w. rosalind blanchard, queen of austria // @rosclind
everyday is a new struggle, a new challenge, and like many of them, this one had been one he wanted to be over since it began. he was not in war anymore. it’s been months since he was taken from the battlefield and a few others since the cease fire had started. however, in his head, it has never been over. nine years acting like a soldier, being in the front most of the times, losing his brothers in the process—nine years that changed his life and his way to see things way too much. a painful process that doesn’t fail to take his sleep away and make him uneasy around these people.
enemies, or former enemies, filled the italian court as all of them were put together to bring peace to their lands, new alliances being made in hopes of keeping things as at ease as it was possible. frederick is not against the peace, per see—the war took too much from him, it took his brothers, it made him thirst for revenge. but as much as he had wished to inflict pain in those who took his family away from him, he wishes it not to happen anymore and possibly take what he has left. to be a king is already quite the task and he is not used or happy with it—but he was the only one left, the only brother who had returned. the one who married the english princess in place of albert, as he already knew, back then, that could happen.
it’s only been months since they’ve been together and, still, there are a lot between them—and that’s evident as he enters the room, finding said wife already preparing herself to bed. frederick greets her calmly, trying to ease his mind and take the happenings of the day—casual meetings, some running into other men who’ve been at war (and were on the opposite side he was) that made things extremely uncomfortable—and walks around the room, removing his clothes so he could also get ready to sleep (or try). “have you seen your brother today?” he asks then, casual as usual, like they both seemed to have mutually agreed on their first days together, keeping the first name basis, sometimes using the titles.
