Princess of the Black Death | ✔️

Chapter XIV

Spring 1339, Marburg Castle, Hess, Holy Roman Empire

Card games continued through the winter, even though Empress Margaret disapproved, she didn't stop them. The children played the mainstay game and some new ones a bit at nighttime. Sometimes Princess Margaret joined in but usually said that she had more important things to attend to. Sometimes William played but got bored of sitting still for periods of time. Joan sometimes played with the younger royal children but only very simple games the older children weren't interested in. Joan loved all kinds of games, and it let her spend time and socialise with her cousins on a common ground.

As Joan became more comfortable with their language, she felt less and less homesick. She found German similar enough to English that being immersed in it made it easier to learn. It became strange to even write letters in English, and more often she elected to write in Latin to practise since her parents and sister were all fluent in understanding it. She began to think more about becoming a German (technically Bavarian) duchess, and if this was a land she could see adapting as her own.

She told the Empress that she'd like to be the empress herself someday.

"Ah, it is still unknown if you could be an empress or not," Empress Margaret said. "It is still being decided how you should become a permanent part of the Wittelsbach family. Becoming empress is up to a council to decide."

"Teach me anyway," Joan insisted.

Margaret did agree and spent some lesson time instructing her how one could be a good queen and wife, the geography of the realm, the local customs across the wide territories, and how to guide royal children. Joan learned their native dances, their styles of dressing, their way of doing prayers, and even about the local flora and fauna throughout the realm. She wanted to learn the land if it was going to be her land one day.

Joan found herself looking forward to seeing Empress Margaret daily the way she looked forward to spending time with her own mother. The lessons with her were more engaging than from any of the other official tutors. If she dwelled on it, she felt a constant deep ache for her own mother. Joan had to remind herself she was doing her duty to both of her parents, and they would only be proud of her if she didn't complain about missing them.

She cried sometimes when she thought about how she may never see her parents again. Margaret told her ladies only cried to themselves in their bedchambers, but that they must put on a brave face for everyone else to see. She said she didn't even cry in front of her husband.

"Life is a performance, but we all get sad," Margaret said, and so Joan obeyed and cried only when she was alone.

If Joan had to be in a new home, she would have to prove to herself she could make the best of it.