“Her Majesty the Empress of France also—”
“Please, just call me Empress Eugénie.”
“Then please call me Empress Elisabeth as well.”
In truth, the two of us were often grouped together as rivals, but we had faced similar situations at different times.
The root of the trouble had been Joseph’s decision to enter the war on Russia’s side.
In my case, Joseph had gone to the Italian front after I gave birth, while Empress Eugénie had been pregnant when Napoleon went to the Italian front to imitate his uncle.
“Empress Eugénie, His Majesty the Emperor of France also went to the front in person while you were with child, did he not?”
Empress Eugénie gently fluttered her fan.
“Even so, is that the same as my situation? I did not know, but His Majesty the Emperor of Austria knew and still left for the campaign.”
“Is the postpartum period the same as pregnancy? It is the difference between someone undergoing the rite to restore her purity and someone who ought to be protected.”
I fluttered my fan in precisely the same manner as she did.
Empress Maria set down her teacup and said,
“The emperors bear responsibility for their empires, so it is only natural that they cannot think solely of us.”
That was… true.
“How have you been faring with Her Highness the Archduchess, Empress of Austria?”
So Russia’s anger had not yet fully subsided.
This was not an attack on me, but a deliberate attempt to exclude Empress Eugénie from the conversation.
“I am maintaining an appropriate distance from Archduchess Sophie.”
It was not true, and both you and I knew it, but it would be impolite to speak ill of an elder of the court.
…Though I could at least send a letter of complaint to my parents.
“How did you overcome it, Empress of Russia?”
“There was nothing to overcome. Thanks to the late Emperor’s affection for me when I was young, I passed those days without discomfort.”
You and I both knew that her mother-in-law, Charlotte of Prussia, had tormented her in the beginning.
There was only one person who could not ask any questions at all: Empress Eugénie.
She had never had to live with her husband’s family.
And unlike us, a grand duchess of Hesse and a duchess in Bavaria who nevertheless held the title of princess, Empress Eugénie had been an ordinary noblewoman.
To break through that situation, Eugénie asked Maria,
“How did the Empress of Russia raise the Tsarevich?”
“The Tsarevich… is a child of the empire. Before he is one child, he must be Russia itself. I assigned him the most severe tutors and taught him the strictest discipline.”
Empress Maria finished with a faint smile toward Eugénie.
“I merely pray to God that the child will be able to safely bear the weight of the empire, Empress of the French.”
***
While the three empresses were sounding one another out, those behind them were also watching one another.
The Court Minister of the Austrian Empress’s Household, Sophie Esterházy-Liechtenstein.
The Mistress of the French Empress’s Household, Pauline de Bassano.
The Senior Lady-in-Waiting of the Russian Empress’s Household, Anna Tyutcheva.
The first to move was Bassano.
She signaled to the attendants with her eyes and headed toward the table where the three empresses were gathered.
“Your Majesty, I have brought the dessert you instructed us to prepare earlier.”
Eugénie immediately changed the subject.
“Empress Elisabeth, Empress of Russia. These are desserts prepared for you both by the palace’s finest chef.”
A vatrushka was placed before Maria, and a Sachertorte before Elisabeth.
Bassano did not miss Eugénie’s wording.
‘Austria by name, Russia by country.’
Confirming that the subject had shifted to culture, Bassano returned to her place.
“I very much wished to present Vienna’s splendid dessert culture here in Paris as well.”
“Thank you for your consideration. Parisian desserts are wonderful too.”
When Sisi answered ceremonially, Eugénie smiled at Empress Maria as if she had been waiting for this.
“The newly renovated streets and squares you two saw upon coming to Paris are the greatest objects of interest for His Majesty and me. Art should not remain only within the palace; it must have the power to change the life of an entire city.”
Empress Maria quietly took a sip of black tea.
“The vitality of Paris is truly impressive. But the true power of art comes not from novelty, but from eternity.”
Sisi merely watched the two fight while eating dessert.
“These days, I have been sparing no support for the Russian Imperial Ballet. The greatness of an empire arises from such pure and perfect language of the body.”
Esterházy only watched Sisi, wondering when she ought to move.
‘Her Majesty has not yet begun patronizing the arts.’
Eugénie counterattacked Empress Maria.
“Of course. Tradition is a shining legacy. The Paris Ballet also offers generous support to its outstanding dancers.”
At the implication that the Russian ballet was, in the end, merely an imitation of French ballet, Maria gripped her fan.
Sisi did not understand.
Only after Bassano confirmed the faint smile brushing Eugénie’s lips did she feel relieved.
Anna Tyutcheva approached the table of the three empresses without the slightest hesitation.
“Your Majesty, pardon me for a moment.”
After offering the other two empresses a light bow, Tyutcheva handed Empress Maria a handkerchief.
“I prepared this out of concern that the summer sun of Paris might burden Your Majesty’s health, accustomed as you are to the cool summers of Saint Petersburg.”
Maria gently set down the fan she had been gripping on the table. Then she accepted the handkerchief scented with peppermint oil from Anna.
“Your thoughtfulness is unchanged.”
Maria lifted the handkerchief, lightly pressed it to her temple for a moment, then dabbed it against her wrist.
As the hostess, Eugénie put on a worried expression for her guest’s health.
“Oh dear, Empress of Russia. Are you all right? Perhaps I should have had more awnings set up.”
Sisi continued eating her Sachertorte, watching the two with interested eyes.
‘Delicious.’
Maria had now completely regained her composure.
“Thank you for your concern. The weather is as passionate as Paris’s vitality.”
To indirectly criticize Eugénie’s talk of ballet just now as being excessively passionate, she placed a subtle emphasis on the word passionate.
Esterházy began to grow a little worried inwardly.
‘Is Her Majesty awkward because she rarely appears in salons? But seeing how well she understands Her Highness the Archduchess’s language, perhaps not.’
In truth, Sisi could not say anything at all.
‘I would have to know something first. And the atmosphere suddenly turned strange.’
Her patronage of the arts had only just begun, and even that consisted solely of staging Frankenstein, a work regarded as a novel without philosophy.
In the midst of such a situation, at this very moment as she tasted the sweet dessert she usually restrained herself from eating because of her diet, Sisi felt satisfaction beyond compare.
Sisi, who had been watching the murderous battle of nerves between the two empresses as though it were a fire across the river, set down her teacup.
Esterházy immediately approached Sisi and lightly wiped away a small crumb of Sachertorte that had fallen on the hem of her dress with a handkerchief.
‘You must say something, anything.’
Receiving Esterházy’s gaze, Sisi looked down at the empty plate that had been her comfort.
***
When did I finish it all…?
“I should like to take the chef back to Vienna.”
“Empress Elisabeth. It truly delights me to hear you say that.”
So she says.
I did not mean it sincerely.
A French chef would be horrified if he knew what sort of food I eat.
The Empress’s palace chef already cooks while crying every day.
When I occasionally go down wanting a late-night snack, he comes out with a delighted face, even changing out of his nightclothes, and I have thought it rather pitiful.
Surely he did not enter the imperial palace to make meat juice, milk, oranges, and sorbet.
“The gardens of the Tuileries Palace are truly beautiful.”
Since I ate dessert, I have to move again.
That tedious fight seems to be over too, and after sitting in one place for so long, I am getting restless.
“Of course. It is a garden I have been fond of lately. May I introduce it to you both?”
Empress Maria and I nodded and rose from our seats as well.
Esterházy approached me and held up a parasol.
…This was not normally something Esterházy was supposed to do.
Had something happened among the ladies-in-waiting?
Eugénie and Maria were also exchanging flustered looks with their respective ladies-in-waiting.
I spoke quietly enough that only Esterházy could hear.
“Where is the reader?”
This was usually Ferenczy’s job, as the youngest.
“The others are preparing for Your Majesty’s bath.”
Ah, then it could not be helped.
Unlike the palace, where everything was already prepared, here in Paris every single thing had to be procured one by one.
We went out into the Tuileries Garden and walked while breathing in the scent of roses.
Pretending to smell the roses, I put a little distance between us.
“It is not much different from the Hofburg.”
It was hardly any different from the garden Sophie had made.
And she called it a stiff palace and whatever else?
“She is at the height of a sensitive period, so it cannot be helped.”
Empress Eugénie had only just completed her purification rite and come back outside. On top of that, unlike us, who had drunk coffee or black tea, she had been drinking sage tea.
“That does not mean Your Majesty has any reason to endure it.”
“Was I not sensitive for a while as well?”
In truth, one is most sensitive before and after the purification rite.
Painkillers are useless, and one’s breasts are wrapped and compressed with bandages.
“Empress Eugénie is stepping away with her lady-in-waiting for a moment.”
Most likely, she was going to receive a massage.
Empress Maria approached me and spoke.
“Empress Elisabeth.”
“I do like the Tuileries Garden.”
“Now that we are alone, there is something I would like to ask, despite the discourtesy.”
“Please speak.”
“…Why did Austria enter the war so late?”
So she really had been sulking over Nicholas I’s death.
“I wonder? I am the empress. You would have to ask His Majesty the Emperor.”
“I understand. I would like to thank you for the great help you gave with the late Emperor’s funeral.”
“His Majesty the Emperor followed him as he would a father, so we merely wished to repay even a little of that grace.”
I wish they would both stop this contest of pride.
My head already hurt from concentrating on each word while speaking French.
I am so tired.
At first, the atmosphere between us was fine.