Frozen 3

Chapter 86

Kai

I didn't realize yet. Elsa, pregnant? I knew her from birth and felt that everything had passed so quickly... I could not help but see her mother pregnant with her twenty five years before, already appearing to care about her baby's future.

"Sir, we should start putting everything in the garden for hand... It shouldn't be raining tonight or tonight, so it gives us an opportunity to be ready early."

I tried to hide it as much as I could but deep down, dozens of questions assailed me. Elsa was very serious and I had always been convinced that she would follow the guidelines carefully drawn by her parents without ever straying from them, unlike her sister. But I was wrong. Neither of the two young women walked in the footsteps of Iduna and Agnarr.

"Sir?"

They had emancipated themselves from traditions, breaking them one after the other and doing according to their will. I had trouble understanding them, preferring to take refuge in long-established rules.

"Sir, can you hear me?"

I turned to the young man who was speaking to me. He was one of the new servants. I did not even know his name, I had never been interested. None of them inspired me to trust now, as I used to trust Gerda regularly.

"Let's do what you said," I replied, finally realizing what he had proposed.

"Are you sure? You don't look..."

I gave him a black look.

"All right, perfect..." he said, understanding that he did not have to question me.

He finished wiping the plate he was holding, put it in a cupboard and left the kitchen, accompanied by the other servants who were there. I watched them, unable to move and return to reality.

"What are you doing? Don't just stand there, we need you."

It was Gerda's voice that had just resonated in my head. She had said this phrase to me so many times when I seemed lost in my thoughts, preoccupied with all the daily problems we were facing. And now that I was foolishly waiting in the kitchen, I could still hear him blaming me. I managed to temporarily repress my questions about Elsa and went to join the other servants.

***

Despite the early afternoon sun that bathed the whole kingdom, the garden was very well shaded. All the servants of the castle were busy, like ants, some carrying the benches where the guests were enslaved in a corner a little further away, where the ceremony would take place, under a pretty arch covered with ivy and pink and white flowers specially made for the occasion by our gardener, the others carrying tables and chairs in the center of the garden where everyone would settle for lunch. I then came to help arrange the U-shaped tables.

"Where should the queen and the future king be placed? "

"Except of course. "

"What do you mean by that? You must not separate them from their guests, it is very rude!"

"Put their table in the center and stick it to the others by its ends, I ordered. Remember, do not scatter the royal family. The future King Kristoff and Queen Anna must be in the center but her sister Elsa must be by her side, preferably to her left. "

"But... In this case, sir, it is no longer the couple that is at the center but only Queen Anna, surrounded by her sister and her husband. We can't put him there alone, they both have to be there. "

"Well, add a fourth person to the right of Mr. Kristoff," I exasperated.

"Who is that, sir?"

"I don't know, a troll or someone who was important in his life. "

"Or the child's father."

Everyone was silent. I turned to the person who had just spoken. He was the same young man as before in the kitchen. I approached him slowly. His face was closed and he did not seem to be impressed by all the eyes on him.

"Remind me of your name?" I said coldly as I came up to him.

"Daven. "

"All right, Daven, who were you referring to just now?"

"To the father of Elsa's child".

"Princess Elsa," I corrected.

The young man looked up. I suddenly grabbed his collar and whispered to him:

"I don't know what made you come here, but believe me, you can leave as quickly as you came if you don't follow the rules of the castle. With respect to the members of the Royal Family being part of these rules, I can assure you that if you continue on your course, You and your little comrades who like to make secret little meetings in the kitchen to make more incriminating assumptions about Princess Elsa will not stay with us for a long time, am I clear enough?"

He nodded silently. I released him and quickly ironed my clothes with my hands, lest they had crumpled in this little altercation.

"You did not answer me," I remarked, "why are you here?"

"Because of my mother. "

"She certainly preferred to offer her son a better future than that of worthless," I replied soberly.

The young man's face shrunk at once but he returned to his tasks without saying anything more.

"Now," I said, addressing all the other servants who had suddenly stopped working, if you will resume what you were doing. And leave that fourth spot vacant for now, we'll see what we do with it later."

All obeyed me, each taking back what they were doing, without the slightest remark on what had just happened. However, I remained concerned about one thing following this short conversation. I had never seen Elsa with a man, nothing, not a single gesture of affection towards someone. So it was true that the question of the father remained enigmatic, especially for us servants who obviously did not have access to all the secrets of the royal family. The knowledge thus pregnant seemed unreal to me, I who would never have believed that the young woman would have a child before marrying, so much she was attached to the customs to which she had been accustomed since childhood. Suddenly, a cry abruptly drew me from my dreams:

"The mounted room collapsed! The mounted room collapsed!"

It was the cook who had suddenly appeared from the palace, running and screaming in my direction.

"Calm down," I said to him, "it doesn't matter, you just have to do it again.

"That I do it again? " he replied, all breathless. I think you do not realize the work that it represents! I've been there since this morning, I've been working on it for hours and it prevents me from finalizing everything else! "

"Well then, finish the rest and come back to the mounted room if you still have time. Anyway, it seems to me that the future king and queen didn't specifically ask you for one, I didn't see it on the menu—

"Perhaps, but that is what all the guests are waiting for. A wedding without a mounted coin is not a wedding! I want to surprise them."

"Well, do it then ! But you may spend the night there."

"Believe me, I will, sir."

And he left with a decided step towards his kitchens. It was the first time I saw him so invested in something, he who usually spent his time grumbling. I looked up at the door behind which the cook had disappeared. Next to her was the dining room. From my place, I could see through a large window Anna and Kristoff finishing their lunch. Elsa was no longer with them. It was strange, the young woman rarely left them before the end of the meal. Worried, I returned inside the castle, crossed the corridor and climbed the stairs leading to the floor. I instinctively went to Elsa's room and knocked at the door. No answer. I knocked again and waited a few seconds. Still nothing.

"Is everything all right, madam?" I asked, increasingly anxious.

Silence. For the first time, I opened the door without being invited and put my head in the opening. There was no one inside.