The best thing about moving the nursery to the Emperor’s Palace was—
“Mama.”
“Sophie!”
—that I could see my children without the Archduchess’s permission.
The governess was looking at me as though she disapproved, but what could she do?
This was the Emperor’s Palace, and I was the Empress.
Holding Sophie’s hand, I entered the room where her younger siblings were staying.
There were three wet nurses, one head nanny and two junior nannies, and the supervising nurse who had originally been in charge of Sophie.
Aside from the supervising nurse, every single one of them had been replaced.
“Sophie, these are your younger siblings. Rudolf and Gisela.”
Unlike Sophie, the twins, who had been born with only their names the same, instead gave me a sense of stability.
Because they made me feel that I truly belonged here.
Because it felt as if tragedy would not come.
“Uu.”
When I looked at Sophie, my daughter was tugging at my dress.
“Up we go. Is it boring?”
She’s quite heavy.
What would Sophie be interested in?
I did not want to go back to the children’s room where the governess was.
“Shall we play the zither with Mama?”
Sophie buried her face in my chest and shook her head.
But do three-year-olds normally not know how to speak?
I’ve never raised a child before, so I don’t really know…
‘Why?’
‘Why is a flower called a flower?’
‘Why can’t I eat it?’
No matter how I thought about it, it was strange.
‘Ramyeon! I want ramyeon!’
…Yes, that was definitely strange.
At this age, my niece had been a question-mark assassin.
She had known how to express herself when there was something she wanted.
There was a reason people talked about the terrible threes.
“Sophie.”
I put my hands under Sophie’s armpits and stretched my arms out.
“Sophie Friederike Dorothea Maria Josepha Elisabeth.”
Sophie merely met my eyes and blinked. She gave no answer.
Just in case, I looked around.
The nannies had noticed that something was strange, and the faces of the court ladies, including Esterhazy, had hardened as well.
“Supervising nurse.”
I carefully set Sophie down.
“When did this begin?”
She was the child you had been raising, was she not?
The supervising nurse bent so deeply that her forehead seemed about to touch the floor.
“Until a year ago, Her Highness had only just begun to speak, and accordingly, she was moved to the children’s room to be with the governess.”
“You say she knew how to speak?”
“Y-yes! That is correct, Your Majesty!”
“Supervising nurse.”
As I carefully drew Sophie back into my arms, I warned her.
“If, from outside the palace, I hear any nonsense about this, the responsibility will be yours.”
She had clearly said, with her own mouth, that Sophie had known how to speak.
When I came outside and crossed the garden, carrying Sophie back to the Empress’s Palace, the nobles who saw me looked as though they were seeing a ghost.
“Chief Lady-in-Waiting. From now on, forbid entry to the Empress’s Palace to anyone except those I permit.”
***
Esterhazy immediately summoned the ladies-in-waiting of the Empress’s Palace.
“…”
After a long silence, Esterhazy opened her mouth with difficulty.
“It cannot be.”
A short sentence.
Even so, the ladies-in-waiting understood.
The greatest reason the House of Habsburg had faced a crisis during the Revolution of ’48 was that the Emperor had not been emperorly.
“Did the supervising nurse not say so as well? That Her Highness had certainly begun to speak.”
Ferdinand I had also been able to speak, but for now, the ladies-in-waiting needed even this much consolation.
When Sisi had boasted about Sophie, too, she had always rejoiced that the child called her Mama.
“As Her Majesty said, do not speak of this to anyone. Not to anyone at all, including your families.”
At present, the only ones who knew this secret were the nurses in the nursery and the ladies-in-waiting of the Empress’s Palace.
The nobles were merely gossiping about the Empress who had broken etiquette; no talk had emerged about the Archduchess.
“I trust you understand well that if rumors about Her Imperial Highness the Archduchess begin to spread, arrows will also be turned toward Her Imperial Highness Archduchess Gisela and His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Rudolf, who have only just been born.”
It would be dangerous if rumors spread that a curse had appeared in the imperial bloodline.
After first bringing the ladies-in-waiting under control, she immediately returned to the Emperor’s Palace.
Esterhazy confirmed that a new person had appeared in the nursery.
“What brings the governess all the way to the nursery?”
“Chief Lady-in-Waiting.”
“Court Chamberlain.”
When the governess deliberately addressed Esterhazy as Chief Lady-in-Waiting, Esterhazy immediately reminded her of her own position.
“I am not the governess’s lady-in-waiting. Should you not address me as Court Chamberlain of the Empress’s Palace?”
“Countess Esterhazy, do you think Her Imperial Highness the Archduchess will simply let this pass once she hears of it?”
“Countess Wendel, I am very sorry, but I serve Her Majesty the Empress.”
Countess Wendel reminded Esterhazy of her own duty.
“I am the governess of Her Imperial Highness the Archduchess. My duty is to remain by Her Highness’s side wherever she may be and complete her education.”
She explained that jurisdiction over the children’s room still properly belonged to her, the person appointed by Archduchess Sophie.
Esterhazy acknowledged Wendel’s logic.
“It is true that Her Majesty permitted it. However, that permission concerned the person, not conduct of this sort.”
“Have you ever felt human warmth in this palace? Countess Esterhazy, you have grown very numb.”
“The governess is correct. There are no people in this palace. There are only positions. And Her Majesty the Empress acted not as a mother, but in the position of Empress.”
“Is carrying a child across the garden etiquette befitting Her Majesty the Empress? Court Chamberlain, our positions do not exist for nothing. Even if Her Majesty the Empress had fallen, would I be able to offer her assistance?”
“What part of etiquette was violated? Her Majesty the Empress was merely carrying out the public duty of overseeing the imperial succession. A problem arose, which is why matters have come this far.”
“Did you just call it a problem?”
“Was I wrong?”
Esterhazy turned to the supervising nurse.
“Supervising nurse. Bring me the observation journal.”
The supervising nurse glanced at the governess.
“The Court Chamberlain has no authority.”
“I will show it to Her Majesty the Empress. Until now, you may have reported to Her Imperial Highness the Archduchess, but now Her Majesty the Empress is taking a deep interest in Her Imperial Highness the Archduchess.”
The observation journal contained detailed records.
Her health, such as the state of her bowel movements, the amount she ate, her hours of sleep, and the number of times she coughed.
What words she had learned that day, how her etiquette lessons were progressing, and what her attitude toward religion was like.
Matters of conduct, such as whom she obeyed and whom she resisted.
And even who had received visitors, when, and how.
“Must I petition the Chief Aide-de-Camp myself? Or should I contact my cousin, the Minister of the Imperial Household?”
This was the Emperor’s Palace, under Grunne’s jurisdiction, and since he was one of Archduchess Sophie’s people, he might try to block her.
But with Prince Karl von und zu Liechtenstein, Countess Esterhazy, a princess of Liechtenstein, could exert influence much more deeply.
***
I tested Sophie’s reactions.
If I followed my heart, I would have called Skoda, but then rumors might spread that something was wrong with Sophie.
“Tickle, tickle!”
“Kyarrr!”
Okay, no problem there.
I seated Sophie facing me.
Would she understand speech?
“Sophie, hold Mama’s hand.”
No problem with that either.
I stretched out my left hand and pointed at the window.
“Sophie, look over there.”
When I spoke, Sophie turned her head.
Thank goodness. There isn’t a problem with her development.
I let out a sigh of relief.
At that moment, though it was only for an instant, I noticed Sophie’s small body flinch.
Surely, even if I joked that this was a romance-fantasy empire, there wouldn’t have been corporal punishment?
Feeling a sudden unease, I carefully lifted Sophie’s collar, but fortunately, there were no traces of punishment.
Mutism… but she had definitely called me Mama, meaning Mother.
I was not a doctor, nor were there doctors related to psychiatry.
I was not reckless enough to try things on a child blindly with half-baked knowledge.
“Sophie…”
What on earth happened while I was pregnant?
I covered my face with both hands to hold back a sigh.
At the sound of the door opening, I raised my head and saw Esterhazy appear, carrying a thick book.
“I suppose I must examine what you are holding.”
Esterhazy handed me a book labeled observation journal.
I skimmed through the beginning, then stopped at the section where the person in charge was changed to the governess.
There were no special changes yet…
“Is it around here?”
It was written that from the moment I reached the middle of my pregnancy and could no longer visit, the contents of Sophie’s conversations began to decrease sharply.
To be precise.
「After Her Majesty the Empress’s visits became infrequent, Her Imperial Highness the Archduchess has focused even more on her lessons, and now shows no unnecessary questions or distracted behavior.」
「She maintains calm without emotional agitation and immediately complies with instructions.」
「Her former restlessness has disappeared, and she has at last acquired the dignity and virtue of silence that an archduchess of the House of Habsburg ought properly to possess.」
I immediately closed the observation journal and placed it on the side table.
“Sophie, shall you stay with Mama for a while starting today?”
Sophie carefully came closer and nestled into my arms.
“Your Majesty.”
“Speak.”
Esterhazy spoke to me carefully.
“Please try speaking in French.”
In French?
“Sophie, are you hungry?”
“I’m hungry.”
Huh…?
It wasn’t that she couldn’t speak…
Flustered, I said to Esterhazy,
“…She can talk?”
No, but she had followed what I said just fine until now.
Could it be that she had simply read the situation?
No, Sophie had definitely understood. No matter how perceptive a three-year-old child might be, how perceptive could she possibly be?
Now that the tension had eased, I finally remembered that Sophie had said at least a few simple words.
Thank goodness. I thought my heart was going to drop.
Meanwhile, the voices of the guards were gradually growing louder.
“The weather is still chilly.”
The ladies-in-waiting immediately closed the windows, blocking out the noise from outside.
I have no more morning schedule now, do I?
The timing was perfect for lunch as well.
“Chief Lady-in-Waiting. Tell the cook to prepare the Archduchess’s meal as well.”
I kissed Sophie’s forehead as she lay in my arms.
“Sophie, do not worry.”
Yes, you are a Wittelsbach too.