Selecting the Empire's Prodigies
Scholarship fund... or not? I thought he was a slave to capitalism, but it turns out he just hates being tired?
"Just until today, my dear."
Joseph and I were riding through the city in a carriage, surveying the Ringstraße construction.
Now I get the difference. Salons and banquets... those were like company dinners.
No wonder I hated being the center of attention in those situations.
Forcing drinks with colleagues I can't stand is worlds apart from basking in the crowd's adoring cheers.
"Events like this are fine anytime."
All I had to do was play the benevolent, 'mysterious' empress, and the subjects cheered for me in return.
"Long live the Emperor!"
"Long live Franz Joseph!"
And my name...? Even after waiting quietly, the crowds echoed only with Franz Joseph—no mention of Elisabeth.
If not for my actor's training, my face would have given everything away.
Come to think of it, it's only natural.
Joseph rises at 4 a.m. every day, buried in paperwork, ruling the empire like he's grinding it down. Meanwhile, I keep taking 'health retreats' or holing up, rarely appearing in public.
Sure, I was traveling to bind the empire's ethnic groups, but from the Austrian people's view, Joseph—steadfastly holding his post—is the true pillar of the empire.
Still, I'm the one gluing it all together, aren't I?
"Look at that, Sisi."
Unaware of my thoughts, Joseph gripped my hand tightly and pointed to the Court Opera House, completed two years ago.
"It's already the pride of Vienna. We've outpaced Garnier by building this grand temple of the arts first."
Pretending otherwise, but you're obsessed with France, huh?
Passing the gardens, his finger shifted to a site still dusty with earth, preparing for foundation work.
"This year, we'll break ground there for twin behemoths: the Museum of Art History and the Museum of Natural History. Centuries of Habsburg treasures—artworks and wonders—will be unveiled to the empire's subjects."
Joseph's voice brimmed with unconcealed pride and excitement.
Like a SimCity player bragging about their landmarks, or a real estate agent hyping a mega-development.
But his passion felt endearing rather than childish. Moments like this—when this stoic emperor's eyes sparkled and words flowed—were rare.
They say you lose if you call him cute.
"And look at those plots. Along that avenue, we'll build the grand Imperial Parliament, new government offices, and university buildings in sequence."
Joseph's thumb gently stroked the back of my hand as he turned to me.
"Once this Ringstraße is complete, Vienna—trapped behind crumbling walls—will be reborn as the world's greatest, most dazzling modern city. No European monarch will dare mock our empire as outdated."
...Joseph might have already resigned himself to never reclaiming past glories.
"No city has Vienna's culture."
Perhaps choosing architecture and art over revenge was his way of erecting a final bastion of pride with culture's might, not swords.
"Even after ages pass, people will stroll this beautiful Ringstraße and remember the Habsburgs. The streets you've built will outshine any spoils of war, making the empire shine longer and brighter."
It was the one prophecy I could deliver with certainty.
A century from now, long after the empire fades, people worldwide will still visit Vienna, listen to Mozart, and indulge in Habsburg nostalgia.
"So build it sturdy and splendid."
With railroads making travel commonplace, tourism would soon be a tidy profit-maker.
If we wrap up next year's exhibition smoothly, maybe I'll finally catch a break?
Back at the palace after the tour, I flipped through the scholarship roster page by page.
Medicine, law, engineering, philosophy....
German, Bohemian, Polish, Italian....
The balance looks good.
I blinked at the very first entry.
Leopoldstadt Public Realschule Gymnasium – Sigmund Freud
Psychology, the unconscious, dream interpretation. An Austrian, huh.
He might help care for Rudolf's sensitive, fragile psyche.
I have to snag this one.
I set down the seal, picked up my pen, and checked the name.
"Grades?"
Königseck checked the documents.
"Top 3%. Especially excellent in Latin and classical literature. Aspires to medicine."
Medicine.
I peered at the page again.
Name, birthplace, guardian's occupation... and.
Jewish.
Vienna's Jews already hold key posts in salons, academia, and commerce.
But they're also the first suspected by nationalists.
"Any existing patrons for this child?"
"None. Family isn't well-off."
Hmm.
"Full scholarship."
"Your Majesty, this student is a Jew from Leopoldstadt. His father is a wool merchant, and the family finances are listed as modest...."
"What does that matter? Top of the class. Losing talent like this would be the empire's loss."
I replied flatly, waiting to turn the page.
A poodle just needs to fetch the prey well—coat style doesn't matter.
Akademisches Gymnasium – Tomáš Masaryk
A poor Bohemian high schooler scraping by as a tutor for rich kids.
"Full scholarship for this one too. Bohemian origin—perfect symbol of the empire's diversity."
Who next?
Schottengymnasium – Victor Adler
Another Jew? Jews do flock to medicine.
As I endorsed Adler too, Königseck added worriedly,
"Your Majesty, this scholarship list skips Vienna's traditional noble families entirely—just a Jewish merchant's son and a Bohemian commoner. The nobility might talk."
Hm, she's right.
I'd just experienced Joseph's popularity edging me out in Austria firsthand.
"Add Julius Wagner too."
From the same Schottengymnasium, Austrian-born.
"Your Majesty, the nobles...."
"Nobles get their scholarships at birth."
And one more thing.
"Aren't the grades for scholarships a bit low?"
Where's your conscience?
Even Königseck couldn't rebut that.
Sure, military academies favor nobles.
But that's Joseph's domain. I'm patronizing humanities and arts.
"Imperial grace must spread widely, without regard to class or ethnicity."
Sighing at the plummeting grades as I scanned the list, I wondered if there was more worth seeing.
And at the very end.
Karlovac Higher Realschule Gymnasium – Nikola Tesla
Good to the last. "Königseck, this Nikola Tesla from Karlovac—excellent grades, but why recommended last?"
"Ah, perfect in math and physics, but poor teacher evaluations. They note suspicion over his claims of mental integral calculations."
Aha, they couldn't grasp the genius. I checked Tesla's name too and handed the list back.
"Full scholarships for the marked ones."
*
Paris's red flags had fallen, and winter was in full swing.
"News from Berlin fills us with deep concern and prompts reflection on the future."
Having borne Otto, I was undergoing another purification rite.
"Bismarck has brazenly revealed his intent to cast secular power's shadow even over the sacred pulpit proclaiming God's word, by passing the so-called Pulpit Paragraph in the federal assembly."
An infringement on religious freedom, sure—but sparked by backlash to last year's Vatican Council's papal infallibility.
Joseph disliked that too.
Pope above the state? To him, that meant pope above emperor.
Excuse to break the concordat with the Vatican.
Letting Joseph reclaim influence over education and marriage.
Unwanted Cardinal Rauscher lost power too. If we modernize steadily like this...!
"Aack!"
Ouch...!
"Your Majesty! Are you all right?"
"I'm fine... just a sudden cramp."
Then.
"Sisi!"
As my due date neared, Joseph had shifted his office closer, now right next door.
"I'm okay."
Despite my protests, he approached the bed.
"Fetch Dr. Schoda at once. The empress looks pale."
"Joseph, it's not doctor-worthy. Just overdid it moving around so soon after birth."
Joseph sat in the chair a servant brought, taking my hand.
"I've heard about your condition already."
"What condition?"
Did something go wrong in labor?
"Advanced maternal age—"
Ad, ad, advanced...?
"Out."
"I'm worried—"
"Out!"
Worried or not, who says that to a new mother's face!
Ugh...! Emotions flaring, another contraction hit.
"Sisi!"
"Yosha...."
"I'm here."
"I said out...."
Ignoring or pretending not to hear, Joseph leaned close, ear to my lips.
You're the source of my stress. Ah, this hurts.