But… I think there’s something particularly strange about my body.
Why do I faint so often?
In all the years I’ve lived, I’ve never once fainted before.
Losing consciousness last night, too, had happened too often to be dismissed as simple exhaustion.
And I couldn’t blame the corset, because the dress I wore last night didn’t even have one.
As I sat down at the table with the maids’ support, I thought I might know the reason.
“Head maid.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Please give your command.”
“Is this all?”
There was hardly anything on the table that could be called food.
A small glass containing a dark red liquid, a bowl filled with white milk, and two or so confections on a little plate. That was all.
Though calling them confections was questionable.
This was the empress’s breakfast?
Were they trying to keep the empress from gaining weight?
“Yes, Your Majesty. This is the breakfast menu you personally ordered.”
Esterhazy began explaining without the slightest hesitation.
“Fresh raw beef juice, milk newly drawn from the ranch, and candied violet petals for dessert.”
She confirmed it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Yesterday, after I fainted and woke up, I’d thought they had prepared patient food for me. Apparently not.
If it’s beef, it’s beef—what on earth is raw beef juice?
“We have also prepared Her Majesty the Empress’s menu alongside the menu His Majesty the Emperor will be having. Since today’s schedule is severe, shall I prepare a different meal?”
I did not miss her words.
Not as a question, but in the form of a question. Let’s try saying it the way I’ve learned.
“It seems today’s schedule is very severe.”
Countess Esterhazy’s expression remained as cold as ever, but her voice rose slightly, as if at last she had been given the chance to explain something.
“Though Your Majesty may not wish it, for a day like today, having an ordinary breakfast would be one wise option.”
After briefly praising my choice, she recited the contents of a proper meal.
“Freshly brewed Viennese coffee, rich hot chocolate, freshly baked semmel rolls, kefir spread with butter, as well as fresh butter, honey, and homemade jam made from apricots and raspberries have been prepared. In addition, if you wish, thinly sliced ham and sausages, and hard-boiled eggs can be brought in at once.”
Yes, that was it. My mouth watered just from hearing it.
I could almost imagine the scent of coffee and baking bread brushing the tip of my nose.
That was food meant for human beings!
A perfectly normal, abundant meal to start a lively day!
I must not reveal vulgar desires, from a Habsburg’s perspective, like being hungry or wanting to eat… And she had said today afternoon’s schedule would be severe.
Changing the meal was not because of my personal greed for food.
It was an unavoidable choice in order to fulfill my public duties as empress.
Yes.
“The head maid’s words have merit.”
I looked at Esterhazy.
“If I am to carry out the empire’s important task this afternoon without flaw, preparations befitting it will be necessary.”
Ah, and I must not disappoint the empire’s subjects.
“At least for today, for the peace of the empire, I shall have to consider a method different from usual.”
Esterhazy bowed at the waist with a faint smile.
“I shall have it brought at once.”
While the maids briefly left, Archduchess Sophie entered.
Even if she was the emperor’s parent, was it all right for her to come into someone else’s room as she pleased like this?
“You, a child called empress, are trying to eat only this?”
Archduchess Sophie spoke while looking contemptuously at the tray of raw beef juice I had just sent away.
Without giving me time to answer, she jerked her chin at the maid behind her. The maid stepped forward and ostentatiously unfolded the pure white sheet she had been holding.
A perfectly clean sheet without a single flaw, a sheet with no bloodstain anywhere to prove the consummation of the marriage.
“I heard from Josef. He said nothing happened yesterday.”
Josef… said that?
That bastard went to his mother and chattered about that?
In the end, he had run to his mother and laid bare even the most intimate secrets of the marital bedchamber.
The person I had believed to be my only shield had planted the sharpest knife in my back.
I curled my cold hands into fists. Seeing my pale face, the archduchess seemed satisfied and took another step closer.
“I knew you were a witless girl, but I did not know it was to this extent. Have you forgotten what the empress’s first duty is? The empress’s body is not your personal possession. It is a sacred vessel for bearing the Habsburg heir, and last night was the most important night on which that first duty should have been carried out.”
Her voice was filled with contempt and anger.
“And yet you fell asleep merely because you were tired? It seems my son Josef indulged your childishness, but I am different. You abandoned your duty as empress and smeared mud on the honor of this house.”
The door opened, and Countess Esterhazy entered with the maids, carrying trays laden with a plentiful breakfast.
Even after seeing the frozen air in the room and Archduchess Sophie, she showed not the slightest sign of agitation and silently placed the coffee and bread before me.
Seeing that, Archduchess Sophie let out a disbelieving laugh.
“It seems you finally feel like eating. Very well. Eat plenty. Tonight, I will not tolerate you casting aside your duty again. I shall watch closely.”
After issuing one final warning, Archduchess Sophie turned around without lingering and left the room.
Before me sat a warm breakfast with steam rising from it, but I had no desire to eat at all.
Countess Esterhazy stood beside me without a word.
Everyone in the room must now know that the emperor was no longer my shield, and that tonight, under my mother-in-law’s surveillance, I would have to perform my duty.
But not me.
“… Her Imperial Highness the Archduchess must be very unwell. To call the empress a girl.”
I asked the maid standing farthest away.
A witless girl, was it?
“You there, the maid standing by the door. Do I look like a lowly girl to you as well?”
At my call, the young maid of the lowest rank started in shock and lifted her head.
“Ah… n—”
Tsk, you mustn’t answer.
Esterhazy is the archduchess’s person. If you answer here, your direct superior will mark you.
I only meant to let them know that I was not the sort to stay still.
“Then what are you doing, not bringing the cutlery?”
If the archduchess would not treat me as empress, then I should give her exactly what she wanted.
“Your Majesty.”
“Head maid, there is already a napkin on my lap.”
When I spread the napkin over my lap, it was the signal that the meal had begun, and after finishing the meal, placing the utensils on the plate in a particular way was the signal to clear the dishes.
I had observed etiquette. Wasn’t it the maids who had been distracted by the archduchess?
“We apologize for disturbing Your Majesty’s mind and body.”
Only then were a fork and numerous knives placed before me.
“It seems the chef has paid special attention to bring out perfectly the flavors of the dishes to be served at today’s luncheon. Head maid, if there are any stories connected to these utensils or any special way to use them, it would be best to know in advance before the meal.”
Esterhazy came to my side and began explaining dining etiquette, and I was able to finish the meal with satisfaction.
Even without an appetite, a well-fed army fights well.
I don’t know about conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but between an archduchess and an empress, am I not the higher one?
There is no need to fight on a battlefield advantageous to the opponent.
***
Josef Skoda of the imperial palace hurried to where the empress was.
“Countess Esterhazy, so what is the problem? Was there not no issue even until this morning? It is not, perhaps, a feigned illness to cancel the schedule, is it?”
“It is likely not feigned illness. I merely wonder whether the problem is that she ate differently from usual.”
“If I determine that diagnosis is impossible, the afternoon schedule must be canceled. Her Majesty the Empress’s health comes first.”
Esterhazy stopped walking.
“That must not happen. The official gazette announced this morning that Her Majesty was well; it cannot be that immediately afterward, she is unwell and must cancel.”
“Did Her Majesty Archduchess Sophie say that?”
“… That person is Her Majesty the Empress.”
“Madness. Truly, to call Archduchess Sophie Her Majesty when the real Her Majesty the Empress is here.”
Countess Esterhazy did not refute him.
She thought that if Skoda saw her himself, he would understand whom she had meant.
When the door to the empress’s bedroom opened, tension hung in the air.
The young empress lay precariously on the bed, clutching her stomach with a pale face.
Skoda quickly looked over the patient’s condition.
‘Cold sweat, shallow and rapid breathing, an expression contorted in pain.’
It was not a serious illness, but she was clearly suffering extreme discomfort.
“For Her Majesty the Empress’s peace, all maids except the head maid, please withdraw.”
At Skoda’s firm voice, the maids hesitated, but when Esterhazy nodded, they soon left the room without a sound.
Skoda approached the patient and bent at the waist.
“Your Majesty the Empress, I am Josef Skoda, the imperial physician. Could you tell me where and how you feel unwell?”
“I feel nauseous… and it hurts…”
The empress’s voice was small enough to disappear.
Skoda nodded, then turned his gaze to Esterhazy standing beside him.
“What did she have for breakfast today?”
“A normal meal. We maids also ate separately in the kitchen, but none of us have the same symptoms.”
Skoda had already received reports on the empress’s usual diet.
“Are there any symptoms other than nausea?”
Sisi nodded with difficulty.
“Your Majesty, I must examine your abdomen for a moment, so would you please lie comfortably?”
After placing a thin cloth over the empress’s stomach, he pressed various parts of the abdomen with practiced hands. Soon he confirmed that the problem was in the upper abdomen.
He pressed the middle finger of his left hand firmly against the empress’s stomach and began tapping over it with the middle finger of his right hand in short, precise motions.
Tap, tap. A sound like a hollow drum echoed in his ears.
“As expected… It is full of gas.”
After muttering as if to himself, Skoda took a small wooden tube from his breast pocket, placed it against the empress’s abdomen, and listened.
After concentrating for a while, his brow furrowed slightly. He could hear a loud sound, as if the intestines were struggling to move.
He straightened and turned back to Esterhazy.
“It is neither poisoning nor a serious illness. It is acute indigestion. When rich and abundant food suddenly entered a stomach that had been almost empty for a long time, the stomach was shocked and could not handle it. The afternoon schedule—”
“Give me medicine.”
When he turned around, he saw the empress, sweating coldly, struggling to sit up.
‘… That person is Her Majesty the Empress.’
‘Was this what she meant?’
“Your Majesty, I will speak properly to His Majesty the Emperor. In this state, you cannot possibly manage the schedule.”
“I am fine. Are there not imperial subjects who have been waiting for me?”
Sisi continued speaking with difficulty.
“Give me even just a painkiller. If I rest afterward, will I not recover?”
***
Sophie. If it is that woman, she will undoubtedly use my canceling the schedule as a pretext to take away the empress’s authority.
Because only by protecting my authority while drawing the emperor to my side will I be granted freedom.
I have absolutely no intention of being sidelined like the original Sisi.