Cesare strode into the center of the crowd. He unintentionally became the instigator of revealing the identity of the secret rendezvous, approaching the lady from the noble couple who first discovered it and snatching the Collezione bracelet she was holding.

“This is my bracelet. Please return it.”

The noble lady had the bracelet snatched away by Cesare’s strength. She looked at Cesare with disbelief.

“This is a woman’s bracelet, how can it be your possession?”

Cesare answered with a grin.

“I bought it to give to a woman, but she didn’t accept it, so it’s ultimately mine.”

Cesare raised the green topaz bracelet he had snatched from the noble lady high into the air.

“Everyone! This bracelet belongs to Count Cesare.”

The green jewel with a missing tooth where the red ruby had fallen out shone lustrously under the simultaneous illumination of moonlight and torchlight.

“Lady de Mare’s mask, necklace, and bracelet were made as a set.”

Cesare smiled slightly.

“Certainly, there are grounds for you to think the bracelet is hers. The three pieces were originally a set, after all.”

He first threw a message to the public, slightly appeasing them by implying ‘you did nothing wrong’, in order to cater to their sentiments.

An angry crowd tends to gain a life of its own and listen to no one. It was important to start on good terms.

“How do I know this, you ask? I’m the one who gifted the mask to the second Lady de Mare.”

Cesare stood right next to Ariadne and removed his mask.

He raised his mask high to show the inside to everyone.

“Can you see? The inside of this mask?”

The fleur-de-lis pattern was hardly noticeable on the outside of the mask Cesare wore. It was patterned small and densely packed.

However, on the inside of the mask, there was the same large fleur-de-lis pattern as Ariadne’s. Even the color combination with inlaid red rubies and green topazes was the same.

Standing right next to each other, it was clear that the patterns on the two masks were identical.

“I met her at the masquerade and tried to complete the set by giving her the bracelet that matched the mask. It was a surprise gift. But…”

Cesare lowered his head theatrically.

“So proud! The young lady who somehow accepted the mask gift, the moment she found out it was a set with mine, she refused to accept it.”

He shrugged his shoulders, enjoying the attention of the crowd focused on him, and continued.

“She said she would return the mask after the masquerade as she couldn’t walk around maskless, that she couldn’t accept the bracelet, and that I shouldn’t come within 5 piedi (about 2.5 meters) of her as us being together at the masquerade could be misunderstood. So cold and prickly!”

Cesare shook his head.

“But a man doesn’t give up there! I knelt before the young lady and made my move.”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“Marry me.”

Someone in the audience couldn’t contain themselves and let out a scream.

Cesare glanced towards the direction of the sound with crescent-shaped eyes and greeted his fan. After the fanservice, he fixed his gaze back on the audience and shook his head tragically.

“But I was cleanly rejected! She told me not to even dream of it.”

Cesare raised both hands in the air and shrugged.

“And just my luck, Prince Alfonso de Carlo saw the whole embarrassing situation.”

Cesare patted Alfonso’s shoulder affably with a grin.

“Hiding in the bushes and watching, like a rat.”

Alfonso smiled at Count Cesare through gritted teeth. He whispered softly to Count Cesare through clenched teeth.

“You’re the one who did that rat-like thing.”

“Let me have some fun too, Your Highness. Is that how you treat someone helping you?”

Cesare smiled slyly.

“Smile, show your teeth.”

Prince Alfonso clenched his fists but couldn’t bring himself to swing them. Cesare left Alfonso, who was caught off guard, alone and returned to his spot, continuing the performance for the audience.

“His Highness made a sound in the bushes and our noble young lady discovered him. Then she requested his help, saying a strange man was bothering her. The young lady in distress left with His Highness’s escort, leaving me alone.”

People began to whisper again.

– “What, so it’s true she was with the prince?”

Cesare didn’t miss the audience’s murmurs.

“It’s true that the young lady wasn’t with Prince Alfonso for the ‘entire’ masquerade. Because she was with me at the beginning. But I escorted her from the very beginning. Her alibi is airtight.”

– “But then why is the bracelet here?”

Count Cesare had a reasonable explanation for that too.

“I got angry and went to hang out with my reckless friends, and those rascals were all hiding in a small room in the corner of the palace, gambling. That gentleman over there was with them too.”

Cesare pointed his chin at Count Campa, who was lying on the floor snoring, covered with a cloak. Count Campa no longer had anyone in the capital to socialize with.

Except for the folks at the gambling table who didn’t care who you were as long as you bet properly.

“I didn’t have cash to bet, so I left the bracelet with a friend as collateral and borrowed gambling money. A little later, I won big and tried to pay back the money I borrowed from my friend and retrieve the bracelet, but that friend was also short on gambling funds and had left the bracelet with someone else for cash! How irresponsible, to roll someone else’s collateral around recklessly.”

Cesare waved the bracelet.

“I wondered where it went, and it seems to have flowed all the way to Count Campa.”

He pointed his chin at Count Campa.

“When Count Campa sobers up, tell him this. I’ll send someone in the morning to pay back the gambling money borrowed with this as collateral, and that Count Cesare took this bracelet.”

It was a perfect alibi.

Count Cesare was a person who would give an extravagant gift to a woman, and also a person who would use that gift as collateral to gamble. The circumstance of ending up with Count Campa was also natural.

“So please stop criticizing the young lady who should have been the owner of the bracelet. She firmly rejected my courtship, would she have played around with the likes of Count Campa?”

Cesare openly sneered at Count Campa with his handsome face.

“I will try my failed courtship one more time, so could everyone please make some room?”

He approached Ariadne and held out his hand.

“Young lady. Let’s go.”

This time, Ariadne took Cesare’s outstretched hand.

Ariadne, who had barely escaped the crowd and regained her composure, removed her mask and wiped the sweat from her face. Not only her masked face, but her entire body was drenched in sweat.

“Thank you, Count de Como. I had no idea things would get so messy.”

“Cesare. If you’re grateful, call me Cesare.”

Ariadne gave a wry smile. It was a name too familiar to unconsciously pronounce fully even if she started the syllable at the tip of her tongue.

“Count Cesare. Let’s stick with Count Cesare. I can’t compromise any further.”

“Wow, so firm. It hasn’t even been 10 minutes since I saved you by taking all sorts of slander upon myself.”

“Slander? What slander?”

“Like being a gambler, or being rejected by a woman.”

Cesare frowned slightly.

“Or having a woman stolen by a prince.”

Ariadne laughed a little.

“But it’s all true? It’s true you’re a gambler, and it’s true you were rejected by a woman. Especially the part about being a gambler is public knowledge. Everyone knows even if you don’t say it, Count. Only the part about having a woman stolen by the prince is slightly different from the truth.”

Cesare reacted oddly to a strange point.

“Wow, you know I gamble too?”

“Is there anyone in the capital who doesn’t know that?”

“No, no, this means you were interested in me! Last time you knew I carried a baton too. Aren’t you more interested in me than anyone else?”

Cesare observed Ariadne closely, looking suspicious. He brought his face close to Ariadne’s until he stopped at a point where his breath could be felt.

“Young lady, are you actually an avid reader of just the ‘Cesare de Como’ section in publications like ‘San Carlo Information’?”

Ariadne burst out laughing loudly.

“There’s no way!”

“Strong denial is affirmation, they say.”

“No, it’s not!”

After bickering with Cesare for a while, Ariadne spoke to him. Her voice was much softer.

“Today, thank you.”

Remorse was evident in her eyes.

“You didn’t have to step in for me from your perspective.”

“Right after being rejected, you mean?”

Cesare responded with a smirk.

“Oh, come on!”

“No need to thank me. I did it to look good to you. So please don’t return the gifts I gave you, don’t lose them, and keep them well.”

He paused for a moment, then added.

“That elder sister at home will be furiously searching for them. Keep them safe at home too.”

She smiled wryly.

“Is it noticeable to men’s eyes too?”

“This Count Cesare is no ordinary man. I’m different from the fools who get deceived.”

Lies. You were the one who got deceived. Thoroughly.

“It’s a couple item with me, so keep it well.”

“Just take this mask and bracelet back.”

“Hey now!”

A tiny scratch formed on the surface of the perpetual snow piled up in Ariadne’s heart. Her feelings softened a little, thinking Cesare had stepped in for her sake.

But the Cesare standing before her was feeling a slightly different kind of pleasure than love.

‘Alfonso de Carlo, I gained the favor of the woman you like.’

After Cesare left, captivating the crowd, the happiest person was Lady Lariesa.

“So… It was all a misunderstanding?”

From the beginning, the person who most wanted to believe Prince Alfonso was Lariesa. She wanted to be immersed in the fairy tale of the golden prince being a prince just for her. To do so, she could reassemble reality.

“Ha…”

Alfonso, who couldn’t affirm or deny either way, just let out an empty laugh. If you checked his fortune for the day, it would undoubtedly say ‘If you’re a Gemini born in 1105, don’t leave your bed! It’s dangerous outside the blanket!’

“The Etruscan royal family seems to have great sibling affection between half-siblings. We wouldn’t have had a shred of that. In Montpellier, what happened was…”

Lariesa’s tactless chatter continued endlessly. Alfonso held his forehead.

In contrast to the happy Lariesa, the most miserable person at this moment was Isabella de Mare. She had almost succeeded. Count Cesare, who came out of nowhere, threw himself in the way.

Isabella was twice as furious that the person who interfered was none other than Count Cesare, whom she desired.

“Ugh!”

Isabella tried kicking a pebble lying on the ground. She unconsciously imitated what Cesare had done at the fountain.

But Cesare was a skilled rider, and Isabella lacked the same abdominal and thigh muscles. She ungracefully fell over with a thud.

“Ouch…!”

From Isabella’s fallen handbag, a single red ruby rolled out. It was the very ruby that had been embedded in the problematic fleur-de-lis bracelet.

“Isabella, are you alright?”

Camelia de Castiglione spotted the fallen Isabella and asked about her well-being. While helping the fallen Isabella up by extending her hand, Camelia brightly noticed the ruby that had rolled out of Isabella’s handbag.

“Oh my, what’s that?”

Camelia asked, her gaze fixed on the red ruby.

“You’re carrying around an unset gemstone. It must be a precious item?”

Isabella growled fiercely.

“Camelia, mind your own business.”

She had no energy to waste on a trivial person like Camelia right now.

But Camelia wasn’t one to miss an opportunity like this. She was always being pushed around, trampled on, and ridiculed by Isabella, and now that Isabella was in a laughable state, it was the perfect chance to get back at her.

“Mind my own business, you say? I’m carefully looking after an injured friend right now.”

Camelia smiled venomously with a pretty face.

“Lady Lariesa appeared for Prince Alfonso, and Count Cesare was taken by his younger sister, so our Isabella… What will you do? There are no men left?”