A Midnight Meal and Our First Promise
Promise, haa... is this heaven? All these foods laid out before me. This has to be paradise.
I scooped up some cream soup and put it in my mouth first... put it...? What the hell. Why does it taste like nothing?
"Is it tasty, my daughter-in-law?"
My mother-in-law, the Sophie Archduchess, asked me affectionately. Since when were we this close? This feels creepy...
"Ah, yes...! The rich cream coats my tongue, and the freshly sautéed mushrooms' aroma is so alive."
Just moments ago, the dining table was gone, and now the two of us—mother-in-law and I—were lying alone in bed.
"Were you that hungry?"
The moment her hand touched my cheek, an inexplicable chill ran through me, and I screamed.
"Kyaaak!"
I jolted awake with ragged breaths. My heart was pounding like mad, and my back was damp with sweat. So creepy.
"Sisi, what is it?"
I turned my head at the familiar voice. Joseph was looking at me with a startled face.
"...It's nothing."
Has he just come in now?
"Did you come back after working all this time?"
Joseph nodded with a tired expression.
"The situation in the Balkans isn't good these days."
Seeing him about to launch into the complicated affairs of state, I quickly placed my hand over his.
"Your Majesty, it's good to care for your subjects, but you must care for your own health too."
Let's not talk about annoying politics here.
"You're the only one who thinks of me, Sisi."
Ha, haha... yeah. It's a bit cheesy, but...
Maybe because I barely ate at dinner, my stomach growled.
"...Shall I ask for a light snack?"
Heat rose to my cheeks. Damn, embarrassing.
"...Is that okay?"
Joseph smiled.
"Of course. If it's what the Empress desires."
He turned and reached for the silver bell by the bed. In less than a minute, I sensed a faint presence. Joseph quietly ordered him to enter, and a single valet slipped soundlessly into the room.
"Prepare a light snack for the Empress."
"At once, Your Majesty."
"Something warm. Clear soup with chicken, bread slathered in butter, and cheese on the side."
"As you command, Your Majesty."
The head valet bowed silently once more and vanished from the room without a trace, just as he'd come.
...Should I ask the question on my mind, or not?
"What are you pondering so deeply?"
"...Couldn't it have been me who called?"
How did the valet get in? It could have been me summoning Esterházy, right? Last time, she definitely said, 'If His Majesty is with a gentleman, I must leave the door slightly ajar while attending.'
"Your maids and my valets make different sounds. And when I'm in this room, it's my valet who answers the call, not your ladies-in-waiting."
Oh, such a simple secret.
"The Empress's safety and comfort are the Emperor's responsibility too. So in this room, trust me and ask for anything you need freely."
Honestly, to me it all sounds the same. Man... people in this era have it rough too.
Soon after, valets entered quietly, set the food on a small table, and disappeared again. Joseph rose from the bed, took my hand, and led me to the table.
"There, now we're alone. Eat your fill."
Joseph pulled out a chair for me before returning to his seat.
"...Will you eat with me?"
Like Joseph said, it's just us now, and no one can see if we follow etiquette or not.
"I'm fine."
I saw at dinner he didn't eat much either.
"No, you're not."
Without waiting for his reply, I stood, grabbed a bowl of soup and a plate of bread, and plopped down beside him on the bed. Joseph's eyes widened slightly at my sudden move.
"I saw you barely touched your food at dinner too, Your Majesty. You finished quickly, but that doesn't mean you were full."
I dipped bread in the soup and held it out to him.
"If the Emperor starves, the Empire trembles. If the Empress starves... well, I'd just be sad. So eat with me."
Joseph let out a low chuckle. He finally took a bite as if he couldn't resist, then joined me at the table properly.
We shared a simple, comfortable moment at that little table—no stiff etiquette, no suffocating silence.
"...It's delicious."
After a long while, he spoke softly.
"It's been ages since I ate warm food this casually."
I couldn't say a word at the sight of the lonely Emperor. I just smiled and spread cheese on bread for his plate.
Come to think of it, what topics do Joseph and I even have besides politics?
"What was the Archduchess like?"
Joseph's hand paused at my question. The warm, easy air from moments ago suddenly felt chilly.
He slowly set down his bread and stared into space, as if dredging up old memories.
After a long silence, Joseph spoke.
"My mother..."
He paused, choosing his words.
"...is the strongest person I know in this Empire. Stronger than any man in it."
Does he respect the Sophie Archduchess? Or revere her...?
"In 1848, when the flames of revolution threatened to consume everything, when the Imperial House shook to its roots and all despaired, it was my mother who set it all right. She steadied the faltering crown with her own hands and placed it on my head. I am Emperor because of her."
...A tough opponent.
He spoke calmly, but I felt absolute love for the mother who shaped him.
"From the day I was born, she taught me one thing only: duty. Duty to God, to the House of Habsburg, and to the Empire. To her, no greater virtue exists. Her judgment was the Empire's judgment, her word the law."
His voice carried a hint of resignation, bound by an inescapable yoke.
Joseph turned to look at me. What was his wavering gaze saying?
"My mother... made me Emperor."
That one phrase held everything. Regret that he might value her over me, the Empress; frustration with himself.
"She understands power, strategy, sacrifice—but sometimes she values the crown's weight over the heart's. She struggles to grasp that, like you, a free world where one person's happiness matters more than the throne... is possible."
To me, Joseph looked like a child making excuses. A man torn between duty to his mother and love for his wife— not mere indifference or weakness, but because it was her command, because the mother who made him Emperor believed she would make me Empress too. An unbreakable sense of duty to his very origin.
Joseph gave a faint, bitter smile as he finished.
"That's my mother. My creator, my teacher. And the unshakeable pillar of the Habsburgs."
...Not just a mama's boy, huh. I thought that at first. A weak monarch unable to escape her skirts. It's no simple mother-son bond...
It was the debt paid to ascend the throne. Under that immense shadow that forged him, he was simply trying to protect me.
But if he's mistaken about anything, it's that my power overlaps with the Archduchess's. Between her and me, he'd likely still choose his mother.
"Sometimes, let's eat together like this."
I held out my pinky to him.
Joseph eyed my hand—specifically my awkwardly extended pinky—with puzzlement. His face held pure curiosity: what was this gesture?
It existed in none of the etiquette he'd learned as Emperor, nor in military discipline.
I chuckled and pulled his hand closer.
"This is a promise. The strongest vow in the world."
I hooked his pinky with mine and shook slowly.
"Break it... and, um, something really bad happens."
I said it playfully, but my eyes were serious.
Joseph hesitated, pondering, then overlapped his pinky with mine, following my lead. Clumsy, but the warmth transferred fully.
"This is the moment our first promise is made—truer than any imperial treaty, any oath before the Pope. Just for us."
At my teasing words, Joseph stared at our linked fingers. An awkward smile crept onto his lips.
"A vow stronger than an imperial treaty..."
He murmured lowly, then asked,
"Then, what is the price for breaking it? The Empire wages war for broken treaties."
"Hmm..."
I pretended to think deeply, then my eyes sparkled.
"Break this promise, and you have to grant one of my wishes, no questions asked. Something small and personal."
"A wish."
He seemed intrigued by my proposal.
"Very well. If it means granting the Empress's wish, I might have to break it gladly."
Joseph leaned in and wrapped his arms around my waist. Thwack! I swatted his hands away.
I haven't had a drop today—sober, no way!