Isabelle and her mother had returned to Versailles in silence. The offer stood, Claire had accepted, and in doing so she had made both of them feel varying degrees of uncomfortable.
The princess had been humiliated, but in a way that she could do nothing about. Meanwhile, the Queen sensed that something deeply concerning would result from this.
And thus, while they were in their private train car, zipping through the French countryside back to Versailles. Queen Isabelle could not help but break the silence between her and her daughter, the Princess of the same name.
"I'm only going to ask you once… because I find this situation so… unusual. But is there a particular reason you requested Claire, a woman much too old to serve the role of handmaiden, to attend to you during your wedding and its preparations? Please tell me this does not have something to do with Karl-Franz…."
