Ardor's Prestige
Duchessa Anastasia sneaks away from the family mansion at night in 18th Century Venezia during Carnevale. Giorgio, her cavalier servente, has feelings for her. Anastasia accepts the esteemed courtier, Leandro's marriage proposal though he fails to disclose an important detail about himself. The royal guards seize Giorgio at the d'Alessi manor. The Crown accuses Giorgio of treason. Capriana, a servant, knows how Giorgio was framed. A conspirator intends to murder her. Anastasia and Leandro investigate Giorgio's allegations before they are wed. The duchessa is surprised as to whom it leads.
Duchessa Anastasia's view wandered beyond the scene set before her towards a fresco near the entrance of the main study. There she walked into what now seemed to be a mural for Giorgio's inevitable death. Her father had the replicate commissioned to a renowned painter whose style and attention to color, depth, and angle was impeccable. It was the Personification of Justice as originally rendered by Louis Dorigny. The maiden saw herself climbing into the embedded portrait, asking the blindfolded woman to hear her; to listen to even the overwhelmed Giorgio whose silence she interpreted as a surrender due to weakness in the midst of authority. There was a small figure to her right and below. He was unable to hide under the woman's flowing white robe. Had any spectator been ignorant of the figure, they would have assumed that she was his guardian angel. This woman was far from this, an embodiment of the unknown which separated good and evil, the righteous from the wicked. Nor had the boy shield himself behind the rock of which they both sat upon. The artistry was refined and a remarkable depiction of a young lad in his natural state. This too reminded her of her childhood companion, the one boy whose innocence no one would ever doubt-until now. 'Please help him, save Giorgio from himself,' she thought. The duchessa saw the sword hovering above the male child's head. She accepted that it was either to defend the accused of tender age or to sever his head from his body in the pursuit of justice. In this child she witnessed Giorgio's face, confused, seeking someone, any benevolence to whisk him away from an unknown future; wondering whether he could surmount the evidence the guards had presented before her. But justice had failed to see. There were only two options for the signora to consider; either the king's judgment would be administered either in his favor or against him. This is what she saw in the lad, one who hoped for just rulership but did not expect much more than a despotic city-state. His was a surrender of his life to the hands of others he had never known. This is what she now saw, Giorgio in the grasp of the two royal guards. They now waited for the duchessa to resume her proper attention to her words. Signora Anastasia finally focused on the guards once more. One clearing his throat to ensure she was listening to their words. "You are correct in this, my lady, it is not." He fought to keep the restless Giorgio still.
