Nadir pitied the girl.
Taken from her home, married to a masked whom she knew nothing of.
She handled it well, and that he was glad of. She seemed very polite and organized, a lady through and through, even if she wasn't of noble birth.
And that was the trouble. She wasn't of noble birth. That's what the servants needed, and it was what they expected.
Antoinette didn't hold it against her, of course. Erik had picked her to run his castle when he found out that she had single handedly saved her late husband's tavern from ruin. In addition, she had made so much money that she started making loans to people in the village. She had learned quite a bit about all the trades of life, for security, being able to judge that her money would be made back and returned. As such, she had nearly run the entire region before Erik had finally hired her.
She ran Erik's castle with an iron hand, and still managed to be his lovely wife and a wonderful mother. She was an excellent judge of character and Nadir knew that Christine had passed that judgement.
Nadir even believed that Antoinette liked the girl, perhaps seeing some of herself in her. And yet the rest of the staff didn't think so. Neither did the ladies of the small court Erik had created. Nadir saw it, she had no one to speak with but Erik, Meg, Antoinette, and Nadir. The cooks hated her, the seamstresses hated her, servants hated her. The carpenter had procrastinated making the mold for her shoes until Nadir had had a very special conversation with him.
Nadir had seen her pushing the food around on her plate, eating little of it. Once Nadir had discreetly tried some of the leftovers, nearly every item had been spoiled somehow. The meat over salted, the cakes as hard as rocks. He'd been disgusted with it, but when he'd confronted Christine about it a few days after she went to the sea, she had begged him not to punish anyone.
"I understand their feelings. I don't blame them for hating me." She said cheerfully. "They have reason to think badly of me. But if you're worried about my diet, Meg makes sure that my breakfast and lunch are good, so I eat. But the tricks will fade soon." She had smiled. "I hope to win them over soon enough."
Nadir sighed. "Perhaps I ought to tell Erik." He admitted.
"You will not." Christine said, her voice suddenly hard. "He will punish them and that is not what I want. It will only harden their hearts against me. I have seen it when I traveled with my father."
But it wasn't fast enough for Nadir, though he respected her wishes. Things only worsened after the pregnancy was announced, Erik almost seemed to avoid Christine at times. Though he tried to hide it, it was clear that something was awry between them.
This only caused for the servants to rain down more of their fury on her. Meg reported that Christine's arms were constantly speckled with scabs from the wounds the seamstresses had given her, Meg had to check Christine's bed every evening for spiders, frogs and whatever else they might think of putting in them. Her dresses came back from the laundry with the hem ripped out, her favorite headclothes disappearing entirely until Meg hunted them down.
In addition, the cook that had been punished for her thieving, they defended her. Had not fetched her the day after her whipping as had been ordered. Instead they had let her rest for six days before Nadir forced her to return to the kitchen.
It was odd. Normally such a person would have been condemned in the kitchens. Erik was a popular Duke, and his servants held great love for their odd master. But the cook had been condemned by his wife. His wife had ordered the whippings, his wife had caused her pain. And so they protected her.
Nadir simply did not understand why they hated her so. He understood somewhat why the court ladies did not include her in their groups, but the servants? Surely they were happy to have one of their own rise so high.
It wasn't until Lady Giry and Meg were able to overhear a few rumors that Nadir finally understood.
"They think she is a witch." Lady Giry said one night as they lay together in bed. The woman pursed her lips and shook her head. "No, perhaps not a witch, but a vixen. They think that she has seduced his Grace for his riches, that she has poisoned his mind. After all," She added coldly. "Why would he ever marry her? A spinster woman, no noble blood, no land and no money to her name. They somehow found out that she was in a travelers groups for a time and that she learned there how to brew something in a cauldron and captured his Grace's heart."
"And so they take it out on her. I see now." Nadir murmured, and he pulled his wife a little closer. "Yes, why would anyone marry an older woman?" He teased, they had married when she had been twenty nine.
She sifted in his arms, her eyes sharp in the candlelight though her cheeks were pink. "You are not a duke."
Suddenly Nadir recalled the words that Christine had spoken just a few days earlier. "I wonder if she knows."
"Why they hate her? I'm sure she suspects." Antoinette sighed, pulling the covers a little higher, it was a cold night. "I'll give her this, she's very determined. Hasn't complained once. Hasn't even snapped at any of them. They'll come around eventually."
"It is good that she has Meg." Nadir said softly.
"It's good that Meg listens to you." Lady Giry said. "If you hadn't told her all about how much his Grace seemed to like his new wife, she might have believed all the rumors."
Oky, this chapter is actually gonna be EVEN shorter than usual. Only about 1000 words and normally I like them to be at least 1200-1300, preferring 1500 words.
This is largely because of the fact that I cannot for the life of me add anything more that makes sense to be added on and is not useless drabble.
Also, partly because of the fact that I'm gonna have a long Authors note.
So, in light of the recent Covid-19 panic, I've been sewing cloth masks in my spare time to donate, in hopes of helping in what little way I can. If anyone wants to help this way too, this is the pattern I'm using. - id/AB-Mask-for-a-Nurse-by-a-Nurse/?fbclid=IwAR21M51TOOpuAGWyDtMiav8h5tnwdS7U8iAF8_k3Y_d0WlwsnApD0pzoG4s
I would recommend drafting the pattern yourself on cardboard using the exact measurements someone posted in the comments. This I found to be much easier than trying to print it out in just the right size.
Also, if you want to donate them, and have no idea where here is a organization that is taking donations and is taking them to places that request them. - /volunteer
While cloth masks are DEFINITELY not a replacement for medical masks and especially not for the special 95 ones, they can help in lower risk situations, help extend the life of medical masks by wearing them on the outside (Thus preventing them from getting dirty as fast. While also being able to be reused.) AND serve as a reminder to avoid the face.
I'm trying to help how I can. I am lucky, as I am not in any of the risk groups, and am perfectly healthy. Don't worry about me. Stay inside, follow social restrictions. Yes, this illness is dangerous and yes, we should be taking it seriously. Please don't cause someone in a risk group to die or get seriously injured cause you wanted to get a drink with your buddies.
Buuuuuut. Because I'm making masks in time that I previously was using writing, I'm not writing as much as I used to. This does not mean that I am stopping writing this story, it just means I have less time to update this story, (Though now that I've given up and posted this chapter after not being able to add more to it for AGES I might start zooming ahead who knows.) so updates will slow down. *shrugs* It just how it be.
Okay, serious stuff aside. There are two more requests I would like to ask.
If anyone knows any really good Frankenstein fanfics, (I've recently reread the novel.) on any platform. (Ao3, tumblr, etc.), could you please direct me to it? (I'm looking for some T rated Frankstein's monster's bride survived scenarios but anything will do.)
Secondly, how is the whole castle politics vrs lady going? I'm really unsure of myself when it comes to politics and predicting what would solicit certain reactions, so I'm very hesitant about this whole business. If it doesn't makes sense I'd like to know and thus fix things.
I think that's it. Wow. Look at that authors note. Ha ha. Whoops.
Hope you all are happy and healthy! What do ya'lls think of Nadir?
Reviews make authors happy. :)
