Beatrice’s Letter
Chapter 18 - Beatrice’s Letter
Five years into her sentence, Beatrice wrote to Clara.
The letter described sacrifice, duty, and the burden of preserving a nation.
It never said kidnapping.
Clara, now twelve, stopped reading.
Two years later, another letter arrived.
I took you from Elena because I believed blood mattered only when approved by power. I gave you to Sophia because I believed a crown could turn theft into duty. I was wrong.
Clara asked Elena whether she should answer.
“You are not responsible for teaching her how to live with what she did.”
“Can I forgive her and not visit?”
“Yes.”
“Can I not forgive her yet?”
“Yes.”
Clara placed the letter in a drawer.
Beatrice later provided information locating other women held through palace-funded institutions.
Her cooperation helped them.
It did not create a right to Clara’s presence.
Remorse could produce useful action without becoming a key to the family door.
Beatrice’s second letter included names of officials who helped maintain the false records after Sophia’s death.
Prosecutors recovered more documents and cleared two employees previously blamed for archive errors.
Clara saw that truthful cooperation could help others even when forgiveness remained unresolved.
She wrote one sentence back:
Tell everything, even if I never visit.
Beatrice complied.
The correspondence stopped there.
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Clara did not owe emotional intimacy in exchange for information that should have been given without conditions.
The boundary allowed useful truth to continue while protecting the child from becoming the reward for remorse.
