The letter arrived cloaked in imperial seal and golden ribbon, its bearer a knight of the Imperial Guard, resplendent in crimson and silver. He rode under a banner that shimmered in the morning light, as if the sun itself bent toward the weight of the message.
Every servant at the Rothschild estate fell into a hush the moment his boots touched the marble steps. The letter was handed not to a steward but directly to the viscount himself: Valdemar de Rothschild.
He didn't read it and, quickly looking for his mother, gave the letter to Genevieve. She then opened it with the same calm grace she wore in court, but her eyes were as sharp as cut crystal as they scanned the contents. One phrase echoed, burned, and settled into her bones like ash:
"…grants the hand of Lady Liselotte de Rothschild in recognition as Imperial Consort."
Not Empress. Not true, mate. Consort.
The parchment trembled faintly in her gloved hand, though her expression betrayed nothing. Only the twitch in her jaw hinted at the storm gathering beneath her composure. Around her, the winter wind rattled the ivy-covered glass panes of the study, as if the world itself objected to the slight.
Genevieve walked slowly to the hearth, staring into the flames that danced like whispers of old blood oaths. She's not a woman who bowed easily to rage. But this—this insult wrapped in silk and imperial formality—dug deep. The title Consort was little more than a gilded rejection.
For Liselotte, her youngest daughter. Her pride. Her blade of ice and velvet.
In their world, the hierarchy of bonds was absolute. A consort is just a placeholder. A temporary alliance for politics, not soul. The Emperor, powerful alpha he may be, will not mark her. And that alone told Genevieve everything.
She could already hear the court's cruel laughter echoing from the capital. The Rothschild girl? The one left unmarked? They would smile to her face and sneer behind wine-stained lips. They would watch Liselotte walk behind the throne—not beside it.
And all the while, the real Empress, wherever she was, would be hunted in silence, waited for with bated breath. Because once the Emperor found her—his true mate, the one fated by blood and bond—he would mark her, and every other would fade. And that includes Liselotte.
Genevieve clutched the parchment tighter. Her gloves creaked faintly under the strain. No, she would not let her daughter become a footnote in someone else's legend.
"Have the knight fed and his horse tended," she said calmly to the butler, handing the letter back. "Tell no one of its contents. Not until I speak with Liselotte."
Valdemar gritted his teeth but agreed with his mother and dared not meet her eyes. The whole household had learned what silence meant in the Rothschild house: war was being planned.
Genevieve ascended the stairs, her steps measured, regal—each one a stone dropped in rising water. A week had passed since Vivianne left with Grand Duke Borgia, and the echoes of that departure still haunted the halls. The estate had grown quieter since—too quiet.
She found Liselotte alone on the balcony of her room, staring out toward the grey hills. Dressed in ivory silk and framed by afternoon sunlight, "Mother," Liselotte greeted, her voice calm but tired.
From the sound of her mother's heels—precise, clipped, yet heavier than usual—Liselotte already knew. The rustling of her silk skirts barely masked the tension radiating off Genevieve de Rothschild like a coiled storm.
Liselotte had glimpsed the imperial courier earlier from her window, the way the guards wore their colors too proudly, the way the seal gleamed like a knife under the sun. And now, with every measured step echoing down the long marble corridor, Liselotte could hear it: disappointment.
Genevieve entered her daughter's room without a word. And Liselotte didn't need to speak; she let her mother cross the room in silence and place the letter gently onto the low lacquered table between them, its golden ribbon already unfastened, its seal cracked. A formal document. A decision was made.
Liselotte's gaze drifted to it but didn't touch it. She didn't need to. Her breath caught in her chest, not in surprise, but in the quiet ache of confirmation. She'd spent the last few days preparing herself for this moment—hoping and yet already knowing.
"So it's true," she murmured, voice low, steady, but lined with invisible cracks. "He agreed." She paused. "But—there's a but, isn't there?"
Genevieve remained standing, arms folded behind her back. Her face unreadable. Her voice was like a quiet bell ringing judgment. "Yes," she said. "He agreed to take you in. As consort."
Liselotte inhaled slowly, the word burning against her throat. Consort. Not Empress. Not true, mate. Her lips curved faintly, but there was no joy in them. Just a tight, bitter shape.
"Of course," she whispered. "Of course he would."
Genevieve said nothing. Her silence was not empty—it pressed in like stone.
Liselotte didn't need to ask what came next. She already knew. The letters. The arrangements. The politics dressed in perfumed silks. She would go. She would be draped in red and gold and crowned with a title that meant nothing in the eyes of fate.
"He won't mark me," Liselotte said softly, the words brittle as glass. "He'll have me in his bed, parade me at court, maybe even pretend to care. But he won't bond. Because I'm not his mate."
The words hung between them, sharp as daggers. Spoken aloud, they wounded both of them. Liselotte's gaze lifted to meet her mother's. There was no defiance there—just clarity. Tired, cold, and real.
"I should've chosen the Grand Duke," she said, voice hollow. "At least I'd be a grand duchess by now."
Genevieve flinched—barely, but enough for Liselotte to see. She sat down beside her daughter. "Don't speak like that," Genevieve said quietly.
"Why not?" Liselotte turned to her, frustration flickering in her eyes. "Vivianne made her choice. She ran off with him and gets to live boldly. I obey, and what do I get? A gilded leash."
"You get power," Genevieve said, her voice turning sharp. Like steel hidden behind silk. "Not the kind you want. But the kind we can make last."
Liselotte stared down at her lap, her pale fingers nervously twisting the hem of her gown. The deep crimson velvet pooled around her like blood spilled in silence, heavy and suffocating. She had never liked velvet—it was too rich, too hot, too binding. And yet here it was, clinging to her like a second skin. Like expectation. Like chains sewn into silk.
Her voice trembled as it broke the silence, barely more than a breath. "What? How?" She didn't look up. She couldn't.
She swallowed hard. "It's tiring. All of it. The scheming, the performing, the pretending—I'm… tired. It's not worth it if it means feeling like this. Like a placeholder. Like I'm just… convenient."
Her fingers twisted tighter, knuckles whitening, nails digging into velvet. "I spent almost my whole life trying to make Father love me. One maneuver after another. Holding my tongue. Smiling when I wanted to scream. I was the perfect daughter. I did everything right."
A sharp breath caught in her throat. She forced it down. Her voice cracked anyway. "And he never did. I was never the daughter he wanted."
The room was quiet, but not peaceful. It was the silence of unspoken truths, of walls that had heard too much. Across from her, Genevieve said nothing—yet her presence was loud. Heavy. Watching.
"I thought maybe… if I just became someone useful," Liselotte whispered, "then I'd finally matter. That he'd see me as something more than a pawn. But now I see—" she gave a bitter laugh, hollow and small—"he only saw value in what I could give, not in who I am."
She looked up then, slowly. Her eyes shone, but not with tears. Not yet. There was something else—resignation, maybe. Or the faint, trembling edge of defiance.
"So if I go to the emperor, if I play the part of his consort, I'm just doing it all over again, aren't I? Chasing the approval of men who will never choose me first."
Genevieve scoffed, a sound that held no warmth. "Convenience is power, Liselotte. You've been handed an opportunity most women in your position would slit their wrists to have. You will be the emperor's consort. In court. In his bed. In his favor."
"But not his mate," Liselotte said, looking up at her mother now, her voice flat. "He won't mark me. I'll never be the Empress."
Genevieve's lips curled into something colder than a smile. "Not yet."
Liselotte blinked. "What?"
"You think this is about romance? About fated love?" Genevieve laughed under her breath, rising from her seat and walking toward the fireplace, where a low flame crackled beneath carved marble. "This is about legacy. About bloodlines. You are a Rothschild. That means something."
"It used to mean something," Liselotte murmured.
Genevieve turned sharply. "It still does. And I won't see that name fade into irrelevance because my daughter is too emotional to play her part." Liselotte flinched. The words cut deeper than she expected.
"So what?" Liselotte's voice cracked as she rose to her feet, trembling. "Do I just end up like you? Cold. Controlled. Forever second to a man who only ever wanted someone else?"
The words hung in the air like a blade between them. Genevieve didn't flinch—but her eyes, sharp and glinting, narrowed like steel catching firelight.
Liselotte took a breath, her heart pounding, her throat tight. "He never marked you, Mother. He married you because it was convenient. Because you had land, influence, and a family name that could buy him a future. But his heart—his heart was with her. With the gypsy woman. With Vivianne's mother."
The name felt heavy in her mouth. "You knew it," Liselotte whispered. "You always knew it. He loved her. Not you. He would have burned his title to the ground for her, and you—"
"Stop." Genevieve's voice was low, laced with warning.
"—you stayed," Liselotte pressed, eyes wide, unrelenting. "You bore it. All those years. Watching him sneak away like a ghost in the night just to lie in someone else's bed. And for what? A name? A legacy? Is that what you want for me too?"
Genevieve took one slow step forward. "You think I was weak," she said, each word icy and deliberate. "You think I was second. But you have no idea what I've done to survive. What I've sacrificed so you could stand here with the luxury of questioning your fate."
Liselotte's chin lifted, but her voice softened—just a little. "Then tell me. What did it cost you?"
Genevieve stared at her, breath shallow, lips parted. And for the briefest moment, the mask cracked. Behind the lacquered polish of the perfect duchess, Liselotte saw a flicker of something raw and vulnerable—something she wasn't supposed to see. And then it was gone.
Genevieve's eyes turned hard again. "It cost me everything. My pride. My peace. My youth. I gave your father the tools to build his empire, and in return, he gave his love to a woman who couldn't even read the titles he earned."
"That's not love, then," Liselotte whispered.
"No," Genevieve said bitterly. "It's not. But it was his choice. And now you have one too. You can choose power, Liselotte. Real, lasting power. Not fairy-tale love. Not illusions. The emperor's consort is no small thing—unless you make it small."
"But I'll never be his mate. Possibly," Liselotte replied, desperate.
"Then make yourself irreplaceable," Genevieve said sharply. "Make him forget he needs one."
Liselotte's hands balled into fists at her sides. "Would you still love me if I said no?"
Genevieve didn't answer at first. Then: "I'd respect you less." That stung. Not because it was unexpected, but because it was so plainly said.
Liselotte looked toward the window. The sky was grey, dimming with clouds. Everything about this place felt colder now. Tighter. Like the walls were whispering all the decisions made before she was even born.
Finally, she spoke. "Then I suppose I don't have a choice."
Genevieve's lips curved into a small, victorious smile. "You never did. But you will have the crown." Liselotte didn't smile back.