Somehow, it feels like Sophie is eating better food than I am.
“Is it good?”
“Yes.”
She’s adorable just watching her eat.
But how long will Mama have to keep speaking French?
Starting with the simple Frittaten soup, the dishes continued to come out one after another.
I sat Sophie on my lap and fed her little spoonfuls at a time.
Of course, I knew this wasn’t proper etiquette, but…
“Your Majesty, if we might assist…”
“Court lady.”
A court lady cautiously addressed me.
“Have you ever fed a child before?”
None of them could answer.
The ladies-in-waiting must have been raised like princesses in their own families since childhood. There was no way they’d ever done something like this.
So they and I were the same, except that I at least had the skill from feeding my nephew in my previous life.
“Now, yum-yum, here comes the sausage, whoosh!”
Sadly, the Empress’s Palace had no tableware for children, including Sophie.
I had no choice but to feed her myself.
Sophie had been awkward at first, but now she ate well.
After she had even finished the sweet dessert, Kaiserschmarrn, I entrusted Sophie to the court ladies.
“Help Sophie brush her teeth.”
While Sophie brushed her teeth, I should eat too.
They could at least do that much, couldn’t they?
I was receiving assistance with bathing myself, after all.
I tried to lower Sophie from my lap.
“Now, go with the maid big sister and…”
Was “big sister” right…? Aside from Ferenczy, Countess Königsegg, and Hunyadi, the ladies-in-waiting had lived at least twice as long as I had.
I saw Esterházy’s expression stiffen slightly, but I deliberately ignored her gaze.
The court lady knelt on one knee in proper etiquette and held out her hand.
“Your Highness the Archduchess, please come this way.”
Instead of going to her, Sophie tightly clutched the front of my dress with her small hand and would not let go.
“Sophie?”
I met Sophie’s eyes to soothe her.
“You’ll be back soon. Mama will be waiting right here.”
I met my daughter’s eyes and tried my best to give her a harmless smile.
No use.
“Court lady.”
I signaled to Karoline von Hunyadi with my eyes that it was all right.
Could there have been abuse from the head nanny too? She seemed roughly the same age as Hunyadi…
I lightly shook my head to dispel the pointless thought.
That seemed too suspicious of me. It was probably because of the clothing.
If age were the problem, wouldn’t she dislike me too?
As I was thinking that, Countess Lamberg quietly spoke to me.
“Your Majesty, the Minister of the Imperial Household has requested an audience.”
The Minister of the Imperial Household?
It probably wasn’t a financial matter.
“For what reason?”
“…It is a request regarding personnel changes among the ladies-in-waiting of the Empress’s Palace.”
“Personnel changes?”
I immediately remembered the minister’s family name and looked at Esterházy.
“Chief lady-in-waiting. While I look after Sophie, guide the Minister of the Imperial Household to the reception room.”
After Esterházy left, I first had to calm Sophie, who was clinging to me like glue.
“Now, let’s go brush our teeth with Mama.”
…So much for lunch.
*
After barely managing to put Sophie to sleep, I headed to the reception room.
Hmm, why had he come?
The Minister of the Imperial Household rose from his seat the moment he saw me and paid his respects with perfect courtesy.
“Your Majesty the Empress. Thank you for granting me your precious time.”
“Please sit, Minister.”
I sat first and tried to take control of the conversation.
“If the Minister of the Imperial Household has come, this must be about personnel changes.”
The duke perched stiffly on the edge of his chair and said expressionlessly,
“I have come to speak regarding the dismissal of Countess Wendel.”
This man must value etiquette no less than Esterházy.
“I doubt the Minister of the Imperial Household would come all the way to the Empress’s Palace merely for a single document.”
At my question, he paused briefly to choose his words.
“Your Majesty, what I oversee is the order of the court. The dismissal of Countess Wendel is only a very small ripple in that order.”
Order.
“It is a matter of protocol, then.”
“That is correct. It concerns the residence of Her Highness the Archduchess.”
He finally brought up the main point.
“Your Majesty, Her Highness the Archduchess’s official residence is the nursery within the Emperor’s Palace. The budget and personnel are all assigned there.”
I took a sip of the tea the maid had brought and chose my words.
“Are you asking me to send the Archduchess back to the Emperor’s Palace?”
He looked as if he were gauging how much he should tell me.
“I do not favor keeping Her Highness the Archduchess in the Empress’s Palace.”
“Because I am young?”
He bowed his head even lower, as if that did not matter to him at all.
“Regardless of age, Your Majesty is Her Majesty the Empress.”
Then what was the problem?
“The problem arises when Their Majesties depart on an inspection tour. Your Majesty has forbidden Her Highness the Archduchess from entering.”
I waited for him to continue.
“If Her Highness the Archduchess accompanies you as well, there is no issue. It would simply be a matter of moving the assigned personnel and budget to the Empress’s Palace.
However, Your Majesty. If only Their Majesties go, there will be no adult member of the imperial family permitted to enter that place.”
“Isn’t Her Majesty the Empress Dowager here?”
“She is rarely in the palace. She spends most of her time outside under the pretext of charitable activities.”
So he was telling me to choose one of two things in exchange for Sophie.
Josef or Sophie…
If I brought Sophie here, I could not leave the palace. If that happened, I would be unable to participate in events such as inspection tours with Josef.
On the other hand, if I left the palace, I would have to personally rescind the ban on Archduchess Sophie’s entry.
In a way, he might be placing my freedom among the choices.
Inspection tours were the one breath of fresh air untouched by the Archduchess’s hand, so if I chose the tours, I had to acknowledge her presence at least within the Empress’s Palace.
The Minister of the Imperial Household asked me with a puzzled expression,
“Your Majesty, would this not be resolved if the Highnesses accompanied you?”
…It could be.
The most reasonable and simple solution to this dilemma.
If I had not known the future, I would certainly have done just that.
“That will not be possible.”
The date had shifted, but she was still young.
What if Sophie really died during the tour of Hungary…?
I could allow my children, once they became adults, to shoulder the duties of the imperial family, but I could not gamble with my children as collateral.
“I need some time to think.”
He withdrew with a word of understanding.
“Your Majesty.”
“Chief lady-in-waiting. I am grateful that you sought help from the Minister of the Imperial Household.”
Esterházy must have used her blood ties in order to help me. It was the best opportunity to bring the child to the Empress’s Palace.
That was why the Minister of the Imperial Household had likely told me what he thought was the best move.
“If you knew, why did you make such a choice?”
“What I knew?”
Without realizing it, I answered sharply.
I had eaten a diet meal since morning, and all morning I had been far too preoccupied with Sophie’s issue.
On top of that, I had skipped lunch and barely managed to put Sophie to sleep.
“Mia—”
When I tried to apologize, Esterházy rudely cut me off.
“I was rash, Your Majesty.”
“It’s fine. I’m only tired, so don’t take it to heart.”
But even I could not say it.
If I told them that the child would die if we took her there, they would simply think it was the hysteria of a madwoman.
“I will prepare your afternoon rest.”
“Do so.”
***
Josef went to Archduchess Sophie’s office.
“Mother!”
“Your Majesty. Do not raise your voice.”
He approached her desk.
“I heard everything.”
“What are you referring to?”
“My daughter Sophie.”
“If she was born a princess, she must bear the duties that come with it.”
“Sophie is Austrian. Does it make any sense to forbid her from speaking German?”
She did not think that part was a problem.
“What is the role of a princess? To form secure alliances through marriage. If she is to adapt there, she must learn French rather than German.”
“…Mother, I am the German Emperor.”
To Josef, the fact that his first daughter had been educated in his own court not to speak German was a challenge to his sovereignty and identity.
“That is correct. As the one who inherited the Holy Roman Empire, Your Majesty is the German Emperor. Unlike the Empress, I support Your Majesty in that.”
Josef had a vague sense of what his wife, Sisi, was thinking.
And how she approached the ethnic minorities being discriminated against within the country.
“Is Your Majesty attacking me, your mother, and taking your wife’s side over such a trivial matter as the German language?”
“Why does the conversation keep flowing in that direction?”
‘Josef, you are still far too soft.’
Since Sisi had chosen the Habsburg Empire, the power struggle between her and Sophie could no longer be seen as a simple conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
Josef, too, struggled not to lean too far toward either the ambition he harbored or the love of his wife.
“Your Majesty, this mother has worked all this time for Your Majesty.
Who was it that betrayed her husband and placed Your Majesty on the imperial throne?”
Josef could not refute those words.
Just as she said, if she had not made that sacrifice, Josef would still be the crown prince, and Sisi, too, would still be the crown princess.
The more strongly Josef opposed her, the more he would be branded an ungrateful man who denied his mother’s sacrifice, and it was obvious that the nobles on Sophie’s side would withdraw their support from the Emperor.
Sophie was trapped in her obsession with the past, Josef in his present anguish, and Sisi in the despair of the future, unable to break free from one another.