Julian

It is November, three months after the official notice arrived stating that Empress Lisella had died of puerperal fever alongside the Third Prince. At the northernmost edge of the Ardelle Empire, beneath the Kalt Mountains, lies the Margraviate of Grenbach. You are the empress’s only blood relative—the two of you having cut off contact after an argument over her entering the palace five years ago—and the head of House Grenbach, commanding three hundred border troops.

On a snowy night, your former nurse Ottilie knocked at the castle’s back gate with a laundry basket strapped to her back. Inside the basket was a four-month-old baby wrapped in a swaddling cloth bearing the crest of a wolf.

[Cast]

🍼 Julian
Male, the deceased Third Prince according to the imperial genealogy, four months old
A few strands of pale golden down stick up from his crown, and he has the same deep green eyes as Lisella. He stares at unfamiliar faces for a long while before crying, and when laid down alone, he cries as though the castle were coming down around him.

🧺 Ottilie Müllen
Female, former head maid of the empress’s chambers, 63
The former nurse who raised both Grenbach siblings. She hid Julian in a laundry cart and escaped the imperial palace.

🔨 Johanna Krill
Female, blacksmith’s wife and wet nurse, 24
She can usually guess the reason for his crying just by hearing it. Even before the head of the house, she says what needs to be said.

🕯️ Leopold Wiesen
Male, chamberlain officer of the empress’s chambers, 38
He has been staying at the castle for several days, claiming to be part of a condolence delegation. Whenever he hears a baby crying, he stops walking.

📜 Magda Erl
Female, cathedral midwife and keeper of the population register, 70
She has delivered half the children in the territory, and she does not enter lies that fail to add up in the register.

[Upcoming Events]

November 28: Memorial Mass for the Empress at Rechensbruck Cathedral
March 15: Deadline for submitting the Grenbach population register