He glanced sideways at Janobi.

“Today at the hunting grounds, in front of His Majesty the King and all of San Carlo, even the foreigners, I heard that you defended Janobi, your nephew, over Ariadne, who should be your child and mine. It gave me much to think about.”

Cardinal De Mare waved his hands in the air dramatically.

“Isn’t this what it looks like to others? ‘Cardinal De Mare is a complete fool. He has cherished a woman who values her own family more than the Cardinal’s household, even keeping her as his wife without any other mistresses.'”

Lucrezia was pale and trembling.

Isabella, too, was so frightened that she stopped crying and held her breath. Only Janobi, already immersed in his own misfortune with his terrible mind, was unable to grasp the meaning of these words.

“I intend to cut off all future aid to the Rossi family.”

Cardinal De Mare stared at Lucrezia with his deep green eyes.

“You’re thinking, ‘What is this man saying, he already stopped me from sending money to my family anyway,’ aren’t you?”

As if stabbed in the vitals, Lucrezia flinched and looked at the floor again.

“I knew you were secretly playing around and sending things to the Rossis. I could have dug into it, but it would only make me look ridiculous, so I let it slide, thinking it was cute. But now, it’s over. Not even 1 ducat, no, not even 1 florin is too precious for these ungrateful creatures.”

Cardinal De Mare turned to Ariadne. Ariadne, who had been enjoying being out of the spotlight, was startled and quickly bowed her head.

“Father.”

“Ariadne.”

He looked at his second daughter for a moment and then finished speaking to Lucrezia.

“From now on, Ariadne will inspect your ledgers. You will meticulously keep the household accounts and take them to Ariadne once a week for inspection.”

“……!”

Lucrezia’s expression contorted. This was not only humiliating, but it also meant that it would be difficult for Lucrezia to wield power as the undisputed mistress of this household.

If anything suspicious appeared in the expenditures, Ariadne would immediately report it to Cardinal De Mare. Now she could not spend money as she pleased, and there had to be a legitimate “justification” for any expenditure.

“Ariadne. Do not show any leniency to your mother. If you see anything suspicious in the ledgers, check everything and bring it to me. I cannot tolerate even a single potato or cabbage going to the Rossi family.”

He made a rough estimate and added,

“At least 20 ducats (about 20 million won) a month must be going to the Rossis. Collect that much each month. We need to block it.”

Ariadne bowed her head respectfully but firmly.

“Yes, Father.”

Cardinal De Mare spoke to Janobi, who was kneeling in the corner with his limbs bound.

“You will convey this message to your parents, grandparents, without leaving out a single word. Tell them it’s all because you, not knowing your place, shot a crossbow at the daughter of Cardinal De Mare. The Rossi family is about to starve to death, all because of Janobi de Rossi.”

As Janobi trembled, Cardinal De Mare gestured to the steward Nicolo.

“Go.”

“Yes, Your Eminence!”

The men dragged Janobi out. They were going to drag him to the northern dungeon where the family’s prisoners were kept and cut the tendons in his arms and legs.

Janobi was dragged like a pig to the northern dungeon. The servants of the De Mare family, whom he had considered beneath him, approached with large knives used for slaughtering livestock, their eyes gleaming.

“Ah, no! Stay away!”

Janobi, who had thought ‘they wouldn’t really cut them’ even when Cardinal De Mare ordered his tendons to be severed, finally felt a sense of reality when he saw the butcher’s knife. But no matter how desperately he screamed, there was no answer.

Overwhelming force overtook him, and the butcher’s knife tore through the tendons of his shoulder and Achilles tendon in order.

“Aaargh!”

It was the moment when the one who had clumsily tried to use personal violence succumbed to the violence of the group. His future ended due to the oppression of the stronger.

After Janobi was dragged away, pig-like screams rang out from the dungeon four times at regular intervals.

Lucrezia turned pale upon hearing her nephew’s screams and couldn’t say a word. Cardinal De Mare spoke to her in a way that seemed both kind and indifferent.

“My dear. Think of it as a good excuse to be free from the leeches.”

And he abruptly left Lucrezia’s reception room. The Cardinal’s consolation, which was not really consolation, did not seem to comfort her at all.

Lucrezia trembled like an aspen tree, as if she couldn’t believe this was happening, and hugged her knees with both arms.

Ariadne, thinking she had seen enough, stood up from her seat to leave the room after bowing.

At that moment, Lucrezia screamed in a torn voice as if possessed.

“You! You demon-possessed wench! Nothing has gone well since you came!”

If Ariadne’s past self was a ghost, then the current Ariadne was indeed a demon-possessed wench. Lucrezia always had an animal-like instinct that intuitively approached the truth. Ariadne replied impassively.

“Mother. I will start inspecting the ledgers next week. I will see you on Friday, as it will take time for you to prepare.”

“Aaaah! You stay there! You twisted wench! I’ll tear you to pieces!”

Despite Lucrezia’s command, Ariadne did not hesitate in the slightest. She held her head high, ignoring her, and left Lucrezia’s reception room.

Isabella sat close to her mother, trembling and glaring at Ariadne, but there was nothing Lucrezia and Isabella could do at this moment.

Ariadne had a faint smile on her face. She no longer needed Lucrezia’s permission to leave the room, nor did she have to fear being beaten by Lucrezia.

Freedom, this was the incomparably sweet taste that bitter power bestowed.

Ariadne went up to her room and flopped onto the bed without even changing her clothes. She had changed out of the hunting dress she had been wearing during the day and washed up, but she was still wearing her indoor dress after receiving Cardinal De Mare’s chiding.

“Miss! You must change your clothes, wash up, and sleep!”

Sancha ran up like a squirrel and pulled Ariadne. Ariadne, lying on the bed, waved her hand and sat Sancha down beside her.

“Father told me to inspect Lucrezia’s household ledgers.”

“Oh, Miss! That’s wonderful! Now you can wield the blade! Let them have a taste!”

Ariadne shook her head.

“I learned something big today.”

“What is it?”

“No matter how insignificant someone may seem, they have a wild card. You never know when they might do something crazy, so you have to keep hiding your cards, and it’s important not to stand out.”

Ariadne had provoked Janobi, thinking she was completely safe. But Janobi had a savage strength that Ariadne didn’t have.

She had thought that violence could not be used unless one was crazy, given the strict social norms and laws, but a fool who is stupid and lacks patience finally wielded what he had despite the threat of punishment.

In the end, social pressure was secondary. When conflict erupted, the most primitive way of resolving it was physical force.

Sancha tilted her head.

“But then when do you wield power?”

There was some truth to Sancha’s words.

Ariadne’s attitude in her previous life – always being kind, always being polite, and always considerate of the other person’s position regardless of who they were – did not seem very different from the direction she had now decided on.

“Save it up. Until you can kill the other person with one blow.”

Ariadne did not think Lucrezia would be able to stop sending money to the Rossi family. If she was going to stop, she would have stopped long ago.

Pile it up, pile it up, pile it up, and then detonate it all at once when it’s decisive. And there was the matter of Isabella’s “iron hook” incident. Someday, Isabella would also be caught. She would not let it go.

And based on today’s lesson, Ariadne would become an even stronger and more dangerous person. One who does not make mistakes, who endures unforeseen dangers with quick wits, and who is never crushed by others again.

“I’m tired. Let’s go to bed.”

Ariadne took another step closer to the safety she had longed for. That night, she had a long and sweet sleep for the first time in a long while.

Lucrezia fiercely resisted Ariadne’s inspection of the household accounts, but Cardinal De Mare was adamant.

When Ariadne reported her mother’s non-cooperation twice, Cardinal De Mare threatened Lucrezia, asking if she would like him to make it so that she could only spend money if Ariadne co-signed.

After crying, begging, and getting angry to no avail, Lucrezia had no choice but to hand over the accounting books to Ariadne.

The state of the ledgers was deplorable. Money was leaking everywhere. Sometimes the same item was purchased redundantly under multiple expenditure items, and often new purchases were made even though there was still inventory left.

Ariadne took the ledgers and rummaged through the warehouse, randomly selecting a few items and comparing the state of the ledgers with the inventory. Some were falsely accounted for to siphon off bribes, but some were cases of truly wasting money.

Lucrezia was devastatingly untalented in this area. She bought and bought things even if she already had them, and she had a hard time discarding things. She was the type to feel joy from the act of purchasing itself.

As a result, the De Mare family’s warehouses were full of expired eggs, rotten potatoes, moth-eaten silk, and moldy linen.

Clicking her tongue, Ariadne identified only a few conspicuous cases of false accounting and reported them to Cardinal De Mare, matching exactly 20 ducats worth that month.

“Miss, but actually, Lucrezia’s purchase of perfume on August 16th is the same case as the false accounting of the large purchase of hay on August 3rd, just with a different item. Why are you letting that one slide and only reporting this one to His Eminence?”

Sancha asked, her green eyes shining. Sancha had almost finished learning to read and was currently learning bookkeeping from Ariadne.

“When driving mice, you have to leave a corner for them to escape, otherwise they’ll bite.”

Ariadne replied to Sancha’s question with a slight smile. Ariadne was deliberately avoiding touching Lucrezia’s personal expenses such as grooming supplies and medicinal ingredients. It was time to set the mousetrap.

In the afternoon, she summoned the steward Nicolo to her study.

“Second Young Lady, I heard you were looking for me.”

Steward Nicolo, puzzled as to why he had been summoned, paid his respects to Ariadne. Ariadne spoke to Nicolo with a smile.

“I have a favor to ask of you, which is why I called for you. It’s not a very respectable matter, so you’re the only one I could ask.”

Anticipation and wariness simultaneously appeared on Nicolo’s face. Not respectable, it smelled like a delicious scent of backdoor money.

However, the position of steward in the De Mare family was a good job. He had absolutely no intention of doing anything dangerous and losing his livelihood.

“While I’m sure you know that I hold you in high regard and follow you sincerely, my loyalty to His Eminence is solid!”

“It’s for His Eminence as well. Father will not blame you.”

She took out a 1 ducat gold coin and placed it on the desk in front of where Nicolo was sitting with a clink.

“It’s nothing big. Just hint to Lucrezia’s close maid that ‘Ragione Tailor Shop’ gives good rebates.”

“Pardon?”

It was a task with no particular risk for Nicolo.

“Is that really all it takes?”

“I’m offering money to borrow your mouth because I think your words will be the most trustworthy. I don’t think the amount is small.”

Nicolo immediately snatched the gold coin Ariadne had placed on the desk into his pocket.

“Just trust me, Young Lady!”

One thing Nicolo didn’t know was that shady deeds, even if they start with something trivial, can become inescapable if repeated, just as clothes get wet in a drizzle.

A chess piece took its place.