Chapter 86
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Ferdinand pulled out a letter with a sullen face.
"Your Majesty, it's................... You need to see this."
Caius took the letter and opened it quickly. His handsome face grew cold as he read the neatly written words.
[Dear Caius.
I have given you the pearl, and I trust you will succeed in restoring the imperial throne.
I hope I was of some use to you during my short stay by your side.
But who am I to you, who will ascend higher, so I feel it only fitting that I take my leave.]
Confused golden eyes paused halfway through.
It was time to leave?
After all, she'd vowed countless times to stay by his side and bear Ermoli’s name.
Despite his confusion, the words flowed like water.
[May your new union with a noble family further cement your rightful place.
May you always be in good health.
Yours, Louise.]
A pit in his stomach dropped.
Not for any other reason.
Because she had broken her promise again. Because she had let him down, betrayed him.
But why?
Caius couldn't understand her decision, much less accept it.
Her longed-for desire had finally been fulfilled, and the chance to become the Emperor's loyal servant again was right in front of her.
She was supposed to be greedless, but was she ever, even in the presence of Ermoli’s name?
She, Louise Henriette, would walk away like this?
While Caius was speechless, Ferdinand began to explain.
"I was afraid she would suffer if she left the manor alone, so she took the maid with her.”
Caius was stunned.
She must have been very determined if she took her favorite maid with her.
Caius asked thoughtfully.
"What about ..................Miriam?"
"What?"
"She must have left Miriam behind. Does she speak of her departure?"
Ferdinand shook his head in bewilderment.
"She is my daughter, but..................... what would Miriam know, Your Majesty."
Then, turning to his lord, who sat dumbfounded, he added.
"In fact, I thought from the letter that she was indeed a wise woman. How great when she knows when to step down on her own. The Count of Hessen was very pleased that his daughter had helped Your Majesty at the ball…”
Caius ruffled his hair in disgust, not wanting to hear it.
"What about her luggage, did she take all her things?"
"You know that is not the case....................."
Ferdinand replied wistfully.
"The maid said she didn't take a single dress. She seems to have left in the same dress she came in, as if she didn't want to take anything of Burg’s -oh, by the way..."
He pulled a check from his pocket and held it out.
"It was on the lady’s desk, and I brought it with me because it's signed by Your Majesty. It's a large sum, and I didn't want to leave it behind."
Caius reluctantly took the familiar check for 5,300 crowns.
He wished she'd taken it. She could have left the others behind, but he hoped she took this one..................
If she wrote a check, he would be able to find out where she was.
A pounding headache suddenly flared. Caius gave a quick wave.
"You can go now.”
"Do you want us to try to find the lady?"
Ferdinand asked cautiously, and Caius answered slowly.
"No, let me think.................. first."
Ferdinand bowed deeply before his lord. It was a moment that made the past twenty years worthwhile.
“While I’m back, if you permit, I would like to assist Your Majesty for the time being. Should I temporarily assume the position of chief chamberlain?”
Caius shook his head in thought.
"Otto Hoiss is still in the palace. I didn't grow up in the palace and there are many things I'm not used to, so I'd like to keep him around for a while longer."
Then Ferdinand asked, a little hesitantly.
"But he’s the former Emperor’s person, do you think he can be trusted......"
"Of course I don't trust him, I'll use him sparingly and send him back to his hometown."
"Okay, then call me again when you need me."
"Thank you, Margrave."
Caius bowed, and Ferdinand smiled uncharacteristically brightly.
"You're welcome."
After Ferdinand left, Caius began reading the same letter for the third time.
But after the fourth, fifth, and tenth time, he couldn't understand it.
"Do you prefer a son or a daughter?"
"Wouldn't a son...... be more useful to Your Majesty?"
"Yes, but...... a daughter who looks like you would be fine, because I think she would be very pretty."
It was only a week ago that she had come to him, blushing shyly. She clung to him with her arms around his neck, with blind eyes that seemed as if she would follow him even to hell.
And now she left like this? Abandoning him again?
It was strange, though.
What’s so special about that woman?
He was no longer a child abandoned in a mountain hut where food was scarce, and the ground beneath his feet was as bleak as a hole in the ground.
Even though he was sitting on the highest place in a luxurious palace with over a thousand rooms, his heart felt empty and sad.
Caius was quick to define this overwhelming sense of emptiness.
It was the result of stupidly believing again.
Because he had trusted her, Ermoli, with her lovely eyes like green shoots, again.
And in the end, he forgot that he would be abandoned like this.
***
Behind his devastated lord's back, Michael spoke after a long time.
"..................Pardon me, Your Majesty. Are you sure that’s the lady’s handwriting?”
"What?"
"I don't think she would leave with just a letter left behind, and if she did, she would at least..................."
"So, you're saying Ferdinand had deceived me, at this point, for what?"
Michael couldn't answer.
Ferdinand was a quick thinker.
He was also skilled at maneuvering, having held on to the title of Count of Burg under Wilhelm I throughout the reign of Karl III.
He once tried hard to bend the young lord to his will, but failed, so he knew he needed to lie low at this point.
He would not make a foolish mistake now.
But a conversation Michael had had with Louise the other day lingered in his mind, confusing him.
“Regardless of whether you are pregnant or not, I would like to ask you whether you would ever consider leaving His Excellency.”
It was during a riding lesson one day.
After a trip to Nass, relations between the master and his wife were at a low ebb and the servants, including Michael, were on edge.
When he asked Louise what was going on, she blurted out the argument over the fertility pills as if it were a counseling session.
Her openness was admirable. She had dared to ask a presumptuous question that he would never have asked of his master.
"Is this to report to His Excellency, or is this a matter of personal curiosity?"
The answer was the latter, and Michael has remained silent in the presence of his master ever since. Of course, since then, relations between them had been so smooth that there was no reason to bring up the past.
In fact, she didn't seem to take his word for it that he wouldn't report her, but that didn't stop her from answering the question.
"I will stay with him until the very last moment he needs me, and when he no longer does, what can I do?"
He remembered the look in her eyes as she said those words. Faithful, docile green eyes that made him think, if those words were false, then there was no truth in this world.
They were clearly the eyes of a woman in love.
The eyes his mother had worn when she abandoned him to the workhouse to follow her new lover.
As much as he loathed those wistful eyes, he was relieved that they were directed at his lord.
She could not betray his master.
Because that fact was clearly read.
But had she already changed her mind?
Had her heart grown cold? That she should leave his lord at such an important time?
Michael did not think so.
***
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Write a comment
Virginie (Wednesday, 11 December 2024 20:35)
Yes !! If Michael hang on to his hunch, it will help Caius know the truth later. Poor Caius, he was dumbfounded that she 'left' !