King Leo De Carlo, also known as King Leo III, is a character in "Sister In This Life I Have Become the Queen". The regent ruler of San Carlo, he is the father of both the legitimate heir Prince Alfonso and the illegitimately born Count Cesare.
History[]
King Leo is the King of San Carlo, marrying a Gallican princess named Margaret. However, at some point, he actually acquired a mistress, Countess Rubina De Como, an affair which produced a son they named Cesare. Some time after Cesare’s birth, Queen Margaret also became pregnant by Leo, eventually giving birth to a son herself, named Alfonso. Although younger than Cesare, Alfonso being born of Leo’s lawful wife meant that he was the lawful heir to the throne, a position that would earn Alfonso envy from his brother.
As Cesare and Alfonso grew into men, eligible for marriage, Cesare sought the hand of Isabella De Mare, daughter of the Cardinal. He got her father to pressure the Cardinal for an alliance by marrying his daughter to Cesare. Unfortunately for Cesare, Isabella had higher ambitions than to marry the King’s bastard son. The Cardinal compromised by promising his bastard daughter, Ariadne to Cesare, which Leo seemingly accepted, much to Cesare’s chagrin.
King Leo initially sought to marry his son off to a daughter of the Grand Duke Balloa of Gallico, to gain a dowry of military might. They initially aimed for the firstborn, Susanna, but she died young, and was replaced by her younger sister Lariessa. In the middle of marriage negotiations, however, Queen Margaret was poisoned, and Countess Rubina was accused and executed. The late Queen’s Gallican relatives took great offense to this murder of their native daughter by an Estrucan native, and demanded compensation for her death. When Leo failed to meet their demands in time, they launched a military attack on the Estrucan Kingdom borders and seized the Gaita Region, which was practically handed to them by the Margave, who was half-Gallican himself.
This loss sparked a new wave of prejudice against the Gallicos, and the brunt if it became directed at Leo’s son, who was born of a Gallican mother and possessed a Gallican bride. People doubted him as a leader for them for not being of pure Estrucan blood. Though nothing could be done about his mother, Leo found that he could ease tensions by discarding Lariessa as his son’s bride and choosing a pure-blooded Estrucan noblewoman for Alfonso to wed instead. But she had to be of a family with no maternal relation or military power, which left only two candidates. One was Julia De Baltazar, a marquess’s daughter, and the other was Isabella De Mare, the very same woman whom Cesare had originally sought as his own wife.
After the decline of the Estrucan Kingdom with the Black Plague descending on the people and the threat of military power from Gallico, Leo sought the church’s support for a diplomatic solution to his country’s turmoil. He decided the easiest way to get the support was making the Cardinal’s daughter, Isabella, the final candidate for Crown Princess. And so, Isabella married Leo’s son Alfonso, so that his father could have the support of her family and the church.
Relationships[]
Romantic[]
Countess Rubina De Como[]
Countess Rubina is the favorite mistress of the King. She even bore him a son, Cesare, before his lawful Queen did.
Familial[]
Queen Margaret[]
Leo and Margaret were arranged to be married when she was a princess of the Gallico Kingdom. Margaret was in love with someone else, but she married Leo out of duty. It is implied to be an unhappy marriage, especially considering that his son with his mistress is older than his son with Margaret.
Prince Alfonso[]
Alfonso is Leo’s sole legitimate child through his lawful wife, and thus is Leo’s rightful successor. He is shown to be kind to Alfonso, although he naturally still expects behavior befitting a prince and future King.
Count Cesare De Como[]
Cesare is Leo’s oldest child and the son from his mistress Rubina. Although Leo has publicly claimed Cesare as Alfonso’s cousin, many still suspect the Count to be Leo’s bastard son. Despite being the King’s firstborn, his status as a bastard child means Leo can only acknowledge Cesare as his son in private and not in public, something that irritates Cesare.