would be a fatal blow to one’s reputation as a virtuous noble lady.

The ‘chest pocket’ was not known to other noblewomen in San Carlo and was imported secretively from the Moorish Empire. Of course, if the fact of its use was revealed, it would not be overlooked.

To Isabella, who had been keeping in check her half-sister whose name was rising day by day in high society before even making her debut, this was the perfect fit.

Isabella’s small eyes shone wickedly.