Erzsébet closely watched as the servants left her alone in her royal quarters. They had already prepared everything she would need for getting herself ready for bed, even though she couldn't tell them how she had other matters to attend to first.
Once the main door was shut, Erzsébet went up to it and turned the lock, making sure that none would be allowed to access the room without Yao's master key. She then opened one of her cabinets, where she revealed the hidden shelf and pulled out a skeleton key of her own. She closed the cabinet, before moving towards her walk-in closet.
Instead of rushing in, however, she reached in and pulled the door shut. She put her skeleton key into the lock, turned it three times, and then reopened the door. This time, instead of the closet being filled with dresses, it had emptied to only contain a mirror on the far wall. Erzsébet entered this vacant wardrobe, closing and locking the door behind her. She then approached the mirror and focused on her reflection.
"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall.".
Her reflection in the mirror faded away, as her incantation made the mirror reveal a watery portal. She stepped through, and felt the sensation of being submerged in water as the portal took her to its final destination. She felt herself rise into the air out of the water, her feet landing on the shore of a secluded lake.
Although she was completely dry, despite the portal passing through water, Erzsébet shivered at the slight chill of the evening air. She walked away from the edge of the lake onto dry land, circling the large rock to reveal an old stone castle that Ixaidellian nobles had abandoned decades ago. The sunset had diminished into the far west as she reached the door and entered the castle, finding the familiar face just inside.
"Hello Erzsei," Lili welcomed from the kitchen door, "It's lovely to see you again."
"Hello Lilli," Erzsébet greeted, "Is he upstairs?"
"Yes, in his study," Lilli answered, "We still have some food left over, if you're hungry."
"No food, thank you," Erzsébet declined, "I'll have some tea, please."
"I'll get that started for you!"
As Erzsébet climbed the stairs to the second level, she thought she heard Lilli talking to herself in the kitchen, having a full-on solo conversation. Erzsébet had always warned Francis that the poor girl should need some social interaction if he ever wanted to put her to use in his plans. If the sweet blonde had resorted to talking to herself, there may be problems with her state of mind.
She reached the second floor and entered the study, where Francis was reading through one of his many old spell books.
"Hello Francis," Erzsébet addressed, "Is there a spell in there to ward off greedy old vultures?"
"Depends on the type of vulture," Francis answered as she sat opposite him, "I assume yours is of the human variety?"
"Yes, Baron Roderich Edelstein proposed marriage today," Erzsébet explained, "Can you believe him? I mean, honestly, did he really think I would consider marrying him? A woman has standards, after all, and an exalted woman like myself has very high standards."
Francis finally looked up from his book, and gave Erzsébet a scrutinizing look.
"Interesting," he finally remarked.
"What is interesting?"
"Your response to his proposal."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Consider your options. It's not like you have anyone else clambering to join you on the throne and replenish Stulikya's treasury."
"I would not be caught dead with him."
"You've spent so much money and magic supporting your vanity and ambition, you can't afford to say no."
"Then why don't you snap your fingers and make me a chest of gold?"
"You know as well as I do that it can't be done. You've already cast very dangerous spells of your own, you already know you'll eventually pay the price for them."
"Well, what do you suggest I do? I already have Natalya biting at my ankles for a chance to take my power, the last thing I need is her getting that opportunity."
"I suggest you marry someone rich, and you do so quickly. If you don't, then one of these days soon, when they ask who the rightful leader of Stulikya is, you won't like the answer."
Before anything else could be said, a young woman with brown hair showed up at the door to the room, a cup of tea in her hand.
"Lenka, give Erzsei her tea," Francis ordered, "then fetch me a glass of wine."
Erzsébet couldn't help but notice the glare Lenka was giving Francis as she crossed the room and briskly held out the cup of tea to Erzsébet.
"Thank you, Lenka," Erzsébet acknowledged as she gently took the cup.
The girl huffed as she turned away and left the room to go back downstairs.
"I see you picked up another captive, Francis," Erzsébet observed, "Who's she?"
"Her name is Lenka, she's my new pet from Inasdiff," Francis explained, "She has quite the unusual birth curse, which I've been exploiting to keep her here."
"And why exactly did you bring her here?"
"The naughty girl abandoned her station and crashed the Royal Ball held for Prince Ludwig's birthday. I was lucky to steal her away from the palace before the Duke could catch up with her. That was a close call, one of those boys actually found someone worth their while."
"Are you really still relying on the Ixaidellian Royal Family remaining celibate? You've been plotting this for 20 years, don't you have anything else to work with?"
"Patience is the name of the game, my dear. You know as well as I do that Prathage has been my priority all these years, and even that has had its complications."
"It's not like you've been doing much there, either. They've almost resolved their own civil war, so I hear. Have you even figured out how to get past the eternal winter?"
"I'm still working on it, I even tried something new this week. I attempted a catalyst spell, something to shake up the situation in Prathage. It did have unintended side effects though, it was almost as if it connected to something beyond our realm. I tracked the remnants of the magic to Inasdiff, where I found the result to be a strange man."
"A strange man?"
"He was an honoured guest of the King, and was even invited to the Ball. There was an otherworldly aura about him, as if his presence in this world is meant to make things happen."
"Now that sounds a lot more interesting. What do you know about him?"