(Province of Gayram, port of Trok, few hours before the banquet)
The church bell rang at six o'clock, the tired carpenter stopped working and looked out at the direction it was coming from. You couldn't see the bell tower from his workshop but he always knew in which direction to look. Especially on days like there, they have been gone for a whole day now. Jonathan Euler whipped his hands clean from the sawdust and sweat, turned towards the bell tower and pressed his hands for a prayer, moving his mouth in silence as he prayed to the Lord to help them return safely. He felt the crucifix around his neck get heavier with every passing second, the answer he was too afraid to understand.
(Empress's chambers, few horse before the banquet)
Maria repeatedly counted the beads on her rosemary.
"At least they won't think she is pregnant any more." Diana was biting her nails while looking at the dress on the display.
"She will be here in a minute so stop that." Maria scolded her for looking nervous but she was the one walking up and down the room. Diana found her like that, who knows how long she has been walking like that before Diana arrived.
"Look who is talking!"
Both of them looked at each other, both stopping what they were doing.
Maria fixed her dress and Diana rubbed her hands together, one more minute and her fingers would start bleeding.
The two ladies sat on the sofa, looking straight ahead into the unlit fireplace.
Diana spoke, "It will be alright."
"Yes."
"It is only a dress."
"Only a dress."
Maria glanced at the red box on the table next to the gloves, and started praying again. If Diana finds the necklace, where it is from. The whole hell will break loose.
Even Emily, the maid known for always being composed and professional, looked nervous. All of them knew it was not about the dress.
The door opened, at first Abigail picked inside to check if anybody was there, then she opened them wide, entering with the empress behind her.
The light from the hallway shone into the semi dark room, falling right on the dress on display. Abigail walked in but the Empress stopped at the door, looking right at it. Diana saw it, the light that went across her eyes, like the whole puzzle just came together.
"Good evening, Your Majesty." Diana spoke by memory.
The Empress looked at all of them, one by one, making note of who was in the room. Then she entered, going right to the dress, that did not look even close to glorious in the darkness of the room. When Diana came here, all the candles except from two, both on opposite sides of the room, were lit.
Katherine touched the skirt, rubbed the fabric under her fingers, touched the sapphires that hang around the dress like ornaments.
"What is this?" She asked at last looking at all three of them. Perhaps, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.
Diana was quick to answer, "A gift from His majesty."
She saw right through her, the Empress was touching the fabric again, "From where?"
She already knew, but Diana told her regardless, "Gayrem."
"Ah." The Empress stopped touching the dress and made a step back, "It is beautiful."
It felt like something stabbed her right into the stomach, or like someone had kicked her, stepped right on her, Diana straightened her back as much as she could.
That is right, duty is duty.
"Should I start getting ready?" The Empress asked.
"Of course, my Lady." Maria and Abigail answered almost in sync.
The Empress turned towards her maid, "Emily, can you light up the room?"
Instead of answering Emily went to do the task given to her right away, opening the cabinets and taking out all the candles and all the candleholders that she had put away upon the Empress's request several days ago.
Only when she lit up the last candle, Katherine started taking off her gloves, she placed them on the couch and reached her hand towards the dress, only to stop halfway, Diana observed her the whole time. Katherine took a deep breath and invited Emily to help her take off her corset, Maria and Abigail started disassembling the dress from the mannequin, yet Diana stayed there standing frozen and not knowing what to do. If she was honest and able to do what she wants, that dress would already be up in flames, she would destroy it in a way that its existence would completely disappear from this world. But she has no such power, no such authority it is not her place to mingle in.
That wound will never heal, it will only get deeper as long as the Emperor is alive. Diana hates that man to the core of both his and hers existence, from the day she met him she never liked him.
Diana came to the palace young, she was the same age as Katherine at the time, both were sixteen, and one of them was getting married and becoming a queen. Diana was brought there to keep her company, essentially to serve in a role of a trusted friend, but the two of them became so close that they are more like sisters than friends. It is the same for all four of them.
When you have such a relationship with someone, their anger becomes yours as well as their pain. Diana remembers every foul play, every bad word and every single outburst of anger that was directed to Katherine. It is the same now, while she helps to get her get dressed into a dress that was gifted to Katherine only for lustful causes. Diana has been suspecting it for a long time, no, she knew for a long time. But her mind could never comprehend the idea of it having an actual effect on Katherine. Making his wife wear a dress made by that woman was beyond cruel.
Diana messed up the lacing of the corset, which made her snap out of her thoughts.
"Let me help you." Abigail said, already taking the silk ribbon out of her hands and starting the process again, making every loop neat and tight. Diana kept standing there and just looking. It was too vulgar, it was too much for a woman like Katherine.
Realistically the style of the dress itself was nothing unusual, many women wore that style nowadays, including Diana. But for Katherine, the lack of sleeves and cleavage cover, the exposed back and shoulder, neck in the wide open, that is not the Empress, that will never be the Empress no matter how hard she tries to find her beautiful.
Katherine is beautiful, she is eternally beautiful, her face is one that belongs on a wall of the temple, it is a face you pray to. Her thin arms and skin so light it is almost see through, in a dark dress that squeezed her waist, she looked like a doll made for display.
Diana knows what this dress is made for, seduction, but the woman wearing it is not made for seduction.
That woman is made for sitting still in a chair inside a temple far away from here, in some deep forest where no one will ever see her face.
That is just how heavenly she looked.
Of course, such a face is considered exotic in these parts, there is no one even similar to Katherine, not even her daughter, who is a spitting image of her, comes close to that level. Probably because of the blood of the Emperor in her veins.
Who even are the people able to create such a person?
If this is how she looks, how do they look?
Diana blinked, staring at the bare back of her mistress, made her remember images of wounds she saw too many times. And each time it is like they never existed.
Of course, such a person can't be born.
"Diana," Katherine turned her head, glancing at her over the shoulder.
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Where is Neftali?"
"I sent her to you not too long ago, have you not met her?"
"No, I didn't see her. Was she alone?"
"Sir Leo was accompanying her."
"I see."
Abigail started tightening the corset to the fullest which made Katherine lose her breath for a moment.
"I'm sorry." Said Abigail.
"I don't mind."
Diana came around and stood in front of the couch Katherine was holding out to while Abigail tightened her corset. "Should I go find her?"
"No, there is no need."
Katherine looked around the room, stopping her eyes on Emily, "Please leave us." She told her.
Emily stopped helping Maria with the skirt of the dress and left the room quietly. The moment she closed the door, all the candle light in the room flickered. The window outside the chamber doors was wide open. The evening's wind gust came in.
Instead of saying anything Katherine just kept on getting ready, putting on the heavy skirt, the silky gloves in the same colour as the sapphires on the dress, her shoes had a small heal and they were in dark blue colour similar to the dress, her legs are covered in stockings, leaving the only exposed part of her skin the cleavage and neck.
"Can you make the skirt wider?" Katherine asked, looking at herself in the mirror.
"We could add another small underskirt, but I think it will become too heavy to walk in." Said Abigail while taking that as a genuine question.
"Let us try."
"It would take some time to find, I don't want you to be late to the banquet my lady."
Katherine smiled at her, "Do not worry, tonight, it is wished for me to be late."
"Yes my lady." Abigail bowed and quickly left the room to go find the underskirt that was probably in the storage room on the first floor.
Now there were only three of them left, Katherine sat down on the couch, she was going to say something, Diana only wondered who she wanted to talk to, was it going to be her or Maria. Since Abigail is usually efficient in her tasks, Katherine didn't have a lot of time to make her move. Diana started doing her hair, pining it up high with jewelry similar to the one on the dress. Under her fingers Diana noticed that Katherine's blond hair started to fade into a much lighter color, almost the same shade of white as her skin.
"What is in the box?" She asked both of them.
Diana saw Maria almost flinching at that question. "A gift from His Majesty."
This was the first time Diana noticed a red box with a letter stuck to its side.
"Let me see."
Maria took a deep breath and looked at Diana, signalling her to move, Diana listened and pretended to go look for another brush she didn't need. Maria brought the box to Katherine.
The Empress opened it and smiled, it was not a smile of happiness, inside a box was a necklace made out of golden pearls with a large cross hanging from it, with a large sapphire in the middle.
Katherine took it out of the box, ignoring the letter that fell on her lap. "Put it on me." She said to Maria.
"Are you sure, Your Majesty?"
Katherine handed her the necklace and opened the letter, only when she read it Katherine answered to Maria. "Yes."
Maria tried hard not to make her hands shake, but still it was hard for her to close the clasp around Katherine's neck, her hands simply rejected that action. Diana finally gave in and stepped in, closing the clasp, finally letting the necklace fall down Her Majesty's neck.
Katherine touched the cold metal with her hand. "Are they still in the palace?"
Diana froze. Maria answered. "Yes, he won't let them leave."
"Where are they?"
"In the Green palace."
"Go and help them go home."
Two of them answered in since. "Yes, Your Majesty."