Royal Hunt

3rd Chapter

The journey didn't take me long. From our palace in the Old Town, I headed down the main street towards the university. I wasn't allowed to set foot on its grounds, but my teacher lived nearby. 

Carriages passed me on the street, and I met several acquaintances on the promenade. 

My path led along the river, where I stopped for a moment to watch the swans circling on the water. 

"Countess!" I was snapped out of my reverie by a call. "Countess Dietrichstein." I turned and groaned. Countess Kounitz was heading down the quay towards me. Along with her son. There was no escape.

"Greetings," I smiled at her and bow. Countess Kounic was a fat lady with an unfashionable hairstyle and a face so powdered that clouds of white dust fell from it. Her corset stretched to the limit, creaked loudly whenever she moved, and threatened to burst. 

"You know my younger son, don't you?" she pushed the count in front of her. Count Dominic Andrew was tall and stocky and already pushing forty. There were whispers at court that he was feeble-minded and that Countess Kounitz would do anything to marry him off. 

"Yes, we have seen each other several times, but we have not been officially introduced." I held out my hand to him as well. "How do you do?"

"It... it... it´s a ple… pleasure to me..et you." He stammered, cupping my palm in his sweaty one. 

"Would you like to join us for a walk? I'm sure you youngsters will have plenty to talk about." Countess Kounic cooed. 

I politely ignored the fact that her "young" son was twice my age. "I regret I must refuse you today. I'm in a hurry for class."

"Oh dear, then you'll have to show me your oil paintings sometime." 

"I leave the study of painting and singing to my younger sisters, Countess. I'm passionate about the sciences." I replied. 

"And is that an appropriate subject for a young lady?"

"Papa believes that it is." I was slowly losing patience. I had to defend my opinions and interests today and every day to people whose opinions didn´t matter to me. "Excuse me, Countess, but I'm already late." I bowed slightly and fled. Behind me, I could just hear the Countess chastising her son for not standing up straight. 

Without further stops, I headed for my teacher's apartment. His butler ushered me into the parlor and went to prepare tea. 

On my first visit, I was scared to death to be left alone with a man in the room, without a chaperone. My upbringing was rooted very deeply. As soon as I saw my teacher, my fears passed. 

Ignatius was almost sixty, walked hunched over on a stick, and was solely interested in his studies. Even if I danced naked in front of him, he probably wouldn't notice. I laughed at the idea.

"What's so funny, young lady?" came the scratchy voice of my teacher behind me.

"Social norms and conventions," I replied absentmindedly.

"If people are to get along with each other, everyone must maintain their freedom," Ignatius uttered as he sat down in his desk chair. "Who is the author of this wisdom?" He turned to me.

I had no idea. I had studied philosophy too, but I preferred mathematics.

"Francois de la Rochefoucauld." A deep bass voice echoed behind me. 

"Well done Mark, you're here." Ignatius smiled.

A tall man, in his thirties, dressed in the latest fashion, entered the room. The black velvet coat gave a good view of his broad chest and the frilly shirt couldn't hide his strong arms. His trousers ended above his knees and he was wearing high riding boots. His hat, which he had doffed when he entered the room, he tossed on the table and hugged my teacher.

"Ignatius, old friend. It is extremely good to see you, though I hate to disturb you in meeting such a charming young lady." The stranger turned to me.

"Mark, this is Marie Kristina Countess Dietrichstein. Countess, this is Marcus Aurelius Baron Pouilly. He may bear the name of a great statesman, but he is nothing but a great commoner himself." my teacher introduced us. The Baron bowed and then looked into my eyes. I couldn't help blushing against my will.

Ignatius didn't miss it, "This is perhaps the first time I've seen the Countess without words."

"Not without words, dear teacher. If I had known you were to meet a friend, I would not have disturbed you."

"Nonsense." Ignatius waved his cane. "I invited Mark precisely because we were going to have class together. He may be a commoner and only causes his old teacher grief, but in his travels, he has experienced in person what I have only seen in books."

I could not help noticing that Ignatius was very familiar with Baron Pouilly. Although he was a professor at the university, Ignatius respected the social hierarchy and always behaved with due respect. 

As if he understood where my thoughts were going, the Baron explained, "Ignatius was my tutor. He knew me as a little boy and taught me, as he is teaching you now. The truth is, I was less attentive, less appreciative, and certainly not nearly as graceful. He left when he got a position at the university and not long afterward I set off on the cavalry tour of Europe. I have so enjoyed the travels that I only return for a few weeks a year to settle my affairs and leave the old man here to scold me like a little child." 

"Do you see that, Marie Kristine? That is gratitude for the education I have given him." Ignatius sighed. I could tell, however, that he was glad to be reunited with an old friend. 

"So there will probably be nothing from the study of mold today," I remarked.

"Probably not, but we could go out on the boardwalk," Ignatius suggested.

"I have a better idea. We could go to the university. I'd love to see some of your classes. And your office." Baron Pouilly replied enthusiastically. 

"But I'm not allowed to go to the university." I blurted out.

"Why on earth?" asked the Baron with such genuine dismay that my heart skipped a beat. 

"Women are not allowed to go to university." 

"Still? My God, what year is this? In Padua, as early as 1678, a woman was graduated Doctor of Philosophy. And you are denied even to set foot on the hallowed ground of the academy?" 

"I don't make the rules." 

"And you want to follow them?" The Baron asked. I looked at him in surprise. I'd never been asked in my life if I liked the path I was supposed to follow in life. Whether I agree with the rules and conventions someone has told me to follow. The Baron was an interesting character and I wished I had gotten to know him more.

"My dear Countess, I may be seeing you for the first time in my life, but I daresay you are not the type to do what you dislike with a light mind. If you don't like something - change it! Human thinking is not born easily, but once it is born, nothing can stop it." 

"That's from Rousseau's last work," I remarked in surprise. 

"Do you know him?" 

"I know some of his work, I finished reading it recently."

"And?" Baroque asked me eagerly, his eyes blazing.

Before I could answer, Ignatius inserted himself into the discussion. "Not that you're going to put your revolutionary ideas into the Countess's head. Rousseau is extremely progressive, but a dreamer and a fool. Some people can't bear that degree of freedom. And the nobility should let go of the taste for freedom altogether. It is the duty of the ruling classes to take care of their subjects and provide for the people who depend on them." 

I knew my teacher well enough to know when there was no point in discussing things with him. 

"Shall we go then?" I asked.