Ippolito De Mare

Ippolito De Mare is a character in "Sister In This Life I Have Become the Queen". The firstborn child and only son of Lucrezia De Mare, and the step-son of Cardinal of San Carlo, he is the older step brother to the protagonists Ariadne and older brother to the antagonist Isabella, as well as the older half brother to young Arabella.

## Ippolito De Mare

### Relatives

* Cardinal De Mare *(stepfather)*
* Lucrezia De Mare *(mother)*
* Isabella De Mare *(younger half-sister)*
* Ariadne De Mare *(younger step-sister)*
* Arabella De Mare *(youngest half-sister)*
* Stefano De Rossi *(uncle)*
* Zanobi De Rossi *(cousin)*
* Ottavio De Contarini *(brother-in-law)*
* Clementé De Bartolini *(sister-in-law)*
* Giovanna De Contarini *(niece)*
* Unnamed unborn child

## History

### Early Life

Ippolito is the firstborn child of Lucrezia De Mare from a previous relationship. Although he was born out of wedlock, he thought that he is the biological son of Cardinal De Mare. His parents’ de facto marriage meant he was legally recognized and treated as though he was a legitimate child of nobility, as were his two half-sisters whose birth followed his. Sometime before Ariadne came into the house, he went to study abroad. It later revealed that Ippolito is not Cardinal De Mare's biological son.

### Second Timeline

Ippolito was in the final days of his schooling when he received word that his mother had been banished from the family home following the exposure of her using dark magic to steal the Heart of the Deep Blue Sea from Ariadne to use as payment to a gypsy in return for help for Isabella. He used the family crisis as an excuse to leave school early and miss his final exams, forgoing getting his degree to return home.

His return was met with jubilance from his father, who welcomed him back warmly. His sister, Ariadne, who had taken on the duties of the household since Lucrezia’s banishment, was not as receptive to his return. Since the Cardinal had granted Ariadne Ippolito’s bedroom in his absence, Ippolito moved to another room, and was granted by Ariadne his sister Isabella’s maid, Maletta, who was available to serve him while Isabella was confined to her room for being suspected of being Marquess De Campa’s secret mistress.

Ippolito took Maletta as his mistress, and had all sorts of fun with her. The longer he stayed at home, however, the more he realized how much things had changed there, such as Ariadne barring the extra money he had received as allowance when Lucrezia was in charge of the family finances. She refused to give him more than necessary, especially since the extra money was supposed to have been for his tuition and books for his studies abroad, which were now over. Ippolito was angry, then fell into despair remembering his mother and her generosity towards him, as well as her care, and lamented that he had forgotten about her in his pleasure with Maletta, before vowing to right his wrong and restore her to her former place as mistress of the house.

At dinner, he convinced his father to invite Lucrezia back into the manor, on a celebration of the Cardinal’s upcoming birthday.

## Relationships

### Familial

#### Lucrezia De Mare

Lucrezia got pregnant with Ippolito at a young age, only for the father to abandon the both of them. She quickly became the mistress of the Cardinal of San Carlo, and when Ippolito was born, she claimed the child was his. Ippolito grew up with all the privileges of being the son and heir of the Cardinal, as Lucrezia doted on him.

When he heard that his mother had been expelled from the family household, he returned from his studies abroad. After his allowance was cut off by Ariadne, who had seized control of the household in Lucrezia’s absence, he remembered his mother and felt shame of having forgotten her, before vowing to restore her as mistress of the house. However, although he did manage to convince the Cardinal to let Lucrezia move back in, Ariadne thwarted his attempts to grant her back the authority, and Ariadne retained her power in the household.

Seeing the newborn disdain Lucrezia had for Maletta, blaming him for her son’s failures, amd growing weary of Maletta’s clinginess, Ippolito whisked her away to Haranae, where the nobles were partying for a season, sending her away for shopping while he mingled. While there, he heard news of Arabella’s death, followed by rumors that she wasn’t actually the Cardinal’s biological child. During the period of mourning the family had for Arabella, Ippolito confronted his mother over these rumors, which she denied vehemently.

### Romantic

#### Maletta

Seeking to punish Maletta for her cruelty towards Sancha, Ariadne knew that the easiest way to lead Maletta to ruin would be to make her close to Ippolito, knowing that her greed and ambitions and his careless pleasure-seeking would end in her downfall. So Ariadne assigned Maletta the position of Ippolito’s personal servant. Just as she anticipated, Ippolito immediately took Maletta as his mistress. She believed that he planned to properly wed her someday, until he introduced her to his returning mother as simply his maid. After Lucrezia blamed Maletta for making her son soft, Maletta believed that the only way for her to be accepted as Ippolito’s bride would be to become pregnant with his child. When she succeeded, however, Ippolito had his mother cast Maletta out of the house.