Chương 37: Chapter 37: Secrets From The Broom Closet

(plays before Raingency)

The soles of my shoes made a dull sound as they stepped across the carpeted floor of our girls' wing. Martin accompanied me to the prince with whom I was to have tea in the afternoon. It was the first time I had been a guest in his immediate chambers. Previously, I had only tangled in the private wing. In my defence, everything here looked confusingly similar. "May I ask you a question?", I turned to Martin, who, as always, kept the appropriate distance and paced behind me. He jumped up briefly, I stopped, he too. "Of course," his voice sounded brittle, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time. The sun broke through the light from the long windows. The snow thawed slightly, individual drops bundled the light and coloured the crème-white wall in rainbow colours. I brushed my hair behind my ear a little nervously and took a breath before continuing, "Are the guards also under contract to the royal family?" My assumption seemed to surprise him, for he furrowed his brow. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're getting at, miss." I became uncertain and tried again, "I meant, is your family also bound to the royal family and are you not allowed to practice any other profession than guard or soldier?" His wrinkles deepened. "Something like that, I entered into a contract with the Red Watch. I have committed myself to serve all my life. Again, the Red Watch is subordinate to the royal house, so I cannot choose where I am deployed. Of course, aptitude tests are conducted before the admission process, but that is rather incidental. I can be transferred to the front or anywhere else from one day to the next. However, if you will allow me a counter question, what makes you think that?" I swallowed and put my fingers on the back of my neck and looked to the side: "I read something about it in the library recently, I just can't remember which tome it was in," I lied. I was afraid that Ally wasn't supposed to tell me about it. I wanted to avoid getting her in trouble. "I see. Why is this bothering you so much Miss Woodstock? Are you thinking of becoming the Prince's Chosen One?" I sighed deeply and replied that I couldn't imagine becoming a princess one day, let alone a queen. It just preoccupied me, being limited myself in this society but seemingly having more choice than other girls, and that I was never aware of it and felt guilty. "You don't have to admit guilt at all Belle. You are no more responsible for this model of society than the rest of the people." He tried to cheer me up, but it did nothing to dampen my feelings.

"Do you think anything will change, Martin?" my voice sounded brittle and rough. "Not as long as the monarchy remains in place, but perhaps the prince and his consort will improve it. Nevertheless, we will not all be free until we are on our own." It sounded as if he had been thinking about it for some time. I decided not to judge him, even though it was a rather radical view. I started a new topic, "What's your last name anyway? I never asked you about it." He laughed because he knew I was just trying to deflect: "This has not mattered until now. My full name is Martin James Hasenberg, my ancestors come from the United Teutons." I then mentioned that I too had those ancestors. We even spoke German the rest of the way, well, we tried. When you haven't spoken a language for a long time, especially with others, your confidence and pronunciation atrophies enormously. Martin spoke only German at home, his mother could only speak that one language too. She spoke only broken New English, which made official channels, like job branches, more difficult. "It's not as if she hasn't tried, but no company or employer wants to hire someone who is unable to speak a straight sentence." I nodded in understanding, secretly glad that my parents had forced me to speak both languages at a semi-understandable level.

"Me and my sister are the only ones in the family who are bilingual. My father passed away early and left us money for two children to go further than primary school. Unfortunately, shortly before his death, my mother had become pregnant again. I felt obliged to finish school and apply to be a guard. I didn't expect to be taken at all. I was weak and somewhat malnourished. I had worked at the front, abroad and now at the palace. In fact, I had improved so much in that time that my superior advocated that I have lessons with the royal children." My ears perked up: "King's children? I thought Nicolas was an only child!" Had I missed something? Martin sighed, "Directly yes, indirectly no..." I furrowed my brow and folded my arms. My counterpart turned away from me and followed the hall carpet. I replied that I would not move. He wandered on, eventually I bit my lip and ran after him. "Go on, you owe it to me," I tried to keep up with Martin but he went so stubbornly straight that I fell further and further behind. "I've said too much already my lady." I held Martin by the arm: "Martin, please. You must tell me more..." He looked around as if we were being watched and whispered in my ear: "Alice Valentina Kantonie is not the first wife of our King Mehr." I replied: "But why, have I never heard of the second wife?" Martin looked around again and then opened a door and told me to go in. It was a broom closet. Adrenaline shot through my veins and I got a funny feeling. "If you want to know more about the Kantonie family, go in with me so we can be undisturbed." I didn't listen to my gut and squeezed inside. I found myself between cleaning products, brooms and dust sours as I listened to the secrets of Kantonie. The twilight shining down on us gave Martin something very menacing. Alice had been in another casting, Mehr married Charlotte Luise. Their marriage lasted five years. But they were not right for each other, they quarreled and had affairs with each other. Charlotte had four children. They divorced and Mehr married Alice. Shortly after, Mehr's father died of a heart attack. The people were in an uproar, they couldn't have the Prince divorcing them, it had put the King in his grave. They had to be quick with the coronation and the wedding. For with the divorce, Mehr's children were no longer eligible to be claimants to the throne. Alice was already pregnant with the prince when the royal wedding followed. Nicolas and his half-siblings were raised together in the palace until he was about 7 years old. As the tension between Alice and Charlotte grew, she and her children moved to Australia. The family still visits each other but in secret without the press. They do not want to be drawn into the machinations of politics and publicity. Anybody who even hints about the first marriage or about the siblings of the heir to the throne are eliminated. So it was no wonder that I had never heard, seen or read anything of the sort. The family was wiped out like a pesky insect.