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@miilenv-archived
@stcfvnia
“ i must admit, i was slightly shocked when i heard you had adopted. ” milena murmured over the soft music playing in the bar. “ does this mean there’s no man in your life for you to tell me all the sordid details about ? ”
𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐄𝐈.
“I think it’d be pretty convenient if he snapped: I’m sure the Hohenzollerns would be rather thankful if we solved their duchess problem for them.” He hadn’t had much time to spare, Germany nor its duchesses had been on his mind. “The east’s taken up most of my time. Now that everyone knows I’m in Japan, they think it’s a good opportunity to create a crisis big enough too force me to travel there.” He paused. “And I’ve been struggling to find a polite way to decline the duke of Khabarovsk’s invitation to spend a holiday there.”
“ as if they’d notice, they cannot seem to keep their dukes and duchesses in order, a new one seems to rebel against the crown every day. ” she wondered what the german king was doing in his palace if not losing his mind every five minutes at the blatant disrespect he was being shown. “ at least we’re not in europe, the whole country would be making a fuss trying to demand your attention. just say you’re busy, that’s what the rest of us do, you’re still running a country after all. ” running a country, coordinating a war, a monarch had a million excuses up their sleeve, and none would be listened to. “ invite him to tokyo, even just for a weekend. that way he can get distracted by the other royals, with the chinese emperor and the korean crown prince, and he’ll hardly have time to spare for you. ”
𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐀.
“ i suppose we do it the old fashioned way and set them up, ” anya observes, leaning back in her seat. “ what did he say exactly? if it wasn’t a hard no, surely he wouldn’t oppose attending a luncheon or dinner that zhenya attended as well. ” she sighs, eye raising upwards in search of a better answer. “ if only irina were around, she’d have a date arranged for them in a heartbeat. ”
“ lock them in cleaner’s closet and let them work things out ? it always works in the films. ” she laughed just a little before schooling her features, letting only a small smile remain on her face. “ he asked me to think about the rest of my reign, more or less. a threat, without the words. ” as if that would have her running scared, she thought about her reign more than anything, or anyone else, more than him she’d be willing to bet. “ irina would have him half in love with her before we could blink. alas, we must make do. the dinner idea could work, but i cannot think of anyone that would encourage him to come, and if there’s even a whiff of any russian you can certainly count him out. ”
𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍.
Russian duchesses and how they were related to each other did not interest him in the slightest. The old hag reminded him of his elementary homeroom teacher. Always unhappy, never satisfied. Roman’s shoulders tensed and for a moment he didn’t do anything, not even breath. Disbelief filled every single cell in his body. His private life. She was digging her ugly claws into his private life — and she was doing it without an ounce of shame! “You’ll just pass down my duchy to Margaux,” he repeated with a scoff. There were plenty of things she could have held over him and she picked the one that could not be uttered in the same sentence as diplomacy. “Do that and we’ll see how the rest of your reign goes.” It had an expiration date. One way or another he’d remove her from the picture. He fixed his position in the chair and let his eyes linger on the front page of the document. “What is this for?”
“ how the rest of my reign goes ? rather well i imagine. it wouldn’t be as if i would be giving gomel to a stranger, margaux is your heir. the other dukes can put up a fight but the precedent will be set, if they don’t want to retire early they will accept the way of things. ” she almost wanted him to push her, oh how easy it would be to quash the rebellion in one swift motion. the others, too afraid to relinquish their titles would fall in line, roman wouldn’t be a problem... too easy. “ it’s for russian and belorussian relations. other countries are getting bolder. ukraine dares to deny they poisoned the czar, the prussian will undoubtedly turn her sights back on kaliningrad, with poland now at her back. belarus will stand with russia, and who better to show that than belarus’ favourite son ? ”
𝐌𝐈𝐌𝐈.
“Ugh, it’s OK. She’s right; that’s what I think of these shoes, too,” Mimi shakes it off her foot and to the floor, where it’s snatched by a Labrador before the hovering maid can fetch a dustpan. Mimi pulls a face, and nudges the puppy with the toe of her ruined shoe. “Gross. I see why you two get on so well,” she wipes off Katya’s sticky hands before setting her down on the floor to play with Barker, but she shouldn’t have bothered; the puppy licks them clean for her. Katya’s delighted giggle makes Mimi smile, too. “I wish I could be as excited about anything as she is about everything. –What does she think of Tokyo, so far?”
“Oh, please,” she sighs, “I’m so in the mood for some decent French food…The rest of the world seems under the impression that we eat cheese sandwiched between a croissant and a baguette for every meal. –Or that we subsist entirely on cigarettes and red wine.” She scoffs, as though that’s a ridiculous stereotype. –She also ate the olives that came in her martinis! “I’m on a new diet, now. Or rather, my new diet is that I’m not on a diet…I mean, dairy-free, obviously. And low-carb.”
“ i understand your ankles are weak but ballet flats are the worst of all footwear, besides flip-flops. but even flip-flops have their uses. ” the only acceptable one being around water, she had absolutely no understanding of those who wore them as shoes, in public. “ if chanel making them can’t make me like them then nothing will. ” she glanced disdainfully at katya’s shoes, similar to mimi’s, with a strap to keep them on, and briefly tried to recall how old she was when she was finally allowed to don a heel... it was still years away for her daughter. “ she adores the lights, i can’t imagine her ever enjoying the country, she just adores any kind of hustle and bustle. i’m planning on taking her to disneyland soon, she’s been obsessed with the princess films lately. ”
“ come over for dinner soon then, i’ll have charles cook us up a feast, ksyushka has been coming and going but i’ll make sure she’s free too, there’s few things i enjoy more than spending time with you both at one time. ” milena wasn’t sure what to make of the new mimi, the post rehab mimi who hardly drank and didn’t come with a billowing cloud of cigarette smoke trailing behind her. it had to be a good thing, she decided. “ did i tell you i’m half considering going vegan ? i say half because i think about it and then remind myself it’s too much effort, but the thought lingers rather persistently. léonel tells me it’s meant to be beneficial for women of my age which is him kindly telling me i’m old. ”
𝐙𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐘𝐀.
“Don’t worry! I appreciated having an excuse to step outside.” She just never quite knew what to do on these shopping trips with other people. She didn’t quite dare to offer her opinion on the items Milena paid special attention to — her eye for bags wasn’t probably as refined as the queen’s. “I did get a lot of confused calls from friends,” Zhenya admitted with a laugh. “It’s alright. I’m hiding here, Anya and Markovnikova are making sure the whispers spread… I feel like I’m just sitting and waiting for something to happen.”
she picked up a white bag to look at it’s details before placing it back down, with her luck katya would see it as a canvas. “ it’s easy to get trapped inside with work, is your duchy keeping you occupied ? ” once her decision had been made she passed her two choices, one for her and one for kseniya, off to the sales assistant and directed her attention back to zhenya. “ he’s certainly not the most desirable bachelor, not to any russian with their head screwed on straight. many of my friends thought i’d lost my mind when i married pyotr. ” her family too, nobody truly understood why she did it, she’d begun to wonder if it was worth it herself. “ you should meet him soon, i’m sure anya is already scheming for that to happen. you should endear yourself to margaux though, she is his weakness. ”
@vrnvuld
“ are you feeling better now ? i heard your head took a knock and that you were stuck with the belgian princess, what a nightmare. anyway, shall we get lunch ? i know just the place, ” milena grabbed for her bag and buttoned her blazer. “ dominique told me about it so it’s definitely gauche, but she said the food is good and i’m starving. ”
@aromancva
“ hello ? ” she answered the phone with haste, eager to get the conversation done to return to the one in front of her. “ yes clementine, you can spend the afternoon with muffy and peaches, you can have the afternoon off. ” she hung up the phone and turned back to anya, “ so what’s next ? he’s not going to fall in love with zhenya overnight. i don’t think they’ve even had a conversation. ”
@zhcnyv
“ i apologise for dragging you out for something so mundane, ” she gathered shopping was hardly zhenya’s cup of tea, but lenya had so wanted to buy a new bag, and to see how the duchess was handling everything, doing both at once had seemed the clever thing to do. “ how are you feeling about everything ? the tmz article was a bit much, don’t you agree ? ”
@rcmvncv
“ so, what have you been busy doing lyosha ? ” he wasn’t involved in the roman and zhenya plan, and there had been no movement on the ukraine front, romanov’s weren’t known to be idle. “ i hear von essen has arrived, is that it ? have you been keeping him from murdering the prussian ? ”
𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐃.
- ‘ I DON’T. ’ if he did have a daughter that nobody else were to know about, the least thing he’d be seen doing was playing with her in plain sight. but that was also not of his character to simply have a child, even if outside of marriage, and not claim it. but he had a feeling romanovs weren’t aware that most people had principles seeing that the majority of them didn’t. ‘ this is my niece, zhanna, she’s my brother’s. she and your daughter hit it off quite easily. ’ children were pure, that was proof of it.
a pity, that she wasn’t his, what a scandal it would make ! at this point just about anything would fuel the fire of the ukrainian occupation, it could have been helpful. she lets her disappointment fall to they wayside as she watches the little girls play, “ i didn’t know ivan had arrived. that must be nice for you. and karyna’s daughter is here too ! your family just seems to be multiplying by the day. ” her false cheer spoke volumes, now that there were more people she’d find herself avoiding in the hallways of this building. “ does she have a nanny ? perhaps more playdates are in order if they get along so well. ”
𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍.
His body had already tensed, ready to get up from the seat when she actually found a way to prolong the torture. He quietly cleared his throat and settled into his seat once more. He reached for the folder. The bits of information and the flattering picture were not what he had expected to find. He raised a brow. “The duchess of Murmansk. Says it right here.” He tossed the folder back onto the table. “And what about her?”
“ vitaliya vorontsova’s daughter too, her only child. ” she could go on, there were a million things zhenya was that roman wasn’t — inherently good, being one of them. milena straightened her spine and let her gaze pierce into the duke, oh how she wished he’d squirm before her, but she knew he wouldn’t give her the pleasure. “ i believe it’s time you remarry, so you’ll marry her. she has agreed to the betrothal. if you refuse i’ll pass your duchy down to margaux, with giselle to manage things until she turns eighteen. if you accept, you receive a beautiful bride, and the opportunity to produce more heirs. ”
𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐃.
- THE BUILDING’S playground was perhaps the one place leonid didn’t see himself in until ivan arrived and he got to spend some time with his niece who had happily made a new friend while in the little time there. sharing careful toys and everything, leon even exchanged a couple words with the other girl’s nanny. he had no idea that was milena’s child until milena herself approached them. ‘ good afternoon. ’ / @miilenv
as she entered the playground following her meeting, milena made straight for katya, itching for the relief of holding her child after a particularly difficult call with her prime minister. her steps only slowed as she approached and realised that the ukrainian king stood with liudmila, watching katya and another young girl play. “ good afternoon, ” she says with a quick nod as she scoops katya up before she can barrel right into her knees, laying a kiss on her forehead before lowering her back down to play with her friend again. “ forgive me, i was unaware you had any children. ” no legitimate ones anyway. how ironic, she couldn’t help but think, that leonid was descended from a croÿ too, bastard children must be their specialty.
𝐌𝐈𝐌𝐈.
“Have you ever had sushi?” Mimi asked the little girl in her lap, balancing her with one hand while the other clumsily an egg roll into small pieces with a chopstick. Katya tilted her head to the side and looked up at her auntie with wide, pleading eyes. –A trick she’d learned from the dogs, who had gathered around them to beg for scraps. “Here,” she popped a piece of it into Katya’s mouth, then turned to Milena while her daughter was distracted. “Are you keeping on a personal chef, while we’re here? Or just ordering from restaurants?” Up until recently the closest thing to a chef she’d ever had was a bartender. @miilenv
milena watches mimi and ekaterina with soft eyes, for only a moment she allows herself to imagine her daughter with a face more similar to the princess in front of her, before she shakes herself back into the present. it only hurts her now to think of what could have been, to think on a child with henri's eyes instead of her own, or the list of names they quietly added to for years that she'd watched burn in the fireplace before she left monaco after his funeral. “ careful she's going to— ” she doesn't manage to finish the sentence before her toddler spits out the food, right onto mimi's god awful shoes. “ that was incredibly rude ekaterina, ” she watches katya’s lips turn downwards in response to her scolding before raising her eyes back to mimi. “ i'll replace them. with heels, once you're allowed to wear them again. ”
she picks at her own food with little interest, “ i'm tired of ordering from restaurants. i had my chef fly in now he has a kitchen to cook in. you're welcome to utilise him if you wish, he's spent the whole day planning meals for a one-year-old so i can only imagine he'll fall over himself to make a dish that doesn't involve a puree to disguise vegetables. ”
𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍.
“…And that would be the last thing.” One thing he liked about his meetings with Milena was how quick and efficient they were. Neither wanted to spend a second longer in the other’s presence than what was necessary. “Do you have anything for me or should I leave?” ( @miilenv )
milena wished once roman had finished speaking that that was the end of their discussion, that she could thank him for sparing her some time as if she were actually grateful and send him on his way. “ yes, actually. ” she unearthed the manila folder as if it had anything of worth in it beyond a sparse profile and a dazzling picture, sliding it in front of him. “ zhenya zakharova. i presume you know who she is ? ”
𝐊𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐘𝐀.
“ and i wish i could, ” she pushes herself off the couch, nestling onto the rug, left leg outstretched, and pats the ground beside her. “ katya ! ” waving a tattered plush bunny in the toddler’s direction, she manages to capture her attention. “ i have a session with my physiotherapist this afternoon, you’re free to come if you’re unconvinced but they ran x-rays before the flight. i promise it’s not broken. ”
she watches her sister cautiously, as if she could break at any given moment. they were incredibly lucky that all she returned with was a sore ankle and some abrasions and not anything far worse, like the austrian princess. her eyes follow katya as her eyes light up at the sight of the bunny, but also kseniya, now at ground level, and only manages to wince as katya throws her small body right at her aunt’s chest for an overly-enthusiastic cuddle. “ well, if you’re sure... ” she sighs, she supposed she’d have to trust her this time. “ i would come but charles flew in this morning, we’re going over meal plans. will you be home for dinner ? i know you missed his cooking. ”