It was soon discovered that Lord Oslo, as well as several other members of the council, viewed Elsa as unfit to rule- and their argument had nothing to do with the laws she had put into place to help better her country or the advancements she'd made in regards to beginning the industrial age of Arendelle, nor the treaties and alliances she had forged with other countries, but simply because she refused to reveal the father of her children- and so deemed a queen who wished to keep her personal life private, unfit to rule, and therefore decided that it would be best to attempt to remove her by way of a political coup. It was only thanks to Lord Bismarck- who had informed Anna, who in turn had warned her sister- that they had been stopped.
That did not mean it did not weigh heavily on her slender shoulders.
Her show of power would only keep them in line for so long, and when that wore off, she would be back at square one. She had to think of a way to take back control from her council- and fast. Her fourth child was growing more and more every day, and she knew that when her time came, she would be unable to do anything in regards to her council. She had to nip this in the bud and do it now, before she found herself within the dungeons.
It was in this state, seated at her desk in her private study just off her bedchamber, gaze locked on the floor in front of the blazing fireplace, one hand absentmindedly stroking her belly, that Hans and Anna found her. "Lise?" Anna knelt beside her sister's chair, reaching up to take the hand the rested upon her belly, but her sister didn't respond. "Lise, talk to me. Please."
Only the crackling of the fire answered the princess, who glanced at the king, and after a moment, Hans joined her. "Eliza? Dearest?" He sighed, turning to his sister-in-law. "Fetch the children."
Anna hesitated, before standing and hurrying to do as requested. Once gone, Hans turned back to his wife. He studied her for a moment, before reaching out and covering her hand with his. He knew that it was the blatant realization that her own council was working against her- merely because she refused to reveal their marriage- that had sent her into this state, and he hoped that having the children come to see her would take her attention from the matter at hand, if even for a little while. He sighed, standing and leaning over to brush a soft kiss to her forehead.
Small footsteps soon reached his ears, and he turned as the door opened; Milla came rushing into the room, Annes following, with Anna not far away, Anja on her hip. Behind them came Gerda, carrying a tray with coffee and tea, which she set upon the table before slipping from the room. "Mama!"
Milla's voice seemed to snap his wife out of her thoughts, and she looked up at him with a soft inhale, briefly confused, before turning as her daughter reached up and threw her arms around her. "Hello, my Milli-met, how was your day?" The little princess kissed her mother before pulling away.
"Good." The four-year-old turned to her father, who stood beside his wife's chair. "Papa!"
"Do I not get a kiss as well, mitt lille hjerte?"
"Not king, Papa." Hans paused, considering this.
"True, but I am King of the Southern Isles." The little girl's eyes widened, and she turned to her mother, who nodded. After a moment, Milla reached for her father, who scooped her up into his arms, kissing her softly on the cheek, which she returned.
"Really, king, Papa?" He nodded as Elsa chuckled softly, getting out of her chair and moving to sit on the sofa not far from the fire, shrugging out of her bodice and reaching for her youngest son. Anna joined her, as the little boy reached for his mother; once curled into her side, the boy latched onto her breast and began to nurse. As Elsa settled back against the sofa, focusing her attention on her youngest, her sister let Annes tug her off the sofa and joined him on the floor, where a small set of lovely carved wooden blocks sat.
The family enjoyed this moment of quiet piece, but it was soon interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. Upon Elsa's request, the door opened, and the royal family looked up. "Lord Bismarck."
"Your Majesties, Your Highnesses." The young councilman quickly bowed to the queen, making his way towards her at her allowance. He forced down the fear, feeling the queen's deep blue eyes following his every movement. "May I speak with you?" She glanced at the little boy at her breast, and then at her husband and sister, before turning back to him.
"You may. What do you wish to speak to me about, Lord Bismarck?"
Soft laughter reached their ears, and both looked towards the sound. "The King seems to certainly be invested in the Crown Princess, Your Majesty."
Hans sat on the floor of the study, Camilla in his lap. The four-year-old princess was watching as her father played with the doll she had received for her second birthday, making it dance and sing and talk- even going so far as to have it give her kisses, which delighted the child to no end, and she squealed excitedly as the doll gently attacked her chubby little cheeks, peppering her with kisses. She couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as she watched her husband with their oldest; Milla may have possessed her mother's features, but the fiery curls she possessed were all her father's. Anna meanwhile sat on the floor with her oldest nephew; she was helping the two-year-old little boy build a small tower out of blocks.
"Fathers have a particular weakness for their daughters, Lord Bismarck." She turned her attention briefly back towards her youngest. "My father was the same when Annalei and I were children, and my beloved Johannes is no exception."
"But sons are the more desired, are they not? In the birth order, your oldest son will surpass his sister for the crown-"
"In most empires, yes, but here, a law was put into place back in the sixteen-hundreds which states that the firstborn child, regardless of sex, shall take the throne of Arendelle, and that any child born after- unless something were to happen to the oldest- is second in the line of succession, regardless of sex. A woman may rule just as well if not better than any man, Lord Bismarck. Something that all of my council, with the exception of yourself, refuses to acknowledge."
The little girl's squeals broke the conversation, and the pair watched as Hans pressed a kiss to Camilla's soft curls. After a moment, she turned back to the junior councilman. "Why? Why inform me of this? You could have easily turned your back and joined the rest of my council in the obvious pursuit of removing me from my throne in favor of my sister or my daughter. The gaining of power would be great for you. Why decide against it? Surely they approached you-"
"My loyalty as a member of the queen's council is to that of the Queen of Arendelle, Your Majesty. I may still be fairly inexperienced, but that does not change my loyalties or where they lie. They are with you and the King, and have been since you announced your first pregnancy. My loyalty is to the Crown of Arendelle and the monarch who wears her." She nodded, thinking, before meeting his gaze.
"Unfortunately, you are perhaps the only one of my council who remains loyal to me." She sighed. "They do not understand that I have very little of my life that is mine. Is it so wrong of me to wish to keep my marriage and the father of my children private? It is why I escape to Jannicke or Halsten- so that I may have time away from my court, time to spend with my children and my husband, to not worry about my country or my people, even for a little while. Have they not seen the good I have done for Arendelle? Arendelle always- always- comes first in my life. And yet they believe that keeping my private life secret is a crime against Arendelle."
Against his better judgement, Bismarck reached out, laying a hand over her arm in comfort; she glanced down at it, before meeting his gaze. "You are Arendelle's faithful servant, Your Majesty; no one, not even the rest of your council, will dispute that. They are old men of ancient beliefs, and cannot accept that a woman could ever bring Arendelle into the modern world. They are used to having women bow before them, not the other way around. From what I understand, the only reason they did not force your mother to bow to them was because of your father."
She nodded. "My parents were strong, my mother was even stronger. It was her who stood up to the Ambassador of England, demanding that if the King wished to speak of treaties with Arendelle, he could very well come to Arendelle himself and speak to her and my father. My mother had a presence I wish I were lucky enough to possess."
"You have a presence of a different kind, Majesty. Your mother may have been commanding, but you are coy; you have a charm about you that very few possess. You can change the will of men just by smiling at them, and you can make them bow to you without the use of your powers- look at your people, they love you, they adore you, as do the people of the Isles. Do not ever doubt your presence."
Silence fell between the pair, as she considered his words. "So what do you suggest I do, Lord Bismarck? To quell this... rebellion within my council?"
The young lord thought a moment. He had a suggestion- an idea of sorts- but he wondered if the queen would consider it. He himself was not a violent man, and he had figured out over the years that the queen was not a violent woman unless backed into a corner. But would she truly? Could she turn to violence? If he told her what the rest of the council had planned- she knew that her family was threatened? Her children?
"What is it?" He met her gaze; she was staring at him with wide blue eyes. "Tell me, Lord Bismarck, please. What is my council planning?"
He bit his lip, glancing at the boy at his mother's breast, at the young prince building towers with wooden blocks and the little Crown Princess in her father's lap before turning back. "Are you... familiar with the legend of the Princes in the Tower, Majesty?"