“Ugh… my head hurts. Did I drink too much?”
I opened my eyes to the sound of birds chirping, but Joseph was nowhere to be seen.
Looks like he’s already left. In any case, the mission was accomplished.
Ow! My whole body aches. It feels like the day after overdoing a lower-body workout.
“This is just one thing after another, honestly…”
As I muttered to myself, half in pain and half in self-mockery, the maids, having heard the bell, flooded into the room. At their head stood Countess Esterhazy, her face expressionless.
“Your Majesty, have you awakened?”
Her voice was the same as always, but there was something faintly different in the way she looked at me.
It was not respect for the empress, but an extreme caution, as though handling a fragile sacred relic.
Two maids approached, and the moment their hands touched both my arms, I felt my body lifted as lightly as a feather.
As we headed to the bathroom, I glanced back toward the bed without thinking and saw Esterhazy give a very small nod to another senior maid.
Receiving the signal, the maids silently approached the bed and began carefully stripping away the sheets that bore the traces of the night. There was no irreverence or curiosity in their touch.
Only solemnity, as though they were handling the empire’s most sacred artifact.
They really don’t seem to see me as a person.
Apparently this was considered something special, but to them, it was a silent ritual confirming that the first button in the line of succession had been fastened.
When the bathroom door opened, the rich scents of lavender and rose wafted out with the hot steam.
The marble tub was filled with cloudy warm water, as though milk had been mixed into it.
As the warm water seeped into my throbbing muscles, a sigh of relief escaped me before I knew it.
“That feels good…”
It felt as if last night’s tension and today’s pain were melting away in the gentle warmth. Under the maids’ meticulous hands, I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to the bath.
I had crossed the threshold of girlhood. This body was no longer wholly mine, but Habsburg’s.
Last night’s transaction had succeeded.
I had fulfilled the empress’s first duty. But when I thought of Joseph’s face, instead of triumph, a subtle emptiness washed over me. What was he thinking right now?
When I came out after bathing, the bed had already been made perfectly, as if nothing had ever happened.
But everything had changed. The maids’ attitude toward me, Esterhazy’s gaze, even the weight of the silence hanging over this room.
I was no longer the tomboy princess of Bavaria, but a living symbol meant to continue the Habsburg line.
I had passed the first gate.
After I finished bathing and even my adornment was complete, breakfast had been set out.
Mm, breakfast is wonderful too.
Thanks to the doctor’s prescription, Archduchess Sophie no longer interrupted my mealtimes, and Esterhazy had also become far more cooperative than before.
And the moment I finished eating, Esterhazy approached more cautiously than usual.
“Your Majesty, Her Highness Archduchess Sophie has given an order.”
What now?
“This evening, Your Majesty will attend the official dinner, the Hoftafel, together with His Majesty the Emperor.”
Hoftafel?
I’ve been eating all three meals here until now…
Seeing my reaction, Esterhazy slowly explained.
“It is the most formal dinner of the imperial household. It is a sign that Her Highness the Archduchess has at last acknowledged Your Majesty as a true member of the Habsburgs, and it will be the first occasion on which Your Majesty displays your dignity as empress before all the nobles of the empire.”
What is she talking about?
So… the reason I’ve been eating alone until now was because Archduchess Sophie hadn’t invited me to dinner?
Her explanation continued.
“The Hoftafel is not simply a meal. It is like a living ceremony in which the empire’s hierarchy and order unfold before one’s eyes. With His Majesty the Emperor and Your Majesty at the center, the archdukes and the highest-ranking nobles will be seated according to rank.”
She paused for a moment and looked straight at me.
“And there is one most important rule, Your Majesty. At the Hoftafel, no one makes noise or converses freely. Everything moves according to fixed etiquette and signals.”
Quiet is actually better. At least I won’t have to listen to Archduchess Sophie nagging.
Perhaps she read my positive expression, because Esterhazy added one more thing.
“Furthermore, once His Majesty the Emperor finishes eating, everyone’s plates are cleared immediately.”
Doesn’t that mean my mealtime depends entirely on the emperor? If the emperor is a gourmand who enjoys taking his time with meals, then that’s fortunate, but if not?
Hiding my curiosity and trying to preserve my dignity, I asked as tactfully as possible.
“As it will be my first time attending such a dinner, I am concerned that I may make a mistake. In order to follow His Majesty the Emperor’s etiquette, it would be best for me to know roughly how long His Majesty usually takes to finish his meal.”
Esterhazy answered without the slightest hesitation.
“His Majesty the Emperor was a soldier.”
Ah.
If there is one thing that holds true anywhere in the world, it is that soldiers eat incredibly fast.
I forced a smile and said,
“That is good advice, chief lady-in-waiting.”
A soldier’s eating speed… How long would it take?
At this rate, I was perfectly set up to starve to death. Koreans run on rice…!
An empress who hasn’t eaten cannot command dignity.
My eyes fell on a small basket of fruit that had not yet been cleared away.
Before the maids could take it, I swiftly wrapped apples and apricots in a handkerchief and secretly hid them inside a drawer.
*
When evening came, I once again had to become the protagonist of a doll-dressing game.
“Your Majesty, you must hold your breath a little longer.”
“Hrk.”
The corset was tightened even more than it had been in the morning, and every breath made my ribs scream.
The dress for the Hoftafel was incomparably more splendid than my usual attire—and heavier as well.
It was a silver silk dress embedded with hundreds of pearls, and in my hair were dozens of diamond ornaments, including the “Sisi’s Stars” Joseph had gifted me.
When Joseph came to escort me, he looked at me and was sincerely awed.
“Sisi… It seems as though every star in the world has descended upon you.”
Thaaanks.
“You flatter me, Your Majesty.”
The corridor leading to the dining hall with his escort was sunk in a suffocating silence.
Wow…
Dozens of chandeliers illuminated the marble floor, and the long table spread beneath them looked like a work of art in itself.
The empire’s most distinguished nobles stood motionless according to their rank, and only after we were seated did they quietly take their places.
I swallowed dryly.
All of this was a feast I could only look at.
‘Your Majesty, you must only eat the food within your reach.’
Right, they said there would be no servants serving us.
In the end, no matter how much food there was, only what was in front of me was my food.
That steak out of my reach is not mine.
After offering a brief prayer, Joseph immediately picked up his utensils.
I had only managed to spoon the soup in front of me into my mouth about three times.
Then Joseph lightly wiped the corner of his mouth with his napkin and set down his utensils.
What… what… is this…!
Servants silently approached and began clearing everything from the table.
The vegetables I had only just been about to try vanished, as did the bread.
And so did the dozens of dishes I had only been admiring from afar!
Next, the second course was laid out. This time, it was various roasted dishes and sweet puddings. In front of me were a roasted turkey leg and candied fruit.
Meat at last!
But Joseph was fast this time too. After tasting two or so pieces of the pheasant dish placed before him, he immediately set down his utensils.
…It had been the exact moment I had just cut off some thigh meat and was about to put it in my mouth.
I sat in front of the empty table in utter despair.
After the hellish dinner ended, I returned to my room and changed into comfortable clothes.
“…To think the emperor would betray me.”
What is this incomprehensible sense of betrayal?
Yes, it must be because I’m hungry.
I sent the maids out, took out the fruit I had hidden in the drawer, and chewed on it.
‘Joseph, this grudge won’t disappear anytime soon.’
Grrrrr.
…Fruit alone really isn’t enough to fill me up.
The one saving grace was that I had heard the emperor would be late tonight.
***
The emperor’s study was already no different from a battlefield.
Inside the room, cut off from the noise of the outside world, Foreign Minister Count Buol and Field Marshal Radetzky were waiting for the emperor.
A large map of Europe was spread across the table, and flags had been planted along the borders of Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire.
At that moment, faint cigar smoke filled the air in the room.
“Your Majesty.”
Joseph immediately pointed to a spot on the map.
The Crimean Peninsula and the mouth of the Danube.
“The report?”
His voice was not that of the affectionate husband who had gazed at Sisi in the dining hall.
“If Your Majesty gives the order, a great army of one hundred thousand can move to the border at any time. Russia is currently tied down at Sevastopol by the allied forces of Britain and France, so they will have no spare forces to divert this way.”
Radetzky added to Buol’s opinion.
“Preparations for war are complete. If Your Majesty grants permission, we can cross the Danube at once and drive out the Russian army.”
Joseph stared at the map without saying a word. Through his mind flashed the terrible memories of five years ago, when the empire had nearly collapsed amid the flames of the Hungarian Revolution.
At that time, it had been Nicholas I of Russia who had ruthlessly suppressed the rebels strangling the empire’s throat. Joseph now faced the moment when he would have to repay that debt with betrayal.
As if reading his thoughts, Radetzky spoke carefully.
“Your Majesty, there are some who say we must not forget the Russian tsar’s grace. Whatever judgment Your Majesty makes, we are prepared to follow your command.”
Joseph looked at the mouth of the Danube on the map.
“Marshal, this river is the artery of the imperial economy. If Russia seizes that mouth and gains the Black Sea, they will be able to strangle us whenever they wish. There are no eternal friends, nor eternal enemies.”
He turned his gaze to the many cities within the empire’s territory.
Prague, Zagreb, Lemberg, and others—he thought of the countless Slavs living there.
“Moreover, Russia is putting forth the specter of Pan-Slavism. If their influence grows in the Balkans, they will incite the subjects within our empire. More frightening than an external enemy is a fracture from within.”
When Russia was whole, they could not dare oppose it, but now that its strength had been drained by Britain and France, this was the perfect opportunity to gain the greatest benefit with the least risk.