Not long after that, an unexpected and unwelcome visitor came to call.
“Your Highness, Lady Marcella Weiss requests an audience.”
“…Again? I’m afraid of her.”
I shuddered dramatically and pulled a face. Elsa looked at me with something approaching fascination.
“I wasn’t aware there was anyone who could make you react like that, Your Highness.”
“She’s not ordinary, Elsa. Who could have predicted that one chest of gold would end up becoming ten in public rumor?”
I had expected to have it seized by Prince Anton. I had placed complete faith in the disloyalty of my future sister-in-law — and she had pulled the rug out from under me entirely.
“I must have replaced the crown prince’s fiancée with someone too good. How can two sisters be so different?”
“Well. She did recognize imperial potential where her sister did not. I’d say she’s the cleverer of the two.”
“…You too. There is not a single ally in all of Rene Palace.”
“Prince Friedrich would be hurt to hear that.”
“…Oh, that’s true.”
My husband at least supports me. Thank goodness for husbands.
“And Marie will take my side too.”
“I’m not so sure, Your Highness. Lady Marie only wants to live happily ever after in this palace, side by side with her one and only sister, for as long as possible.”
“Stop slandering our Marie, Elsa.”
Elsa made a sound through her nose. The most transcendent mockery this side of the known world. I fumed.
“Go ahead and laugh openly. Be my guest.”
“How could I ever dare show such disrespect to Your Highness…”
Elsa bent at an obtuse angle in a grotesquely insincere bow. I shook my head in despair and stood up.
“Are you receiving her? She arrived without an appointment — you are entirely within your rights to refuse.”
“If I refuse, there’s no telling what she’ll do next.”
She’s bolder than Joachim and has no instinct for self-preservation where I’m concerned. The only way to manage her is to defuse the situation before it becomes an incident.
“Your Highness?”
I walked into the reception room to find Marcella mid-sip from her tea, already rising to her feet with a radiant smile. She moved to greet me with composed formality.
“I am honored to be in the presence of the brilliant morning star of Stade, favored by the grace of God — Lady Rene.”
She certainly knows how to greet a person. I nearly felt my guard soften, and then caught myself. Last time I’d been disarmed by that same warm manner, and it had cost me.
“Rise, Lady Marcella. To what do I owe this visit? You came without notice.”
“I do beg your forgiveness, Your Highness. I was summoned to the Empress’s chambers, and thought I would stop by on my way back. Only to pay my respects.”
She smiled as brightly as ever. She didn’t look remotely apologetic, and there wasn’t a shred of genuine remorse in her expression.
I looked at her flatly for a moment before speaking.
“You seem to be settling quite naturally into life as the crown prince’s fiancée. I’d say you’d make a perfectly capable empress, from what I can see.”
Something in Marcella’s expression died — swiftly and completely — the moment I said it.
“I am not suited for the role of Empress, Your Highness. I’ve just come from Her Majesty’s tea gathering, where I was required to perform as an agreeable doll and contribute nothing but agreeable nods…”
“And yet the Empress trusts you, even after what you did?”
“That’s because no one knows it was me.”
She smiled pleasantly.
I could tell her. Would anyone believe me?
“You seem to have more talent for society than your sister, yet you’ve never bothered with it until now. Why?”
“It’s tedious and pointless. What would being the darling of the social scene accomplish? No money in it.”
“A good match, perhaps.”
At that, Marcella simply smiled. Her eyes said what a waste of time more clearly than words could have.
“I suppose. For my part, I simply want to die as Marcella Weiss — nothing more, nothing less. That said, I have no desire to be locked away in a convent, which is why I had been planning to go abroad — and then…”
“…You sound as though you’re blaming me for that.”
“Not at all. The blame lies squarely with my sister. If she hadn’t provoked your displeasure, I’d be looking into ship routes by now.”
She trailed off wistfully, then glanced at me from the side.
“Does any of this make you feel the slightest sympathy for me, Your Highness?”
“Well…as you know, I also happen to be someone who yearns for freedom.”
“Then perhaps you might grant a small measure of happiness to this unfortunate soul?”
Marcella’s eyes lit up with sudden brightness. My unease rose proportionally.
“…What are you plotting now?”
“Nothing of the sort. What could I possibly plot against Your Highness? I assure you — I am entirely on your side.”
Reluctantly, I found myself inclined to believe her.
I tilted my chin in invitation. Go on, then. Marcella beamed.
“Do you have any engagements this afternoon, Your Highness?”
I had been kidnapped.
Marcella had grabbed me, frog-marched me outside, bundled me into a carriage without telling me where we were going, and sealed the door behind us.
She announced triumphantly that she’d borrowed her father’s latest carriage — the one fitted with the full cooling spell.
“Of course, a cooling spell is nothing to you, Your Highness — “
I looked at her sharply. She returned the look with perfect composure.
“You simply had no desire to accompany me on this particular errand. That was the real reason.”
“…I’ll admit it. I should have just gone quietly. Would have saved us both the trouble.”
“Don’t be disappointed. The outcome would have been the same either way.”
She said it pleasantly, without a flicker of remorse, and proceeded to entirely ignore my indignation. I laughed hollowly.
“Then why bother with the cooling carriage?”
“Honestly? For my own comfort. A carriage you’ve been forced into is bad enough without it being sweltering on top of it.”
Fair enough.
“Also, using your power is tiring, even for you. I know how formidable you are — but I’d rather you weren’t exhausted on my account.”
“I am moved to tears.”
“I’m deeply grateful that you receive it so graciously.”
She took my sarcasm entirely at face value. I give up. I exhaled and changed the subject.
“So where exactly are you taking me?”
“Somewhere wonderful.”
“You sound like a con artist.”
Marcella smiled.
“It really is wonderful. I promise.”
While she talked, the carriage entered the city. As a matter of inadvertent convenience, I’d now had a preliminary look at the streets before the Founding Festival — and I stared out the window with focused attention, trying to memorize what I could.
“You haven’t gone out into the city much, have you, Your Highness?”
I gave a vague nod. Rene had been, to put it plainly, something of a homebody. With no particular friends and nowhere she needed to be, she’d rarely had occasion to leave.
“But your thinking seems to be changing lately. You looked genuinely interested just now.”
“I’ve arranged to take Marie to the city for the Founding Festival.”
“Oh — just the two of you? Might I join? A group of women out together — that would be truly wonderful.”
“I’ll decline. We’re going with the residents of Rene Palace.”
“Ah…”
Marcella’s expression dimmed in an instant.
“I don’t live at the palace — so that means I can’t come…”
“Technically, the rule is that you don’t live in Rene Palace. Why not go with your fiancé?”
“Tedious and pointless. I’ll stay home.”
“You have no idea what you’re missing, Lady Marcella. Today counts as an outing, does it not?”
At that, Marcella’s eyes lit back up with sudden warmth.
“Yes. It does.”
The carriage rolled to a stop. Marcella stepped out first and then smoothly offered her hand to assist me down, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
I stared at her with faint bewilderment, but didn’t refuse it.
“Right this way, Your Highness.”
“Where exactly is this?”
I should have asked that before being steered through the door. Before the sight of a row of magnificently dressed mannequins stopped me entirely.
In that instant, some instinct fired — and I turned to leave immediately. But it was already too late.
“Oh! My. Goodness!”
An extravagant voice rang out behind me with the resonance of a trained soprano.
“Am I seeing this correctly? The great and glorious morning star of Stade — the Goddess of War herself — has descended upon my humble boutique?!”
“…Where exactly have you brought me?”
I whispered the question with a deep sense of foreboding. Marcella laughed a little awkwardly.
“It is, by any measure, the most celebrated boutique in the capital.”
“Which means it’s — “
“Madame Droite.”
I turned to stare at her with my mouth open. Of all the places to take me.
