Dark Brown is the Hazelnut
“Your Majesty, shall we set the return schedule after the purification rite?”
“No.”
I'm not going.
Absolutely not going first.
After the war ended and we finally reunited, the first words out of his mouth are, 'How about taking a short trip away?'?
When he said he'd do it together, where was that? Now he wants to go alone.
Me returning would mean accepting Franz Joseph's choice.
Anyway, Gisela still hasn't gone back.
Unlike the other kids who pop in occasionally to play and leave, she's completely glued to me, staying here full-time.
“Königseck, there's really no problem with Gisela, is there? Like her tutor or something….”
“I worried there might be rumors like that, but she's here entirely of her own will.”
If it were Sophie, I wouldn't even think this—she was the eldest and a total daddy's girl.
I'd assume Rudolf came to catch a breather from the stress of his lessons.
Ferdinand? He loves quiet anyway, and going to church is his hobby.
Adriana and Valerie are still being raised by tutors and nannies… But Gisela's been such a good kid—no mischief ever.
“If she were a boy, she'd be ready to step in for Franz Joseph and handle affairs right now, no exaggeration.”
The maids couldn't hold back their laughter at my joke.
“Maybe because she's the second daughter?”
Ida ventured cautiously.
“Second daughter?”
“She might think this is her only chance to monopolize Your Majesty the Empress.”
“Is that it?”
I make time to play with the kids plenty as it is.
Hmm… Thinking it over, yeah, that tracks.
“Must be because His Majesty isn't by my side right now.”
Without Franz Joseph here.
He'd call me away from work to play with the kids sometimes, and we'd have tea together.
It's not just Franz Joseph jealous of the kids—the kids are jealous of him too.
Plugging him into Gisela's shoes, and it clicks right away.
They're not on bad terms, but I've only got one body.
Our personalities match, so our thoughts do too.
“Bring Gisela here.”
Gisela entered the room looking uncomfortable.
I patted the empty spot beside the bed.
“Gisela, come here, sweetie.”
She sat gingerly beside me, her face and posture stiff.
I gently stroked her hair.
Like a little old lady.
Too much like one to blame pressure—thanks to Sophie's precedent….
“Is Mommy okay?”
“Yeah, Mommy's already done it seven times.”
Not okay, but she's too young to understand that yet.
Just like Queen Victoria wrote in her letter—childbirth comes with pain.
Victoria had no complaints about lovemaking with Prince Albert, but pregnancy made her consider breastfeeding herself.
“Gisela, your hair's just like Mommy's, huh?”
She seemed to like that, twirling the ends.
Schwarzbraun bin auch ich,
ja bin auch ich.
(The hazelnut is dark brown,
and I am dark brown too, yes I am.)
My lover must be dark brown too,
just like me—
I hummed it softly, hoping Gisela would find some comfort.
We'd been playing for a while when—
“Countess Teba requests an audience.”
Countess Teba?
Who? I shot Königseck a questioning look, and she leaned in to whisper.
“It's Empress Eugénie.”
Ah, Eugénie.
What brings Eugénie here?
“Gisela, want to take a little break?”
“Yes.”
Gisela left, and Eugénie entered.
“Elisabeth.”
“Eugénie, it's been ages.”
Eugénie scanned the room slowly, then spoke with pitying eyes.
“Even here, it's the same.”
Habsburgs, after all. Purification rites are naturally stifling.
“How's Ludovico doing?”
“Now that he's crown prince, he's putting on airs. Won't even hug me unless he salutes first.”
“Will our Rudolf start that next year?”
Eugénie hid her smile behind her fan.
“To get there, you'd have to raise him strong like I do mine.”
She raises them with emphasis on public demeanor and self-control.
I thought for a moment and shook my head faintly.
“Our crown prince seems better suited to art than the military—such a shame.”
I believe in free will, as long as it doesn't harm the empire.
“What's to regret? He probably sees me as his adjutant by now.”
But in the end, kids' education always gets pinned on the husband.
“Know what the tutor he assigned did to Rudolf?”
“He was infamous. Did he really enter the palace with a live round loaded?”
“He did! Said he'd raise him like a soldier, then stuck him with someone who belongs in an asylum.”
“Men only know the army. If it's so great, they should marry it.”
Even as we chatted, my mind kept calculating.
Why is France here now? They're swamped with foreign issues.
France is busy with Mexico and the Joseon problem in East Asia.
We shifted topics back to pregnancy.
Once the maids withdrew, the talk got spicier.
“Victoria's right—felt like I was a cow.”
“Eugénie, this is my seventh. And cows probably don't mind sore breasts? They won't let you nurse since we need the next heir.”
Eugénie shuddered in horror.
“I couldn't go that far. Birthing Louis, I even chatted with Charon. Need chloroform every time my husband wants to consummate.”
“That rough? He looks so gentle.”
She caught my joke late and burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.
Oh right, that. The title.
“What's with Countess Teba?”
I'd never heard of a noblewoman head like that.
Eugénie looked flustered.
“Empresses get official ceremonies, right?”
So if I travel incognito like that, no protocol needed?
Neither Esterházy nor Franz Joseph mentioned something this big.
I'd skipped trips to save on ceremony costs—perfect.
Franz Joseph might even like saving the protocol expenses.
Glancing at the clock—over two hours already.
Time for the real talk.
“Here about Gisela?”
Even if we're close, she wouldn't rush here mid-purification for nothing.
Luxembourg's fine, but meeting at Hofburg Palace suits her better.
For France to reconcile with Austria, skipping steps, there's one answer.
I asked straight, and she answered direct.
“Louis looks so lonely lately. Thought a bright, strong kid like your Gisela by his side would be nice. And we could meet more often.”
Marriage alliance.
“Eugénie, people call my marriage to His Majesty a love match, but it's not.”
A fifteen-year-old girl chosen by the emperor.
Her diary even said, 'If only he weren't the emperor.'
Rudolf might have to accept a political marriage as emperor, but I don't want that for the others.
“The children's marriages are for His Majesty to decide.”
Though I'll vet and give them veto power.
At least hear their opinions.
…In five years, it's a republic anyway.
That's the real reason.
Franz Joseph knew Eugénie had entered the country.
No matter the alias, everyone pretends not to know—but they do.
Countess Teba, really.
He hadn't told Sisi about such methods out of human hesitation before emperor duties.
She's rarely even in Vienna….
If she skips protocol, she'll travel even more than now.
“France has nothing to my liking.”
Sardinia, realizing their failure, even exposed their secret pact with France.
Claims that France should've intervened somehow based on the Plombières Agreement—over Savoy and Nice—raged on the diplomatic stage.
Grüne, by the visibly irked Franz Joseph, stayed mouse-quiet, gauging moods.
If Sisi hadn't stopped that preemptive strike….
Austria might've lost to the French-Sardinian alliance.
Franz Joseph sorted stray thoughts amid work.
Am I emperor of the Germans, or of the empire?
Mother raised him as the former; Sisi was making him the latter.
Even Mother seems to think differently now.
He exhaled cigar smoke to mask a sigh.
I wonder if Hungary even wants compromise.
Offered autonomy limited to current Hungarian lands—they demanded pre-1848 full territories.
And one more thing.
A separate army too… Fancy way to say independence.
Without Sisi, Franz Joseph aged a day at a time.
