Chapter 40: The palace

The palace complex was entered through the symmetrical Gatehouse flanked by two stair towers. The eastward-pointing gate building was the only structure of the palace whose wall area is fashioned in high-contrast colours; the exterior walls are cased with red bricks, the court fronts with yellow limestone.

The roof cornice was surrounded by pinnacles. The upper floor of the Gatehouse is surmounted by a crow-stepped gable. The passage through the Gatehouse, crowned with the royal Bavarian coat of arms, lead directly into the courtyard. The courtyard had two levels, the lower one being defined to the east by the Gatehouse and to the north by the foundations of the so-called Rectangular Tower and by the gallery building.

The southern end of the courtyard was opened, imparting a view of the surrounding mountain scenery. At its western end, the courtyard was delimited by a bricked embankment, whose polygonally protracting bulge marks the choir of the originally projected chapel;

The most striking structure of the upper court level was the so-called Rectangular Tower (45 metres or 148 feet). Like most of the court buildings, it mostly served a decorative purpose as part of the ensemble.

Its viewing platform provides a vast view over the Alpine foothills to the north. The northern end of the upper courtyard was defined by the so-called Knights' House. The three-storey building was connected to the Rectangular Tower and the Gatehouse by means of a continuous gallery fashioned with a blind arcade.

The western end of the courtyard was delimited by the Palas (hall). It constituted the real main and residential building of the castle and contains the King's stateroom and the servants' rooms.

The Palas was a colossal five-story structure in the shape of two huge cuboids that are connected in a flat angle and covered by two adjacent high gable roofs. The building's shape followed the course of the ridge. In its angles, there were two stair towers, the northern one surmounting the palace roof by several storeys with its height of 65 metres (213 ft).

With their polymorphic roofs, both towers were reminiscent of the Château de Pierrefonds. The western Palas front supported a two-storey balcony with view on the Alpsee, while northwards a low chair tower and the conservatory protracted from the main structure.

The entire Palas was spangled with numerous decorative chimneys and ornamental turrets, the court front with colourful frescos.

The court-side gable was crowned with a copper lion, the western (outward) gable with the likeness of a knight.

The palace would have had more than 200 interior rooms, including premises for guests and servants, In its lower stories, the Palas accommodated administrative and servants' rooms and the rooms of today's palace administration. The King's staterooms are situated in the upper stories: The anterior structure accommodates the lodgings on the third floor, above them the Hall of the Singers. The upper floors of the west-facing posterior structure were filled almost completely by the Throne Hall. The total floor space of all floors amounted to nearly 6,000 square metres.

originally equipped with an artificial waterfall and a so-called rainbow machine was connected to a little conservatory.

When we entered the royal garden, many were already present there. They all came to talk to us as we were long lost, sisters. It's all fake, I knew. There were very fewer people in politics which would truly care about you.

But the favour of nobles is necessary. It could give you a competitive edge, to get permission for the rights of my properties. Suddenly it felt like I had too much in my plate. From getting permission for my properties, winning the heart of Killian, finding proofs for the coming case and getting favour of the nobility was added too now.

"Thank you all for coming." my reverie was broken as the new queen waltzed toward us.

She had been married to the emperor just a month ago. She was from the neighbourhood empire of Baringstone.

"Congratulations on becoming the master of the inner palace, your majesty. We should have visited you earlier but we could not."

Added the ladies of noble, getting in the good books of the empress was important not only for me now.

"Killian why don't you go and meet your friends.'' I proposed as I moved toward the empress.

He nodded reluctantly, "alright, your highness." I looked at the two knights who had followed us here.

They nodded their heads in unison as they followed Killian. Now only me and rosella were left as we walked towards the new queen.``

"Hail to the glory of empire, your majesty.'' I bowed a little to give her the damned respect.

"Rise, oh my, you must be duchess de Luca."

"Yes, your majesty. It is my honour to finally meet you."

"Oh, we had met at the royal dinner, you remember dear," she asked with a kind smile as I nodded.

Though it had been 16 years for me, I still remembered how I was the only one sitting on the chair all the time as all the other noble ladies danced with their partners.

They all were giving me sweet smiles but I could see them snickering behind my back. Everyone noticed the friction between me and Cassius that day. As he did not even share the table with me. And his lame excuse was, he needed to discuss something with the previous emperor.

Like the emperor would discuss things with him when his son was getting married. I just downed all my bitterness in the drinks as he left from there without even informing me. I came to know about it only after waiting for him the whole night.

Her words must be indicating towards that incident, as everyone's eyes turned towards me.

Though it looked like they were still busy talking to each other, I could feel their gazes, boring holes in me. Rosella moved to held my hand, thinking I would act wrongly,

Why wouldn't she!

If it had been in the past, either I would have been furious and had spoken back rudely. Or my eyes would have been welded to give everyone a chance to make fun of me.'

I tried to remember my last meeting, how I reacted at that time. Since I used to live in my bubble. I never much interacted with the empress, it took us three hours just to reach here then why care!

In the past, I only focused on one thing, that heartless man!

Come to think of it, this could also be the reason why not anyone supported me when I was going to be beheaded. For them, I was a cold-blooded selfish duchess. But I couldn't blame them, as I was the one.

But not in this life! I would make an example right now. They are waiting for my misery. Too bad, Villainess only made people cry, she would not cry herself, not anymore.

So I gave an enchanting smile, which stunned even the empress, "I must have been very enchanting to level such a strong impression on you, your majesty. That you even remembered me at your wedding party."

(The chapter may sound boring due to detailed description of the palace. But I wanted to make it vivid. And the lack of drama will be filled by 2 extra chapters on the weekend. Please do vote and comment on the chapter. Thank you)