As usual, I got up went to the meetings, talked with nobles, and did other mundane things expected of the Dauphin of France.
It didn't feel like Christmas at all, me who experienced the 21st-century Christmas with its crazy rush hours, suffocating lines at the supermarket all of the craziness combined that Christmas would bring, yet here Christmas was subdued, I felt like I was witnessing Christmas in its infancy.
Christmas in the 18th century was celebrated differently than in the 20th or even the 21st century. It was modest in comparison, even among the nobles, but it was much more spiritual as for the whole day the priests and nuns went out and performed various church services and preached to the masses about God. Even I with the whole of the Royal Family went to the church and prayed for two hours in the morning before attending our duties.
Not that my duties were done I wandered through the Versailles and looked through the many windows that the palace had.
It was all white and even now there was snow slowly falling, the view is really beautiful. I even had the pleasure of riding in the sleds pulled by a horse.
"Your Royal Highness, the lunch is prepared and your gifts are prepared we can deliver them whenever you want."
One of the servants informed me and I nodded.
"Very well, you can bring the gifts after the meal."
I replied to him as he bowed and left and I too went on my way.
And that reminds me of another strange thing that I noticed that Christmas gifts were typically reserved just for children and servants if given at all. It was not mandatory like in modern times, as here nobody wrote a letter to Santa Claus and the parents didn't say "If you are bad you will get coal instead, Santa sees and knows everything.".
When I sat down I immediately noticed that Marie is not there, which was strange, now that I think about it...I haven't seen Marie since morning.
"Where is Marie?"
I asked my family.
"Marie said she is busy, but she said she will join us at dinner."
One of my sisters Marie Clotilde replied to me, and her words surprised me, Marie was busy?
"Do you know what she is "busy" with?"
I asked my sister and she just shook her head.
"I don't know"
Hmm, interesting.
"By the way, Louis, Charles, Marie, and Elisabeth could you stay a bit after lunch?"
I asked them.
"Why for?"
Louis asked and the other looked at me with questioning eyes.
"You will see."
I said to them with a smile.
And after we finished our meals on my signal four servants entered.
"Well then, here are my gifts for you, happy Christmas."
I said as I gave my sibling their gifts, my brothers received new training swords and my sisters received new earrings.
"Thank you, brother!"
My siblings thanked me and hugged me and ran off.
I just smiled and went on my way and my way was to find Marie, I was really curious about what she was busy with as this was quite of character for her as she never misses meals and gatherings.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I was asking the servants and one maid let it slip that she was in the kitchen.
That surprised me even more.
And with quick steps, I went into the kitchen.
I opened the kitchen door as quietly as I could, while some of the servants noticed me I quickly made a hand gesture to silence them, so they just bowed and went on with their tasks.
I looked around while all of them wore white uniforms I quickly noticed Marie with her ash-blonde hair as she too wore a white uniform and was busy molding what looks like dough with her hands as he commanded the servants around her, then she straightened up and clean off the sweat from her forehead with her hand and then she noticed me and I went closer to her.
"Louis?! W-What are you doing here?"
She asked me.
"Well, you didn't attend lunch, so I was curious why were you missing. So what are you doing?"
I asked her as she dusted her hands on her skirt and directed some servants to take the molded dough.
"I was making a cake!"
"A cake?"
"Well, actually I'm making two cakes. Gugelhupf and Mohr im Hemd"
She answered.
Well, those names don't ring any bells in my head so maybe they are some old traditional cakes.
"Hmm, I never heard of them"
"Well, they came from my home."
Ahh, so cakes from Austria.
"Well, the Gugelhupf is a Yeast cake, with vanilla flavor and I added some raisins in it, while Mohr Im Hemd is a chocolate cake that can be defined even as a pudding, it is served hot."
"So why are you making them?"
I asked her curiously as she got a bit shy.
"W-well Gugelhupf is a present for servants, while Mohr in Hemd is for us."
"Ah, then I'm looking forward to having a cake with you Mare, but how did you come up with this idea?"
"Well while his Majesty Louis XV gave most of the servants a couple of coins, I thought they could enjoy something else so then an idea came to my mind "Why won't let them eat cake?", plus cakes can be enjoyed any part of the day and so since morning I was here making cakes, a-and then I thought about us too so before I knew I was already making another cake for us."
She replied and I smiled at her.
"Well then I will not disturb you, good luck Marie, the servants will surely be happy, and I will patiently await the special cake just for the two of us."
I said and noticed as Marie slightly blushed.
"Alright, Louis, I will make sure that it will be the most tastiest cake you ever tasted."
"Of course, it will be, after all, it will be made by my beautiful wife."
With that said I left the now red-like-a-tomato Marie in the kitchen.
A/N: Happy Christmas! This was my sweeter take on the infamous "let them eat cake" line (which is a myth). Hope you liked it!
BTW This story received five contract requests. So if you don't join dc I will money-block this story(joke)
Dc: https://discord.gg/SUeu6Ddejz