Chapter 63
***
His preparations must be going well.
Louise managed to tear her uneasy gaze away and sat up, facing straight ahead. It was only a short distance to Celle.
***
Finally, the Imperiale Celle.
The racetrack was packed with people.
Men in high hats huddled in groups, smoking cigarettes, and elegant gentlemen accompanied by their ladies. There were also a few brightly dressed women mingling amongst themselves.
Uniformed guards stood on every aisle, ready for any disturbances.
The bars and betting parlors were even more crowded.
Caius told her to meet Caroline at the bar, but she was still nowhere to be seen.
It was true that they had arrived a little earlier than their appointment time. Louise had left the carriage early to take in the sights, but she found herself in an unfamiliar place.
She kept looking up to see where Michael was.
Sure enough, he was waiting out of sight, but not too far away. He had been so close to Caius that his face had become more recognizable to Louise.
The day would come when she would have to rely on Michael Xavitzer. A sneaky glance from him gave her courage.
So she walked up to the bar and awkwardly ordered.
"A glass of champagne, please."
To be honest, she didn't know if it was appropriate for a lady to order drinks alone at a racetrack bar. She just didn't feel comfortable sitting alone, empty-handed, waiting for Caroline.
The bartender set the glass down in front of Louise with a loud clink and took the coin. There was no time for a polite greeting as orders poured in from all directions.
Louise raised the glass to her lips for a moment before setting it back down.
The cold liquid cleared her mind a little. Then she heard a low voice beside her.
"Are you alone..................?"
The man sitting next to her, almost with his back to her, turned abruptly. Louise wanted to run away, but she had to stay at the bar to meet Caroline.
So she said as coldly as she could.
"No, I’m waiting for my friend."
The man didn't seem to mind the coldness and turned away slightly. She stole a glance and caught a glimpse the man’s fine features beneath his pressed hat.
For some reason, she immediately thought of Caius. The man was handsome, but he looked nothing like Caius.
There was something fragile about his handsome face, and he looked much younger than he was. He didn't look dangerous, which was a bit reassuring.
But then he slid the plate in front of him toward Louise. The plate was filled with small squares of chocolate.
He reached out with a long, white hand, picked one up, and slowly popped it into his mouth. It was almost as if he was trying to prove they weren't poisoned.
"I'm not much of a drinker."
His voice sounded almost as young as Pietro's, like he was barely an adult.
The glass of champagne was barely half empty on the table where the man was sitting.
In other words, the man who was sitting at the bar munching on chocolates, not much of a drinker, was happy to find company.
But Louise didn't think to accept the chocolate from the stranger.
"But if a stranger asks what family you’re from, tell them you’re from Galicia."
She remembered Caius's words and waited for the man to speak again.
But when she made eye contact with the man, she was surprised.
Like Caius, his eyes were golden.
***
"Come on, let's go hang it on the Lilium."
Feeling a little out of sorts, Louise shook her shoulders in surprise at the sudden voice.
Turning, she saw Caroline, the Countess of Nas, standing there, smiling broadly.
"Madam, I was afraid you would not come!"
"Do I look so disloyal?"
As Caroline joked, Louise glanced back at the man next to her, startled. Luckily, the man had disappeared, leaving only the plate of chocolates on the table.
Caroline frowned out of the corner of her eye, as if she hadn't noticed the man's presence in the first place.
"Quick, bet on 'Lilium,' my acquaintance says he's in top form today, and he's usually good."
And with that, she tugged Louise toward the betting booth.
Eventually, Louise had to leave both the champagne and the chocolates behind and follow Caroline to the betting area. She smiled shyly at the bookie.
"Ten shillings on 'Lillium'."
Caroline laughed as she watched Louise take the ticket.
"My goodness, how will the Margrave look when he finds out you've bet only ten shillings on the favorite?"
Louise laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.
"I don't know how much I should buy, but this much... it'll probably be all right."
"It's okay, then. It's just for fun."
A boy of about ten years old was juggling for a living nearby. Louise watched the boy happily as he performed his tricks and put a coin in his upside-down hat. Caroline bought a single orange ranunculus from a flower seller and placed it in Louise’s hair.
Louise smiled shyly.
She wondered if it showed that she hadn't groomed herself as much as usual since she'd been sleeping at the inn, but it warmed her heart to think of her mother decorating her hair as a child.
Caroline returned to the bar and ordered two glasses of champagne. She accepted the drinks with ease and looked for an empty table.
"Do you come here often...............?"
But she shook her head at Louise's question.
"No, I don't. It's been a while since I've been to the capital."
Then she handed Louise a glass and asked.
"It must be a long time since you've been to Parma, too, Louise. How do you like it?"
"It seems to have developed a lot............... I saw the train station on the way here, though I haven't seen the train yet."
"It's an ugly hunk of scrap metal, but it's fast, and my husband had been on it once, but he's been raving about it. It was a little scary because it was so fast and loud, and it rattled."
Louise smiled as she listened to caroline's story, then hesitated a bit before speaking.
"I've seen some of the propaganda that's been plastered all over the streets, though the police seem to be removing it from time to time..................."
"Dissolve the council, prove the lineage of the prince, you mean?"
Louise nodded.
Caroline gave her a look that said she knew what she wanted to ask, and then held her second finger up to her lips in the 'shh' sign.
Then she heard chatter from the table behind her.
"Oh, by the way, those grave robbers, they only got three years in prison."
Louise realized in hindsight that the table behind her was only a few feet away.
"And they weren't just neighborhood thieves, they stole the tomb of the late Empress?"
It was a touchy subject, and the man behind her must have realized it, because he lowered his voice.
"That's why there's such a conspiracy theory these days, that the late Empress had some undisclosed sin, and that the Emperor is punishing her on purpose."
But it sounded good to Louise and Caroline; the table was close.
Louise saw Caroline nodding slightly, and she couldn't help but listen to the stranger's words.
"Oh, no, of course not. With the kind of man His Majesty is, how could he not have known about his spouse's infidelity?"
"It's strange when you think about it. His Highness didn't even receive his crown prince status until after he came of age and.................."
"You know my great-aunt is a countess, and she used to tell me that..............."
The sound of Caroline clinking her glass down broke Louise's concentration.
The champagne was still more than half full, but Caroline stood up lightly as if her business was done and led Louise to the balcony.
The balcony overlooked the racetrack where the horses came and went.
Suddenly, the orchestra playing loudly downstairs fell silent.
The next moment, a booming trumpet sounded.
-Pam parabam!
"His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince are coming!"
The horseman shouted at the top of his lungs as he walked ahead.
"Long live Hyres!"
"Long live Emperor Karl!"
"Glory to Heidenberg!"
Throughout the industrialized neighborhoods, protests against the imperial family were in full swing, but the royalty entering the racetrack were nothing but stately.
There was not a single person in the crowd openly shouting, "Prove the Prince’s lineage!" Of course, Caroline and Louise didn't clap their hands, rise from their seats, or chant their names.
Louise gazed at the royalty she had never actually seen in person, at their dark hair and golden eyes, like Caius', from a distance.
The old Emperor who had taken away young Caius's parents, who had tortured Louise's parents. The same Emperor who now sat on the throne that Caius deserved.
Then, her green gaze flickered between them.
"I'm not much of a drinker myself."
The prince beside the Emperor was unmistakably the young man from the bar.
***
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Write a comment
plt (Saturday, 02 November 2024 21:00)
omg if the crown prince is not the current king’s son, why does he also have golden eyes? Im curious �
Thanks for the chapter �