“A telegram has arrived from Vienna.”
Ah, so what was coming has come.
I shook out my wet hair and asked.
“What does the Archduchess say? Does she want me to return at once? Or will she depose me for the crime of wearing a mask?”
Hunyadi read down the telegram with a strange expression.
“…His Imperial Majesty was very pleased to receive the report that the unrest in Venice had been quelled.”
“Hm?”
It was Josef?
“And… he has issued an imperial decree: ‘In gratitude to the citizens of Venice for protecting the Empress’s safety, and in commemoration of this, the nighttime curfew in Venice is hereby lifted as of today, and the mask festival shall be permitted for a limited time.’”
A faint laugh escaped me.
Had my eldest son grown up a little?
“And there is one more private message.”
“What is it?”
Hunyadi hesitated for a moment, then handed me the telegram.
“I wish to see you in that mask for myself.”
Ah.
My face suddenly flushed hot.
I leapt into bed, pretending nothing was wrong.
“I don’t know. I’m going to sleep. We’re going to Trieste tomorrow, so prepare everything.”
“Your Majesty, if you sleep without drying your hair, you will catch a cold.”
In the end, I was led by the maids’ hands back to the dressing table.
*
The next morning we arrived in Trieste, and by late evening, in Görz.
Disguised like an ordinary noblewoman, I entered the monastery.
Castagnevizza Monastery.
“Good to see you.”
He greeted me with a displeased look.
An ordinary greeting, without the slightest courtesy.
But none of the maids or guards could say anything to him.
“Good to see you, Henri, Count of Chambord.”
I held out my hand to him.
“…Or should I call you Henri V?”
Or rather, I held a secret meeting with Henri V in the monastery known as the Saint-Denis of exiles.
“To seek a king in this shabby place of exile—Her Majesty the Empress of Austria has quite the sense of humor.”
Henri shook his head with a bitter smile.
“There is no Henri V here. There is only Henri d’Artois, an exile driven out of France.”
“Then I shall correct my form of address. Sir Henri, head of the House of Bourbon.”
I offered him a solemn courtesy.
He was the last legitimate heir to the French throne. An unfortunate prince swept away and cast out by the flames of revolution. And above all…
Josef would never, even if he died and came back to life, try to talk to those republican bastards.
If change comes to France, it would benefit us more to have a king who can be reasoned with sitting on the throne rather than revolutionaries.
I looked at him as I worked the abacus in my head.
I should take out at least one bit of insurance for the future.
He looked me over and caught on.
“What brings Your Grace to me?”
“I came to see a cousin.”
“Please come inside. It is humble, but I can offer you that much hospitality.”
Henri turned and led me into the monastery’s dim corridor.
Without a word, we descended underground by candlelight, where three stone coffins lay side by side.
Charles X, the last absolute monarch of France.
His son, Louis Antoine.
And… Marie Thérèse Charlotte.
I placed the bouquet of lilies I had brought atop her stone coffin.
Lilies, the symbol of the French royal house. But now, a withered glory.
“My mother always said.”
Sorrow seeped from the word mother.
He must have meant Marie Thérèse.
“That a monarch must not compromise. That the cheers of the crowd are nothing but foam, and only the authority bestowed by God is truth.”
A path that was the exact opposite of what I had shown in Venice.
“But Your Majesty… chose the path of enchanting the crowd.”
“The times have changed, Sir Henri.”
I turned back and looked at him.
“People no longer want God’s proxy. What they want is an idol onto which they can project their desires.”
“An idol. A word that does not suit the Bourbons or the Habsburgs at all.”
Perhaps such words could never come from someone who, as a Catholic monarch, firmly believed in the divine right of kings and revered the Ten Commandments.
“I am not telling you to become Napoleon. But… now even the Vendée hangs the tricolor instead of the white flag.”
“How strange. Does Your Majesty think Napoleon will fall?”
Did it sound that way?
“Surely not. I am curious why you would make such a guess.”
He did not answer me.
“Are you not close with Eugénie, that woman?”
“Am I close with Napoleon?”
Henri seemed lost in thought for a moment.
For now, I would be satisfied with simply planting the seed.
In any case, there were still more than ten years left.
“It means lilies may be noble, but if they do not wish to be broken, they must also know how to sway with the wind.”
I turned toward the entrance.
I had said everything I needed to say.
In the future, after the Franco-Prussian War, Henri V would seize the opportunity to restore the monarchy, but by rejecting the tricolor and insisting only on the white flag, he would kick the crown away with his own feet.
I hope my advice has at least cracked that stubborn head of his.
“I shall take my leave now. There is someone waiting for me in Vienna.”
“…Someone waiting.”
Henri saw me off with an inscrutable expression.
“The Emperor of Austria is a fortunate man. To have such an astute partner.”
“Partner? I am merely his wife.”
I left the monastery with a bright smile.
In the carriage on the way back, once the tension eased, fatigue came rushing in.
Now, to Vienna.
*
I was resting comfortably at Schönbrunn when Josef finished his schedule and entered the bedroom.
His eyes swept over every corner of my face.
As if checking whether I had been hurt anywhere, or whether I had lost weight.
“Your face has grown thin. Did Venetian food not suit your palate?”
Is he implying I had gained weight before?
“Of course not. I ate so well it was almost a problem.”
“It is plain to see you suffered.”
…Did he eat something strange? This wasn’t his usual character.
Ah.
I gestured with my hand for Esterhazy to withdraw.
“Is this the method you chose, Josef?”
Pretending to be an immature emperor utterly besotted with his wife?
Josef paused for a moment, then let out a low laugh.
The emperor’s mask slipped away, revealing the true face of Josef hidden beneath.
“My mother is not someone who can be persuaded by logic. Especially when it comes to law and rules. No matter how good the result of what you did in Venice was, if the process broke the law, to Mother it is nothing but treason shaking the discipline of the empire.”
“And so?”
“And so, I decided to become a fool.”
Josef carefully wrapped my hand in his.
“Because the Emperor and Empress are those who reign above the law.”
The warmth from his palm was comforting, and yet, somehow, it trembled.
“So, where is it?”
“What do you mean?”
Though I knew, I feigned ignorance and teased him.
“Did I not send you a telegram?”
I carefully took the mask from my breast and showed it to him.
“This?”
Josef accepted the white mask I held out.
A crude mask worn by the common people of Venice, with no splendid gold leaf or jewels.
He ran his thumb over the rough surface of the mask, then handed it back to me.
“Put it on.”
“Here?”
“I recall the telegram said I wished to see you.”
I smiled lightly and brought the mask to my face.
My field of vision narrowed, and the sound of my breathing circled inside the mask.
I rose from the bed, lifted the hem of my chemise slightly, and greeted him.
Josef came closer and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“I am jealous. Those Venetians must have seen you like this to their hearts’ content.”
“They are my subjects.”
“They may be subjects, but I am your husband.”
What kind of emperor in the world gets jealous of his own subjects?
Josef lightly kissed the chin of the mask. Through the cold sensation of the mask, I felt as though the warmth of his lips reached me.
Josef whispered in my ear.
“There is a melancholy emperor living in Vienna. Do you not intend to comfort him?”
I smiled beneath the mask.
Outside, he pretended to be an absolute monarch; before his mother, he acted as though he were madly in love. Yet in the end, before me, he became this spoiled.
But I did not dislike it.
At the very least, this man did not try to lock me away.
“Comfort…”
I pretended to ponder for a moment, then looped my arms around his neck.
“There is no music, but we can still dance a waltz.”
Josef chuckled and entrusted himself to my lead.
In the quiet bedroom, in a space lit only by moonlight, we moved slowly.
There were no cheers, no strains of violin as in the square of Venice, but the rhythm of each other’s heartbeats was enough.
Round and round, each time our bodies turned, Josef’s gaze pursued me intently.
“Sisi.”
He untied the strings of the mask and lowered it, then swallowed my revealed lips.
“Mmph…”
A breath-stealing kiss continued.
Josef desired me like a man parched with thirst, or like a man afraid I might vanish again like mist.
He lifted me and slowly laid me down on the bed.
Only the sound of the mask falling to the floor with a soft thud could be heard.
Josef looked down at me from above. With the moonlight at his back, his face was shadowed, but his eyes alone shone vividly.
With trembling fingertips, he brushed down my cheek.
“When I read in the report that you had appeared in the square wearing a mask, I thought my heart would stop.”
“Because you were angry?”
“No.”
Josef shook his head and buried his face in the nape of my neck.
His hot breath touched my sensitive skin, sending goosebumps over me.
“Because you looked so free. And so… I feared you might never return to my side, that you would fly away into that freedom forever.”
“Josef.”
I slowly stroked the back of his head as he buried his face in my neck.
“I did not run away. I only breathed in a place you gifted to me.”
He lifted his head, and our eyes met again.
I began unfastening the buttons of his uniform one by one.
The emperor’s armor—solid and rigid, binding him tight.
“And once I have breathed, I must return to the water. Because you are here.”
The buttons came undone, and through the gap in his shirt, his bare chest was revealed.
I placed my hand on his firm chest.
A heart beating unbelievably fast.
Josef raised his head and looked at me.
“Is Vienna underwater to you?”
“Sometimes. It is suffocating.”
I smiled playfully, then this time pulled out the pins holding my hair in place.
Click, clatter.
Diamond pins fell to the floor, and my tightly bound hair poured down like a waterfall.
Josef’s gaze moved along my hair.
As though worshipping it, he took a fistful of my hair and kissed it, then lowered his upper body and kissed my collarbone.
A kiss far more lingering and sensual than before.
“Mmm…”
A faint moan slipped from me without my realizing it.
As if that sound were a signal flare, Josef’s touch grew hurried.
He slid the straps of my chemise down past my shoulders and kissed my exposed white shoulder as though licking it.
“The Venetians would never see this.”
He asked persistently.
“What expression you wear hidden behind the mask. How you react to my touch.”
“Ah, Josef…”
“That is something only I should know. Only me.”
His usual restraint was nowhere to be found; he laid bare his jealousy and possessiveness without any filter.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered in his ear.
“Yes. Only you know.”
As if provoking Josef, I wrapped my thighs around his waist.
“So confirm it. What kind of expression am I making right now?”