Chapter 64
****
He was the prince of rumors.
Aside from his golden eyes, he didn't exude the slightest hint of intimidation. To put it mildly, he looked like a nobleman who could afford to patronize the arts.
As Louise watched, they took their seats in the front center.
The orchestra began to play once more. Next, the ushers walked around and blew their trumpets.
"The race is about to begin. Please return to your seats!"
Only after the race had begun did Caroline pull a thin booklet out of her bag and hand it to Louise. It must be the one Caius had told her to get, but the way she handed it over was quite secretive.
Louise tucked the pamphlet into her bag, then asked in a low voice, as if nothing had happened.
"Is the story about the grave true?"
Caroline shrugged.
"The truth is for you to know, but if you read what's written there."
Then she narrowed her eyes at Louise.
"Maybe anyone can get to the truth, right?"
The usher spoke up again.
"The horses and jockeys are entering, everyone please remain seated!"
Caroline pointed to the white horse at the starting line.
"That's him, Lilium."
The horse, with a white mane like Gloria's, was impossibly tall.
"The horses and riders are at the starting line, here we go!"
-Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and the horses broke into a run.
"After the race, I'll introduce you to some of my friends."
Caroline said, her eyes fixed on Lilium running down the track.
"They're like-minded friends of mine."
Louise nodded in relief.
Moments later, Lilium, the white horse, was the first to cross the finish line.
****
The emperor left as soon as the race was over, perhaps mindful of the recent unrest in the empire.
Louise was worried about the golden-eyed prince.
Had he seen her face properly, and would it come back to haunt her later?
Did Michael see her talking to him?
Caroline's voice broke Louise's reverie.
"Viscountess Bettin, Baroness Moltke, and this is the eldest daughter of the House of Hesse. She is still unmarried, so she is simply called Lady Hessen."
After the introductions, Caroline put her arm around Louise's shoulders and looked back at her friends.
"This is the Countess of Burg, whom you have all been looking forward to meeting."
"It is a pleasure, my lady, and I have been dying to meet you."
Louise was the first to step forward, and she glanced at Lady Hessen, who smiled brightly. Dressed in a deep turquoise gown with her dark blond hair hanging halfway down her back, she was slender and flawlessly beautiful.
"Pleased to meet you. Lady Hessen."
She smiled sweetly at Louise and waved the check toward Caroline.
"Thank you so much, Countess Nas. You've made my pocket money go a long way."
Louise barely controlled her wide-open eyes. It seemed a bit extraordinary to her, waving a large check she had never touched.
Lady Hessen, unmarried, could only be a few years older than her at most.
Louise wasn't the only one surprised, Caroline's eyes widened and she asked.
"Oh, my God, did you get your check back? How much did you bet?"
"I thought you guaranteed me a win. I even took the maids’ money and bet it all. Thirty crowns in all."
Lady Hessen laughed gleefully as she said this. Then a sparkle of life came over her face, which was like a noble sculpture.
Louise found herself staring at her in fascination. She found her fascinating as a woman.
"Look at this, Louise."
Caroline said with a big smile.
"What a perfect opportunity to earn pocket money like Lady Hessen!"
The ladies, all successful pocket money earners in their own right, looked at Louise with a twinkle in their eyes.
"Didn't the Countess of Burg join in? Why, is His Excellency strict about such things?"
In truth, the thirty shillings Louise made from her first gamble wasn't bad. Thirty shillings was three weeks' wages at Viscount Engel's.
To be more honest, she felt a little guilty about taking advantage of her unearned income, so she planned to give half of it to Pauline when she met her in the carriage.
But she didn't dare mention the ten shillings, as the ladies' expectant eyes would have broken the mood of the evening.
Caroline, sensing Louise's poor upbringing, quickly changed the subject.
"By the way, I'll see you all in Krefeld, right?"
Now the ladies started talking about what they were going to wear that day.
But Louise noticed that they all had the same book hiding in their bags.
It didn't feel bad to have company. She felt like she had made a decent first step into social scene.
***
Pauline accepted the coins from Louise with pleasure. Looking back on her conversation with the ladies, she realized that twenty shillings was a pittance to the Countess.
As she sat in the carriage, Louise stuffed the remaining coins into her bag and muttered to herself.
"Now I'd like to spend my last bit of luck watching the train.................."
Soon the carriage pulled away.
The heavens, or the railroad, must have heard Louise's wish because as they passed the station, a loud bang rang out.
"Whoa...............!"
Pauline exclaimed.
Louise sat down next to her handmaiden and watched the train with her eyes and mouth wide open.
The train was long and fast. And just as Caroline had said, it was huge.
"Wow, I'd love to ride one someday!"
Pauline exclaimed, and Louise nodded.
"Yeah, I'd love to ride it too."
Pauline gazed at the capital, dazzled.
Louise pulled out the brochure Caroline had given her.
The flimsy brochure had an unexpected title.
Only One Love
She wondered if Caroline had given her the wrong book by mistake.
Louise opened the booklet with a puzzled look on her face. Her serious green eyes soon followed the dense text.
[Let me be clear, the girl I fell in love with was not the king's woman from the beginning. Because I saw her before the king did..................]
The book that started it all was a conventional romance novel set in a fictionalized monarchy.
The only problem was that the emperor was replaced by a king, and the whole period was too much like Hyreth.
The novel was told in the form of an old man reminiscing about his past as he approached his deathbed.
He loved a girl since he was a boy, and even after she became queen, he couldn't forget her and encouraged her to have an affair, and eventually had a child with her, but he was afraid of the king and fled to a foreign country.
The queen helped him escape, but soon fell ill with loneliness and died. Their son survived as the only prince in the kingdom and became king.
Without ever knowing who his father was.
[Alas, my beloved king. If only I could hold your hand again, even once before I die.]
And so the book ended in tragedy.
When Louise finished reading, she turned back to the cover. It didn't say who the author was, but the book was clearly inciting protest.
The fact that Caius had asked her to take the book must have meant he had some involvement in its publication.
"But if you read what's in there, maybe you can get closer to the truth.”
And, according to Caroline, the book would be based on some truth.
The face of the young man she had seen at the racetrack grew older. He reminded her of Caius, even though he didn't look like him.
Perhaps it was the fact that they were both born in the great imperial castle that gave them a similar feeling. Aside from the rumors of the prince not being a Heidenberg, of course.
Louise quietly slid the book back into her bag.
Pauline had finished looking outside by now, and she asked her surreptitiously.
"Is everything all right, my lady?"
As Caius had hoped, she had attended the horse race, received the secret package, and been introduced to some of Caroline's friends.
It set the stage for him to assist at the Krefeld auction house the following week.
She didn't want to attach any further significance to the coincidence of meeting the prince along the way. It was a very brief moment, and he wouldn't remember her face.
Judging by the way Michael didn't ask any questions, it was clear that he didn't recognize him either.
She was the one who had decided to risk her life, but as the truth drew nearer and the deadline approached, her heart pounded and she felt uneasy.
Perhaps Caius had felt this way all his life, and she could understand the man's sleeplessness at the prospect of a lifetime of waiting.
Louise smiled, hiding her thoughts.
"Of course, Pauline."
***
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