Parents rarely visited their daughter, such a condition put the queen. But no matter how well the maid of honor fenced off from the outside world, life itself came to the palace. Katerina once saw a magnificent officer in the form of a lancer.
Oh, this form of Ulan with a high headdress and white ribbon over his shoulder made the officer even higher and more attractive for a young girl. Ulan’s gray eyes began to pursue her dreams day and night.
Nobleman Cyril served in light cavalry. The meetings of Catherine and Cyril were unusually short, or so it seemed to them, and therefore completely memorable. Both were in the service of the king and fatherland.
A great joy brought them to the meeting at the ball, where the lancer got for military merits. Katerina bloomed at the sight of the gray eyes of her hero heart. How beautiful to slide on the magnificent parquet of the palace with your favorite lancer!
Life at such moments seemed great.
She knew that life in the palace was full of hidden dangers, it was impossible to say too much here, it was impossible to condemn the actions of the queen.
In order to survive in the palace, it was necessary to cheat, flatter the queen through any ears, whose tongues immediately all reported to the queen’s ears.
Chapter 2
The vicissitudes of fate in the palace could be fully understood. Katerina accepted the fate and decided to wait for a free life after serving in the Marble Palace.
The fact that it can substitute any person on the orders of the queen, she has already learned well. It could have been worse if the king himself or the queen’s favorite paid attention to her. Katerina from the maid cleaning in her room, knew that in such cases the maid of honor did not survive. They are stretched with a smile to a glass of drink, and after that no one sees them.
The queen is jealous for her own good and for the good of the whole country. The grandmother, who was with the queen of another country shortly before a terrible night, taught her to cook poisons.
Grandma Queen came to the wedding of the Prince of Navarre, and learned from the experience of the Queen herself. Cunning and poison – these are two components of her reign, and her sons were sick. The blood came from their pores, and the mother ruled behind them. The tsarina absorbed these stories from her grandmother and did not yield to power in the palace, even though her husband, the king, was sitting on the throne.
The maids of honor met all her requirements. The ambassadors knew who was in charge of the palace, and they gave the Queen all the necessary honors. And yet Katerina did not escape the plight of a beautiful woman. The ambassador told the tsar himself about the failed love with the maid of honor Katerina. The king was very interested in his story. He wanted to be the first, until the queen to the maid of honor Catherine someone slipped.
The king himself came to the maid of honor.
Katerina unwittingly opened the door for the king. She felt a chill of horror at her fate. Fear bound her, but she could not let the king in. The king was tipsy, the sea was knee-deep. He spoke merrily to the maid of honor. She slowly became involved in the conversation. She did not dare to repel the gentle movements of the king. The king was a master of love without love. The tenderness of his hands replaced any love.
He insinuatingly brought Katerina to an absolute understanding of the importance of the moment when she herself was ready to rush into the arms of the king. She took off her dress and helped the king undress. Love with the king so swallowed maid of honor that she simply forgot about everything. The king left, and the maid of honor waited for the Queen’s revenge.
Soon Katerina realized that she was getting harder from the king day by day. The maid of honor decided to marry Ulan Cyril, but he was sent to the army on the orders of the king and fatherland. For many years the maid of honor did not serve the tsarina, therefore their composition was constantly changing. Catherine had to leave the prestigious service at the court of Her Majesty.
For the service she received the title of princess and the village of Bronze dipper. By this time, Katerina’s parents had moved to the northern capital, living in a three-story stone house near Nevsky Prospect. The young princess in an interesting position moved to her parents and moved from the Marble Palace.
Katerina’s soul breathed freedom of movement, freedom of choice of dress. Now she could change her dress! The maid of honor walked, resembling each other with their palace outfits, like uhlans in uniform. Katerina and Mama went to the Gostiny Dvor shop to choose fabrics and ribbons.
She bought everything that she modestly requested.
Katerina began to write poetry, which did not please her parents very much, but they were so happy about her daughter’s return that they forgave her everything! She began to attend evenings of poets, read her poems in the evenings, but women were rarely indulged in praise, and she became bored with injustice. She went deep into domestic affairs and wrote on the table if she really wanted to write poetry.
Sometimes Katerina attended balls, but rather modest and not in the Marble Palace. She went to the theater with mamma. Life was calm and streamlined. Katerina read newspapers and books. Her parents tried to find her a fiancé, but she rejected everyone, which did not prevent her from continuing to be a beautiful, flourishing girl.
Pregnancy gradually increased. Hidden deadlines quickly passed. Katherine was noticed by the master Yakov Timofeevich, who lived next door. He had an estate, and not one. Due to the income of the village, he quietly lived in the capital, without bad habits. The pair they are good. Parents began to smile to their neighbor, they already dreamed of their future grandchildren…
Ulan Kirill did not arrive in the Northern Capital by the time. Barin Yakov Timofeevich came to a state of despair. Cyril came from the war, nervous and wounded, dissatisfied with everything on this earth. Catherine’s parents for anxiety did not know what to do.
But Cyril accidentally met a woman on the avenue and often came to her house, very strange for decent people. Katerina nervously experienced the changes that had happened to Cyril. Between them it was as if a ray of yellow sapphire light had passed, so it seemed to her. Their relationship became cool. She understood by her feminine sense that now she had better get married. Parents constantly hinted at Katerina about Yakov Timofeyevich.
Barin Yakov Timofeevich sighed freely when he realized that the girl began to treat him well and suggested that Katerina get married. She agreed. The wedding went well, with good taste. Soon, by mutual agreement, new relatives in the same wall hacked the door and two apartments connected.
The autumn gray sky was replaced by a frosty clear sky. Rare cirrus clouds did not prevent the sun from illuminating the first ice on the reservoirs of the city. The people and gentlemen with pleasure changed coats with capes on fur coats and casings, if they were. Long skirts swayed under fur jackets. Furs spread the smell of snuff, which poured clothes against moths. Snuff was kept in snuffboxes, it was considered supremely chic to sniff tobacco and sneeze for health. Smoke streamed from the chimneys of the houses. On the avenue rolled carriages and horses.
On a frosty morning Katerina gave birth to a boy Ilya. Jacob Timofeevich was overwhelmingly pleased with the heir. The son of the king did not know who his real father was. For the child prepared a children’s room, in which hung a crib attached to the ceiling. The boy’s parents brought him up according to all the rules and started learning to read early. Five years later, God sent them a girl, Masha.
Katerina walked with the children herself. She liked to raise children. At home, her parents and servants from the village helped her, but she did not trust anyone to raise her children while they were