Chapter 48
Despite the Count of Saint’s meaningful words, Isabella pretended not to notice and looked around as she spoke. It seemed she didn’t want to put me in an awkward situation. I, in turn, followed her lead and shifted my gaze around.
As she had said, there were only a few carriages nearby, and no one else was in sight. Knowing that no one else was around besides the Count and Countess allowed us to act boldly, just as we would before the Crown Prince.
“The hunt has already begun.”
“Already?”
Our eyes met simultaneously, Isabella’s and mine. We hadn’t realized how much time had passed while we were lingering. At our surprised reactions, the Count spoke.
“The Emperor began the hunt as soon as His Majesty arrived.”
“Even His Majesty… at his age…”
Isabella shook her head with a hearty laugh, as if she couldn’t help it. The Emperor enjoyed hunting. Recently, he had been restraining himself due to his aging body and the constant nagging of those around him, but until a few years ago, he frequently visited the hunting grounds.
Perhaps because he had always enjoyed active pursuits from a young age, the Emperor maintained a healthy body despite his age.
Until the moment he died, he had never been seriously ill or bedridden. He lived a vigorous life and passed away peacefully, as if falling asleep.
Although he was old, he had been so vigorous that no one expected his death. After the Emperor’s passing, the royal court fell into a brief state of panic. At the time, I didn’t know it, but there must have been a fierce struggle between the Crown Prince and the First Prince.
Ultimately, the Crown Prince ascended to the throne, but it wasn’t without complications. The First Empress still remained in the palace, and the First Prince constantly challenged the Crown Prince at every turn.
“We should move as well.”
“I will guide you.”
Count Saint reached out toward Isabella. She smiled brightly and took his hand. Just watching them, so full of love, sent a strange flutter through my chest.
Act 10. The Women’s Battlefield
“Good grief.”
I barely held back a sigh that was threatening to escape. I regretted not following Isabella instead.
While the men went hunting, most noblewomen gathered in comfortably prepared areas to chat. Some women followed the men on the hunt, but they were in the minority. Isabella was among those few.
I had declined Isabella’s invitation to join the hunt. I didn’t enjoy hunting, and my heart wasn’t broad enough to mingle comfortably among a happily married couple. She tried several times to persuade me, but I pushed her back, joking that she should catch my share for me. And now, I was regretting that decision.
“It’s been a while, Miss Eliante.”
“I feel like we meet quite often, Your First Imperial Consort.”
At my response, the First Imperial Consort’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but her smile did not fade. I had to hold back another sigh that threatened to escape.
It was fine that I had separated from Isabella and come to the resting area. What I hadn’t anticipated was that the resting area now contained only women.
Generally, a woman’s status followed her husband’s. Unmarried women relied on the prestige of their families. A man’s position was effectively a woman’s position as well.
However, just as the men’s world had its own rules, so too did the women’s world. No matter how high a husband’s rank, a woman who was underestimated could easily be torn apart by ruthless women. A prime example was the Empress, sitting uneasily beside the First Imperial Consort.
“Viscountess Bionne Rossa Eliante pays her respects to Her Majesty, the Empress.”
“Uh… welcome, Miss.”
The Empress lowered her head sideways, avoiding my gaze. I could hear the snickering of women around us.
By the rules, the Empress should have received my greeting and offered me a seat. It was similar to the etiquette observed at an all-women’s gathering, like a tea party.
At a tea party, the hostess personally designates the guests’ seats. The closer the seat is to the hostess, the higher its status. Conversely, the seat furthest from the hostess is the lowest. That’s why tea parties are usually held around a small round table—at a distance, the distinction between highest and lowest seats blurs.
This was neither a small tea party nor a round table. The positions of high and low seats were clear. The only vacant seat was at the edge of the tent, farthest from the Empress and shielded from the sunlight.
The First Imperial Consort, acting as if she were the hostess, looked at me with a face full of mockery. Her followers surrounded her.
I carefully scanned the faces of the seated women. As expected, nobles supporting the Crown Prince mostly occupied seats farthest from the Empress, closer to the low seats.
They all avoided my gaze. I could understand why. The forces supporting the Crown Prince and those supporting the First Imperial Prince were roughly equal. Technically, the Crown Prince’s supporters were slightly ahead.
The Emperor gave the Crown Prince full support, and the Marquis Eliante held one of the Crown Prince’s hands. Even if the First Imperial Prince’s side had long been building influence, in terms of legitimacy, the Crown Prince had the advantage.
But in the women’s world, the power of those supporting the First Imperial Prince was far superior. In the inner court and the social scene, there was no one in the Crown Prince faction strong enough to rival the First Imperial Consort and lead the social circle.
After the First Imperial Princess married and moved south, the social scene was dominated by nobles supporting the First Imperial Consort and First Imperial Prince. The highest-ranking woman supporting the Crown Prince was his maternal grandmother, the Duchess Garfield, but after losing her daughter, the former Empress, she had secluded herself.
She had been my chaperone at my coming-of-age ceremony, but her appearance in the social scene afterward was only that one day. Confronting the First Imperial Consort while navigating the social scene had left her physically and mentally worn.
A faction without a central figure is powerless. It was natural that the Crown Prince supporters were wary of the First Imperial Consort.
“Where is my seat, Your Majesty?”
I ignored the remaining vacant seats and addressed the Empress. She still avoided my gaze. Though I was not the Crown Princess at the time, I was the daughter of a marquis. Among the women gathered here, few had higher rank than me, excluding the royals.
To seat me at the low end was tantamount to openly disregarding me. The timid Empress might have had no choice under the First Imperial Consort’s pressure, but it was hardly pleasant from my perspective.
“Your Majesty?”
“Can’t you even find your seat, Miss?”
A mocking voice accompanied by giggles reached me. I turned toward the sound. A girl, seemingly in her late teens, fanned herself with a peacock-feather fan, striking an air of arrogance.
Her face looked familiar. I slowly recalled who she was. Her youthful face belied her age, but I recognized her immediately.
“It seems you’re inexperienced in court etiquette since you’ve been a widow for so short a time. You should learn proper manners.”
“What did you say?”
She snapped at my remark. She was one of the First Imperial Prince’s consorts. The title “Bin” was used for a consort who had not become an official wife. If my memory served, she had entered the palace shortly after I became Crown Princess. At that time, she was still new to palace life, young, unaccustomed to court etiquette, and guided by her desires.
The First Imperial Prince had one primary wife and three consorts. In his mid-thirties, he had yet to have a child. Despite having four wives, none had even shown signs of pregnancy.
If this had persisted this long, doubts about the First Imperial Prince’s fertility could arise, yet the First Imperial Consort persisted, bringing in more consorts, apparently from families known for their fertility. At that time, I had laughed at her foolishness, mocking the First Imperial Consort.
The First Imperial Prince’s primary wife, long childless and pressured by both public scrutiny and the First Imperial Consort, even endured harassment from the consorts. Eventually, she had left the palace for health reasons.
She had entered the palace with her beauty and voluptuous figure, briefly enjoying the First Imperial Prince’s favor. With the primary wife absent, she enjoyed both the First Imperial Consort’s attention and the Prince’s favor, growing arrogant. She even treated me, the Crown Princess, with insolence.
Though she had entered as a Bin of the First Imperial Prince, she was still officially a concubine. Being from a viscount family, I could hardly tolerate such insolence from a lowly concubine.
I don’t recall which of her remarks angered me, but I had grabbed her hair in retaliation. No one dared intervene. The Crown Princess and a prince’s concubine held entirely different positions. My family’s influence was unmatched. Few could stop me.
By the time the Crown Prince and First Imperial Prince arrived upon hearing the commotion, I had already pulled a handful of her hair. I recalled the Crown Prince’s face, looking utterly baffled at my fierce display.
Thinking back, compared to emperors and First Imperial Princes with many women, the Crown Prince had been relatively restrained with women. Unlike his predecessors with many concubines, he had only one, Lady Deisha. It spoke to how much he truly loved her.
“How dare you lecture me on etiquette in front of me! You, Miss, are the one without manners!”
Even then, she seemed to think that a concubine of the Crown Prince held some prestigious rank. While technically true for a royal family member, such a position had to be wielded wisely.
Engaging in power plays with women was exhausting. For a moment, I even contemplated acting recklessly and grabbing hair again, as I had back then.
