Because nobody told her the truth and mostly Juliana met a lady from Rubina's faction, Rubina deliberately never corrected her misunderstanding. Rubina did this so she could increase Juliana's jealousy toward Isabella and push for a marriage between Juliana and Cesare. Cesare did not want to marry Juliana as he still had high hopes for Ari. Especially after Ari's miscarriage, Cesare often dreamed about how a child between him and Ari would have looked. This reflects the level of inferiority complex and hatred he has for his half-brother, which has made him delusional. I think, as always, Ari will pay a high price for letting Cesare roam free. Cesare never told Juliana the truth and always behaved as if he were the most reliable person.Cesare always supported Rubina in her plan although it is half harted support The most astonishing thing is Cesare deliberately making himself obsessed with Ari. Whenever he thinks he is going to forget, he does all sorts of things that make him more obsessed with Ari. It is confirmed that Rubina is the next person to die in the novel, and Cesare's obsession with Ari is going to increase further after Rubina's death. Sometimes he has genuine thoughts, but they are outliers and make him more obsessed with Ari. Sometimes Rubina taunt Cesare ,making him more obsessed.
Chapter 603 Manfredi was riding Phillipo's magnificent horse. Sancha had prepared a splendid entourage for Ari. It included a six-horse golden carriage at the front for Ari, with Felicite and countless maids following in numerous carriages. (I think when Isabella hears this news, she will go mad, as this is something she has always wanted). Felicite praised Manfredi's horse. Manfredi said that Alfonso is eagerly waiting for his wife. On a different occasion, Felicite might have joked that the prince should wait and his wife would come at a normal speed, but due to the current situation, she couldn't say that. Manfredi mentioned that Alfonso wants to enter Terevero together with Ari; if they enter at different times, the Pope will think Gallico has attacked again. Ari asked the entourage to go very fast. As always, Alfonso's wishes were never fulfilled. He reached Terevero very quickly. He wanted to wait for Ari, but he couldn't do that as Terevero would think Alfonso was waiting to attack them. Additionally, he didn't want to waste Ari's money on Terevero, so he had no choice but to enter Terevero. When Alfonso entered Terevero, the Pope personally welcomed him. Alfonso questioned why everything was closed, and Bernadio came forward with a carriage inside which was the captured Phillipo. The Pope was astonished at the sight. When the Archbishop of Montpellier heard the news of Phillipo being captured, he was waiting for ransom from Alfonso. As he had already betrayed Terevero, and to save himself from excommunication, it was necessary for Phillipo to be returned to the palace. I think not much time has passed in the novel. The misunderstanding between Ari and Alfonso was cleared in the last week of May 1023. They got married in August 1023, and Alfonso revealed his marriage in the last week of October 1023. Currently, it is around the last week of January to mid-February of 1024 in the novel.
It is body shaming. I won't actually disagree with that point. What I will disagree with is you saying "First about boob size and now this bs. Author really could have excluded them as they add nothing to the story." The reason why this is something I don't agree with is because the Author never meant to body shame anyone with the comments about the females chests. The reason Ari's chest is brought up is because in Ari's past life she showed her chest and that brought negative attention to her. The nobles accused her of being a wh*** and trying to seduce those around her. Keep in mind that this story does not take place in the same era as the one we currently live in. in this era it is perfectly fine for women to show whatever they want (as long as they are not walking around naked). In the Era in which Ari lived in it is foul for women, especially a woman as young as Ari was, to expose her chest like that. That is why in her second life she tries to hide her chest as much as possible. She wants people to focus on her brain rather than her "assets". Another reason is because of Cesare's comments about her breasts in her first life (saying they were heavy and looked like cow utters). That is also the reason why she had developed an eating disorder. The Author did not just throw this into the story to body shame Ari but to rather shine light on the kind of person Cesare is. He has no love for imperfections. If someone or something is imperfect ( IN HIS EYES) then he casts the object aside. Thinks that he is too good for something so imperfect. He truly is a superficial person. Cesare feels that he is the standard and everyone should live up to HIS standards. That is why Ari was so afraid to show him her scarred hand because she knew he would never except it. He is a very icky, superficial person. Another reason that proves if he had succeeded in getting Ari it wouldn't have lasted long. Isabella one the other hand is supposed to be this character that is revered for her beauty. Many people believed her to be perfect. But she's not. I'm not saying that women with small breasts are not perfect. Women with big breasts are insecure. Women with small breasts are insecure. I know that every single woman on this earth is insecure about something. I think this is important for Isabella's character at the beginning because it shows that she herself deep down does not believe she is perfect. She is jealous of Ariadne because she has a larger chest. And I think that is another thing that she hates Ari for. Again in this life when Cesare has turned his attention and lust towards Ari he insults Isabella for "having a flat chest like a man." Once again proving that he is just a terrible person. It wasn't the Author doing the body shaming. It was Cesare. She added these things to the story to show these two girls, with different body types, being insecure like normal girls usually do. I myself personally related to Ari. And I'm sure other girls will relate to Isabella. She also wanted to point out just how shallow Cesare is. Because he is shallow. Very VERY shallow. Size does in fact not matter. Never has and never will. But just like how every mans package is different, every woman has a different anatomy. There are some women who feel nothing at all regardless of size. There are some women who can't even be with a tiny endowed man because of the excruciating pain. Some women have wider, more shallow, or even longer "areas". As far as the "wild sex" thing, it is actually a little harder for men with smaller equipment. Men with bigger equipment can really do what ever position they want. And that's usually what "wilder sex" means. Is being able to do it in all kinds of crazy positions. Especially in medieval times when they didn't quite have the "imagination" or "tools" that we do now. And while I'm sure they had developed a few "toys" back then they sure as heck don't have the kind of stuff we have now to be able to perform such "wild" intercourse. They would have to rely on more intricate positions. And as I said there are only so many positions a smaller man can do. I won't tell you how. I'll leave it up to your imagination to figure it out. Buttttt we didn't get every single detail from Ari so we do not know exactly what "wilder" sex means. Maybe our girl just enjoys being folded like a pretzel . I would love to discuss why you are wrong with the second part of your argument but I'll let it go with this. Ari was the first person not to coddle him. Ari was the first person other than his mother to show him genuine kindness. You forget that he is still a very young man. Especially at the beginning of the story. His whole life he had to do what others told him to do. He had to form to the expectations that others gave him. He never could truly think for himself. Ari was the first person that made him feel that he could just be himself. But you saying that he's "for some reason infatuated with her" doesn't make sense. We know why he is in love with her. There is many valid reasons. And you saying that his world revolves around Ari also doesn't make sense. So all of the character development he went through (without Ari I might add) doesn't matter? The time he spent in the war away from Ari doesn't matter? He was in that war for himself and not Ari. And even if his world does revolve around Ari, who cares? It's a romance. He's in love. BUT this is not Alphonso's story. IT IS ARIADNE'S STORY. Of course it is gonna show more of her and really only include alphonso being in love with her. Because it is her story. If you have problems with Ari's actions and just her as a character than there is nothing I can do or say about that. I personally believe she could be my favorite female character. Because she has flaws and she messes up. And she's done sh*tty things. She's not some perfect Mary-Sue. She's not perfect but she is trying to make up for the things she did in the past. At first she wanted revenge but now she really is atoning for the things she did. I think that takes real strength and that is why I like her. Flaws and all. Try being a little girl who was severely abused by every single person in their life and then you can tell me if you still hate her and blame her for becoming what other people pushed her to be. She continued the abuse cycle and then decided to break it when she realized she didn't want to be that person anymore. Oops I ended up saying more to you than I wanted too. Silly me. Wrong! Cesare stans really boggle my mind I swear. Cesare is in fact doing this to satiate his big fat male ego. Let me tell you why. There are a lot of men who try to go above and beyond to make a woman reach completion because of masculinity issues. You can search it up. The internet is free . Anyway, some men don't have confidence in themselves so they over do the foreplay to make women think "oh my, this big strong man is so amazing at what he's doing to me." Why do you think so many women fake "completion"? Men need to feel wanted. They need to feel in control. Am I saying that every man is like this? NO. But what character fits the "insecure about masculinity"? CESARE. Who fits the "I have to be the best at everything"? Cesare. Who fits the "I'm a lonely and insecure person so I need all the validation I can get"? Alphonso? No, no. CESARE!! I seriously doubt that if Cesare truly cared for the woman's pleasure then he wouldn't be such a rake. The same person who makes it his mission to steal girls virginities? He doesn't care about the girls pleasure. He only cares about the way it makes him feel. He also wants these girls to fall in love with him (again, for validation!) so of course he's going to do things to them that makes them latch onto him. So yes, it definitely is his ego.
When Ari slept with Alphonso for the first time in Terevero, the author mentioned she enjoyed it until she was undressed in the past. From this, I can say she never enjoyed her past life with him. So, you are right; Cesare always thought of his own gratification. To be honest, I strongly believe Cesare never loved Ari but loved how he felt being with her, which was his own self-gratification. Cesare talked to Ari twice after coming to San Carlo, and both times he humiliated her; it is another thing that it ended up in begging. In her previous life, Ari had no options and no one to depend on. Simon sent her to Cesare without marriage. She had only two options: either she chose Cesare or ended up in a nunnery, which was the worst thing for any woman in the novel. For survival, Ari chose to remain with Cesare. I think in the previous timeline, Ari was a victim of Stockholm syndrome. The problem is we don't exactly know which are Ari's original feelings and which are her outlier feelings. When we read the engagement arc, it gives us the impression that her feelings for Alphonso were not that deep. But then, when we read the misunderstanding arc, it looks like she is madly in love with Alphonso.
EXACTLY! She was forced onto Cesare. She had no choice in the matter. And what did Cesare do? Did what he did best and tried to seduce her. He told her exactly what she wanted to hear when she wanted to hear it. He bought her beautiful things. He did beautiful things for her. This was a girl who's mother died when she was young. A girl who was abused by the person in charge of the farm she was forced to live in. I think it was also implied that she was sexually assaulted as well, AS A CHILD. Abused by her father and step-mother. The only reason Ari was brought back to the household was to replace her older sister in a marriage that neither one of them wanted. They didn't bring her back because they loved her, but to further abuse her. Her step-mother was EVIL. Emotionally, physically, and mentally abused that little girl for something she had no control over. She didn't ask to be born and she was still blamed for it. Her siblings hated her. Isabella manipulated her (manipulation is another form of abuse). She was called vicious names by outsiders because of the circumstances of her birth. And then she gets sent off to be the bride of another abuser. But this time he manipulated her into thinking she was loved by him. And what do people who have never been shown love do when they are finally shown it? Cling onto it. Grasp and hold onto it with every thing they have. They don't want to go back to the miserable existence before they discovered this "love". Even if it is a very toxic love. Once she caved (which she said it took her a longer amount of time than what he was used to) and gave him exactly what he wanted, her virginity, she said he stopped being the lovey-dovey person that he was portraying himself to be. But by this time Ari was already too far in the immersion of his "love" that she could not willingly take herself out of it. She craved that wanting and loving feeling that Cesare gave her. That is why she did the things that she did for him. Hoping that one day Cesare would show that same kind of "love" to her again. It is a classic abuser/abused relationship. She is a victim. Definitely not a "perfect" victim but a victim none the less. I hate how people want victims to be perfect. It's infuriating and should not be the criteria to what a victim should be. Also, I think Ari truly believed that Cesare would do good things for the kingdom at first. You remember the Shephard? The one that helped in Cesare's coup. Cesare had made it seem like he was fighting for the smaller people. Him and Ari were both bastards and he made it seem like he was fighting for the commoners and the bastards who couldn't fight for themselves. And maybe he actually was fighting for them at the start and just lost his way, but I doubt that. Cesare is not the kind of person to care about anyone other than himself and his selfish reasoning. But looking at Ari and the Shephard it looks like they truly believed in his cause. By the time Cesare actually showed his true colors it was already too late for Ari to bow out. She had already killed Alphonso. Already did the nasty things she did that she thought were the right things. It was too late for her to change and if she would have died and not gone back in time then she would have had to face the consequences. But she did go back in time. She did have a second chance to right her wrongs. Ari not only saved Alphonso but did many other great things that saved many many people. I just don't understand why she gets so much hate. Now if she came back and got a second chance and wasted it then I could understand why people would hate her. But she didn't waste it. She used it as a chance to make the future better from what it was in the past. I think Ari not enjoying being undressed has to do with the fact that she is insecure and doesn't believe she is good enough for Alphonso. But who gave her those insecurities? Cesare. It always leads back to how terrible of a person Cesare is. I have not read the chapters when Cesare asks Ari to be his mistress. How exactly does she react? And how did Alphonso react? When was the last time Ari and Cesare interacted?
I don’t know the answer to the last question but the first two, she reacts with loathing and disbelief, while Alphonso punched him in the face and then left with Ari, because he knew reassuring her of his trust and love was more important than beating Cesare to a pulp.
Sorry, my line was not complete. The author mentioned in the chapter that she enjoyed her time with Cesare in the past uptil she was undressed. After that, it was just a nightmare with Cesare. With Alphonso, Ari is on another level. She loves every part of being with Alphonso. She can't even think of living without Alphonso, which is why she fears Judgment Day the most. She has recently developed a dominant fear of Judgment Day because she doesn't want to leave Alphonso. Alphonso is not perfect, but his love for Ari is pure and full of care for her. Alphonso is a tranquilizer for her. When Cesare asked for an affair with her, she had a disgusted expression on her face and denied him. Their interaction was not complete because Rubina intervened and severely assassinated Ari's character. Although Ari gave her a proper reply, this is the point where Ari developed very low self-esteem in her relationship with Alphonso. Alphonso was very angry with Cesare and Rubina. He punched Cesare in the face and, turning to Rubina in anger, said that the only reason he was not slapping her was because she is a woman. After that, he comforted Ari by kissing and patting her as if he were comforting a baby. He said he trusted Ari, that it was not her fault, and she should not cry, as Ari had wrongly thought that Alphonso misjudged her and was angry with her when he came out of the dinner place in anger. There is one dedicated chapter where Ari explained how she felt guilty for Alphonso for getting involved with Cesare during the engagement arc. This guilt increased after their misunderstanding was cleared, and it took her a lot to get rid of her guilt, but still, she is not satisfied with herself. She always feels bad and fears what will happen if Alphonso knows about her lowly past. She has nothing to stop Alphonso from abandoning her, but her fear was abolished after Alphonso strongly supported her by revealing their marriage and denied juliana and comforted her after miscarriage. You now what? Every problem, low self-esteem issue, and misjudgment Ari has, is all because of Cesare. Ari accumulated so many sins because she helped Cesare. Syphilis is not feeling pressured to recognize Ari as a princess because he has Cesare to humiliate both Ari and Alphonso. She has a lot of misjudgments because of Cesare from her past life. She has a lot of low self-esteem because of Cesare from her past life. Even if good things happen to her, she still fears because of Cesare from her past life. She fears Palagio Carlo so much because of Cesare. There is not a single thing about Cesare that does not instill fear in Ari. ---
Chapter 604 The Archbishop of Montpellier thought it was a good thing that Philippo was in the hands of Alfonso rather than the Pope (but Alfonso had already taken Philippo to the Pope). The Archbishop prayed that Alfonso would not be overly religious and sent an envoy to Etruscan to negotiate a ransom for Philippo's release. He had been in communication with Queen Margerita for a long time. He knew Syphilis was a money-hungry miser. Count Marquezz coveted the news that Alfonso had won the war, but he told him in a slow voice, knowing Leo's nature, as he was part of Syphilis's three-member committee. Syphilis was shocked and not excited after hearing the news. Marquezz wondered since when Syphilis had been behaving like this and concluded that he had always been like this. Marquezz asked him how Alfonso got such a large number of soldiers. Syphilis thought Alfonso was already very popular. Marquezz said he didn't know the details. Marquezz said he would dispatch a vassal to ask Alfonso for complete details, but Syphilis told Marquezz not to pretend he knew nothing. Syphilis became angry and started coughing. Isabella came running to give him an unknown drink and told Marquezz to leave. Marquezz failed to convey to Syphilis that Alfonso had acquired gunpowder, which he had always wanted. Alfonso's achievements spread throughout the social world and reached Rubina. She thought Syphilis would never be pleased with Alfonso's achievements, and even if a son were to attack his father to dethrone him, the people of the central continent would never support him. She said if she were in Alfonso's place, she would lie low. The more Alfonso achieved, the more dangerous Syphilis would become for him. Rubina asked if anyone had appeared to sign an engagement from Juliana's side.(I hope Alphonso solve his morganatic marriage issue and give shock to Rubina,hope she remain alive to hear that news)
Do you have thoughts of how this issue could be solved?Like getting the popes blessing or Ari becoming the adopted daughter of a noble or royal family... I remember the opinions you had about this before,but i wonder if they changed with the new events it happened in the novel.
Syphilis's option is now out of consideration. She is only left with a few options: either Pope Justinian himself adopts her or raises Simon to a position equivalent to that of a king. It could also be possible if some king or archduke comes forward to adopt Ari to solve the marriage problem and form a strong alliance with Ari and Alphonso. She could also become a princess through Gallico, but it involves a lot of political considerations, and Alphonso doesn't like Gallico that much. We will have to wait for a few chapters and how negotiation went between them. I think the next chapter will focus on the reactions of Agusto, Juliana, and Cesare to Alfonso's achievements, and the response from Manchike. But,It is confirmed that Ari will return to San Carlo as official princess.