Her Rightful Place

19: The Miracle Cure

"Christelle, please stay here a few minutes. I need to speak with you," Queen Généviève asks primly at the end of evening Chapel. Christelle curtsies in reply and motions for Mireille to go back to their apartments. Mireille, practically sleepwalking at this point, nods woodenly and walks stiffly out of the chapel. Although riding and dancing and music lessons all went quite well, at least for the first day, Mireille is extremely sore and tired from the endeavors. Christelle would like nothing more than to tend to her exhausted best friend, but she cannot refuse a request from the Queen.

"What is it, Your Majesty?" the blonde inquires softly. Queen Généviève sighs and motions for Christelle to follow her. They meander through a few hallways and then the Queen opens an ornate set of double doors and takes Christelle into her own antechamber. It is only once they are in that room and the Queen has made sure that they are alone that the Queen speaks.

"I would like to speak to you about my daughter," Généviève begins wearily. "The scars and her skinniness, mostly."

"I had no idea that she was so slender, in all honesty, Your Majesty, or I would have tried to fix that long before now. As for the scars, well, my mother and I talked to everyone we knew, but no one knows how to remove them, as many and as severe as they are. It is truly a miracle that she is still alive, you know. You ought to thank God for that and focus on getting her to a healthy weight. The scars will fade with time," Christelle replies wisely.

"You speak well for one so young, and of course we will make sure that Mireille has three good meals a day. Meals are excellent forums for etiquette lessons, anyway. But the scars.... You must understand, she cannot be married to anyone in that condition."

"Prince Xavier has seen a few and he does not seem to mind in the least, but for the awareness of the pain she has suffered."

"And that is a reminder that no one ought to have to endure, especially not Mireille herself. I cannot imagine that seeing those scars in the mirror every day is anything but damaging to her mental and spiritual health. And seeing the scars would be absolutely heartbreaking to anyone who genuinely cares for her. I know it was for me, and I am sure for you as well."

"My mother and I cared for her after Agnes, her tormenter, was executed. I actually had to leave the room, it was so sickening and heartbreaking to look at her while my mother bathed her. She was filthy from not being permitted to wash, and there was fresh blood from the wounds that morning besides, not to mention that she was practically emaciated. But the worst was the way she flinched and shied away from being touched, because she associated it so strongly with being hurt. Even when my mother did manage to wash her, she hunched into a little ball and shook until long after it was over. She has healed so much since then, but even now she hates to be touched." Queen Généviève has looked quite ill through this entire discourse, but instead of fainting as Christelle expects, she draws a deep breath and somehow manages to pull herself together.

"Another thing we will have to get past, for no man will want a wife he cannot touch. That I understand will take time, but there is something we can do now for the scars."

"What is it? My mother and I looked everywhere we could--"

"When one is royal, certain opportunities and privileges are available. I have in my service a man I believe to be the best apothecary in the world, and he has concocted a miraculous cream that can minimize the appearance of wrinkles and scars. I have had him working since Mireille's religious instruction this morning to create an extra-strength version of this cream for Mireille. I do not expect that it will make the scars disappear completely, but I do hope that it will make them a good deal less obvious."