Chapter 65
***
By the time Louise arrived back at Trier's inn, Caius was sitting in a ramshackle tavern in Galician city.
Soon, an elderly man appeared.
The only thing that made him recognizable was his uncommon black hair, and he was even more unassuming than expected.
"Count ......Nasau?"
Caius asked, tilting his maroon whiskey bottle, and the man frowned slightly.
"I don't use that name anymore, but you may call me Guillaume of Galicia."
Certainly, he was far too shabby to be called a Count.
The tavern keeper placed a glass in front of the former Count of Nasau, or rather, Guillaume.
Caius filled Guillaume's glass. Guillaume took it without question and downed the half-full brown liquid in one gulp.
After refilling his glass, Caius tilted his own and took a long swig. Then, with a clink, he set the glass back in place.
In the quiet, dimly lit tavern, Caius's low voice cut through the silence.
"You say you wish to be assured of Prince Leopold's safety?"
Guillaume drained his whiskey halfway again and nodded. His cheeks were already flushed from the heavy drinking.
"I and the Emperor Karl are at odds, but what do I care what happens to him, he's the man who didn't even hold Auguste's hand when she was dying, lest he catch the disease."
Caius' discovery of Guillaume, the subject of a long-standing rumor of an affair with the dead Empress Auguste, coincided with the former Count of Nasau.
It was partly a personal vendetta that Caius chose an old man who had lost power, but also because he needed someone to further disrupt Karl’s empire.
Guillaume was the right man for the job, as he would testify with his life that Prince Leopold was his own blood.
Guillaume's life had not been easy since he fled to Galicia, and his hatred for the Empire and Emperor Karl was deep.
In an attempt to win Guillaume over, Count Nas traveled to Galicia on behalf of Caius.
He offered to restore the estates as planned, but Guillaume wanted to ensure the safety of Prince Leopold before his own restoration.
Of course, the nobles who had met Leopold face-to-face at least once had a lot to say about him.
"Prince Leopold is a man without ambition. He's not worthy of an emperor by any stretch of the imagination, and I don't think there's any harm in letting him live."
There would certainly be no repercussions, as it would be revealed that Leopold had not a single drop of Heidenberg's blood in him.
It would be a far more satisfying revenge if Leopold could proclaim to the world that he was not the Emperor's biological son.
Perhaps it was the Emperor who would rather kill the cuckoo chick he had been raising for twenty years.
Guillaume added.
"I don't dare hope that my son will come in and take the throne. I don't need a title, I don't need a fiefdom, I just need a son with all his limbs and a manor house in the countryside."
Caius smirked.
"Well, we should hear the prince's side of the story, shouldn't we?"
Guillaume's brain, however, seemed to be working well enough for his attire.
"I don't see how your majesty can fail in this endeavor without my help. Just because I’m a beggar here doesn’t mean I’ve lost all my hearing.”
He drained his glass and spoke bitterly.
"Hyreth is impoverished, and the starving people are turning into mobs. I can only hope that if my son is sane, he'll recognize that his lifelong absentee father has squeezed the last of his strength out of him."
Caius did not refill his glass. If he was going to be on his side, Guillaume needed to hear the plan now, with a clear head.
"A man will come when the day is set. I can't guarantee that the road to the imperial Castle will be completely safe, but I plan to hire an imposter to protect the Duke."
Guillaume bowed his head, more respectfully than at first.
"I have never asked for such safety, Sire, but only for my son, Auguste's son, to be found alive and well. I bow my head and beg you."
Caius did not answer, but held out a gloved hand. Guillaume clasped his hand firmly, his eyes burning.
It was the moment when the vengeance of two unhappy men met in a single point.
***
Two days later.
Louise could not wait until dinner time to visit the man with the brochure, for Caius had arrived late the night before and had not come to the couple's bedroom.
"How did things go in Galicia?"
She asked, holding out the promised brochure, which he took impassively.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and see. How was the Imperiale Celle?"
"As you may have read in the papers, the imperials only saw the horse race and left."
Caius replied sarcastically.
"They're a timid lot, so what did you think of what you saw?"
"It was just............. a strange feeling, my heart was beating uncomfortably in my chest."
"That's a pretty way of saying my wife wouldn't mind having them chewed up."
Louise was left speechless.
Of course, she............. had thought something very similar, but she didn't want to admit it.
So he spoke first.
"I met Countess Nas at the racetrack, and was introduced to Viscountess Bettin, Baroness Moltke, and Lady Hessen."
"And by Lady Hessen, you mean the eldest daughter of Count Hessen?"
"Yes. She has taken over all the family affairs from the elder Count. She is beautiful, but seems to have a very bold personality."
"I never met her, but in her lifetime, the Countess of Hessen was famous for her beauty."
A slight smile tugged at the corners of Caius's mouth. He seemed pleased that Louise had made a new friend. Seeing the look on his face, Louise plucked up the courage to add.
"Actually, the Countess of Nas suggested it, so we all bought a bet. She said it was a horse she knew and she was sure to win..................."
"So you won?"
Louise was able to answer the man who asked without much expectation.
"Yes, I won back four times my stake, which made everyone happy."
Caius's golden eyes flickered with interest.
"I wonder how much you all bet."
Louise's face quickly took on an embarrassed glow. Talking about money, something she couldn't even do with women, was no easier in his presence.
"Only a little for me, but.................Lady Hessen bet all she had, thirty crowns, I think."
"How much is a little?”
Louise was somewhat taken aback by the next question.
She had not expected him to be so probing. She had expected him to be moderately satisfied with the fact that she had mingled with the ladies.
She couldn't help but confess.
"Ten ............... shillings."
Caius burst out laughing.
"When the eldest daughter of the House of Hessen is betting thirty crowns, you're betting ten shillings, not even ten crowns? If you're going to go all the way to the capital and bet that much money, why don't you leave the name Countess of Burg at the mansion?"
Louise was flustered by his teasing and excused herself.
"I didn't know how much I'd have to bet at first......... and win, because I didn't meet Lady Hessen until later, and if the horse had the misfortune to fall, I'd have lost the money."
The man looked genuinely amused.
"I would have wagered a hundred crowns," he said, "and I would have been happier to lose it all and be in debt to the Countess of Nas. If the eldest daughter of the House of Hessen was clever, she would have gotten about as much as I did."
Was that really true? Did others calculate so much in that brief moment?
Maybe she should have focused on the relationships in that moment, not the money itself?
Louise had learned her aristocratic skills and demeanor from her mother, but she'd had few opportunities to use them until now.
Instead of dwelling on her troubled past, she decided to take this to heart, and asked the question to clear up any lingering doubts.
"So, Your Excellency, you carry around a hundred crowns?"
Caius shook his head in disbelief.
"Unexpectedly, you...... You still have a lot of studying to do."
Louise stared up at him in astonishment. She remembered Lady Hessen's voice from the racetrack.
"I have heard of your troubles, my lady. My father is concerned, too, but if you're going to go out into society, I think it would be a good idea for you to attend some women's gatherings and learn some things. I'm just worried about you."
***
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