Chapter 101: Ch. 101: Winter’s Gambit

“Emma, can we- can I have a word with you?” I stutter over my words after a sleepless evening back at the palace.

“Yes, your highness,” Emma answers.

Mourning the loss of a decent stipend has made for a long, trying night. I have bags under my eyes and sluggishly prop my head up as I stare at Emma with some guilt.

“You’re my official playmate, you remember that right? We’ve been through thick and thin, and weathered many storms and assassinations together. I feel as if we have 100 years of history behind us,” I begin warmly, hoping to ease into the topic at hand.

It wasn’t as if I thought I would be getting Julia’s 10,000 gold coin stipend, but even a fraction of that would have done wonders for me.

“Since Duchess Taylor is still in charge of paying out the royal stipend you have no money to give me.” Emma ended the conversation rather quickly, my sheepish look her answer.

“Maybe we can pawn off the stuff in this room?” I say, offering a way to make a quick buck. I glance over the gold items sparkling under the morning light peeping through the curtains.

.....

Emma shakes her head. “Your highness, the items used in the palace are kept on a registry and checked regularly. They would notice when they go missing, unlike the flowers.”

There is a dead, awkward silence.

“You know what’s worth more than money? Friendship. You can’t put a price on friendship,” I eventually say as I sweat to death under my covers. I sound like a con artist, the shame resting heavily on my shoulders.

I tug them off right as Emma responds, “You can have until the end of the year, your highness.”

An idea suddenly occurs to me, the devious smile on my face that sends Emma hurtling back a few steps.

“Give me half that time and you’ll have your 1000 coins. Heck, even Jack will get his stupid house. I just have one, little request. One itty, bitty thing I want you to pretend to do,” I tell Emma as convincingly as I can.

Emma appears faintly uneasy. “I shall, of course.” She replies nonetheless.

———

“Emma?” Empress Katya looked away from the peaceful face of her only son towards Linette.

Her loyal maid curtseyed in greeting. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“No, no. Repeat what you said. The child who accompanied Winter to the war front and helped fight off the assassins was a little girl named Emma?” Despite her best attempts, there was a faint scoff in her tone.

All her careful, multilayered planning was foiled by a wee child who hadn’t even begun to bleed yet. It was so laughable, a smile struck the corner of her mouth. When Linette spotted the smile, her heart trembled in her chest even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Yes, Your Majesty. You have actually encountered her before. When you wished to cut off a thieving maid’s hand and Princess Winter took her spot for a beating, the maid in question had been Emma,” Linette reported.

Suspicion caused the empress to sharply ask, “How did you learn this?”

“A cleaner within the west wing saw Emma privately cleaning her muddy boots and dress while the other maids were asleep,” Linette said.

“That proves nothing.”

“The boots were worn and had incurred a lot of damage. According to the cleaner, the shoes were barely held together by medical bandages, the special ones issued to the army. She also hides a fine dagger under her mattress, one that has been well used,” Linette answered proudly. From the reports the assassins had given, a strange, knife-wielding child had unexpectedly been talented with the weapon, staving them off so they couldn’t give chase to the little princess.

Empress Katya had an impeccable memory, honed from the tutors hailing from every corner of the empire who had embedded within her the skills to be the best empress the Erudian Empire could ask for. She naturally recalled the innocuous, black-haired girl who had been given Winter’s stipend perhaps as a favor.

“I remember that she likes money,” The shrewd empress concluded. She stopped stroking Julian’s hair and straightened to reveal her regal aura that intimidated and inspired the noble women of Radovalsk.

“The maid loves it, Your Majesty,” Linette agreed immediately. “From what I’ve learned recently, the princess often gives her stipend to the girl in exchange for her loyalty. Quite crass.”

“Has she learned nothing from me?” Katya mused quietly. “Well, it is to no surprise. She is a lowborn thing anyhow to choose a servant girl as her playmate. These kinds of embarrassing affairs happen when someone unworthy is in charge of the running of the palace.”

A vein of anger ran through the empress’ last sentence as she still lacked full control of the palace, although time had put a few avenues back into her hands. Empress Katya had sown her roots deep enough over the past few years that even with the Duchess of Mulworth’s dedication in tearing them out, many still remained.

“Fear not, Your Majesty,” Linette simpered to Empress Katya, taking the chance to step behind her mistress and begin to massage her shoulders. “The duchess still hates Princess Winter very much. Even though she was moved from the Rose Palace to the west wing, She gave the princess a stipend of 100 gold coins. I was able to talk to our people within the royal treasury to lower the delivered amount to 50 gold coins.”

Linette smiled where she stood, thinking that her punishment to Princess Winter would make the moody empress a little happier. But Katya rubbed her forehead, the simple mention of her rightful palace causing a headache.

“Kneel.”

Empress Katya’s tone was one of someone who had commanded since birth, Linette’s knees buckling at the one syllable.

Linette rushed around to face Empress Katya’s still face, the most elegant artwork a pale comparison to the empress’ beauty. Both her hands were clasped in the lap of her full skirt, a picture of etiquette at all times.

“Your Majesty...” Linette began to say with a dry throat. The blood in her veins turned to ice.

“You do too much without my agreement,” Katya said without preamble.

“My apologies, Your Majesty,” Linette replied, her eyes not daring to look up at her mistress’ face.

“The bastard girl’s situation has improved, she must be happy, no?” Katya suddenly said, a thoughtful look upon her face.

Linette was startled by the sudden misdirection of conversation but had been with the empress long enough not to get stumped by the matter.

“Indeed, Your Majesty. The finery in the west wing is second only to your own palace,” Linette hastily replied, unknowingly sinking another hidden barb into her mistress’ skin.

“Let her be happy for a time then. Let her think she has won a few battles. She has been to the warfront. She should be able to tell the difference between a battle and a war by now. Stand up, Linette. I shall not punish you today,” Empress Katya told her, placing an extra emphasis on the word ‘I’.

“T-Thank you, Your Majesty. Your graciousness is second to none.” Linette shakily rose, perplexed and confused by Empress Katya’s magnanimous response.

She clearly remembered the rage that had filled the empress when somehow the bastard princess had anticipated Katya’s intentions and absconded from the palace right as she was being brought to Sunrise Palace. The maid who’d been fooled by the princess’ bloody flux trick had been flayed to death, but even the rousing sight hadn’t calmed down Empress Katya. The thick gloom that had hung over Sunrise Palace and the entire imperial palace had everyone, even Linette and Kora, walking on thin ice.

Empress Katya could naturally see the confusion on the face of the maid who’d been trained to serve by her side since before she could even speak. She enjoyed Linette’s confusion, preferring the brash Linette to focus on doling out punishment and fear amongst those who served under her. If she needed someone with true wit by her side, Kora’s cunning for politics and manipulation was second only to her own. But such intelligence, even if it was displayed in her own minion, was not comfortable to keep too close.

“Shall I bring that servant girl, Emma, to your side, Your Majesty? Since she likes the money the princess gives her, as long as more is offered she may switch sides,” Linette asked, politely asking if she should resort to bribery to get eyes close to Princess Winter’s side.

But Linette’s hurried statement to please Empress Katya reminded her once more why she needed Kora’s talent.

“No. No, no, no.” Katya rose from her chair. “Just keep her under observation. See who she speaks to. Who she gets along with. What she does when she’s not with the princess. Tell me of everyone she associates with.”

Linette’s brows rose in surprise.

“Have you forgotten how the princess took a beating for that servant? Such... acts can inspire loyalty in those of lower status. You should understand this,” Empress Katya told Linette with faint disappointment.

Linette was a good guard dog, but it seemed that even after the many years in the palace, that was where the personal maid’s abilities stopped.

“From the news I’ve heard, she frequently associates with the nursemaid, Marie. Other than that, no one-”

“We already have eyes on the nursemaid. Remember that hole the princess and maid crawled out of? It had been used more than once, which means there are people within this very capital that the princess is in contact with. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy for her to escape the Radovalsk. You must find out who they are, immediately!” The flash of irritation bloomed into a rage and Empress Katya’s voice rose into a shout that quailed Linette’s pleasing tongue.

Empress Katya rubbed her head, annoyed that she had let her mood get away from her. But she had taken a few, unprecedented losses in the recent months. Her most useful lady-in-waiting had been done away with along with her unblemished reputation as the mother of the empire. The false prophecy she had worked so hard to construct for her daughter had not only turned out to be real, but had landed in Princess Winter’s lap.

And her father, who had just begun to stop meddling in her life and gave her more power within the Duvernay family, had stepped back in without hesitation. Every time she weeded out one of Chancellor Duvernay’s moles, another one would crop up like a weed.

With practiced ease, Katya reigned her emotions back in while smoothing down a nonexistent cowlick in her intricate updo. In fact, the recent events had forced the empress to admit something to herself: that she had grown lazy and complacent. Empress Katya had grown up working against the odds and managed to eliminate the emperor’s beloved wife and take the coveted role of empress for herself through sheer cunning. She had become the most powerful woman in the entire Empire and thought the game was over.

But it wasn’t. It never had. And it never would be as long as she drew breath.

Katya had many secrets, enough to line the perimeter of the imperial palace three times over. She’d killed and enjoyed it. She’d broken bread with noblemen and then burnt their corpses with thick tongues sticking out before dawn arose.

A man had once asked her, in the early days when she’d first married into the eastern wing and felt nothing but coldness on the other side of her bed, what she would be willing to give up for power.

“Your youth?” Purple eyes had glinted in the dark chambers, mirth glittering within them.

“Your beauty?” The heady, 18-year-old Katya did not even need to shake her head, the man could see her answer within her stubborn gaze.

“No, of course not. You need those to maintain your power. How about your family? Your children?” His voice came out in a teasing manner, but the implication under them was anything but.

“I came to you to have children! Why would I give them up?” In her youth, Katya had held more of a temper. That was one part of herself she saw in the young Winter. A temper that could not be put out.

“And children you shall have. But you can have more, with my help,” the man said easily, offering a tantalizing temptation few could resist.

The young Katya had understood the implication of his words. After all, her father had only intended for her to be a placeholder wife until the current dynasty could be removed and replaced. Even if she was his daughter, he would have killed her if he knew that she had intentionally gotten pregnant with the emperor’s children.

The newly enthroned empress had long realized that in her father’s plans, she would have been discarded after use. And Katya had learned too much to be happy with the fate of a deposed empress to be stepped on by anyone or locked away in a tower to “protect her chastity”. But what the man before her suggested was too much. To usurp the throne, not for the Duvernay family, not for her children, but for herself.

“I-I couldn’t.” In the Empire, there has never been an empress regnant of any sort. She could only wield power the way she’d been taught, soft power through others. She would mold the perfect prince, one obedient to her every word. Wouldn’t that be the same as ruling herself?

There had been no more offers after that. Little more was said as the precious medicine to change her fate was slid into her palm, her heart aching at what it had cost her. As she’d hurried out, the man whose appearance she couldn’t recall despite her impressive ability to remember any face she saw had only told her one thing.

“You’ll be back. Because as you defy your father, your children shall one day defy you too. I wonder if you will regret your choice then?”

After he said that, his echoing laughter had chased her out of the crumbling temple. Linette had wrapped a cloak around her shivering form, despite that year’s warm spring having chased the chill out of the air. A few months later, her stomach was swollen with a boy child and she’d gotten permission to construct her own palace, one even lovelier than the famed west wing of the central palace. Her father’s plans had changed from rebellion to ensuring a prince of Duvernay blood took control of the empire. She had gotten everything she wanted.

But now, that prince she had cultivated for greatness lay unconscious and her plans in disarray.

A maid rushed into the luxurious courtyards and pavilions Katya had arranged for her son once he had begun to read and write so that he could be trained in privacy and comfort.

“Princess Winter has arrived. She said that she is here to visit her brother who is in ill health and try to heal him once again,” the maid gasped out.

historical

Katya stopped thinking of the past, knowing that her current priorities were to save her son and curtail Princess Winter’s growing popularity once and for all.

“She has come to visit her brother?” The faintest surprise danced through Empress Katya’s eyes, which were so similar to Bishop Duvernay’s in the sense that very little swayed her emotions. “Bold girl. Let her come in so I can see what she’s learned in her time away from here.”