White snowflakes, colorful Christmas trees, and a riot of brilliant colors echoed the banners celebrating every kind of festivity, making this Christmas especially splendid.
When the New Year's bells rang out, Franz sank into memories. Looking back over the unsteady decades he had walked, there were simply too many stories left untold.
This Christmas, there were no guests. Aside from the essential guards, Franz had even given the servants leave.
All the preparations for the celebration were handled by the younger generation. A family reunion was rare; only by doing it themselves did it have any meaning.
It certainly had meaning, but the scene had gotten somewhat out of hand. These pampered youngsters were clearly unused to such rough work.
Looking at the dark cuisine placed on the table, Franz seriously doubted whether any of it was edible.
But seeing everyone eat so happily, Franz was reassured. In any case, he would not be eating it. At his age, late-night snacks no longer suited him.
The fact that he had stayed up this long was entirely due to how well Franz had looked after himself. The Empress beside him had already been yawning repeatedly. If not for tradition, she would likely have gone to bed long ago.
Well, tradition was merely an excuse. The main reason was that there would not be many more days of reunion like this. With victory in the World War, the final round of enfeoffment was about to begin.
After laying the groundwork for so many years, it was now time to reap the harvest. As one of the great victors of the war, the House of Habsburg naturally had its own share of the fruits of victory.
The Holy Roman Empire already possessed vast territory, and now it had carved more than twenty million