𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒: 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊 | 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐬

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'There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.'
- Colin Powell

Luise didn't know how much she had really slept. In any case, it didn't seem long when her alarm clock rang around four in the morning and she had gotten up half an hour later. She had quickly freshened up and then gone to the cafeteria for a snack. She wasn't allowed to eat much, but she had to have something in her stomach. So she ate some cereal with a little milk. On competition day, every gram really counted. As bad as it sounded, every extra gram made it harder to jump quadruple jumps. So eat a bit and really only drink sips at a time.

Shortly before five o'clock she had made her way back upstairs, that around five o'clock her stylist would come. Estella was there for the whole French team. She did everyone's hair and then also the makeup. That was also the case for her. Actually, she did it at the rink and not at the hotel, but since all the team members were staying at the same hotel, she did it here that day. In fact, she had been on time to the minute. And while she was working on her, she was sitting on her cell phone and scrolling through Instagram. The official Instagram page of the ISU, @isufigureskating, had posted yesterday evening a picture '1 DAY TO GO MONTPELLIER'. In the background was darkly depicted a skater who had also been at the European Championships. So this picture announced her competition today. Looking at the comments, she saw that many were excited about her. And she couldn't even understand why. Another post showed her at her second day of training in Montpellier. The caption unfortunately summed up what she painfully wanted to suppress.

'Luise Leclerc on March 29, 2022 at her second training session in France, Montpellier. Her second day of training also did not go as the twenty-year-old had imagined. The Monegasque figure skater could not land any of her quadruple jumps and left the ice clearly dejected after the training. Will she manage to land her jumps in her short program on Wednesday? Or will we see a repeat of the Winter Olympics?'

After seeing all the pictures, she decided to check out the Instastories. Davide had posted a video in his Story last night where he had jumped a clean quad Salchow. In the story he wrote how well his training had gone and that he was now looking forward to the upcoming competition.

If only she could share this joy. Her body was literally electrified with nervousness and then there was what had happened again yesterday. Nicholas had left joyfully at some point, leaving her crying on the bed. Full of shame, full of anger, full of guilt and full of disappointment. Completely overwhelmed, she had wondered if she should write to Charles. Whether she should ask him to come to her. But at the same moment, she didn't want to. Her brothers and her mom had already been totally overwhelmed when it came out what her biological father had done to her. They had blamed themselves, had left her alone under no circumstances. And had looked at her like a broken little child. And she didn't want that. She didn't want her family to suffer from something like that again.

After about an hour Estella was finished and she could put on her training clothes. A pair of black sports leggings with a T-shirt which was the national shirt for Monaco, over it a sports jacket with the same design. Add to that her Adidas sneakers and then she was dressed for the first time. She already had her suitcase with her dress and her skates at the door.

Around half past six, Lorenzo suddenly stood in front of the door, who wanted to pick her up so that they could go to the ice rink together. He had welcomed her with a warm smile and had taken her in his arms, before he had taken the suitcase and they had climbed into the elevator together. Down in the foyer Charles, Arthur and her mom had already been waiting, and they had all welcomed her warmly. As they had told Luise, they had gone to breakfast at about six o'clock before they waited for Luise. They got into the car where Charles told her that the boys, including Daniel, Max, Lando, Carlos and Pierre, wished her good luck and success. And Daniel had promised, on high and holy, to watch the World Championships on TV and would not support anyone else but Luise. She actually had to smile and was amazed that the five of them had thought of her.