Lucrezia De Mare

* Novel
* Comic

**Lucrezia De Mare** is a minor antagonist in “Sister In This Life I Have Become the Queen”. She is a noblewoman who serves as the Cardinal’s de facto wife, and mother of three of his children.

## History

### Early Life

Lucrezia is a noblewoman who is mistress to the Cardinal of San Carlo. The Cardinal De Mare is a man of the church, and therefore forbidden from a typical marriage. However, thanks to his high status and importance, he is allowed a mistress who serves as his de facto wife. Since the law of San Carlo recognizes the de facto marriage, their three children are recognized and treated as legitimate offspring, despite technically being born out of wedlock. Lucrezia gave birth to three children, Ippolito, Isabella and Arabella.

Sometime after giving birth to her eldest daughter, Lucrezia’s maid became involved with the Cardinal, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. The maid died giving birth, and the child she bore, Ariadne, was sent to work on a farm.

### First Timeline

Many years later, as Isabella neared marrying age, the King pressured the Cardinal to form an alliance between him and the royal family by marrying Isabella to Count Cesare De Como, who was recognized as his nephew officially but rumored to be the King’s illegitimate son. Lucrezia and her husband, however, had their hearts set on marrying Isabella to the kingdom’s legitimate heir, Prince Alfonso. Lucrezia figured out a loophole—they would summon Ariadne to the house and have her take Isabella’s place, therefore fulfilling the King’s wishes by marrying a daughter of the Cardinal to Cesare while saving Isabella. It worked perfectly, although it secretly displeased Cesare greatly.

Soon after, Lucrezia and her husband achieved their ultimate goal of marrying Isabella to Prince Alfonso, when the poisoning of Queen Margaret led to marriage negotiations between the prince and Lariessa De Balloa being cancelled and the King deciding his son’s wife should be a daughter of a family without any actual power. However, what became of Lucrezia following Cesare’s coup remains unknown.

### Second Timeline

Shortly after Ariadne arrived at the household, she started causing quite a stir. One day, Maletta came to Lucrezia, stating that Ariadne had slapped her for no good reason. When Lucrezia confronted her stepdaughter about this, Ariadne explained that Maletta had in fact insulted Lucrezia’s children and husband, mocking the children’s technically illegitimate birth and their father’s lowborn status, and even suggested the idea of herself winning the Cardinal’s favor and bearing his child. Lucrezia was enraged by all this, especially the idea of Maletta secretly coveting her husband, and ordered for the maid to be whipped, before reprimanding Ariadne for poorly handling the situation. Ariadne promised to repent by serving at Ramboiullet Shelter for the Poor.

When Ariadne returned, she brought home a girl named Sancha, insisting that the girl become her personal maid. Lucrezia was against the idea and wanted to throw the girl out, until Isabella recognized the crest on the handkerchief that Ariadne presented as that of Prince Alfonso, whom Ariadne claimed had given her the favor and was proud of her choice to taje in Samcha. Lucrezia was still against letting Sancha stay, until Isabella convinced her mother, wanting something to impress the prince with when she finally was introduced to him by her father as he had promised. Lucrezia relented, and Sancha stayed on at the manor.

Soon after, Lucrezia and her two oldest daughters were invited to a sermon at that palace by Queen Margaret. Lucrezia and Isabella saw it as a prime opportunity to impress Her Majesty with Isabella’s beauty and prep herself as a prospective daughter-in-law. Isabella tried to look good by stating her favorite part of the sermon, but misinterpreted the holy message, and the situation was only salvaged by Ariadne’s quick thinking. At the dinner, Isabella flaunted her dress, but this served to make everyone notice how dull Ariadne’s dress was in comparison, which cast the quality of care of Lucrezia towards her stepdaughter into question.