“Have you experienced any unusual pain or discomfort?”
“No.”
“How are your appetite and digestion?”
“I have had little appetite lately.”
“Have you been sleeping peacefully?”
“I am not sure.”
Shukoda asked the same questions as usual and began to observe me.
And if nothing was wrong, he would leave, I supposed.
“Your Majesty, excuse me for a moment.”
Esterházy, who was beside me, placed a handkerchief over my wrist.
“Court physician, is something wrong with my body?”
When I looked in the mirror today, there had been no problem.
He felt my pulse, tilted his head, and then said to me,
“No, Your Majesty. There is nothing wrong. There is a rumor that an epidemic has been going around lately—”
I sprang up from my seat and looked at Esterházy.
“Chief lady-in-waiting. Why was news of an epidemic spreading not reported to me?”
I’m honestly hurt. I thought we had grown close.
“I think that will be enough for the examination. I would like to prepare to go out.”
There was a brief moment when Esterházy glared fiercely at Shukoda, but I headed to the bath with the maids attending me.
“Mistress of the Court.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I shook my head.
“No, it is nothing.”
***
While the Empress went to bathe, Esterházy confronted Shukoda.
“What are you going to do about this?”
They had worked so hard to win the Empress’s heart, but she could feel that the excuse Shukoda had just made had lowered their intimacy with her a little.
“Ahem. Opportunities to use a stethoscope are rare unless it is for an epidemic, are they not?”
If Shukoda could detect the fetus’s movement with a stethoscope, they would have been able to attend the pregnant Empress more safely from the early stages.
Furthermore, since epidemics such as typhus and cholera broke out periodically, he had judged that there would be no problem.
“An opportunity, you say, court physician? Did you not realize what kind of repercussions a single remark like, ‘An epidemic is spreading through the Imperial Palace, so Her Majesty the Empress underwent an examination,’ could cause?”
“It was a medical judgment. If Her Majesty’s suspicions are correct, stability in the early stages is more important than anything. No protocol is more important than that.”
Just as the two began arguing over Sisi.
“Court Minister. Her Majesty is calling for you.”
Esterházy’s temples began to ache, wondering what else had happened now.
Entering the bathroom, Esterházy bowed to the Empress.
“You called for me, Your Majesty?”
“You seemed to be speaking with the court physician for quite some time.”
‘Is there something they are hiding from me?’
An inexplicable anxiety began to bloom in Sisi’s heart.
Emperor Josef was busy with the Crimean War and had been unable to look after her.
It had already been more than a month since he had left the Imperial Palace.
And now even Josef, who had at least mediated between Archduchess Sophie and Sisi, the Empress, was gone.
“With His Majesty the Emperor currently at the Crimean front, Your Majesty’s sacred person is itself the peace of the Empire. At such a time, when Your Majesty said you had no appetite, how anxious the court physician must have been. Fearing that Your Majesty’s health might suffer from worry, he wished to be certain, even if it meant using a somewhat excessive method. Our excessive loyalty has instead caused Your Majesty discomfort, and that is entirely my fault.”
As she said so, Esterházy observed the Empress in the bath.
‘Are the signs not yet clear, or is it difficult to tell because of her clothing…?’
***
Well, if she apologizes that much, I have nothing to say.
I was only asking because I was curious.
“His Majesty the Emperor seems to cherish his Hungarian subjects.”
“He will return soon, Your Majesty.”
What kind of husband goes off to war right after getting married?
And an emperor, at that.
“I do not believe I have yet met the Hungarian subjects.”
Then I should go.
“Your Majesty.”
“Chief lady-in-waiting. What was the Empress’s original wedding itinerary?”
“To tour the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.”
Yes, that was what should have happened originally.
I was supposed to tour the various kingdoms and territories that made up the Austrian Empire, officially introduce myself, the new Empress, to the subjects, and strengthen the unity of the Empire.
It was an era without even radio, after all.
“Is there any reason I should not go to Buda?”
“There is not, Your Majesty.”
What I have felt while living here is that, at present, Hungary is the first priority, and the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia is the second.
Bohemia has relatively few complaints, except for the fact that Slavic nationalists and German nationalists clash with one another.
“I fear the Hungarian subjects may misunderstand His Majesty the Emperor’s intentions.”
Only five or six years ago, the rebellion had barely been suppressed through outside intervention, and now the Emperor was stationed in Hungary with the army.
It’s not as though I’m simply whining because I don’t want to remain here with Archduchess Sophie. Right?
“I shall make preparations at once.”
Archduchess Sophie’s influence in the Hofburg is stronger than I expected, so there’s nowhere to dig in.
I should slowly build up my own power while resuming the official duties that had been suspended.
*
From the moment I leave the Empress’s room, every moment is theater.
Today’s stage is.
“The Danube truly is beautiful.”
The imperial steamship crossing the Danube.
The pure white ship floating on the river was, honestly, beautiful.
I sat in a deck chair and smiled and waved at the crowds along the river.
“A little more to the left, Your Majesty.”
The ship was deliberately slow.
So that every subject on the riverbank could take me into their eyes.
“Your Majesty, the strength has left your gaze. You must show benevolence.”
Hahaha….
My arm ached more and more, and even the corners of my mouth felt as though they were gradually stiffening.
“Your Majesty, we are now in a quiet countryside area. How about taking a short rest?”
“Very well.”
The cabin I entered for a brief rest was called a place of rest, but in reality, it was turning into a reception room for the next engagement.
“Your Majesty, we will soon dock at Pressburg. The mayor and representatives of the nobility request an audience.”
…You said I could rest for a moment!
“Your Majesty the Empress, on behalf of all the citizens, I welcome you to the historic city of Pressburg.”
Citizens? Mm.
For now… well, it is not something for me to interfere with.
“I thank you all for your warm welcome. Just as this Danube River connects all the subjects of the Empire as one, your unwavering loyalty will be a great strength to His Majesty the Emperor.”
After the brief audience ended, Esterházy praised me.
“You did well, Your Majesty.”
What exactly did I do well? Next time, I wish she would explain it point by point.
When I stepped out onto the deck again, Esterházy pointed to a hill beside me.
“That is Buda.”
The crowd on the riverbank was incomparable to anything until now.
As many Hungarians as in Vienna, if not more, had gathered to see me.
The closer the ship drew to Buda, the more the cheers swelled like waves.
Just as I was growing tense, Esterházy spoke in a solemn voice.
“Your Majesty. What they are seeing is not merely a single Empress. You have come as His Majesty the Emperor’s love for wounded Hungary, and as the Empire’s unbreakable promise.”
She may be right.
The sound of the salute shook the sky, and the bells of the churches began to ring.
And so, I arrived in Buda.
***
Josef’s world was confined to Lemberg.
At the eastern edge of the Empire, the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia, far removed from the capital, Vienna.
Here, on the border with Russia, the heart where a mobilized army of three hundred thousand had gathered. The Emperor was directing the war from this place.
The room was covered with enormous military maps, and atop the desk, reports detailing the deployment of the Russian army were piled like mountains.
Outside the window, the shouts of soldiers training and the sounds of cavalry units dragging cannons could be heard without cease.
‘How long has it been since a letter came from the Empress?’
Among the bundle of letters handed to him by the messenger from Vienna, there was no letter from his wife.
Josef found a letter from his mother and began to read.
「—That frivolous girl is determined to drive the Empire into crisis! How dare she leave for Hungary, the land of rebellion, without even the Emperor’s permission! If you do not immediately issue an imperial decree ordering her brought back to Vienna, you will see this mother’s heart torn apart once again—」
Josef’s hand grew cold as he read the letter.
‘Sisi went to Buda alone?’
In his memory, the streets of Hungary, stained with blood, rose before him.
The assassin who had drawn a blade against him, the hatred of nobles hidden behind masks. Into that den, his wife, who still knew nothing of the world, had walked of her own accord.
His breath caught in his throat.
With trembling hands, Josef picked up another letter lying beside his mother’s—a formal report from the Empress’s palace.
A record of movements with not a shred of emotion mixed in.
- Her Majesty the Empress arrived at Buda Castle under the escort of Count Andrássy and Deák Ferenc.
- She visited orphanages and hospitals, delivering relief supplies in the name of the Imperial House.
‘Andrássy and Deák….’
The ringleaders of treason. Those names hardened Josef’s resolve.
“Baron Hess.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Revise the contents of the ultimatum to be sent to the Tsar.”
The face of Baron Hess, the chief of staff, stiffened, and the generals stirred.
“Your Majesty! What do you mean….”
“If Russia guarantees the independence of Moldavia and Wallachia, we will maintain neutrality. Inform them that if they accept this proposal, we will withdraw our troops at once.”
Baron Hess and the other staff officers objected, saying this was a conciliatory gesture that took a step back before Russia.
“Your Majesty, this is the perfect opportunity to pressure Russia!”
“It is no different from yielding to Russia!”
But Josef did not listen to them.
There was only one thought in his mind.
‘If the Tsar only accepts this proposal, I can go to Buda at once.’
To Sisi, who would be waiting for him.
***
After leaving Buda’s municipal hospital, I called Esterházy.
“Chief lady-in-waiting.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I would like to see somewhere else.”
Esterházy looked at me silently, waiting for my next order.
“These days, I hear the English are going about saying they discovered sanitation.”
What made the Crimean War most different from wars until now was the change in hygiene in military hospitals.
“We shall move to St. Rochus Hospital. The person Your Majesty wants is there.”
So this is what it feels like to have a capable secretary.
Ignaz Semmelweis, the doctor who had been driven out of Vienna and fled to Buda—I went to meet him.
It’s nice that Archduchess Sophie isn’t here to stop me.