Dear Diary,

Today was an...interesting day to say the least. Mr. Austria got a new boss and within an instant, got control of almost all of Europe except for France and England. How did this happen you may ask? Did he suddenly conquer all those nations? No, I'm Mr. Austria is not that strong. Actually, it was because that his new boss got lucky. His name is His Imperial Majesty, Charles V, and he inherited the lands from the two sides of his parents. Because they were all from ruling houses, as they slowly died out, their lands were inherited by Charles, meaning that now he controlled the lands of Spain, Lombardy, the Low Countries, Italy's younger brother, and Holy Roman Empire.

On one hand, I should be very happy for the young Master. I should be proud and supportive that Mr. Austria has acquired so much land and power. But that is not how I feel sadly. I am quite concerned for the young master. He is barely and adult, and yet several villagers, bureaucrats and politicians come to the mansion and his office everyday and bother him sometimes with the slightest of details. With more land, also comes more administration problems and paperwork. I do hope that they don't resort to violence within their own families. That is just too sad.

Christmas time is coming around and Mr. Austria has been going out shopping. One day, he came up to me and asked if I would like to take Little Ita with me, because he said that he would be taking Mr. HRE as well to buy presents. I thought that was very sweet of him. Just the other day, he had both of us working outside without gloves and coats. I was horrified that Little Ita almost froze to death because Mr. Austria didn't provide us with decent clothing against the cold. When I told him what happened, I could tell he was deeply sorry, even though his face did not show it. He was always bad with expressions, but no matter. He gave both of us the day off so that Little Feliciano could recover, and I could watch him.

A part of me is saying that I should hate Mr. Austria for not caring for us more. But sadly, it is not that simple. Little Feliciano really did try to do his best to do his work. And its not like I do not dislike the young master. I found out that I am actually older than he is, if only a little. He can be cold and aloof but at least he is fair to us. A while back, I was taken into that damn Turk's place and he was very cruel to his servants. So coming here and working for Mr. Austria is not too bad in retrospect.

We went out to buy presents, and he gave me some money and told me that I could buy whatever I wanted, for whomever I wanted. He is normally very frugal, but I suppose he could loosen his purse strings for Christmas. We made sure to buy the two boys a pair of new boots, a traveling cloak for Mr. HRE, and some new clothes for Little Feliciano. I find myself smiling at the moment as when all four of us went out together like that, we were almost like a young family. Almost.

-Elizabeth


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A/N: For thosee of you who don't know, Charles V of Hapsburg once controlled almost all of Europe because of the various marriages and alliances within the Hapsburg family.