The Shadow of Great Britain

As the eldest daughter of the Marquis Hastings Family, Miss Flora Hastings possesses many character traits of aristocratic ladies from the old times.

To many people, Miss Flora Hastings is seen as highly moral, extremely courteous, and profoundly loyal to authority.

Although such traits might not appeal to the younger generation, they are enough to win her favor among conservative nobility. The Duchess of Kent particularly admired Flora’s strong sense of morality and responsibility, thus establishing her as a standard-bearer among the ladies of Kensington Palace.

In terms of status among the court ladies of Kensington Palace, Flora’s position even surpasses that of Lady Leisen.

However, because Leisen spends time day in and day out with Victoria, she is still the one that the Princess trusts more.

As for Flora...

Arthur realized quite early on that his distant cousin’s relationship with Princess Victoria seemed quite delicate.

While it’s not as feared and disliked as Conroy, their relationship can’t be described as close.

Arthur suspects that this might be due to Flora’s poor relationship with Lady Leisen.

Victoria is so fond of Leisen and would naturally side with her whenever conflicts arise between the two.

And why these two ladies ended up in such a state of hostility actually stems from a trivial matter.

It is well known that Lady Leisen comes from a middle-class background; her father was a Hanoverian priest, and she herself was made a Baron of the Kingdom of Hanover by King William IV thanks to her years of loyal service to the Royal Family. Although Lady Leisen has always been cautious and prudent, ever since obtaining her noble title, she naturally couldn’t help but show off, often adopting an air of superiority in her speech and actions at the court.

As the leading lady of Kensington Palace, Flora naturally found Lady Leisen’s arrogance unbearable. She would frequently comment on Leisen’s behavior with sharp remarks, even referring to her as ”that lowly German woman” in letters to her mother.

Gradually, the animosity between the two deepened.

And this accumulated hatred finally erupted over one particular issue.

Though Lady Leisen has been in Britain for many years now, she still retains many of the dietary habits of the German middle class.

For instance, her love for caraway seeds is at a bewildering level. Nearly every month, she would have bags of caraway seeds brought from Hanover to London, scattering them over buttered bread, cabbage, roast beef, and even snacking on them idly.

According to Lady Leisen, if she couldn’t chew caraway seeds for an hour, she’d become anxious.

Flora, who always valued court etiquette, naturally couldn’t resist making cutting remarks, which inevitably reached Lady Leisen’s ears and provoked her anger.

Hence, the disputes between these two court ladies escalated, with their ”war” intermittently raging in Kensington Palace for five or six years.

Recently, however, their relationship appears to have thawed somewhat.

As to why this thawing occurred, it’s naturally thanks to our Sir Arthur Hastings.

In fact, ever since Lady Leisen discovered that Arthur was a distant relative of the Hastings family, she began actively trying to mend her relationship with Flora.

Moreover, the inexplicable pursuit campaign Arthur launched half a year ago targeting Miss Flora Hastings also made Flora see a sliver of hope for marriage without needing to accumulate wealth through court politics.

As a result, Flora naturally subconsciously lowered her expectations for obtaining court positions in the future, becoming less sensitive to the threats posed by Lady Leisen in Kensington Palace.

They not only broke the several years of silent agreement never to speak to each other except in public, but Lady Leisen also privately expressed her gratitude to Flora regarding Sir Arthur Hastings. Although Arthur never brought it up, Lady Leisen learned from Baron Stockma that the reason she could continue staying at Kensington Palace was partly due to Sir Arthur’s assistance.

For Flora, Lady Leisen praising her cousin Arthur was akin to showing weakness and yielding.

Though Flora remained composed at the moment, the pride hidden within her ever so slightly drooping eyes was unmistakable.

Of course, expecting these two long-feuding ladies to become friends and call each other sisters might still be too naive.

However, they are capable of showing a smile upon meeting and exchanging pleasantries occasionally during leisure moments.

After all, the magnanimity of these two ladies is certainly greater than that of Sir Arthur Hastings and Viscount Palmeston.

Recently, Arthur bought ”hot topics” on Fleet Street, criticizing Foreign Secretary Palmerston for using unofficial means to intervene in the Spanish civil war, emphasizing that the Foreign Office’s undeclared act of sending British volunteers to the Iberian Peninsula to support the Spanish Liberals was nothing but a deceptive peace.