Janovi, who had become anxious due to his actions in the morning, drank heavily to forget that sliver of fear. The party’s official drink was champagne from the Gallico kingdom.

By the time he had downed one or two glasses of the refreshing and bubbly fruit wine, Janovi was already in a state where he couldn’t properly remember his own mother’s face.

When people suddenly rushed in, tied him up, and dragged him to the VIP seat in the center of the tent, he was confused but too drunk to put up any proper resistance as he was tightly bound and forced to kneel and prostrate on the bare ground below the VIP seat.

“Janovi de Rossi of Taranto!”

The person issuing a thunderous command in front of him was none other than the one and only sun of Etruscan, His Majesty Leo III.

Seeing the face he had only seen on commemorative coins actually speaking and moving right in front of him felt completely surreal. Janovi answered as if enchanted.

“Yes, yes!”

“Oh my! Can’t even pay proper respects to His Majesty the King!”

Thinking that the Gallico delegation was watching, Leo III was rougher than usual, and his subordinates were even stricter about formalities and etiquette. Janovi, who was kicked from somewhere and hit in the lower back, ended up pressing his head completely to the ground.

The person who kicked him wanted a greeting of “We are honored by the presence of the Sun of Etruscan,” but Janovi seemed too drunk and surprised to manage it. Leo III also gave up on receiving the greeting and quickly interrogated him.

“Is it truly the case that you shot a crossbow at Ariadne de Mare, the second daughter of the De Mare family?”

Janovi was drunk, or perhaps because he was drunk, he was even more convinced that he shouldn’t affirm those words.

“No, no! It absolutely wasn’t me!”

He rambled on, adding more words.

“I was only inside the tent, so how could I shoot an arrow at Ariadne’s horse’s rear?”

Cesare was looking at Janovi with a truly disgusted expression, as if viewing a lowly creature. Ariadne intervened at this timely moment.

“Your Wise Majesty, I am simply ashamed to have troubled Your Majesty’s mind with such a trivial matter.”

As the victim herself stepped forward, Leo III nodded, granting her the right to speak.

“Count Cesare only told me at first that Janovi de Rossi ‘shot a crossbow’ at me, but he never said a word about whether that crossbow hit me, missed me, or hit the horse.”

People who realized the point Ariadne made murmured. Leo III also frowned and nodded. Janovi, who had been forced to kneel on the ground, lifted his head and shook it vigorously.

“No! It’s a misunderstanding! I just thought Ariadne was hit by the horse when I saw her walking on foot without a horse!”

His quick-wittedness was outstanding.

However, there was clear evidence. Ariadne signaled to Cesare with a nod, and Cesare, receiving her signal, took out Janovi’s arrow from his bosom and politely placed it in front of Leo III.

“Your Majesty, this is the arrow that was stuck in the horse’s rear.”

The arrow, which still had the horse’s dried blood stuck to it, was an item whose feathers were dyed with different colors and patterns for each family to distinguish whose prey the game belonged to.

Moreover, Janovi had shot the first arrow he had loaded that day at Ariadne. The first arrow was usually engraved with the family crest and name on the shaft as a way to wish for good luck.

Janovi’s arrow also had the De Rossi family crest and name clearly engraved on it.

When Leo III couldn’t read the De Rossi family name engraved on the arrow due to his aging eyes, Leo III’s secretary, who was standing next to him, quickly read the name written on the arrow instead.

“De Rossi of Taranto…! It is indeed an arrow of the De Rossi family.”

The secretary, who heard a whisper from the attendant beside him, shouted loudly for everyone to hear.

“Today, the only participant from the De Rossi family of Taranto in the hunting competition is Janovi de Rossi!”

The audience gasped again.

– “Why is he telling such an easily exposed lie?”

– “He must be a hopeless case to shoot a crossbow at a person in a hunting competition, right?”

– “Not even a longbow, but a crossbow! Heavens! Isn’t he crazy?”

Ariadne added fuel to the fire.

“Janovi de Rossi followed me out of nowhere while I was taking a walk on a trail near the hunting grounds this morning and shot a crossbow at me from behind! This is attempted murder!”

At that moment, a scream was heard from the crowd.

“It’s a misunderstanding, it must be a misunderstanding!”

It was Lucrezia. She rushed in, slipping, and stood next to Janovi, pointing at Ariadne.

“In the end, the horse was hit, not you. He wouldn’t have shot at you! How could our nephew Janovi, who is so gentle and kind, shoot a crossbow at a person! And you must have offended Janovi in some way! That’s why Janovi shot an arrow at the horse!”

Janovi, feeling emboldened, took advantage of Lucrezia’s help.

“That’s right! Well, I heard that Ariadne was bullying Isabella, so I admonished her a bit, but when Ariadne wouldn’t listen, I shot an arrow at the horse as a warning! As a cousin, isn’t this much admonishment possib… Ugh!”

Janovi, who was rambling on without permission to speak, was silenced by another kick from Leo III’s subordinate. He seemed to want to beat Lucrezia as well to shut her up, but he couldn’t dare lay a hand on the Cardinal’s wife.

It wasn’t just the military officials who were displeased with Lucrezia, but also the civil officials.

Marquess Bacardo, who had spent a difficult day at the negotiation table and had barely returned to the hunting competition tent, scolded Lucrezia in a low voice while watching the Gallico delegation and the King.

“My lady! What safety is there here for you to intervene so recklessly!”

However, despite the subordinates taking her side, it was now a desperate crisis for Ariadne. Ariadne was virtually gagged.

Lucrezia was publicly Ariadne’s stepmother, so Ariadne couldn’t argue with Lucrezia in a public place.

Janovi claimed that Ariadne bullied Isabella, and Lucrezia claimed that Janovi’s actions were simply a ‘misunderstanding’ by Ariadne. It was impossible to explain the situation.

The one who saved her here was Count Cesare.

“Your Majesty! Fortunately, the crossbow hit the horse, but the horse reared so much that Lady De Mare fell from the horse deep in the Orte forest and nearly died. If I hadn’t saved her, she would have died. Whether it hit a person or a horse, it’s still attempted murder.”

And he added one more thing.

“I also nearly died in the process. Saving someone from a rearing horse is dangerous. Wasn’t this an attempt to kill a noble who holds the title of Count in the great Etruscan nation? What is that guy? A viscount? The son of a viscount? Ah, not even from a viscount family? Does he even have a title?”

Although he said noble, everyone present, including Leo III and the Gallico delegation, knew Cesare’s true bloodline. This was an incident where the royal bloodline, albeit a tainted half, could have died.

Janovi, despite being drunk, instinctively realized that this was a really big deal.

“That arrow is indeed my arrow, but…! It’s a misunderstanding…!”

Leo III’s subordinate kicked him a third time, and Janovi, who was hit squarely in the side, finally shut up.

Leo III suppressed his rising anger and mentally weighed the factors he had to consider in punishing the bastard in front of him.

First, it was true that Janovi had shot an arrow at the back of the Cardinal’s illegitimate daughter, but it was impossible to confirm whether he was aiming at the illegitimate daughter or her horse.

Was it attempted murder or property damage? Or, as Cesare said, was shooting the horse itself attempted murder? Janovi’s punishment would be decisively split based on this judgment.

Secondly, the part where Cesare was injured was because Cesare arbitrarily saved Ariadne, not something Janovi could have predicted. It seemed difficult to accuse Janovi of trying to kill the royal bloodline.

Moreover, with the Gallico delegation watching intently, he couldn’t publicly acknowledge Cesare as royal blood.

Thirdly, he wanted to maintain a good relationship with Cardinal De Mare.

Although it was an incident where the Cardinal De Mare’s child was nearly greatly harmed by his nephew, Lucrezia was defending Janovi in front of people like this, and Leo III wasn’t confident that Cardinal De Mare would like it if he ignored that and imposed a strict punishment on Janovi.

In the end, men tended to be more lenient towards the woman they shared a bed with than their own children.

Fourth, nevertheless, that bastard Janovi seemed to have a terrible habit of lying without restraint whenever he opened his mouth.

Fifth, because the Gallico delegation was watching all of this, Leo III felt the pressure to appear as a merciful and wise ruler while also imposing a wise judgment to display his authority.

After weighing all these facts, Leo III decided on the punishment for Janovi.

“Janovi de Rossi, instead of protecting the lady you should as a knight, you harassed her and also tried to cover it up with lies. If you think about it, you attacked your cousin sister, so you lack even familial affection.”

Hearing this, it sounded like affirming attempted murder against Ariadne. However, Leo III’s judgment continued.

“Therefore, for shooting a crossbow at a horse, 20 lashes, for lying, 10 lashes, and for abandoning affection towards family, 10 lashes, for a total of 40 lashes.”

There was a commotion among the crowd. People seemed a little surprised by the more merciful punishment than expected. This was because lashing, although one could die if struck wrong, was a punishment for light crimes like theft.

Janovi, who was kneeling, and Lucrezia, who was watching anxiously, also sighed in relief that shooting the crossbow at the horse was acknowledged, not attempted murder against Ariadne, and that lashing was sentenced, not imprisonment or exile.

His honor wasn’t tarnished. This much was just an incident. With time, everyone would forget and move on. If they just sent Janovi back to his hometown, it would pass by without anyone knowing in his homeland.

However, Leo III’s sentence wasn’t over yet.

“But! Janovi de Rossi seems to have no understanding of the concept of knighthood. Giving a sharp blade to a fool will only harm the people. Thus, I forbid Janovi de Rossi from being knighted for life. That is all!”

Janovi, with the shock of being hit on the head with a hammer, completely forgot about etiquette and lifted his head to look at Leo III.

“No!”

Janovi let out a long wail, sounding like a pig being slaughtered.

“Not that! Knight! Knight! I have to become a knight!”

“Oh my! Enough! Drag him out!”

Leo III’s secretary urged the surrounding soldiers. About five or six fully armed soldiers rushed in and started dragging the raving Janovi to a place out of Leo III’s sight.

“What’s the big deal about harassing some wretched wench! Ahhh! I’m meant to be a big shot, a big shot…”

Watching Janovi screaming, Lucrezia felt the blood drain from her head and the world spin. That damn bastard was still the hope of the De Rossi family.

Today, the door to Lucrezia’s hope was closed – the hope that one day her family would become a respectable family of knights, that Janovi would earn his own living and no longer need support that required him to be servile and live at the mercy of his aunt, and that she herself could rely on Janovi and her family and live boldly.

– Thud!

“Heavens, someone collapsed here!”

“The Cardinal De Mare’s wife collapsed! She lost consciousness!”

“Mother!”

Isabella’s sharp scream pierced the sky. There was chaos all around. But this was not the end of the ordeal awaiting Janovi.