NOTE: This story is historical fiction and many events and personalities of characters have been changed for plot purposes. Please don’t take this story as a literal account of the French Revolution.
The French Revolution was in full swing. Angered by the apathetic nature of King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette towards the starvation of the French people, they have started rebelling against the monarchy. They stormed the Bastille, a royal prison, and brutally executed the military governor after he surrendered. The French economy was taking a turn for the worse as well. The national debt was increasing rapidly and the government was taxing their citizens due to this. This led to more riots and protests.
But none of that mattered to Princess Marie-Therese. She had everything she ever wanted. Expensive dresses, grand meals, a loving family. Her parents did not always have time for her - they are the monarchs after all - so her “Auntie Elisabeth” often acted as a maternal figure to her. She also had 2 siblings, Louis and Nessa. Nessa was not a member of the royal family by birth. Her mother had abandoned her at a young age and the Queen, taking pity on the girl, took her in as her own. Despite this, the girls had looked remarkably similar. Some even questioned if the King, himself, had been Nessa’s actual biological father.
Nessa wasn’t actually considered a princess due to not being a member of the royal family by blood. This gave her more freedom than Marie-Therese. “You wanna swap places,” Marie-Therese asked one day. “I have always wanted to see what a non-princess’s life was like.” “And I have always wanted to see what a princess’s life was like!” Nessa replied. So it was settled. The two would swap places for one day and meet up at their room that night to discuss how it went.
That night, Marie-Therese guiltily waited for Nessa to show up. Soon, the doorknob turned and in came Nessa, bloodied and in tears. “Mon dieu, what happened to you?” Marie-Therese exclaimed. “I was walking in the street to show off my princess status,” she began. “Then, I guess the crowds thought that I was you and started to throw bricks at me, chanting ‘Down with the monarchy!’ One of them fit me square in the forehead.”
“Aw, I’m sorry,” Marie-Therese replied. “No, I’m fine,” Nessa replied. “No, I’m not sorry for that,” she replied. “I mean, they threw the brick, not me. I’m sorry that your boyfriend broke up with you.” Suddenly, Nessa grabbed Marie-Therese and pinned her to a wall. “What did you do?” she demanded. “I told him that it’s time for us to see other people,” was the reply. “I told him that we weren’t meant to be and that I was seeing 10 other boys already.”
Nessa’s eyes widened with horror, then tightened up to a glare. How could she do this to me? she thought. The smug smile of her sister made the moment more infuriating. Her fist tightened and in came the punch and the other girl’s scream of pain. “What was that for?” cried the princess. “I took a brick to the face for you. It is the least you owe me.” “Owe you?” laughed Marie-Therese. “I am the princess. It is your duty to protect me. I don’t owe you anything!”
“You ruined my love life!”
“Love life? What makes you entitled to that and not me? I have been forced to greet suitors day in and day out seeking my hand in marriage. One day, I will probably have to marry some prince, become his queen, and live a miserable life in which my only job is to provide an heir! And a worthless thing like you marrying for love? That I will now allow!”
“How could you be so cruel? Can’t you give me any ounce of respect?”
“Respect? RESPECT?! Respect is earned, not given. Who are you, may I ask, to demand my respect?”
“I’m your sister,” Nessa said, quietly.
“Sister?” Marie-Therese laughed. “I have the blood of many kings and queens throughout Europe. What noble blood do you have? None! Your parents don’t even want you. Hence why you were adopted by my mother. You’re not even a princess. You are on the same level as an illegitimate child!”
Nessa’s eyes filled with tears. She opened her mouth to say something. No words came out. She was not a princess and she definitely did not have noble blood. She slowly ran out of the room. Down the corridors and the halls. Into her room. Burying her face on her pillow, she screamed and wailed.
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“Nessa, réveillez-vous! Wake up!” Nessa arose from her bed. The room was very dark, but next to her she could make out that a tall woman in a nightgown was standing by her bed. She was pale: very pale.
“Auntie Elisabeth? What are you doing here at this hour?” she asked.
“It is too dangerous for us to stay here any longer. We have to seek sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary? Where?”
“To your mother’s native Austria. To her family. To your uncle. We must hurry! He has agreed to let us take shelter!”
“What about Louis-Philippe and Marie Therese?”
“They have been woken up by your parents. We must hurry!” Grabbing Nessa’s hand, Auntie Elisabeth violently drew her from the bed and dragged her down the stairs. A carriage was parked right outside the palace, which she was shoved in by Auntie Elisabeth. The rest of her family was in it: her parents, her brother, and her sister.
“MOM!” whined Marie-Therese. “I forgot to grab my jewelry!”
“No time for that, dear!” said Marie Antoinette.
“But I want it!” she whined.
“Oh, shut up, will you?” Nessa snapped.
Soon, the carriage took a jolt and they bolted into the darkness. There was quiet amongst the family members until the King and Queen explained their plan. They were indeed going to escape to Austria and live with the king, Marie-Antoinette’s brother, who had offered them sanctuary. He would then provide resources to help the royal family control the Revolution. In the meantime, they had to dress up as peasants until they reached their destination.
“Peasant?! Why would I have to dress like a peasant? I just can’t stand it!”
“Terra, chère, we have to if we want to claim our old lives of luxurious parties,” Marie-Antoinette said.
“If you are patient and go with the plan, we can reign over a united France again,” Auntie Elisabeth encouraged.
“Augh, fine!” Marie-Therese angrily replied with a scowl on her face.
So it was that the royal family pretended to be peasants for several days. Nessa, the outcast of the family, was perfectly fine with this. Marie-Therese, on the other hand, was not. Eventually, they were just a few feet away from the border. Suddenly, they were stopped by a French officer. “Bonsoir monsieur et madame!”
“Bonjour!” the king replied.
“Where are you headed?”
“To Austria, of course! Why else would we be in a carriage to the border?”
“May I have your passports?”
The king and queen gave each other a nervous look. Clearly, they had not thought up to forge any passports. “Passports, please,” the guard repeated. Auntie Elisabeth gave a nervous glance at her brother and mother-in-law. “The passports, brother,” she whispered. The king looked up at the guard.
“We forgot our passports at home.”
“Then, I am afraid that I cannot let you in.”
“Silence, you fool!” a shrill voice cried.
Everyone stared in horror at Marie-Therese. She got out of the carriage and stared the guard in the eyes with an angered look.
“What’s going on in her brain?” Nessa asked Auntie Elisabeth.
“She has a brain?!” was the reply.
“Do you know who you are speaking with? This is King Louis himself and his family! And I demand you let us in RIGHT. THIS. INSTANT.”
There arose a gasp from both the royal family and the guard. There was an awkward silence. No one moved. “This is the king?” murmured the guard.
“Don’t listen to him!” Auntie Elisabeth shouted. “She is my niece from the mental asylum! She is mad!”
“Silence!” the guard shouted. “The king, queen, prince, princess, and Madame Elisabeth have been reported missing today by the authorities. As I can see, in this carriage, all of you match the portraits drawn of the following people and look the same age. You’re all coming with me.”
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“This is not my fault!” sobbed Marie-Therese. “Oh, shut up!” Nessa exclaimed. The family was now all locked up together in a giant prison cell. The air reeked of rotten cheese and a few skeletons were in to keep them company.
“They announced today the end of the French Republic,” said Auntie Elisabeth. “We have all lost our royal titles. Brother, you are no longer the king. They have also started executing our supporters. I saw them carrying the head of the Princess of Lamballe outside our cell this morning.”
“What is to happen to us?” sobbed Marie Antoinette. “They say they have started to use the guillotine to -” began Auntie Elisabeth. “Mon dieu!” gasped the former Queen. She approached the mirror, took off her bonnet, and started to examine her neck. “I have such a tiny neck,” she whispered. “Such a tiny neck.”
Nessa stared in shock at her mother’s once luxuriant strawberry blonde hair that has now turned a frizzy head of gray in just one night. She went up to her mother and hugged her. “Well, at least we’re here as a family,” she whispered in her mother’s ear. “Yes, I guess so,” was the reply.
Suddenly, the door burst open and there stood several guards. “What is this?” asked the king. “Citizen Capet, you are set to be guillotined,” said the guard. “You can’t! He is your king!” screamed Marie Antoinette. “WAS the king,” was the reply before the unwilling king was shoved out of the room. “In addition to this, the boy is to be separated from you and put into firmer confinements.” “Not my brother!” Nessa screamed, desperately trying to cling on. The guards easily yanked her off. “You can’t!” sobbed Auntie Elisabeth. “You’re already about to kill my brother! You can’t take away my nephew too!” “Silence, pathetic prisoner!” growled the guard as little Louis was forced out the door too.
“Finally,” he announced. “Madame Lambriquet is to be sent back to her parents.”
“Nessa?” Marie-Therese murmured as the rest of the family stared in shock.
Before Nessa could ask any questions, she was shoved out of the door as well. As she left, she took a last glance at the aged Marie Antoinette, the dumbfounded Marie Therese, and the despaired Auntie Elisabeth.
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2 YEARS LATER…
Marie-Therese sat alone in her prison cell. She was thin, very thin. She was all alone. Her mother was sent away first and then her aunt. She had only two books to read for entertainment which she read over and over again. When she asked for more books, she was only yelled at.
The door opened. A girl walked in. She had many bruises, a black eye, and blood running down her face. “You are free, Your Highness,” she whispered. “Who are you?” asked Marie-Therese. “You know who I am,” the other girl replied.
Marie-Therese thought for a moment and then came to the eerie revelation. “Ernestine Lambriquet, is that you?” she asked. Nessa nodded.
“What did they do to you?”
“They sent me back to my parents. They didn’t want me, to say the least.”
“Oh, Nessa, I’m so sorry.”
“It is fine. They told me to come tell you that you are to be released.”
“That is great news. This cell was so boring. Any news of Mother and Auntie Elisabeth?”
“They have both been executed.”
“No!”
“Yes. And Louis-Philippe was beaten to death.”
“That can’t be! He’s but a child!”
“They care not. It’s only us now. They ruined your life by taking you away from your parents, they ruined me by bringing me back to them.”
“Nessa, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright. I have reached the age to become an adult and I am moving away anyway.”
“No, not just that. I treated you horribly while we were with each other. I see now that life is too short to be angry at a loved one over petty matters.”
“I forgive you. And I’m sorry about our parents, aunt, and brother.”
“Where will I go now?”
“I got in contact with our uncle. He said that he found a more secure route to Austria and he is willing to offer you sanctuary. I suggest you hurry before the Revolution heats up again.”
“I suppose so. But what about you?”
“I have to stay and take care of my grandmother. She is getting old and frail and has little time yet.”
“Promise you’ll write to me every day.”
“That would be hard to do during war.”
“But promise me you’ll try. Please, Nessa? You’re all I have left.”
“Alright, we’ll see. Now, c’mon, we have to get you out of here before they change their mind.”
So it was then that the two sisters fled the prison cell, hand in hand, racing towards the route the King of Austria had told them to go to get to his troops hidden nearby.
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