The Crown (Private|Invite Only)

[Les Etats Connuriste]

"Of course I can accept your apology. We went off track but I know my mother would want us to be friends like we always were. She was so happy that I actually got on with people that night."

Connor sighed, turning back towards the house. Maybe they were wondering where they had gone or what they were doing by now. He didn't want to be away for too long, firstly in case it could be seen as rude and secondly because he wanted to spend as much time with the family as he could. The memory they were talking about was nearly twenty five years old, and since then Charlotte had permanently been on his mind, more or less in one way or another. He was pleased to put a few things right with Jean, very pleased in fact. It did mean a great deal to him. But he wasn't the only one he intended to mend a few things with and have a better future with.

Connor: "It has been long overdue that we move on from some chapters. I didn't wish to have this conversation in the company of everyone else, I'm glad."

He was in half a mind to carry on talking out there, just the two of them. They had a lot to catch up on, about pretty much everything. Maybe their respective marriages would be a more sensitive topic, but the kids were something that two fathers could always have plenty to chat about. Even just finding out what Jean had been up to in his general life would be pleasant. It wasn't a fantastic day weather wise but he didn't really mind. But it wasn't necessarily a conversation they could have only out here. Some people had been surprised at his attendance but the Emperor of Connuriste, nor the late Alice would have been satisfied with any less.

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte watched quietly as her husband walked over to Jean and Elisabeth, and she watched as the two men, the two great loves of her life walked away, heading off to the gardens she guessed. She’d taken up a bit of botany because she knew how much Connor loved gardens, the man would probably work in a garden instead of an office if he could.

As the two men left the room, Charlotte looked to the Empress of the Dutch. Charlotte was happy that Connor and Jean were talking, even if it was without her. Perhaps that was what needed to be done. She had always been the intruder in their friendship, it had always been her who had been what strained the two monarchs. Perhaps it was best that they reconnect, without her to ruin it. In the meantime it gave her time for settle some matters of her own.

Charlotte gave a small smile and touched her hand to Anna Charlotte’s.

Charlotte: “Your Majesty, your words were so kind earlier. Do forgive me, but may we speak privately? Empress to Empress?”

[Dutch-Empire]

Empress Anna Charlotte raised and eyebrow in surprise. She hadn’t really considered herself a great friend of Empress Charlotte of Connuriste, nor much of a political close one. While Anna Charlotte respected Connuriste’s Imperial Diarchy, she respected it in such that she worked Charlotte and Connor together, as a unit, not as independent authorities of one another in matters of politics. It made her curious. What was it that she could possibly wish to speak to her about? Anna Charlotte nodded her head.

“Of course Your Majesty.”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte turned away from the Empress of the Dutch and beckoned her to follow her, leading her out of the room and down the hall. Charlotte knew Lausanne Manor better than anyone, she had added to it over the years, turning it into her own little dominion. She climbed the steps up to the second floor, her hips swaying slightly as she walked up the stairs, her heels clicking against the floor. Her heart pounded in her chest.

Charlotte: “Thank you Your Majesty, please follow me to my study.”

Charlotte turned down the hall and stopped in front of her study, where she had left her glass of wine. She wanted, nay, she needed privacy for this. She opened the door and ushered the Empress of the Dutch inside.

[Dutch-Empire]

Empress Anna Charlotte lifted up the hem of her dress as the two empresses walked up the stairs of the manor. The Empress of the Dutch was growing more and more curious as to the nature of whatever sort of private talk that Charlotte wished to have with her. As the Empress of Connuriste held the door for her, she was starting to worry that whatever it that they were going to be talking about was something of the most secret nature. Anna Charlotte twirled around, her dress spinning around her as she looked at her.

“What exactly is it that you wish to discuss Charlotte?”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte let out a deep breath as she closed the door behind her, locking it and turned to Anna Charlotte with her back to the door. She couldn’t have someone accidently interrupting them, especially not one of her children. That would be a disaster.

Charlotte: “What we talk about in this room can not leave this room.”

[Dutch-Empire]

Anna Charlotte nodded her head. Her curiosity was killing her. Was this some sort of backroom deal between them? Or was this something with a more... personal nature? Something more dangerous.

“Of course Charlotte. I am a world leader and head of my own dynasty, I know a thing or two about how to keep a secret. Now what is it that you wish to discuss?”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte let go of the door and took a deep breath, moving to steel herself once again. She walked away from the door and made her way to her desk, pausing and then moving to the cabinet and pulling out her bottle of Merlot and a glass. Now she made her way back to her desk and poured the Merlot into her own glass and into the other. She set down the bottle and picked up the two glasses.

Charlotte: “Your Majesty, I require something of you, not for political reasoning or motives, but a personal desire, a need. I do believe that I could do so on my own, but I fear my involvement, should word get out might be quite... well let’s say it will not be well received. You on the other hand will have an easy way of denying all involvement.”

[Dutch-Empire]

Anna Charlotte took the other glass from Charlotte’s hand, holding it cradled in her hands. Anna Charlotte had always praised herself for her own high sense of morality, she’d always been higher than the underhanded dogging ways of the other many monarchs that made up the world. She was a devout woman, and she liked to be free of her sins. But what sin would Charlotte have her commit?

“What if I choose not to accept your request. Why would I risk my own association when you won’t?”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte sighed softly as she took a sip from her glass. She’d expected a bit of negotiation with the Empress of the Dutch. She’d expected nonetheless less in fact. She was Dutch. They were almost as bad as the the Gênoise. Nothing to worry about, Charlotte had prepared herself for this.

Charlotte: “I noticed Anton and Rafi were quite comforting with Emily earlier. I may not pick my daughter’s husband, when she is good and ready of course, but I can influence who she picks. I know of your dream, a dynasty string enough to snatch the crown off the King-Emperor’s head. I could help you. I am proposing a quid pro quo.”

[Dutch-Empire]

Anna Charlotte chuckled softly. It was true that she wanted a marriage alliance with Connuriste, to tie their nation’s further together, but she would not allow herself to be so easily manipulated by Charlotte. Anton and Rafi could charm Emily, with or without Charlotte’s permission or at least Anna Charlotte hoped. It was a risk she was willing to take.

“A mother’s protectiveness is impressive, but can be a crippling thing when it is relied too much on Charlotte. Emily is a lovely girl and such a match would be wonderful, but I’ll need more from you.”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. This was an unexpected twist. Anna Charlotte was locked in such a grapple with the Volonté Dynasty that she had though the Empress of the Dutch wouldn’t have care about anything else.

Charlotte: “I suppose it is my turn to ask. What is it that you want?”

[Dutch-Empire]

Anna Charlotte smiled. It was so easy for her to slip into a business mode.

“I’m so glad you asked. I would like you, Your Majesty, to introduced a business establishment from Aaltes Tea to be opened up in Geneva and here in Connuriste. Arjan Aaltes has made a great brew that swept over the Netherlands, but he needs more outlets. If he were to have your support, your patronage and a foot hold in Connuriste, along with mine, we can make Aaltes tea fashionable. Not only that, it will create several thousand jobs. Win win.”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte leaned against her desk, swishing her wine in her glass. Why on earth would Anna Charlotte care about tea? A respectable market, but a monopolized one. Why did the Empress of the Dutch want to break that with Aaltes tea?

Charlotte: “Not exactly. You know good and well that my family is invested in Hollande Co.”

The Hollande Conglomerate was among the top five companies in the galaxy, and one of its subsidiaries, Hollande Tea was the most powerful tea company in the world, founded by Charlotte’s own grandmother. They’d corner the market in almost every country in the world and the Drefyus Family held control over its branches in Great Hyruke.

Charlotte: “You’d have me betray my family’s company to prompt Aaltes tea? Why?”

[Dutch-Empire]

Anna Charlotte shrugged nonchalantly. She knew very well that Charlotte was part of the family that ran the titanic Hollande Conglomerate, but that was part of the reason that she’d come up with such an idea.

“You are the one who wants something from me. As you said. Quid pro que.”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte sighed and took another sip from her glass. Fine. Let her help Aaltes Tea try to compete against Hollande. If she could promote it, it might very well become succcesful and she could buy out some shares of the company. She was sure that her brother George, who had taken up a position of the board in Londres, wouldn’t be too mad at her, and if he was, oh well.

Charlotte: “Very well then.”

[Dutch-Empire]

Anna Charlotte nodded. The Empress of the Dutch could have some papers drawn up on a later date. That part would be easy once there was further time. She predicted that ther could be a Aaltes establishment in Geneva in a few weeks.

“Very good. Now. What exactly is it that you wish for me to do?”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte’s famous blue eyes grew darker as she though about her request. She’d thought about this for a long time, for weeks seriously and for years in the back of her mind. Her heart pounded like a little drum of war in her chest. Part of her had thought that she could survive without out doing this, but no. She had to.

“I’d like you to arrange the murder of a Miss Blier-Labonté.”

[Dutch-Empire]

Empress Anna Charlotte let out a small gasp. Had she heard the Empress of Connuriste wrong? Why on earth would she wish to murder Angelette Blier-Labonté. She was a former lady-in-waiting of Anna Charlotte and a actress. Not just that, Angelette had worked alongside Anna Charlotte’s own daughter, Elizabeth Percy. Why on earth would Charlotte wish for an actress to be murdered?

“She is my daughter’s friend.”

Anna Charlotte paused. She had no love for Miss Blier-Labonté, she actually disliked her a bit for having left the honor of being one of her ladies in waiting to run off to become an actress nearly ten years ago. Besides, what was one life compared to Anna Charlotte’s own righteous cause and mission?

“Very well. Consider it done. But if I may ask. Why?”

[Great Hyruke]

Charlotte heart pumped faster and faster, so much that she feared that she would have to keep the organ from burst out of her chest. It was like a thundering storm inside of her, a dark cloud holding onto her inside, just beneath her skin, clawing and hooking at her like an animal. Perhaps it was Charlotte who was the animal, and not this storm that growled and scowled inside of her, for wax it not her who wished to use.

Charlotte knew that this was a time of mourning, a time of remembrance in honor of Alice, of a great woman who had once ruled the nation that Charlotte now call her home for the latest half of her life. But it was also a time of change and the end of one decade and the beginning of a new one. The end of one era and now the beginning of a new one. It was a time of closing one chapter and starting a new one. And heavens knew that Charlotte wished to write the end of one chapter and place it behind her. But there was one thing she had to do.

For years, for nearly a decade her relationship with Connor had been so strained, in large part because of Charlotte’s own actions, her on things that perhaps she shouldn’t have done, though she had agreed quietly with her self that she wouldn’t have done things differently, as she couldn’t see a Life wear she would have been as happy as she was if she’d acted differently, even if there were times and things that had happened to her that had caused so much pain. One could only move forward and act differently in the future.

But it was not all on Charlotte’s shoulders. Charlotte remember a single night from nine years ago, after her return to Lausanne and felt a coldness, a shift and change in her husband. She had sobbed for hours in her room, left by herself without Connor, sweet Connor who was so kind and so loving, so beloved even while the world both hated and adored Charlotte for her actions. Then the letter had arrived. It had arrived in a simple enevolpe, made to draw no attention. But Miss Chelsea, Charlotte’s ever loyal nanny, had given it to Charlotte’s intrusive mother.

Auguste had come to Charlotte with this letter, a letter from a young rising actress, imploring her to read it, to reveal whatever dark truth that lay within it. And Charlotte had been tempted. But she’d refused. She had left the letter unopened and had let it flow to her husband without him knowing if her knowledge. And so the letters had flowed between Connor and this young woman. And Charlotte never spoke of it, but she ran her household and so she knew whenever a letter arrived. She wished to live with the benefit of the doubt, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of what horrible truth might lay within those envelopes.

And then the envelopes stopped, just before Alice’s death. And Charlotte could sense it was the last of the letters. And while she’d never discovered what they held, she couldn’t have beared it if it had confirmed her fears, ever since then she’d been terrified that the letters might return. And she felt the only way to end that chapter was with a death, sealing a dark past in spilled blood. Valen was gone. Alice was gone. Last was Angelette. There was no more secret empresses, no Mother empresses or former ones. Charlotte was the one and only.

Charlotte: “Why? It is simple. Because I am the Empress of Connuriste.”

[Rhine-East Berlin]

20 April 2080

Music drifted through the ball room of the Zentrumpalst, the famous Centre Palace that was the official residence of the Imperial Family. It was an impressive building that had been the great center of the royal family and the monarchy ever since its recreation by Wilhelm III’s great-grandfather, Eduard III seventy-two years before. And today it was hosting a party that was hopefully the first step in saving the monarchy.

The House of Brandenburg had ruled Rhine-East Berlin for over 160 years, though now it seemed that the dynasty may not make it past this generation. Wilhelm III had had four brothers, but then his elder and Predecessor as Kaiser, Frederich Wilhelm V had died with only a single daughter, Princess Imperial Augusta. And while Wilhelm’s own wife, Empress Marianne was pregnant at the moment, there was no guarantee that it would be the male heir that he so badly needed.

Meanwhile his younger brother and his heir apparent, Prince Ludvig had a wife and child, but only one and she Princess Friederike, was a girl as well. And while Wilhelm III had three sisters, all having married and lost their husbands, leaving two of them with sons, they couldn’t inherit the throne through their mothers. So that left his brother Prince Karl. At 24 years old, Karl was young and handsome. He hoped that he could use Karl to at the very least produce a male heir Incase Wilhelm III or Ludvig weren’t able to. So Karl had to fine a wife.

So Wilhelm III had made an open invitation for all eligible ladies of noble or royal birth to contend for Prince Karl’s hand.

As the Kaiser waited for his guests to arrive, Queen Frederica, the Dowager Queen of Zidaria went over the security detail of the palace. Frederica, since her return from her late husband’s country had buried her sorrow in work, getting placed in charge of the palace guards, a virtual army to protect the monarchy. As she did so, her sisters the Dowager Queen Alexandrine and Duchess Marie Louise walked along either side of their brother, Prince Karl. They would be watching the potential suitors searching for who would be the best bride.

[Dutch-Empire]

Empress Anna Charlotte made her way into the Zentrumpalast, wearing a soft lavender gown embroidered with jewels with a high neckline and a sweeping purple cape to match. On her head stop her long hair was a sparkling diamond tiara with a silver and diamond choker that wrapped around her neck.

Following the Empress of the Dutch was one of her ladies in waiting and her candidate to marry Prince Karl of Prussia, Countess Maaike de Geoles. Maaike was the eldest of three daughters, at 28 years old she was just four years older than the prince, and had inherited her title from her father just last year. And while the title wouldn’t go on to her children, she was still a member of the nobility. As Anna Charlotte had no daughters of her own who could fit the bill that the Kaiser had set, she looked to Maaike to do so.

Countess Maaike was lovely woman with a sharp nose and short blonde hair. The Countess wore a soft blue dress decorated with pearls that sounded off her shoulders around with a small tiara made of pearls on her head.

[Polonge]

Duchess Carlotta of Granada and Princess Adrienna, the two daughters of Dowager Duchess Eleanora walked with their mother up the steps from their car in front of the Zentrumpalast. Duchess Carlotta, the elder sister was whom the Dowager Duchess hoped might make a lovely bride for the Prince of Prussia, while Adrienna, a year younger, was attending only because her mother and sister were.

The Dowager Duchess, a Polongain princess by birth and distant cousin of the current Empress of Polonge, had been married to Infante Felipe, Duke of Granada, that is until his death during the First Spanish-Dutch War has claimed his life. Since then she’d raised her daughters by herself in Great Hyruke and in Polonge. While Eleanora valued her daughter’s opinion and choices, she also had to meddle as much as any mother would, bring her to this party in hopes of seeing her wed a prince.

Duchess Carlotta herself... neutral on meeting Prince Karl, after all she was used to royalty, though she supposed that Prince Karl did out rank her as the son and brother of three emperors whilst she was the granddaughter of a king. But she would enter this party with the best of intentions.

[Northe Scotland]

Princess Zénaïde, Countess of Paris stepped out of her limousine in front of the Zentrumpalast. The young Scottish princess, though born in Geneva and raised in Derita, was the daughter of Queen Adelaide I and Joseph, Duke of Chartes. She was only 19 years old, but she she was of respectable birth and status and was as such seem as a perfect candidate for Prince Karl. Princess Zénaïde strolled up the steps of the palace, looking back at her ‘chaperone’.

[Kingdom of Derita]

Prince Alexandre stepped out of the car after Princess Zénaïde. The Prince Régent has sent his second son to Berlin for two reasons. He wanted Alexandre to keep an eye on Princess Zénaïde, the Scottish princess wasn’t of the same line as Queen Adelaide II and her sisters and as such the Prince Régent wasn’t sure how she may sway to or from Deritain interests. Nonetheless they believed that she would make the best candidate for them.

Prince Alexandre wore a dark gray tuxedo with a pale peach bow tie and a matching rose. The Duke of Alençon couldn’t help but be a bit flashy, even without his uniform. His father, from Saint Petersburghe where he was spending time keeping that empire afloat with his mother gone, had advised against it, two bold in Rhine-East Berlin where they loved their own army. Alexandre had argued that the Prussians respected military might. His father had ignored him.

The Duke of Alençon hurried up the steps after Princess Zénaïde with a smile. He was, at least officially, to act as the Countess of Paris’ chaperone and bodyguard, on behalf of her father the Duke of Chartes who hated royal politics and refused to come, and while he was prepared to act as such, the likelihood of such a situation was incredibly low. Alexandre was sure that all would go accordingly.