“Your Majesty, what shall we do about this year’s foot-washing ceremony?”
Just hearing about it makes me not want to do it.
“I will inform Cardinal Rauscher that you will not be attending.”
Esterházy let it pass, sounding half resigned.
What era is this foot-washing ceremony from, anyway?
“I heard Queen Victoria of England just hands out a few coins and calls it done.”
My lips jutted out in a pout.
“She invites as many people as her age and gives them money, doesn’t she? What a truly rational idea.”
They say you lose if you’re jealous, but honestly, I’m so jealous I could die.
And France doesn’t even do it anymore, replacing it with charity events, right?
Why is it only we Habsburgs who stubbornly cling to Spanish etiquette like this….
Couldn’t we do it like France in the Bourbon days instead?
If we did, Josef could wash thirteen people’s feet by himself and be done with it.
“Your Majesty.”
Esterházy turned back as if something had occurred to her.
“Is there something more?”
“Instead of kissing them, perhaps you could simply bow your head….”
Ugh, I’m telling you, I hate the very act itself.
Why on earth do they want to see me washing people’s feet?
When I continued to make my displeasure obvious, Esterházy attempted to persuade me.
“Your Majesty, but this time, you cannot leave for convalescence, can you?”
Until now, whenever there was an event like this, I had used illness as an excuse and gone somewhere nearby to recuperate.
Mm, what should I do?
When Archduchess Sophie had custody of the children, they had been taken from me anyway, so I had been able to roam freely.
But now that the children belonged to the Empress’s Palace, I couldn’t just leave the palace empty.
What if I remained in the palace and still skipped the foot-washing ceremony?
It wouldn’t be something that ended with mere criticism.
Cardinal Rauscher would launch a religious attack, saying I had defied the will of God, and the Archduchess would try to take the children back again, saying I had abandoned my duties.
“Head lady-in-waiting. We will do as you say.”
I had no choice but to pretend to kiss them and only lower my head.
*
It was Thursday of Holy Week, just before Easter.
People had gathered in the vast hall of the Hofburg Palace to conduct the ritual.
“Empress.”
“Your Majesty.”
Even after hearing that I was participating in this event, Josef still acted awkwardly.
Haa… why on earth do we have to do this?
Under the gazes of the nobles, I walked toward the altar.
On the dais sat twenty-four carefully selected elderly people.
Twelve grandfathers and twelve grandmothers.
They said they had been thoroughly washed beforehand, but….
Endure it.
I bit my lower lip hard.
If I ran away from here, the Archduchess would seize the chance to move the children back to the Emperor’s Palace.
Cardinal Rauscher would coax Josef, saying the children could not be raised under an immoral parent.
“Dominus vobiscum….”
While Cardinal Rauscher offered a long-winded and tedious prayer in Latin, and Josef washed the old men’s feet first, I stole a sidelong glance at the Archduchess seated among the royals.
She was staring at me from behind her fan, which covered her mouth.
She seemed to be looking at me as though it were strange that I was here.
“It is Her Majesty the Empress’s turn.”
Esterházy handed me a silver basin and a towel.
I knelt as slowly as I could.
What was it they had said? That I had to wear a gentle smile, like a benevolent saint.
I wiped the wrinkled foot and slowly bent at the waist.
I drew in a deep breath and stopped at a precarious distance, just barely not touching it with the tip of my nose.
I lifted my head and exhaled the breath I had been holding.
Next, and then the next.
As the ordeal repeated twelve times, I moved like a machine.
Pour water, wipe, lower my head.
Only when I wiped the last old woman’s foot and stood did I finally feel a sense of release.
After confirming that I had finished, Cardinal Rauscher offered the final prayer.
When the hellish ritual ended, I held out my hand to Josef.
As he took my hand and we left the hall, the nobles lined up on either side watched our departure while offering Hofknicks.
The moment the enormous doors closed and we escaped the eyes of the people,
I let go of Josef’s hand, which I had been holding.
As if she had been waiting, Lamberg handed me a clean handkerchief and water she had prepared in advance.
I took a sip of water, rinsed my mouth, and spat it into the prepared bowl.
Ptoo.
It hadn’t touched, but I still felt gross.
Josef likewise wiped his mouth.
“I really… may have to read the Bible.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Josef asked me with a bewildered expression.
“I mean, it said to wash their feet, not to kiss them.”
No matter how I thought about it, doing this every year was just too sad.
“It is an expression of humility and a sign of respect.”
“Respect is something you show with your heart. Not with your lips.”
We held hands again and walked together.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a verse saying that when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, he kissed them too.”
“I shall have to ask Cardinal Rauscher.”
“Don’t ask him. Even if it isn’t written there, he’s the sort of person who would insist, ‘If one reads between the lines with the eyes of the heart, He must have kissed them.’”
Unable to refute me, Josef let out a small laugh.
“You may be right. My teacher can be too strict at times.”
“That isn’t strictness. It’s inflexibility.”
I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief and sighed.
“Still, you did it. I’m sure Mother thought there was nothing to criticize.”
Josef wrapped an arm around my shoulders and comforted me.
That was exactly why I had endured it.
“Nothing to criticize, you say? Do you know how much the head lady-in-waiting kept watching me from the side?”
“Would that not mean the Lord Chamberlain has a thoroughly professional spirit?”
“At any rate… next year, I really will bring a Bible and argue it out.”
“An empress engaging in a theological debate before a cardinal. That would be a first in the history of the empire.”
Josef laughed as though amused, but I was serious.
Honestly, I had even wiped down soldiers whose arms were rotting on the front lines. How could wiping old people’s feet be difficult?
If only there hadn’t been the ritual of kissing the top of the foot, I wouldn’t have had much to complain about.
When I returned to the Empress’s Palace, I would brush my teeth again.
“Empress…”
Hm?
“Do you have a favor to ask?”
“I received a letter from your sister.”
…What is he talking about?
Nene, why are you and Josef exchanging letters?
“You do realize that sounds extremely peculiar right now, don’t you?”
He had exchanged letters with the sister who should originally have become empress, while excluding me?
It had been a matter decided by the adults, without any feelings between them.
No, even so, if my sister wanted to contact him, shouldn’t she have done it through me? There was no need to contact him directly.
It wasn’t as though we normally didn’t exchange letters, either.
Josef was not an ordinary noble. The fact that she had sent a letter directly to the emperor, and without my knowledge at that….
“Do not misunderstand.”
Josef laughed aloud, sounding amused.
“The King of Bavaria is apparently opposing her marriage to the Duke of Thurn und Taxis. He says their ranks do not match.”
“…Nene is?”
“So it is a petition asking me, as the emperor of the empire, to guarantee the standing of that family. It seems she sent it directly to me because she feared that if she went through you, you might be hurt or oppose it.”
Why was Josef telling me this?
“How would you like to visit your homeland?”
“Bavaria?”
“With Sophie and Gisela.”
“What about Rudolf?”
“He is the crown prince, is he not?”
So taking Rudolf would be difficult.
It was hard to gauge how much effort Josef had put into this, but it was clear he had made no small effort.
Unlike Hungary, Bavaria properly had the character of a nation’s capital.
To make matters worse, stories about the epidemic were still flowing out of Hungary from time to time.
Unlike an imperial tour, Lake Starnberg, where Possenhofen was located, was close to nature, to the point that the King and Queen of Bavaria also used it as a resort.
“Then we’ll have to prepare a procession.”
Josef took a letter from his breast and handed it to me.
“Here. I would like you to deliver this. If the empress herself shows the emperor’s permission, the King of Bavaria will find it difficult to continue refusing.”
Esterházy received Josef’s letter and carefully put it away.
Then what would I need to prepare?
This was different from leaving under the pretext of being ill.
In a way, it was no different from an official delegation.
First, just in case, I had to bring Škoda, and Sophie liked Ida’s voice, so I should bring her too.
An escort and couriers were a given, and at least four beauty maids and wardrobe attendants would have to move with us to preserve my dignity. Above all, I also had to bring the nurses who would look after young Sophie and Gisela.
Then I’d have to pack the children’s things too.
The luggage would be enormous.
Calculating the route in my head, I opened my mouth.
“It would be better to take a steamboat as far as Passau, wouldn’t it? After all, riding in a carriage would be tiring for the children too.”
When we arrived at the bedchamber, I waited to see Josef off.
Hm? Is he not leaving?
The maids and attendants had already turned around and averted their eyes from us.
Aha, that.
I carefully approached Josef and whispered.
“Not today.”
He looked at me with a shocked expression.
It seemed he had never imagined that he could be refused.
“Are you unwell?”
“No, it isn’t that….”
Trailing off, I gave him my farewell.
“I’ll see you in the bedchamber later. Do your best today too.”
Leaving Josef standing there blankly, I quickly entered my room.
We did the foot-washing ceremony, didn’t we? Today is a little…
No matter how clean they were, I just can’t.
“Prepare my bath. Very hot, and put in plenty of scented oil.”
Today, I’m really going to scrub myself clean.
*
We had just departed Vienna by steamboat.
Seeing the steam locomotive on its trial run, Sophie said,
“Mama! Look over there! It’s Mama’s train!”
Mama’s train….
What was that again?
I set down my teacup and looked toward where Sophie was pointing.
Ah, right. The official name of the Western Railway had been taken from my name.
I had been so embarrassed that I ordered it to be called the Western Railway within the Empress’s Palace and then briefly forgot about it.
Since it had my name on it, Sophie could think that way.
“Sophie, that isn’t Mama’s. It belongs to the joint-stock company.”
Sophie looked shocked, like a child who had just been told there was no Santa.
“It’s not Mama’s?”
Sophie, the society of capitalism is a cruel thing.
Mama isn’t the largest shareholder yet.