Chapter 42 – The Case Transformed

When I first encountered the orthodox version of the case of Princess Schwarzenberg, it appeared to be nothing more than a crude blend of folkloric motifs – scarcely more than an irritating ghost story. An evil noblewoman dabbling in vampires, dark forces, and witches’ brews… give me strength! The only reason I did not dismiss the tale outright was my historian’s instinct that the story was incomplete; that something – or someone – far more significant lay dormant beneath the surface.

Paradoxical as it may sound, the real challenge of my research was arriving at the realisation that the alleged main character was little more than a minor figure and a silent participant in her own narrative. Her case gains internal coherence only if one assumes that it had an important prelude long before the future Princess Schwarzenberg ever entered the stage. This earlier episode shaped the relationships between the individuals involved and, consequently, the events that followed. The poor innocent Princess had virtually no opportunity to alter the circumstances and was, in all likelihood, not even fully aware of them.

The essential difference between these two ladies – Eleonora, Princess Schwarzenberg, and Karolina, Countess Althann – is that the former merely reacted to her husband’s antagonistic actions, which were themselves rooted in, fuelled by, and shaped through his earlier history with the latter.