Ariadne replied to the Inquisitor in a voice that was calm, yet loud enough for everyone in the great hall to hear.
“His Eminence the Cardinal, our father, was never collaborating with the excommunicate, Priest Alejandro.”
She stepped forward, meeting the Inquisitor’s gaze head-on.
“His Eminence was deeply concerned about the heretical nature of the Apostle from Acereto. That is precisely why he prepared for a public debate!”
‘Prepared, you say?’
The Inquisitor sneered.
“You prepared? If that were true, you should have stepped up yourself or presented another priest with proper qualifications, not paraded a young girl about! What is this, Cardinal De Mare? Is this child’s play?”
The challenge to her qualifications echoed the persistent strain of the proceedings. The Inquisitor leaned his body toward Cardinal De Mare, leaving Ariadne partially turned away from him. She decided to strike back.
“His Eminence acted as he did because he respects the Holy See!”
Ariadne’s voice sharpened.
“The Apostle from Acereto was a guest of His Holiness Pope Ludovico himself, sent personally to San Carlo! Had His Eminence confronted such a guest directly to engage in a religious debate, what would that have done to the face of His Holiness Pope Ludovico?”
She did not lose her momentum, stepping closer and pointing a finger directly at the Inquisitor.
“Furthermore!”
Her finger hovered just before the nose of the Inquisitor, who had been refusing to acknowledge her.
“The content of the Apostle from Acereto’s sermon was not discussed beforehand at all today. If a priest is ordained, his sermon should be sacred; to censor it in advance is an act of total impropriety, even if the one doing the censoring were His Holiness Pope Ludovico himself!
The people of San Carlo merely trusted that the Apostle from Acereto—no, Priest Alejandro—would provide a sermon of substance out of respect for His Holiness Pope Ludovico who invited him, for the people of San Carlo who were his hosts, and for His Eminence the Cardinal.”
Ariadne glanced at the Apostle from Acereto, who was being forced to his knees by the Inquisitor’s subordinates.
“You should have discussed it first, or exercised restraint yourself! It is the Apostle from Acereto who failed to respect the people of San Carlo and Cardinal De Mare!”
With a glib tongue, she subtly shifted the responsibility for the heretical sermon echoing through the Great Basilica of San Ercole away from Cardinal De Mare and onto the Apostle from Acereto.
In truth, anyone could have predicted that putting the Apostle from Acereto on the dais would result in such a sermon. He was a man who would use any means necessary to spread his message. Strictly speaking, the responsibility lay with Pope Ludovico, who had intentionally invited him to preach at the High Mass; if one had to name an accomplice, it was the negligence of Cardinal De Mare, who had stood by despite knowing better.
The Inquisitor seemed rattled by Ariadne’s tactic of repeatedly invoking the name of Pope Ludovico. But she had no intention of stopping.
“Besides, His Eminence has been deeply troubled, contemplating the theological implications of the Apostle from Acereto’s heresy. The grounds for a public debate were all prepared. He simply could not hold it because doing so before the Council of Trevero and His Holiness Pope Ludovico would have been considered irreverent! Isn’t that right, Father?”
Cardinal De Mare was utterly bewildered. Ordinarily, he detested it when his children—anyone other than Isabella—called him ‘Father’ in public, but he was in no position to reprimand Ariadne for such a trivial matter now.
Even if Ariadne had called him ‘mutt’ instead of ‘Father,’ he could not have complained.
He seized the lifeline that had been tossed down to him.
“Yes, yes, indeed! Inquisitor, I have long held grave concerns regarding the heresy of the Acereto School.
How could His Holiness Pope Ludovico have put such faith in the Apostle from Acereto as to send him to San Carlo to preach at the Great Basilica of San Ercole!”
“His Holiness must have had his clear vision temporarily clouded by the cunning of Priest Alejandro. Does heresy not always appear cloaked in the guise of divinity?”
Ariadne De Mare immediately took the cue from Cardinal De Mare. Their father-daughter banter was perfectly in sync.
“As we could not publicly sanction him out of respect for His Holiness, I simply could not bear it when his sermon on the dais grew increasingly irreverent, and so I intervened!”
The Inquisitor, having arrived late, had not known precisely that Ariadne had been engaging in a theological debate with the Apostle from Acereto during the High Mass.
“Such a thing… occurred?”
The Inquisitor, who had been looking only at Cardinal De Mare throughout, turned his gaze toward Ariadne for the first time. His tone was more polite than before.
– “She’s right! That young lady stopped the Apostle from Acereto’s sermon mid-flow.”
– “She saved the reputation of San Carlo!”
– “Imagine how shameful it would have been if we had just sat there listening to a heretic’s sermon until the Inquisitor arrived!”
– “She was brave. Remarkable.”
– “The level of her theology seemed incredible, too.”
– “Like father, like daughter.”
The murmurs rippling through the hall emboldened Ariadne.
Cardinal De Mare never let an opportunity that fell from the sky slip through his fingers. He shrewdly shoved the Inquisitor out of the center of the stage.
“Inquisitor! I—no, the Diocese of San Carlo has fulfilled its duty to remain faithful! Do not speak of this matter further until you have a decree from His Holiness!”
“But, Cardinal De Mare…”
“Do you have the authority? You will not dare link a faithful diocese to heresy without the permission of His Holiness. Now, go ahead and take the prisoner. Let us finish this quickly and return to our seats.”
The Inquisitor could no longer press Cardinal De Mare for accountability; instead, he bound the Apostle from Acereto with rope and dragged him away.
It would take at least three weeks for the man to write to Pope Ludovico and for further instructions to arrive. They were safe until then.
In the chaotic Great Basilica, as Cardinal De Mare began ushering people out, Ariadne finally let out the breath she had been holding. Her palms were damp with sweat. Her face was flushed from the heat of tension and lingering adrenaline.
The murmuring crowd glanced toward Ariadne as they made their way out. Though it had begun to rain sporadically, everyone in the massive Great Basilica, a structure capable of holding 50,000 people, was focused on Ariadne, who stood alone in her humble black dress.
In that moment, no one remembered the beautiful Isabella De Mare.
* * *
Inside the carriage on the way home, Ariadne ruminated on the events of the day. Her family had already departed for the De Mare Mansion when the commotion broke out, and Cardinal De Mare was currently too occupied with the fallout to travel with her, leaving Ariadne to return alone in his luxurious silver carriage.
Cardinal De Mare had been trembling with fear over being held accountable, but this incident would be settled without him facing discipline. This time, Ariadne, the Cardinal’s own flesh and blood, had stepped forward to stop the heretic’s sermon in front of everyone. There was insufficient evidence to condemn the Cardinal for lacking faith.
In her past life, everyone in San Carlo had been unable to resist the Apostle from Acereto and had stood by, listening blankly to the sermon of a heretic who was soon to be excommunicated. Yet, even then, Pope Ludovico had ultimately failed to impose any real consequences on Cardinal De Mare and had let the matter slide.
“Instead, I ended up engaged to Cesare De Como.”
Ariadne let out a hollow laugh. It was a single human life, yet she had been cast into the abyss for such a trivial reason.
At the time, Pope Ludovico had intended to demote Cardinal Del Mare to bishop, citing his failure to manage his diocese properly and for leaving San Carlo vulnerable to the threat of heresy. He planned to hand the San Carlo diocese over to a newly appointed cardinal.
Facing total ruin, Cardinal Del Mare had begged Leo III with all his might. Leo III had leisurely enjoyed the rare spectacle of a cardinal groveling at his feet.
Favors are never given without a price. Ultimately, Leo III pressured Pope Ludovico, demanding a marriage alliance between his illegitimate son, Cesare, and the daughter of Cardinal Del Mare.
That Cardinal Del Mare had pushed Ariadne, not Isabella, into that position—even under those circumstances—was a maneuver one could call either fraudulent or simply genius.
‘Now that I think about it, Cesare must have been furious.’
For Cesare, the identity of his wife was a matter of great importance, but to his father, Leo III, it was of little consequence. He merely wanted to solidify the standing of his illegitimate son, Count Cesare De Como, within the Etruscan Kingdom by providing him with a cardinal as a father-in-law.
This engagement from her past life, forged through a cold transaction between fathers—this time, she was determined to avoid it at all costs.
‘Since I’ve eliminated the cause that led to the engagement, I should be able to pass through this safely.’
* * *
“Hahaha! That young lady is no ordinary person!”
From the balcony seat at the top right of the second floor, Leo III, King of the Etruscan Kingdom, roared with laughter, his hands clapping in delight.
“To think it would be handled this way; it’s like watching a well-crafted play! I’d believe it even if they told me Pope Ludovico had conspired with that girl beforehand. How did she time it so perfectly?”
The secretary smiled and chimed in.
“As they say, Your Majesty, reality is often more dramatic than fiction.”
“Hahaha. I must bestow a reward upon such a pious girl. What would be appropriate?”
Leo III pondered for a moment before coming to a decision.
“I shall award her fifty gold ducats and a box of jewelry. Since she effectively saved the country from foreign influence, it would be appropriate to bestow one of the orders of the Etruscan Knights, but it is a pity I cannot do so, as I must be wary of the Pope!”
The King turned to look at Queen Marguerite, who was seated beside him, and offered a suggestion.
“Would you like to choose what goes into the jewelry box, my Queen?”
It was rare for the King to speak directly to the Queen. Pleased, Queen Marguerite readily agreed.
“I shall do so.”
In high spirits now that things were unfolding to his favor, Leo III offered a few kind words to Prince Alfonso before he, Queen Marguerite, and the Prince rose to head toward their separate carriages. They always traveled apart.
Once inside his carriage, Leo III revealed his inner thoughts to his secretary.
“The Queen choosing the contents of the jewelry box personally will be a gesture of reconciliation toward Cardinal Del Mare’s wife. Haven’t they had some trouble between them lately?”
The King stroked his beard with satisfaction, pleased with the brilliant idea he had conceived himself.
“If I had simply ordered the Queen to comfort the Cardinal’s wife, she never would have complied. She has such a contrarian nature.”
The secretary, reading the room, carefully interjected.
“Um… Your Majesty, the daughter of Cardinal Del Mare who is to receive the award is the second daughter, born to a mistress—not Lady Lucrezia. Will bestowing an award upon that young lady truly resolve the Cardinal’s wife’s anger?”
Feeling embarrassed by the correction, Leo III responded with a touch of irritation.
“In truth, the Cardinal’s wife isn’t what’s important. Cardinal Del Mare just needs to realize my favor.”
“Your words are absolute. You are wise, Your Majesty.”
“Ah! That’s it!”
The King clapped his hands together.
“There is a jewel that Cardinal Del Mare has coveted deeply for some time. Do you remember the ‘Heart Of The Blue Deep’?”
“How could I forget such a treasure! But surely… you aren’t planning to bestow the ‘Heart Of The Blue Deep’ upon that young lady…?”