Bibliophile Princess: Volume 4: Awaiting and Wishing, page 15
There were some victims of the plague at the earl’s manor who’d already developed the ashen-colored flecks on their skin. Duchess Rosalia’s rash would eventually change color as well. We didn’t yet know how far His Majesty’s illness had progressed, and the fact that the king had contracted it meant others could be infected as well, such as the prince.
I squeezed Mabel’s hand. She glanced over at me, but I didn’t even have the strength to tell her it was nothing. My chest ached as soon as the anxious thoughts began.
Now that the Ashen Nightmare had infiltrated our borders, it could spread anywhere and everywhere. The only thing I could do was subdue people’s discontent and search for some kind of hint as to how we might cure this disease.
If I couldn’t, then...
I swallowed back the fears that came bubbling up. I second guessed myself numerous times, wondering if this was really the right action to take as the prince’s fiancée. But somehow, I was sure that if the prince were in my position, he would be doing the exact same thing I was. Comforted by that thought, I lifted my head, catching Mabel’s gaze.
At that exact same moment, a horse brayed and our carriage rocked, coming to a screeching stop that would have sent me flying if not for Mabel yanking me toward her.
“...Ngh.”
My head was left spinning from the impact. I blinked back the pain to find Mabel pinned beneath me on the floor. She must have slammed into it hard.
“Mabel!”
Her face contorted in anguish, but she gasped a faint, “I’m all right.”
Lord Alan was also grimacing, having been flung against the wall as well. He peeled himself up off the floor, grumbling, “What was—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of steel on steel interrupted him. An urgent voice soon followed, bellowing, “We’re under attack!”
I sucked in a breath and started toward the window.
“Lady Elianna!” Lord Alan cut me off, but the combination of strained voices and clashing swords outside was illuminating enough without me having to see it for myself.
One of the Black Wing Knights shouted, “Do you realize who you’re attacking? These carriages belong to the royal family!”
“Their archers are taking aim from the top of cliffs to our right!” Grandpa Teddy warned before giving orders to someone who was riding in the carriage behind us. “Jean, the driver’s dead. You’ll need to take his place!”
Although my manservant didn’t respond, I could picture him saying, “Yeah, you don’t gotta tell me twice.”
Mabel and I both trembled as the clashing of steel echoed around us.
After a few moments, the carriage lurched forward with a groan. Lord Alan slid the small driver’s window open to confirm who was in the seat. “Jean?” His voice didn’t sound as relaxed as it usually did.
“It’s a surprise attack,” Jean answered. “They’re after the miss. Give up on the other carriage.”
“We can’t possibly...!” The doctor, the herbalists, and all of our supplies were in that carriage.
I threw open the window to peek out. If not for Mabel and Lord Alan stopping me, I would have poked my entire upper body through the opening. Even with their interference, however, I couldn’t give up—that carriage was our only hope, and we were leaving it behind.
The ground was covered in snow. Our attackers were spread about, engaging the Black Wing Knights. My heart froze over and my fingers clutched tightly at the window frame.
There were a few guards running alongside our carriage. One of them was Grandpa Teddy. He steered his horse closer when he noticed me sticking my head out.
“Elianna, these men were likely lying in wait for us. There’s a good chance someone leaked our information.”
“Impossible...” That revelation left me dumbfounded.
His gaze burrowed into me, trying to impress the grim reality of our situation. “The country was far too well prepared for war to break out. There are far too many suspicious coincidences. Elianna, focus not on the enemy you can see but the shadow that lurks in the darkness. Knowing you, I’m sure you’ll be able to defeat it.”
“I don’t know what to say...”
Ever since our conversation several days ago, I got the impression that Grandpa Teddy had grand expectations of the Bernstein family. His words tugged at my heart, bringing me to tears as I gazed back at him.
His eye softened for a moment, despite the gravity of our situation. He looked at me with the same affection he had before, like he was seeing his granddaughter for the first time after being separated for years.
“Eli girl, you’ve grown a lot in the four years since I last saw you. You’ve developed much differently than I feared. Maybe you can rewrite the history of your family and become a queen worthy of this country. If these old bones of mine can protect you in the meantime, then it was worth living to this ripe old age.”
As he spoke, he turned to deflect a vicious, oncoming attack.
“Grandpa Teddy!”
“Go, Elianna! I believe in you, so you better believe in yourself! Do what you need to do!”
I opened my mouth to call his name again, but at the same instant, an arrow came whizzing from the opposite direction and pierced right through Grandpa Teddy’s back. The scene was so graphic it burned itself into my eyes.
Before I knew what was happening, I was screaming uncontrollably.
“No, no! No... Grandpa Teddy!”
The guards who had been riding alongside us engaged our attackers. Dark, ugly red stained the snow, and gradually, the sight of the carnage receded, taking my strangled cries with it.
Mabel and Lord Alan pried me from the window and tried to comfort me, but I only slapped my hands over my face and continued to sob.
Unfortunately, the tragedy wasn’t over.
Our sprinting carriage again slowed to a full stop.
Lord Alan peeked out the window to see what was going on. There was a tremor in his voice as he murmured, “We’re surrounded.”
A few days later, an emergency message arrived at the capital of Saura. It was an urgent report for Prince Christopher, sent by Lord Alexei Strasser in the Ralshen Region. The note read:
General Theoden Bakula of the Black Wing Knights was killed by an unknown assailant. We haven’t been able to confirm whether Lady Elianna Bernstein survived the attack or not.
Arc 2: The Phantom’s Serenade
Verse 1: Secret Girl Talk
A voice trickled into my ear.
“This was a bit of a surprise.”
The lights began to dim in anticipation of the curtain opening, and the air around us filled with excitement. Sirius Ensemble was giving a performance at the Royal Opera House. It was a famous theater. One of Sauslind’s kings from several generations back had developed a love for the arts and had done his utmost in calculating every little nuance for this building, including how the sound would echo.
There were seats on the second floor reserved for the royal family’s use. That was where I, Elianna Bernstein, sat as I waited on pins and needles for the show to begin. I lifted my gaze from the stage to the man beside me.
Even through the darkness, his blond hair was dazzling. Prince Christopher flashed me a handsome smile. As I began to tilt my head, he spoke gently and continued his earlier line of thought. “I didn’t expect to ever hear you say you wanted to come see an opera. I should have been the one to invite you. What a shame.”
I smiled and shook my head.
As soon as the New Year break ended, I found myself in the prince’s office. He showed little regard for those who might be watching as he pressed close and said, “You promised you would spend time with me, Eli.”
The romantic air in the room sent Lord Alexei over the edge. The atmosphere took a chilly turn, at least until he realized that the prince gave his indignation no heed. Then Lord Alexei cradled his head as if fighting back another migraine and said, “I’ll give you half a day. Whether you spend that privately in your room together or go off somewhere else, I don’t care. Fawn over each other as much as you please. As long as you focus on work once you’re done.”
I almost doubted my ears.
“Then I’ll take you up on that.”
When the prince then tried to drag me off to his private quarters, I panicked and blurted out, “I want to see the opera that’s become the talk of the capital lately.”
I never dreamed he would be able to make arrangements to grant my request the same day. It was a bit strange, however, that he mumbled to himself afterward, “We’d best go before my mother catches on.”
At any rate, I was genuinely happy he’d made such accommodations for me despite the short notice. And so I answered his question honestly. “I wanted to hear Songstress Eugenia sing. She debuted during the Holy Night’s Banquet, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to see her for her first performance.”
The Holy Night’s Banquet was an official event, so the free time I had during it was rather limited. When I heard that she would be debuting then, it vexed me that I wouldn’t be able to attend.
The prince chuckled. “If you truly wanted to support that songstress, you should have sent her flowers under the name of the prince’s fiancée rather than using your initials to hide your identity. Why didn’t you do that, Eli?”
“Uh...” I panicked, wondering how he could have known that I secretly sent her a bouquet. A cold sweat beaded on my forehead.
True, it was common for the royal family and nobility to show support for artists publicly. But I feared doing that with the songstress would stir rumors as to how the two of us became acquainted to begin with. That would be a bit...no, quite inconvenient.
Frankly, it was the prince whom I didn’t want to discover my secret. I knew if I made my support official, he would hear word immediately and ask me about it. That was what I had wanted to avoid. Everyone had their youthful indiscretions, didn’t they?
Sweat continued to pour down my forehead as I searched for the words to say, feeling a bit defiant in the face of his questioning. But the prince merely flashed the same smile at me that he always wore.
“Elianna, I admit, I’m most curious. Where would a Bibliophile Princess like you discover a songstress before her reputation was prominent enough to warrant a book being written about her?” His smile deepened as his merciless interrogation continued. “We have no secrets between us, right?”
He didn’t bring up the fact that we’d promised to be together during the banquet, but he scarcely had to. The atmosphere was tense enough I knew I couldn’t escape, and as the curtain on the stage rose, my mind flashed back to that summer night three years ago.
~.~.~.~
“Eli! I knew you would be in the archives.”
It was an early afternoon in the middle of summer.
The archives were located in a block of the Sauslind palace where the sun didn’t reach. It was quite cool in here even on the hottest of days, making it a popular, secret reprieve for many at the palace.
As someone who regularly stayed in the archives, I was helping some of the staff with their work—namely, carefully sorting each book one by one, which was an enjoyable task by my standards.
It was normally quiet in here, so when I heard someone say my name, I peered back in surprise to find one of my cousins who was about the same age as me. She was accompanied by Lord Alexei’s little sister, Lady Therese Strasser, whom I’d grown quite close to immediately after arriving in the capital. As the two of them raced over, I slowly scaled down my stepladder to meet them.
Lady Therese was the first to blurt something out. “Lady Elianna, are you free tonight?”
“Pardon?” I blinked several times, trying to guess what meaning could lie beneath that question.
Her auburn eyes twinkled with amusement. She ignored my confusion and continued, “There’s going to be a really entertaining event going on tonight. I was wondering if you would come with us.”
“Oh,” I said, unsure of how else to respond.
My cousin, Julia, cut in. “Come on, Eli, let’s go.”
Julia was the second daughter of Earl Storrev. She was sandwiched between her two sisters; the older one was the heir to the family, very mature and down-to-earth, and the younger was shrewd and calculating. Julia, however, was more reserved and quiet. Her dark brown eyes always regarded every situation calmly, making her skilled at deescalating conflict. It was hard to believe we were the same age—just fifteen years old.
Like Lady Therese, she was insistent on me going.
“Eli, you always coop yourself up in the archives and never go out. The last time you left this place was a few days ago, wasn’t it? When my mother took you along to the opera. I know they wouldn’t allow you to visit a summer retreat even if you asked, so we can at least enjoy a night together, just us girls.”
She was right; as the prince’s betrothed, I couldn’t leave the palace on a whim. It didn’t matter that I was, in truth, only a fake fiancée.
While I stood there with my brows furrowed, Lady Therese’s eyes sparkled with delight as she explained, “Serge Crowley is the talk of the capital right now, and he’s going to be singing somewhere tonight.”
“So that’s what this is about.” Now I finally understood.
Since the beginning of summer, the young singer Serge Crowley had shot to fame overnight thanks to his performances at the Royal Opera House. He had adorable facial features and the bearings of a nobleman. For as slender as he was, he had a surprisingly powerful voice, belting out songs about heartbreaking love.
I learned about him recently when my aunt and Julia dragged me along to the theater.
“There’s going to be an evening event at the Royal Opera House then?” I asked.
“No.” Julia shook her head. “You know Viscount Gorton, don’t you? He’s made a name for himself recently as a composer. Serge is going to perform at the viscount’s manor.”
“Oh, I see.”
In other words, they were inviting me to an evening party. Serge was a famous young singer, after all. They were likely curious and wanted to hear his voice up close. Knowing I wasn’t very proactive when it came to evening parties and noble events, they had decided to invite me along out of consideration.
I smiled. “Very well, then I’ll ask Alfred to escort me—”
But Lady Therese interrupted me in a loud voice. “Besides, I heard you’ve been interested in Serge ever since you saw him at the opera, Lady Elianna. I understand how you feel. His voice has the power to melt even the toughest of maidens’ hearts.”
Although it was clear she was teasing by her tone, I was left staring blankly. True, I was interested in the man, but in a completely different sense than she was insinuating.
Julia and Lady Therese both giggled mischievously. The latter brought her index finger to her lips and said, “Of course, we won’t tell His Highness. It’s a secret between us three.”
While the two of them continued to indulge themselves in their amusement, they ushered me along. I followed them with a question mark hanging over my head, completely confused as to what was going on.
Unbeknownst to me, there was a boy with honey-colored hair in one of the nearby aisles who also spun around on his heel and left at the exact same time.
Verse 2: Waltz With the Phantom
Everyone has something they’re afraid of. The longer you live, the more you discover there are things and people you can’t defy. There was only one such person for me, and he’d been an absolute authority since I first met him. Although lately, I was beginning to think there was someone else besides him, as well.
The stairs led down to a floor resplendent with decorations and lively music. Boisterous laughter boomed as nobles, dressed to perfection, engaged in idle banter among one another. It was little different than the capital’s usual evening parties, except for one element: everyone had their faces hidden beneath masks. By hiding their true identities, they could indulge themselves in ways they normally couldn’t lest they be recognized.
There were those who hid only their eyes and those who hid everything—even the hair on their head. Some girls wore exotic veils acquired from abroad, and some men wore eccentric, animal-like decorations. People’s tastes fell over a broad range, but one thing was true for all of them: no one was showing their face. Just for tonight, they were forgetting their social status and basking in the casual atmosphere that the masquerade ball provided.
“Women sure can be bold sometimes,” I, Alan Ferrera, whispered to myself beneath my clown mask.
Only youthful indiscretion could lead one to lose themselves in this madness, regardless of the fact that a noble was hosting the party. But it’s not a bad location, I thought as I surveyed the surrounding area.
Masquerade balls could lead to chaos sometimes, if past experiences in the capital were anything to go by. But as a composer, Viscount Gorton had enough pride in himself to invite only those of respectable character. No such madness would play out here. Besides, most of the people in attendance were nobility. People might recognize one another in spite of the masks, but they would never say as much. That was one of the rules of a masquerade ball.
As I watched the people mingle, pretending not to know each other, I caught sight of something interesting that made my lips peel back. I hummed thoughtfully.
There was a girl with fluffy, platinum-colored hair, clad in a dress of mixed ashen gray and white. Her airy skirt bounced around her as she moved, much like the wings on her back that were decorated with lace. Her appearance drew the attention of other men in the room. She wore a mask that looked like bird wings to hide her eyes, but it wasn’t adequate enough to hide her identity.
For a bit now, she’d been on the receiving end of numerous dance requests and invitations to speak in private. Some men had even tried to push fruit wine onto her. She was a source of fascination.
