First, let me take a deep breath.
When I first read about the alleged affair between Emperor Charles VI and Eleonora, Princess Schwarzenberg, I had a momentous gut feeling that it was a rather ignorant attempt to lend more credibility to Prince Schwarzenberg’s death.
Still, however foolish, it was part of the mystery, so I investigated that line of inquiry as carefully as all the others. With full confidence, I can assure you that it is the feeblest and most ridiculous aspect of the superstitious gossip surrounding the poor Princess — one that ignores all factual circumstances, as well as the motives and reactions of the people involved. Remarkably, the claim of a clandestine relationship did not circulate during the lifetime of the parties at all. Instead, it was constructed in hindsight as a piece of folkloric delusion.
In short — when something looks, sounds, feels, and tastes like nonsense, then it is nonsense.
Marianne’s detailed questioning in this chapter reflects my own line of reasoning on the matter, as well as my intellectual disdain for that absurdity. I only added for her a touch of emotional confusion — after all, the alleged liaison was also an indirect attack on the memory and reputation of her grandfather, the late Emperor.
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