Rewind: The Emperor's Plea
A brief rewind to the couple's quarrel—Joseph and Sisi had met after a long time apart.
"Joseph."
Sisi greeted him warmly, and Joseph smiled upon seeing her.
Her hair...
His smile froze for a moment at the sight of her newly cropped short hair, but he forced another smile as he looked back at Sisi.
"Sisi."
"What is it?"
Joseph didn't answer her question right away.
He stared at her hair for a long while before finally opening his mouth with effort.
"How about taking a short trip away?"
Sisi immediately shot back.
"You want me to leave?"
"Yes."
"Why on earth?"
She'd been on the battlefield while pregnant, even cut her hair for the empire... and the first words upon her return are just to leave?
"It's for your sake."
"You always say that. 'For your sake.'"
Sisi's pent-up emotions surged forth.
"It's not an order."
"Then I suppose it's a suggestion."
"... Closer to a recommendation."
"So the emperor's recommendations are just recommendations, are they?"
"Sisi, you know that's not what I mean."
Joseph continued as gently as he could.
"Don't say things like 'that's not what you mean.'"
Sisi replied coldly.
The empress is the emperor's partner in bearing his duties. When I'm struggling, you help carry the load; when you're struggling, I do the same.
She'd said as much before, and Joseph had agreed to share the burden together.
But Sisi's actions during the Bohemian War had been far too political.
Donating her hair, staying on the front lines, intervening in the Italian question.
The empress had become a symbol of the war—and a target for blame.
The moment a stalemate set in, the nobles were already preparing their next question.
'Who can be held responsible for this war?'
Joseph knew that question would point straight at Sisi.
There was no easier scapegoat than an empress beloved by the people.
So he didn't tell her the truth.
The only protection an emperor could offer was distance.
"... Do as you wish."
Joseph fell silent for Sisi's sake.
He knew she'd insist on standing by him the moment he tried to explain.
Sisi stared blankly at Joseph's retreating back as he left those words behind, then turned her steps toward Laxenburg.
From the window of his study, Joseph simply watched her board the carriage and depart.
Grüne, who had been quietly observing the scene, thought he'd need to tread carefully for a while.
'Nobles who can't even breathe in His Majesty's presence sure have long tongues behind his back.'
Grüne knew what conversations had flown in the recent salons.
With Alexander von Bach fallen from power, they believed his system had ended too.
The opening of parliament was their fool's signal that they could finally raise their voices.
The secret police hadn't vanished.
The waiter serving their coffee, the coachman driving their carriages, even the post office clerk inspecting the love letters they sent to their mistresses—they were all the emperor's eyes and ears.
Instead of arrests, they recorded, categorized, and gathered weaknesses.
Sisi didn't know, but Joseph received reports every day.
The documents on the emperor's desk chronicled the movements of every citizen.
A larger bakery sign meant more customers.
Young men crowding in at certain hours meant politics was the topic.
Buda, Hungary.
"... This is serious."
Andrássy and Deák viewed the situation gravely.
They'd quarreled once or twice before, but no letters for over a month was bad for both sides.
"What's the problem? You'll negotiate as you please anyway."
Tisza claimed the empress had no influence.
"Didn't we use her as a symbol?"
"Andrássy's right. We could compromise without Her Majesty, sure. But Tisza, if she hadn't been there, would the Hungarian people have stayed quiet?"
Andrássy and Deák had joined hands with Sisi, making her Hungary's lover, because their interests aligned.
"You already know she doesn't have a bad relationship with the Archduchess."
"The situation's different now."
Andrássy persuaded the institution-focused Tisza.
"She and the Archduchess clashed before Austria lost German leadership, but now Her Majesty has won."
Thus, the Greater German nationalists attacked her as 'the one who bewitched the emperor.'
"Tisza, a man of your stature couldn't have thought the emperor alone could fully soothe our people's discontent."
Tisza pushed back against Deák's advice.
"The empress can be a useful symbol now. But symbols can change direction anytime. Today's lover of Hungary is tomorrow's empress of Vienna."
Tisza disliked the unpredictable affection the masses held for the empress—and her influence outside the system.
"The moment a nation's stability depends on one person's favor, we've already failed."
"Tisza, you know a nation doesn't run on institutions alone. Do you think the people's resentment against the Habsburgs is just institutional discontent? Nations that run on institutions alone are in the Bible. Real nations endure through people."
Andrássy disagreed.
Hungarian public sentiment was boiling over, turning its back on the system, and the empress had wedged herself into that gap, volunteering as a buffer to soothe the masses.
"Institutions are the answer. The empress... she might help now, but she can't be the nation's solution."
The emperor could be negotiated with, parliament designed, nobles controlled through deals.
'But the empress's smiles and silences... those I can't control.'
Kálmán Tisza judged even patriotism dangerous.
To him, politics was the product of compromise—but compromise turned to betrayal the moment patriotism intervened.
Power unbound by law was perilous.
Tisza shifted the topic from the main issue to her pregnancy.
"Is it true Her Majesty is expecting again?"
"Certain. She hinted as much to me."
"Then why so quiet?"
"That's the reason you're worried about, Tisza. A nation is a system built on human agreements. You must accept emotions can't be excluded from it."
Even an emperor who suppressed his feelings had moments when they surfaced.
"Stay quiet for now. Don't act like those German nationalists."
Joseph censored the news of the pregnancy, knowing it would halt attacks once revealed.
'Is this a compromise thrown our way, or... a punishment for the German nationalists hostile to the empress...'
Deák pondered long and deeply.
Thankfully, Mother-in-law let it slide.
In the old days, she'd have nagged endlessly, but she seemed satisfied it wasn't some distant kingdom.
Laxenburg wasn't far from Hofburg, which helped.
The children could visit by carriage whenever they missed me.
"Gisela, what brings you here?"
Not Sophie, not Rudolf... Gisela?
No problems, no worries, not the type to comfort me.
Gisela in a word: female Joseph.
No, I'm too flustered.
Even if Gisela seems fine, she's still a child.
"Want me to read you a book?"
"No."
"Hm, how about dessert?"
"No."
I nodded.
"Then just sit here?"
"Yes."
... Is Gisela really okay too?
After observing for over thirty minutes, I asked again.
"Keep sitting, or walk with Mama?"
"I'll sit."
"Your siblings doing well lately?"
"Yes. Mama's close by."
Seems fine.
"Was riding in Venice fun?"
"Yes. Want to ride again."
No issues apparent. Did she just miss me?
A laugh slipped out at my needless worry.
My nerves have been on edge lately—overreacting.
"Gisela, instead of a walk with Mama, how about horse riding?"
Gisela flinched for the first time.
Acting mature, but still a kid.
"Grandma forbade riding?"
"Daddy too..."
So she came to Mama?
"Why forbid it?"
"Winter, might catch a cold."
Hm... fair enough.
Colds can kill in this era.
Laxenburg lacks Hofburg's indoor riding hall.
"Gisela, how about our toy rocking horse?"
Sophie survived, but I can't risk Gisela on my mistake.
Gisela, who moments ago looked like she owned the world, now stared at me like she'd lost it.
"Love riding that much?"
"Only hobby Mama and I share."
Ugh, adorable.
She said it outright—surely it's fine...?
Bundle up with scarf, fur hat, all warm—should be okay.
No, what if she catches a cold?
Colds aren't hard to get, and far riskier.
"Gisela, how about Mama and you ride together when spring comes?"
Gisela hooked her pinky on mine with a glum face.
... Should've studied pharmacy, not performing arts.
"Mama."
"Yes?"
"You have a sibling in there."
"Ferdinand? Adriana? Or... Valerie?"
Gisela shook her head and pointed at my belly.
"Mama likes Adriana and Valerie more than Rudolf and Ferdinand."
... Mama will try harder for another girl.
But that promise went unkept.
"His Highness the Archduke."
I struggled to hold the baby.
Sorry, Gisela.
Blame your daddy.
Mama's got nothing but X chromosomes.