Haah, is this heaven?
The countless dishes laid out before me.
There is no doubt that this place is heaven.
First, I take a spoonful of the cream soup and place it in my mouth….
Place it in…?
What the. Why can’t I taste anything?
“My dear daughter-in-law, is it delicious?”
The Archduchess Sophie, my mother-in-law, asked me warmly.
Since when were we this close? It’s kind of creepy….
“Ah, yes…! The rich cream of the soup envelops the tongue, and the fragrance of freshly sautéed mushrooms seems alive.”
Gone was the dining table from just moments ago, and my mother-in-law and I were lying in bed, just the two of us.
“Were you that hungry?”
The moment my mother-in-law’s hand touched my cheek, an inexplicable chill ran through me and I let out a scream.
“Kyaaack!”
With panting breath, I opened my eyes.
My heart was beating like mad, and my spine felt damp.
S-so creepy.
“Sisi, what is it?”
Turning my head at the familiar voice, I saw Josef looking at me with a surprised expression.
“…It’s nothing.”
By the way, did he just come in?
“Did you just come in after attending to state affairs?”
Josef nodded, his face tired.
“The situation in the Balkans has not been good lately, you see.”
Sensing he was about to expound on the complicated political situation, I quickly placed my hand over Josef’s.
“Your Majesty, it is good that you care for your subjects, but you must also take care of your own health.”
Let’s not talk about tiresome politics here.
“You are the only one who thinks of me, Sisi.”
Ha, haha… I see.
It feels a bit cringeworthy, though….
Perhaps because I hadn’t been able to eat much at dinner, my stomach growled loudly.
“…Might I ask for a light refreshment?”
Heat rose to both my cheeks.
Damn, this is embarrassing.
“…Is that alright?”
Josef smiled.
“Of course, if you, the Empress, wish it.”
He turned and stretched his hand toward the silver bell beside the bed.
And in what felt like less than a minute, I sensed a faint presence.
Josef commanded in a low voice for them to enter, and a single attendant quietly stepped into the room.
“Prepare a light refreshment for the Empress.”
“I shall prepare it immediately, Your Majesty.”
“Something warm. A clear soup with chicken, bread spread with butter, and cheese as well.”
“As you command, Your Majesty.”
The head attendant bowed silently once more and vanished from the room without a trace, just as quietly as he had entered.
…I have something I’m curious about, but should I ask or not.
“What is troubling you so?”
“…Could it be that I was the one who called?”
How did the head attendant come in? I could have called Esterházy, couldn’t I?
Just the other day, Esterházy definitely said, ‘If Your Majesty is ever with a gentleman, I must remain in attendance with the door slightly ajar.’
“Your bell and mine sound different, Sisi. And when I am in this room, it is arranged that my attendants answer the summons, not your ladies.”
Ah, so that’s the simple secret.
“The safety and comfort of the Empress are also the Emperor’s responsibility. So in this room, trust me and feel free to ask for anything.”
Honestly, to me they sound like the same thing.
Really… people in this era have it hard too.
Before long, attendants quietly entered, arranged the food on a small table, and disappeared again.
Josef rose from the bed, took my hand, and led me to the table.
“Now, there is no one else. Please eat to your heart’s content.”
Josef pulled out a chair for me, then returned to his seat.
“…Shall we eat together?”
After all, as Josef said, it’s just the two of us, and no one can know whether we’re observing protocol or not.
“I am fine.”
From what I saw at dinner, Josef hadn’t eaten much either.
“As if you’re fine.”
Without waiting for Josef’s answer, I rose from my seat, picked up one bowl of soup and a plate of bread, and perched on the bed beside him.
Surprised by my sudden action, Josef’s eyes widened slightly.
“At dinner, you barely ate, Your Majesty. You may have finished your meal quickly, but that doesn’t mean you ate your fill.”
I dipped the bread in the soup and held it out to Josef.
“If the Emperor starves, the Empire grows restless; and if the Empress starves, well, I just get sad. So let’s eat together.”
Josef soon let out a low laugh.
He eventually gave in, pretending he couldn’t resist, took a bite of the bread, and sat down with me at the table.
We spent an ordinary and comfortable moment at the small table, without stiff etiquette or suffocating silence.
“…It is delicious.”
After a long while, he quietly opened his mouth.
“I think it has been a long time since I have eaten warm food so comfortably.”
At the sight of the Emperor looking so lonely, I couldn’t say anything.
I simply smiled, spread cheese on the bread, and placed it on his plate.
Come to think of it, what do Josef and I even have to talk about besides politics?
“What kind of person was the Archduchess?”
At my question, Josef’s hand paused for a moment.
It felt as if the warm and comfortable air that had been flowing until just moments ago had suddenly cooled and settled.
He slowly lowered the bread and fixed his gaze on empty space.
He looked as if he were recalling old memories.
After a long silence, Josef opened his mouth.
“Mother…”
He paused briefly, as if choosing his words.
“She is the strongest person I know in this empire. Perhaps even more so than any man in the empire.”
Does he admire the Archduchess Sophie? Or is it awe…?
“In 1848, when the flames of revolution sought to consume everything, when the imperial family was shaken to its roots and all despaired, the one who set everything right was Mother. With her own hands she grasped the trembling crown and placed it upon my head. It is thanks to Mother that I am Emperor.”
…She’s a formidable woman.
He spoke calmly, but within his words, I could feel an absolute love for the mother who had made him who he was.
“From the day I was born, Mother taught me only one thing. Duty. Duty to God, duty to the House of Habsburg, and duty to the Empire. No greater virtue exists in her eyes. Her judgment was the Empire’s judgment, and her words were law.”
I sensed a hint of resignation in his voice, as if he bore shackles he could not escape.
Josef turned his gaze to look at me.
What was the meaning of his wavering eyes?
“Mother… made me Emperor.”
Everything was contained in that single sentence.
Perhaps an apology for having no choice but to value his mother over me, his empress, and frustration with himself.
“She understands the value of power, strategy, and sacrifice, but at times she values the weight of the crown more than the value of the heart. That a single person’s happiness can be more precious than the throne, like in your free-minded world… she finds that difficult to understand.”
To me, Josef looked like a child making excuses. A man making excuses for the agony of torment between duty to his mother and love for his wife. Not out of simple indifference or weakness, but because it was his mother’s command; because he believed the mother who had made him Emperor would also make me his Empress. An irresistible sense of duty toward the very source of his existence.
Josef finished with a faint bitter smile.
“That is my mother. My creator, my teacher. And the pillar of Habsburg that must not be shaken.”
…He wasn’t just a simple mama’s boy.
At first, I had thought so.
That he was a weak sovereign who couldn’t escape his mother’s skirt hem.
It wasn’t a simple mother-son relationship….
It was the debt he had to pay to assume the position of Emperor.
Beneath the enormous shadow of the one who created him, he was simply striving to protect me somehow.
But if there is one thing he is mistaken about, it is that my authority and the Archduchess’s overlap.
If forced to choose between her and me, he would likely choose his mother for now.
“Sometimes, let’s eat together like this.”
I held out my pinky finger to him.
Josef looked at my hand—specifically, my awkwardly outstretched pinky finger—in puzzlement.
His expression bore a pure question: what sort of gesture was this?
Because it was a gesture that existed in neither the etiquette of the world he had learned as Emperor nor in military discipline.
I snickered and pulled his hand toward me.
“This is a promise. The most powerful oath in the world.”
I hooked his pinky finger with mine and slowly shook it.
“If you break it… well, something very bad will happen.”
I spoke playfully, but my eyes were sincere.
Josef hesitated for a moment, as if deep in thought, then finally overlapped his finger with mine, following my lead. It was a clumsy motion, but its warmth was conveyed wholly.
“This is the moment our first promise is made, truer than any treaty of the Empire, truer than any oath before the Pope—just for the two of us.”
At my playful words, Josef stared intently at our intertwined fingers.
An awkward smile crept to his lips.
“An oath stronger than the Empire’s treaties…”
He muttered low and asked,
“Then, what is the price for breaking this oath? When the Empire breaks a treaty, it goes to war.”
“Hmm…”
I pretended to ponder seriously, then my eyes sparkled.
“If you break this promise, as punishment you must grant me one wish. A very small, personal wish.”
“A wish.”
He seemed to find my proposal interesting.
“Very well. If I can receive the Empress’s wish, I might gladly have to break the oath.”
Josef approached me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
Swat!
I swatted his hands away.
“I didn’t even drink today, you know! I can’t do this sober!”