07 December 1730, Warwick (England)
-My lady- a young male voice broke the morning quiet that was customary to be on any day at the castle.
The incessant sound of leather soles on the hard marble of the corridor could be heard in every room of the great castle.
The heavy oak door opened and then closed, the noise stopped. When young Juniper Whiteblossom arrived in the princess's large room, everything was still to be prepared.
The room was still in a mess, full of attendants ready to clean everything up. -My princess- the young man repeated again, this time attracting the attention of the girl. Juniper was a tall, thin young man, with a healthy build one would have thought for any young man his age. He was handsome, his face was pale, almost waxy, but enlivened by two large blue-sapphire eyes and curly golden blond hair.
-Go away! - the voice of the young princess rang out in the room after a few minutes -I want you all to go away except you, Juniper, you stay where you are ... -.
At those words all the attendants who had been there from the beginning on duty to tidy up the princess's room immediately hurried out of the room. They knew that Princess Isabelle did not like to wait. Juniper kept his lips parted, but left enough room for the pure and pleasant fresh air that entered the room through the window to enter his mouth.
The young man wrapped his arms around his body and stood there, waiting for the cold to envelop him, cuddle him, fill his lungs until he was suffocated. When all the maids left the room it was not difficult for him to be able to see the figure of the princess there, in the middle of the room sitting on a stool watching the image of her in the mirror.
Juniper said nothing, he was silent, he stood still, almost like an insect trying not to make a noise, not to move to escape the spider's grip.
- Come closer, Juniper - after minutes of silence the girl began to speak, her voice still seemed that of a person tired or hypnotised by some force, but certainly not that of the princess.
In any case the young man did not want to and could not disobey the princess's commands, so he did as she was told. He walked over to the girl just enough to see her face reflected in the mirror.
The princess's face was as enchanting, her red cheeks, her small upturned nose and her big light-blue eyes gave her the incredible appearance of a doll. She sat there motionless without making a noise, she was looking only at her figure, as if she were enchanted by it.
-Princess- the young man began to talk again -breakfast will be served in the dining room shortly, I would advise you to get dressed and go as soon as possible-.
A smile appeared on Isabelle's young face, her smile made her face even more colorful and spacious, it made her more beautiful.
-Take the brush, I want you to brush my hair first- ordered the girl, turning her gaze on a bench and pointing to a small wooden brush with bristles made of horsehair.
-My lady, I am neither an attendant nor a servant, but a baron, a noble, it is not my job to do this ... - Juniper began to speak with a mixed tone between nervous and humiliated as he looked away out of the wide open window.
The wind came in at long intervals, but when it did it was strong and determined. -My dear cousin ... - the clear and soft lips of the princess began to move again -the title of princess is totally higher than that of a baron, and as long as you have a lower charge than mine, I will be giving orders , you will have to obey me ... -.
The tone of the girl's voice was in all delicate and gentle as it was a job for a young lady's voice to be. The way these stinging phrases were said was utterly fearful and grim, it added a touch of chill to what it already was. Juniper grabbed the brush and took the princess's long hair in one of his hands.
Isabelle, in the past thirteen years of her life, had grown very long golden blond hair without ever cutting it. She had an unthinkable mass of them, blond and wavy that ran down to her lap, but which she in any way managed to keep tidy.
He began to run the bristles of the brush into the girl's blond hair, he did it again and again. Juniper began to grasp the first essences used for the girl's hygienic care. Did he smell the white jasmine or was it maybe carnation flower or lavender?
He wasn't sure, he wasn't sure anymore. A mixture of smells now took his nostrils suffocating them with perfumes and smells and he had never been good at recognising them.
Isabelle yawned and covered her lips with her small right hand. It must have been eight in the morning and the young girl was still in her white nightgown. She was sweaty from the night before, and it showed everything that was under that nightgown of hers.
-It's cold- commented the girl suddenly getting up from her chair - the territories of the Northern barony are certainly colder, isn't that so cousin? -.
The princess walked silently to the window which had remained wide open.
-I think so my lady, actually I don't remember very well ... I was little when I left the North, Scotland ... -
Isabelle smiled and stood at the window for a while looking out as her long blonde hairs were blown by the wind. The princess stayed there for some time, looking out the window waiting for the delicate touch of the wind to caress her face and fill her nostrils and lungs. -Sometimes I wish I could be like a bird ... - the girl began to fantasise. Her gaze, her sky-colored light blue eyes were immersed in emptiness while the girl played with with her wavy blond hairs.
-I would like to be like a bird and fly away from here, explore other places, be free ... -Juniper looked down, he could not contradict the princess, he, the young baron of the North had lived at the Warwick's castle since he was ten.
The boy was now seventeen, mature, grown up, but he knew more than anyone how stressful and sometimes boring life there was. The large window of the princess's room overlooked the royal garden, immense, full of roses and greenery. A sublime first view of the massive main marble fountain and the forests surrounding the castle. Isabelle was born and raised there, in Warwick, in the center of England. She grew up as a princess, she was always served and revered and her every whim was immediately fulfilled. That life was the ideal existence that any girl her age would dream of, but that life full of luxury seemed too much even for Isabelle herself.
-My princess- Juniper persistently spoke again -breakfast, your family is waiting at the table-.
The girl instantly turned her gaze on the young baron and a silence of a few seconds was created between the two. The young man did not have the courage to look away at the girl, it was not allowed to provoke or insistently look into the eyes of a lady. It was a question of education, nobility and etiquette. -You are right- she admitted looking at the ground.
Juniper felt very amazed by the girl's surrender, he felt proud of himself.
-I should stop, fantasising about these sneaky thoughts ... I want you to leave Juniper, go away and make my attendants return to me-. The baron stood up and bowed, lowering his head and letting some of his blond locks fall on his beautiful pale face.
Isabelle nodded and closed her eyes. The young man immediately left the room, but before disappearing behind the massive wooden door he took another look at the princess. To his surprise, in a few seconds the princess was sitting again in her small wooden chair, as if she hadn't even got up or moved from there. A large crowd of attendants had stood patiently behind the door to wait. About fifteen women, all aged between 20 and 40, waited patiently with towels, new sheets and new dresses or aromatic perfumes to propose to the princess.
Juniper began to feel a sense of despondency and dejection growing in himself, although he was a baron and the king's nephew, he still did not have such a number of attendants to dress him up or perfume him. All he had were four servants who helped him every morning in choosing clothes, brushing his hair or filling the bathtub for him.
-The princess wants you to go back to her, help her get dressed, quickly, I don't know how much the queen is willing to wait any longer-. Most of the women nodded and once the door to the room was opened that crowd entered into an uproar accompanied by a fragrant and feminine smell of perfumes and peach and scented waters.
The young man loved that kind of feminine smells belonging to members of the aristocracy. Those delicate flower smells partially reminded Juniper of his mother, she always used to have her golden blonde long curls washed with wild musk and snowdrop soap and perfumed her body with lavender essence.
The delicate smells of his mother were perhaps the only feminine smells the young baron had ever been able to recognise and thinking about it he began to feel a sense of nostalgia and sadness. Juniper walked without stopping along the wide corridor of the great castle. He felt slightly a sense of coolness behind him, some of the attendants had to forget an open window.
However, as the young man continued to walk he was able to experience that sensation he had always waited. The cold had managed to take it into his hands, mold it to his will and fill his lungs. All these strange sensations reminded him in the North, the land where he was born, the cold touch of the snow, the woods, the mountains, the ice, the stables.
He missed all this incredibly but he couldn't do anything about it, he couldn't go back there, it was a long story, a story of murderers, of blood and death that covered a past that the young man didn't want to remember.
All he wanted to remember about the North was that he missed it very much, the fortress of the Whiteblossom family, of his family he missed most of all. It was an huge fortress, quite dark, but it had always been in his thoughts, the snowy hill overlooking the town, all that had always belonged to his father's family for centuries.
It still was, but not Juniper, by the legitimate heir of all those possessions.
He soon found himself in front of the door of the hall, presided as usual by two royal guards. They let the young baron enter without saying anything. The dining room was enormously large for the small royal family. Maybe it could have been an illusion or maybe not but the very high, white walls, made the hall look even bigger.
A long oak table stood in the center of the room and sunlight entered the room in different colours due to the stained glass windows depicting war scenes or simply symbols. The colours were gracefully reflected across the room, ranging from green to saffron yellow or golden yellow back to fiery red or ash grey.
Juniper said nothing, on the other hand he had nothing to complain about, he only crossed the huge hall and sat in silence on one of the massive wooden chairs at the bottom of the table.
Juniper was somehow part of the royal family of Hannover.
Part of their blood ran through his veins and he was proud of it, for the first time he could feel that sense of family warmth and belonging that he had always lacked. The young baron was the only child, born of a marriage between the young and beautiful princess Ella, the younger sister of the late king and the baron of the North.
Anyway Juniper had always had a much closer bond with his mother than with his father, and this often led him to playfully mistake his real surname, Whiteblossom for his mother's surname, Hannover. He remained silent as long as he could, he hoped that no one would turn to him. That morning he wanted to be alone, he wanted to think on how one day he could regain the North, his home and be able to return there.
He raised his face towards the other members of the royal family, seated around the large table. Even if he badly needed to be alone on himself he could not ignore the rubbing of the elegant silver cutlery on the fine porcelain plates. The first person who caught his attention, both in terms of movement and perfume, was Prince Henry. The prince was a man with a decidedly majestic and magnificent appearance, the movements of his arms at the table, the precision with which he pierced the food into his plate and brought it nobly to his lips was definitely amazing.
Henry was now in his middle-twenties and was a man full of himself and with courage and fullness of himself never lacking, his golden blond hairs had grown so much that they reached half the length of his back. They were smooth and gave him a touch of nobility.
As for the prince's eyes, his gaze was deep and the satin grey colour of his eyes made him look incredibly persuasive.
At the head of the table sat Lady Katherine Patterson, Her Majesty the Queen herself. Since England's ruler King Karlheinz Hannover had died a couple of years earlier, his second wife, had been the one to carry on the family and establish order or make decisions for the kingdom. The situation of the kingdom had not been easy since the death of the legitimate ruler and all this for a cause of actions and consequences. In fact, upon the death of the king, Crown Prince Henry should have succeeded in direct line to the throne, but this thing was not possible due to the maternal lineage of the young man.
So the role of legitimate heir to the throne was passed to Princess Isabelle Josephine Hannover, who however was too young to become queen. Juniper began to feel hungry, he took a fork finely and began to eat some food that had already been arranged on his plate.
Throughout the meal the young baron tried not to stare too much at the other members of the royal family, but all this seemed almost impossible. He felt an hot sensation on his body, he wished he could take off his fine white shirt but it wouldn't be kind, not at the table. So he took a fillet of fish that had been arranged in a showy tray, flavored with lemon and fragrant mint leaves and began in spite of himself to cut the food with the knife and politely bring it to his mouth, sometimes wiping his tight lips with a soft napkin.
Juniper did not like fish, like many of the local foods. In the north there were not many lakes or rivers to go fishing and in any case the cold and ice did not make it easy to find fish. Further up, in the true North, in the center of Scotland, a few kilometers from Dundee or Glasgow extended immense snowy forests where it was possible to hunt deers or rabbits. The young baron liked that kind of meat, that of the North. The huge wooden door of the hall opened preceded by the click of the heavy bolt.
Princess Isabelle stepped forward and sat down on one of the massive wooden chairs that surrounded the table. She was dressed beautifully and elegantly as usual. She was dressed in a flashy and long dark red dress with white and gold embroidery and her very long hair was closed by a small braid in a bun behind her head while two braids were let down from both of her shoulders to her small breasts .
-Good day mother, even to you brother dear- barely mentioned the young woman adjusting her graceful body on her chair.
-It is a pleasure to see you in such good shape today, my daughter- commented Lady Katherine, neatly taking a ripe and juicy bunch of grapes with a fork.
-It's a pleasure to please you- commented the girl starting neatly to arrange the food on her plate. A faint shadow of silence formed inside the room. After swallowing yet another bite, the queen began to speak again -I would like to talk to you if it is not a problem- the mother began to speak taking in her delicate and tapered hands those of the young lady.
-Tell me mother, I'm ready to listen to you- began the girl, looking at her face. The queen returned to take her impeccable attitude and bring to her mouth a piece of the large grapefruit arranged in pieces in a tray full of winter fruits.
-In exactly one week you will be fourteen, and for some time now you have started to bleed ... -The movements of the young woman slowed their course more and more as those words came out of the woman's mouth. The queen swallowed slowly and then spoke again. -Soon, my daughter, you will be of marriageable age, I think you yourself have already thought about it-. The princess stopped her bite in front of her soft lips, paused for a few seconds to stare into space, a point next to her brother, but still into space, and then began to eat.
-Yes, mother, this idea was already in my head for a long time now ... -.
-I thought it was time for an appropriate husband to be chosen for you, my daughter- Lady Katherine continued to talk to her, staring her big light blue eyes.
-As already decided in just over a year, you will get married with Viscount and General Gilbert Stanley, I thought it correct to inform you of my choice ... -. The princess made a rather reluctant face and returned without saying anything to eat her meal. -You don't say anything brother? - asked the princess with an irritating and almost defiant air, noting that Prince Henri hadn't said anything during the whole time.
The man looked up at the sister almost as if he had awakened from a daydream. -This is what our father would have wanted, sister dear- the prince said, washing his hands in fragrant lemon-flavoured water.
Isabelle nodded several times, almost with the air of a person whose understanding is great, but on her lowered face an eerie smile full of malice stood out. Juniper had continued to follow the whole conversation, not meddling and not wanting to take sides, on the other hand his purpose was just that, to be able to feed himself adequately without being noticed too much and then, after the meal, return to serve his cousin as a simple courtier.
Yet as soon as he noticed the girl's oddly wicked smile she had always known that the situation would completely degenerate over the next few minutes. If the young baron had learned anything from his last seven years at the royal court it was to know the character of all the members of the royal family by heart.
What he knew perfectly well about the princess was that he had a strange pleasure and sadism in upsetting the psyche of her older half-brother. - Mother - continued the girl - I would like to discuss a particular topic with you, if I am allowed -. The woman briefly nodded, wiping her hands with the handkerchief placed precisely next to the plate. -I would like to talk to you about my coronation ... - At those words the prince froze completely for a few seconds and then continue eating.
-You will have to wait until you are fifteen years old to be declared princess regent and at your eighteenth birthday you will be crowned Queen of England- the queen spoke quickly, trying to talk as little as possible about the subject in front of the prince.
-Once I am queen, I will follow in my father's footsteps, I will continue the war, I will demand the retreat and defeat of all the Frenchmen- at those words, Prince Henry placed his fork forcefully next to the plate, wiped his lips with a napkin and washed his hands one last time in lemon water. -Please excuse my rudeness my queen, may I leave the table?-. Prince Henry seemed to have a rather hurt and melancholy voice.
-I accept your request- the woman lowered her head in greeting. Juniper could understand what kind of frustration the prince might had felt at that moment, Isabelle was able to point to one of the man's weaknesses. Everyone knew what kind of childhood Prince Henry had and what influence the English-French war had led to the brutal death of his mother.
The king never spoke of these matters, but in reality, he, Karlheinz I Hannover, descendant of the first king of England Egbert of Wessex was the only cause of the death of his first French wife on the guillotine. For the rest of the meal since Prince Henry left the table, nothing changed significantly, the only thing Juniper was sure of was that this was not yet over.