Count Cesare De Como is the main antagonist in "Sister In This Life I Have Become the Queen". The bastard son of King Leo III, he is jealous of his half brother, Prince Alfonso, and seeks to steal the throne for himself.
History[]
Early Life[]
Cesare is the illegitimate son of King Leo III and his favorite mistress Countess Rubina De Como. Though officially, he is recognized as the Prince’s cousin, there are are still rumors that he is a bastard son. Growing up, Cesare got whatever he wanted, from the best clothes and horses to the favor of every lady in the land. He was often scolded and harshly disciplined by his mother, and it strained their relationship. He was actually closer to Queen Margaret, his father’s legal wife, who was very kind to him in the beginning, and he actually preferred her to his own mother. However, everything changed for Cesare when his half-brother, Alfonso De Carlo, was born. Both King Leo and Queen Margaret grew cold and unfeeling towards Cesare, devoting all of their love and attention to their legitimate heir. Heartbroken, Cesare spent the remainder of his formative years away from them, and as time went by, he became immensely resentful and jealous of Alfonso.
First Timeline[]
Cesare had his eye on Isabella De Mare, the daughter of the Cardinal, who was considered the most beautiful and coveted woman in San Carlo. He managed to get his father to suggest a marriage between Cesare and Isabella. Unfortunately for Cesare, Isabella had higher ambitions than to marry a count and possible bastard. She got out of the arrangement by her father, Cardinal De Mare, bringing in her half sister Ariadne, a bastard child like Cesare sired by her father with a maid, to take her place. The Cardinal sent word that his daughter would marry Cesare, which delighted the count, but upon arriving to confirm the engagement, Cesare found out that he was betrothed to Ariadne, not Isabella. This deeply angered Cesare, and he blamed both Ariadne and the Cardinal for losing his chance to wed Isabella.
However, Cesare uses Ariadne to further his goals for the throne, using her lonely upbringing and desperation for love to his advantage. When the King fell ill, Cesare accused Alfonso of poisoning him and started a coup, with Ariadne at his side. In the years since they became engaged, he manipulated her by pretending to love her, eventually getting her to murder Alfonso so that he can have the throne, promising to make her his Queen. He then spends the next eight years working to win popular favor and secure his place before he is crowned, all while Ariadne loyally serves him. But Cesare soon acts ungrateful to Ariadne, even scolding her when she lashes out at a prominent noblewoman who was talking badly about him in private.
On the cusp of his coronation, Cesare proposes to Isabella, having lusted for her even after she married his brother Alfonso and professed love for her throughout his engagement to Ariadne. Since Cesare is no longer a mere count but the future King, this time Isabella accepts his proposal, as she aims to become Queen. One night, as he is in bed with Ariadne, he tells her that he is to marry her sister instead of her. Ariadne is devastated, telling Cesare that Isabella is not a virgin any longer and thus forbidden to wed the King. Cesare claims that Isabella remained chaste through her short marriage to Alfonso and thus allowed to remarry. Ariadne refutes by claiming that Isabella was pregnant with Alfonso’s child but miscarried, to which Cesare responds by accusing her of lying out of jealousy. Ariadne cries and reminds Cesare of his promise to marry her, but he is unmoved. He reveals his long infatuation with Isabella and his disappointment when he was given Ariadne instead of her. Ariadne reminds him of all the sacrifices she has made for him, but Cesare is ungrateful and has her locked in the tower while he is married to Isabella and crowned King.
Second Timeline[]
After Ariadne travels back in time, she is determined to avoid getting engaged to Cesare like in her first life. At the state mass, Cesare is lusting after Isabella, stating that only the most coveted woman in San Carlo was worthy to be his wife, and discussed his plans to press the Cardinal and his father about his proposal to her.
Later on, he bids on a piece that Ariadne bids on, forcing her to spend more than she planned to get it. When Ariadne questions the authenticity of a sculpture, he interrogates her. Later on, his mother tries to convince him to get closer to Ariadne, who has gained adulation for calling out the Apostle as a heretic, and awarded the Heart of the Deep Blue Sea, which Rubina was told by a fortune teller that the the one who possesses it would one day rise to the throne. Rubina asks Cesare to get close to Ariadne and bring her the jewel.
He attends Ariadne’s debutante ball to be her official escort. Then he notices how close Alfonso has become to Ariadne. It is then that his marriage goals shift, as he now sees Ariadne as "Alfonso’s woman" and therefore seeks the satisfaction of taking her away from his brother who has everything. He tries to make decent conversation with her, but she rejects his attempts. After the ball, he sends her a bouquet of roses and an expensive new dress from an exclusive designer. She keeps the roses but sends back the dress.
Cesare continues to pursue Ariadne, sending her letters attached to expensive presents, like a fine saddle for horseback riding. Eventually, their paths cross once again during the royal hunt, of which Ariadne is a participant. At first, Ariadne refuses him, trying to get away, until a mysterious assailant attempts to kill Ariadne, and Cesare saves her. She even witnesses him give up his chance to capture the fabled Golden Buck in favor of staying by her sude. He brings her back to the hunting party and explains the situation to his father, who is furious that an attempted murder happened during such an important royal event. The assailant is proven to be Zanobi De Rossi, Ariadne’s step-cousin. He is punished with several lashes and forbidden from ever achieving knighthood.
At the masquerade ball, Cesare sees Ariadne with Alfonso, acting affectionately. Unable to bear the idea of losing to his brother yet again, he declares that he will ask her father for Ariadne’s hand specifically. When Ariadne is accused of being Marquess De Campa’s secret mistress, Cesare is the one who comes to her rescue, stating that the bracelet found that supposedly belonged to the mystery lover was supposed to be a gift from him to Ariadne, but he lost it in a game to the Marquess after she refused it.
Cesare continued to pursue Ariadne, sending her a letter asking to be her escort for the upcoming royal ball, but he received a reply rejecting his invitation and revealing that she was being escorted by Raphael De Baltazar, the son of the Marquis De Baltazar and the brother of her friend Julia. He was deeply offended at being passed over for what he saw as a lesser man than he.
Later on, while paying a visit with Ippolito to his sister’s home, Cesare’s path crossed with Isabella, who had also been visiting Countess Clémente. While Ippolito greeted Isabella warmly, Cesare was aloof, even as all four of them sat down to a meal together. When Cesare excused himself from the table, Isabella followed him, and offered to help him win Ariadne over. She proposed that Cesare escort her to the royal ball, which she insisted would provoke jealousy in Ariadne, but Cesare refused her offer, knowing that she was trying to repair her tarnished reputation, after rumors at court have painted her as Marquess De Campa’s secret mistress.
When Queen Margaret was nearly assassinated with arsenic, which was found in Rubina’s room, in her drink, and later successfully murdered, Cesare’s mother was accused of everything and thrown in the dungeon. She pleaded with her son to appeal to the King, but when he asked for mercy for Rubina, King Leo verbally abused him for not knowing his place and reaching beyond. This reminded Cesare of all the abuse he had endured as Leo’s illegitimate child, from his mother’s coldness and hard expectations for him to having to see his father and stepmother transfer all their love from him to Alfonso, neglecting him entirely. He went to see his mother in prison, but glared at her coldly, resenting her for all his woes, and left her alone.
Cesare’s world turned upside down when he received a proclamation from King Leo. When the Gallico Kingdom demanded Princess Bianca De Vailois as a bride for King Phillipe in return for Prince Alfonso’s safe return, Ariadne, knowing that such an act would lead to Alfonso’s possible murder at the hands of Philippe ti get access to the Estrucan throne, sought Leo and pleaded with him ti refuse the demand, stating that he couldn’t put his only heir in danger. However, instead of finding another way to get Alfonso back, His Majesty instead bribed Ariadne’s father, Cardinal De Mare, to tamper with official birth records, to make public record state that Cesare was the legitimate son of Leo’s deceased younger brother, and Rubina his brother’s lawful widow, releasing the latter from prison. In a ceremony, Leo declared Rubina and Cesare legitimate members of the De Carlo royal family to the kingdom, dubbing Cesare as the new heir to the throne.
Relationships[]
Romantic[]
Ariadne De Mare[]
Ariadne, the illegitimate daughter of Cardinal De Mare, was summoned to her father’s house to take her half-sister Isabella’s place in a betrothal to Cesare, who had made the proposal specifically with Isabella in mind. Count Cesare was extremely disappointed and angered when he found out he was betrothed to a different De Mare daughter than the one he had sought, blaming both Ariadne and the Cardinal. He saw Ariadne as the "lesser daughter", inferior to the beautiful and refined Isabella.
Nevertheless, Cesare made do, and began to manipulate Ariadne, pretending to love her and gaining her trust. He eventually convinced her to murder his half-brother, Alfonso, making Cesare the new successor to the throne, with the promise he would marry her and make her Queen as soon as he secured the throne.
Eight years passed, and Cesare grew colder to Ariadne, scolding her for lashing out at a noblewoman who was talking badly about him and making him look bad. Nonetheless, Ariadne remained faithful to Cesare, expecting him to fulfill his promise to make her his Queen, until one night, on the cusp of his coronation, he told her that he was going to marry Isabella and make her, not Ariadne, his Queen, having continued to lust for the older De Mare sister during all these years. Ariadne was distraught at the news and pleaded hysterically with Cesare, reminding him of his promises to her, but he cruelly dismissed her and had her locked away in a tower while he married Isabella and was crowned King.
When Ariadne traveled back in time, she was determined to avoid becoming engaged to Cesare again. Cesare was still set on marrying Isabella, and was initially dismissive of Ariadne, despite his mother’s suggestions. That all changed when he noticed how fond Alfonso had become of Ariadne, and Ariadne, in Cesare’s eyes, became "Alfonso’s woman" and thus a tool to get one up on his brother by taking her away. Cesare then directly pursues Ariadne, intent on seducing her away from Alfonso.
Isabella De Mare[]
Cesare originally sought Isabella’s hand in marriage, as he knew having her, the most beautiful and sought-after woman in San Carlo, would prove he was the most distinguished man in the kingdom. Unfortunately for him, Isabella was uninterested at the time, as she had plans to marry his brother, Prince Alfonso, the legitimate heir to the throne, thus becoming the most highly-exalted lady of the kingdom. She got out of marrying Cesare by having her illegitimate half sister take her place, and married Alfonso instead of Cesare, who blamed Ariadne and the Cardinal for keeping Isabella from him.
His engagement to Ariadne and Isabella’s marriage to his brother did nothing to stop him from wanting her. He visited her and professed love for her, even as they were attached to others. He manipulated Ariadne to kill Alfonso, and spent the next eight years after securing the throne for himself, then on the cusp of his coronation, he proposed to Isabella again. This time, she accepted, since he could now give her the position of the most noble woman in San Carlo. They were married and crowned King and Queen while Ariadne was imprisoned in the tower.
When Ariadne travels back in time, Cesare is still lusting after Isabella, but discards any regard for her when he sees that his brother Alfonso has grown attached to Ariadne, cementing her in Cesare’s eyes as "Alfonso’s woman" and thus something precious to take from his brother who has everything. This actually causes a similar reaction from Isabella, who cannot stand the idea of losing to Ariadne, and she starts trying to regain Cesare’s favor out of jealousy.
Familial[]
King Leo III[]
As a child, Cesare was treated coldly by his father, who blatantly favored his newborn brother over him. Leo once even slapped Cesare for entering the palace without his permission, and dismissed him as his child.
Leo continues to berate and diminish Cesare, especially when he pleads for leniency for his mother when she is imprisoned for the assassination of Queen Margaret. However, when Ariadne tries to prevent Leo from betrothing Princess Bianca to King Phillipe in return for peace, she points out that Alfonso, being held hostage in Gallico, would be targeted and helpless to save himself, leaving the kingdom without an heir before Bianca. This makes Leo worry for the future, but instead of saving Alfonso, the King instead bribes Cardinal De Mare to change official birth records, recognizing Cesare as the legitimate child of his late brother, thus putting him in the line of succession.
Queen Margaret[]
Surprisingly, despite being the son of her husband’s mistress, Cesare had a good relationship with Queen Margaret as a child. She was kind to him and brought him snacks when he came to play, and he even preferred her to his own mother, occasionally calling her such. Sadly, Queen Margaret’s attitude towards Cesare changed drastically when she had her own child, Alfonso. All her love and kindness was reserved solely for her "true" son, even glaring Cesare when he got slapped and scolded by Leo.