“You did very well.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered in his ear.
“That sounds much nicer, Yosha.”
“It feels awkward. As if I’ve been stripped bare—no. It feels that way.”
To think the great Franz Joseph would be this embarrassed over a few words of informal speech.
I slowly stroked the back of his head, as if soothing a child.
I should be careful with the front.
“You’ll get used to it. You and I both.”
Was the review ceremony in three days?
I should prepare a speech in Bohemian.
*
A wave of white uniforms filled the Letná Plain of Prague.
Files and ranks aligned with ruler-straight precision.
The sight of them standing utterly motionless was…
I’m glad I’m not the one standing there.
“Reassuring, is it not, Empress?”
Joseph’s face was filled with pride as he looked out the carriage window.
“They are the shields of the Empire. The Bohemian Corps, in particular, is famed for its strict discipline and fortitude.”
“… I see.”
Surely the generals in my previous life didn’t think like this too, did they?
“Your Majesty, we have arrived at the reviewing stand.”
The carriage came to a stop, and an attendant opened the door.
As the imperial anthem rang out, Joseph alighted first and escorted me down.
Along the path to the imperial seats atop the reviewing stand, Guard Grenadiers selected for escort duty stood in formation.
They look even more pitiful up close.
The veins stood out on the young soldier’s neck.
How pitiful, seeing him so stiff he could hardly even breathe.
‘You look splendid.’
I opened my lips and offered a small, soundless word of encouragement, and the soldier’s eyes began to tremble uncontrollably like an aspen leaf.
Did I do something unnecessary…?
Once I took my seat, Joseph lightly leapt onto the horse waiting for him.
Soon after, a man wearing a helmet adorned with splendid plumes turned his horse’s head and approached Joseph.
“Commander of the First Corps stationed in Bohemia, Eduard Clam-Gallas!”
His voice rang thunderously across the plain.
“The Bohemian First Corps, twenty-five thousand men in total! We stand in formation to receive Your Majesty’s review!”
Joseph raised a gloved hand in acknowledgment, then slowly moved forward.
Watching his proud back recede into the distance, I smiled faintly.
A man in uniform really is rather handsome.
The moment Joseph’s horse passed before the first infantry regiment, a roar erupted.
“Long live His Majesty the Emperor!”
Along the path Joseph took, the soldiers cheered until their throats were raw, and the standard-bearers paid their respects.
Does he look… a little different?
Was it because I’d rarely had the chance to see him at work?
Ten minutes at the Hoftafel?
If that counted as work.
Aside from that, I had never seen Joseph working.
Joseph is more popular than I expected. Did I not know because I only ever went to Hungary or Italy?
The Joseph I saw in the distance looked different from usual.
His back straight, his gaze unwavering, holding the reins in one hand as he returned the salute with dignified grace.
He looked like someone who had existed from birth to become emperor.
Almost unfamiliar….
Before I knew it, Joseph had finished the review and was approaching the platform again.
His face was slightly flushed, his breathing rough.
But the way he looked at me was the Joseph I knew.
“I am sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Not at all. You were magnificent.”
I had never seen a review ceremony like this before.
The view from below and the sight looking down from above were on entirely different levels.
He immediately moved again to deliver his address.
“Soldiers of the First Corps!”
Joseph’s voice rang out with weight, filling the parade ground.
“You are the Empire’s strongest shield and its sharpest spear. In the days of past turmoil, and at this very moment, Bohemia has guarded the imperial house without wavering.”
He read from the draft Bach had written for him.
A stiff, authoritative commendation in German.
After speaking for some time, Joseph paused and glanced sideways at me.
It’s all right, Joseph.
When I smiled at him, he looked straight ahead again.
Then he slowly lowered the manuscript he had been holding.
“Já vím (I know).”
He placed a hand over his chest and continued his speech in Bohemian.
“You are not merely the shields of the Empire, but my proud subjects, and the pride of Habsburg.
Your valor will guarantee the Empire’s existence, and the Empire shall pay a price worthy of your devotion!”
The moment his address ended, a roar far greater than anything before burst forth.
“Sláva císaři (Long live the Emperor)!”
As if embarrassed, Joseph turned his head slightly toward me and whispered softly.
“Was my pronunciation strange?”
I stealthily reached beneath the bench and covered the back of his hand with mine.
“No. It was the very best, Your Majesty.”
After the long cries of praise for the Emperor ended, Clam-Gallas drew his sword.
“Prepare for the march-past!”
“Hm—hmm-hmm.”
Without realizing it, I hummed under my breath.
The Radetzky March.
Along with the grand performance of the military band, the soldiers moved at Clam-Gallas’s command.
“All units, right face!”
I didn’t know when I was a soldier, but from up here, it really is impressive.
No wonder Joseph had been waiting for the review ceremony for three whole days.
“Forward march!”
At his command, the soldiers moved as one.
When the standard-bearers lowered their flags toward the Emperor, Joseph raised his hand in a crisp salute.
Standing beside him, I too nodded and received their respect.
Their expressions are definitely different from before.
When he had been circling for the review, the soldiers’ eyes had been filled with tension and fear. The terror of making a mistake before the absolute power known as the Emperor.
But the eyes of the soldiers passing before us now, to exaggerate a little, looked like dead fish brought back to life.
“Sisi.”
Joseph spoke to me while keeping his gaze fixed on the soldiers.
“You were right.”
I covered my mouth with my fan.
“About what?”
“… Nothing.”
How boring.
By now, the Hungarian nobles must have fire under their feet.
They had thought themselves the only second-in-command, but now a powerful rival called Bohemia had appeared with the Emperor’s favor at its back.
Be jealous. Grow even more impatient.
Only then will I be able to grasp Hungary and shake it as I please.
Joseph had chosen Bohemia and Vienna, and my mother-in-law had chosen Greater Germany.
The only lifeline they could grab was me.
After even the final artillery unit passed before us, the march-past that had been a crucible of enthusiasm ended amid clouds of dust.
Clam-Gallas ran up to the foot of the platform, his face drenched in sweat, and drew his sword once more.
“Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live Her Majesty the Empress!”
It was a perfect finish to the very end.
Leaving the pouring cheers behind, we climbed back into the carriage.
As soon as the curtain fell and shut us off from the outside, Joseph sank heavily against the seat.
“You worked hard, Empress.”
Mm—surely that’s not it.
I narrowed my eyes and covered my mouth with my fan.
“… You worked hard, Sisi.”
That’s right.
“You worked hard too.”
It took this much effort to coax Joseph over even the easiest one, Bohemia.
What am I going to do about Hungary, Galicia-Lodomeria, Venetia, Croatia-Slavonia, Transylvania, Dalmatia, and Tyrol?
“Yosha, so you’ll use it, right?”
We have to ride this momentum all the way to the coronation!
“That… I think I will have to hear what the ministers have to say.”
So he still hasn’t even properly brought Vienna under control.
Well, they say a journey of a thousand li begins with a single step. I should be satisfied with today’s results.
***
When we returned to Prague Castle, an urgent telegram from Vienna had arrived.
Joseph’s expression hardened after reading the telegram Count Grünne handed him.
A letter from the Archduchess telling him to return to Vienna.
「Sardinia’s movements are unusual. Provocations continue along the border, so His Majesty the Emperor is requested to return to Vienna at once and exercise supreme military command.」
“What is it?”
Sisi’s voice came from behind him.
“Nothing. My mother merely sent a letter full of nagging. She says that since Vienna is empty, I should hurry back.”
Joseph did not want to cause unnecessary worry to the pregnant Sisi.
‘The autumn of 1858.’
Sisi could not know the letter’s exact contents, but she knew what kind of period this was.
A time when the clouds of war hung over Italy.
Pretending not to know, she feigned ignorance and changed the subject.
“Yosha.”
“What is it?”
“It’s just the two of us right now… Are you going to keep acting like the Emperor?”
“It is habit.”
Joseph let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
“Yosha, then you’ll have to go back?”
“I suppose I must prepare to return. You should hurry as well if you are to pack….”
As Joseph answered Sisi’s question, he sensed something strange.
‘Wait. You’ll have to go back? As if she were talking about someone else?’
“Sisi, are you thinking of staying here?”
“Of course. Vienna is one huge construction site right now.”
Sisi leaned back against the bed and answered languidly.
“The city is full of dust because of the Ringstrasse construction. And the dreadful noise comes with it. There’s no way a place like that would be good for prenatal care. Besides, wouldn’t Mother only grow angrier if I were by her side?”
Unable to refute her, Joseph pressed his already tightly closed lips even tighter.
The Empire’s crisis and his wife’s peace lay at a fork in the road, but his heart already seemed decided.
He was the Emperor of Habsburg.
“Prague is peaceful. The air is clear, and more than anything, you saw it today. The people here are welcoming us.”
“I am sorry, Sisi. Please forgive me for not being able to remain by your side.”
And so the conclusion was reached.
At dawn the next day, Joseph hurriedly departed for Vienna with the Guard.
Sisi watched him leave, and the moment the procession of carriages disappeared from view, she folded her fan.
“Chief lady-in-waiting. I must write a letter, so have the reader-in-waiting stand by.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
‘Russia is still recovering, so I should write to Eugénie and Queen Victoria.’