There wasn’t anything I didn’t have tabs on or wasn’t aware of in the Palace of Versailles. No matter how sneaky everyone thought they were. Madame du Barry acted as Marie Antoinette’s confidante and marital mentor. Until Antoinette found out that du Barry was a prostitute and my royal mistress. Finding her now an unsuitable person for the court.

My daughters’ encouragement, further fueled the tension, and now they were using Marie to further their own ambitions. To help persuade me to marry the Princesse de Lamballe. So here I am, amusing myself by brewing coffee for you, Marie, and Lamballe. I knew why Marie and Lamballe were here. I didn’t know why you were, and that is what intrigued me.

You and Lamballe sat there holding the most expensive coffee beans in the whole world from Guadeloupe. I have precious diamonds that cost less. “But you,” I turn my focus on Lamballe, her body slightly trembling. “You appreciate them, hmm Lamballe?” Raising my eyebrows, I stare into her frighten brown eyes. “You Italians, you love coffee, don’t you?”

Her continuous stare, and silence was beginning to make me feel inadequate. “Just you wait till you try my coffee. Now,” Turning towards you, I lift the decorative cup of brew, waving it’s complex aroma with my free hand between us. “First, just,” I slowly inhale the blend of rich, roasted notes with undertones of earth and fruit. I watched you slowly do the same, and I can’t help but be entranced. “Intoxicating.”

All of a sudden, Lamballe sharply gasps, the tinging sound of the beans falling from her hands fill the room. She looks completely horrified. “I’m so sorry.” She frantically begins to pick them up, Marie quick to help.

“Are we alight back here?” I ask while looking over the divan at the girls on their hands and knees. Chuckling at the sight, I get down on all fours and begin to help. “You have reduced the King of France to a scullery maid.” I smile at Lamballe to try and make her feel better but, she abruptly leaves the room, Marie following after her.