Free The Champagne Queen (The Century Trilogy Book 2) by Petra Durst-Benning

was the largest room she had seen so far. The pantry and laundry had each had only one window, but here there were two. On either side of the windows hung floral drapes that lent gaiety to the room, but there were no curtains over the windows themselves, so the sunlight streamed through the windows. In the glow of the late-afternoon sun, the brown tiled floor looked to be made of copper. The centerpiece of the room was a large stove in which someone had already lit a fire. Feeling slightly chilled from their journey, Isabelle held her hands in front of the stove and enjoyed the heat it radiated.
    A pot of water bubbled away on the stove. Isabelle considered calling for one of the staff. After the long drive, a cup of coffee or tea would have been wonderful. But it could wait; she had something much more urgent to take care of. She had needed to use a toilet for some time but was too embarrassed to ask the coachman to stop.
    When she opened the final door on the right and discovered exactly what she wanted, she sighed with relief. Luckily for her, Leon’s uncle had been a rather progressive man, so she wouldn’t have to use an outhouse as she had in Grimmzeit. That had been terrible. Here, however, Isabelle was positively enchanted to find a small bathroom with a real bathtub in a room that adjoined the toilet.
    A little later, greatly relieved, she stood in the corridor again, ready to tackle the rest of the house. If the right side was the domestic domain, then the manorial rooms had to be on the left side. There, however, instead of reaching the individual rooms from a long corridor, one passed from one room into the next. The advantage of that arrangement was that it allowed windows on both sides of the room.
    She was instantly delighted by what she found in the first room. It was a large living room with dark furniture and many lamps. There were two separate sitting areas in front of the windows; the armchairs were upholstered in velvet the shade of honey and looked comfortable, if a little worn. Large paintings of flowers decorated the walls, and trays of colorful wine glasses added even more color to the room.
    Isabelle sat in one of the armchairs, just to try it out. The view over the valley beyond the top of the hill was beautiful. There were grapevines planted over on that side, too, as far as the horizon, and they came so close to the house that Isabelle felt as if she could reach out through the open window and touch them. They must be Feininger vines , she thought, rejoicing in the feeling that, in every sense of the word, she had arrived. She imagined sitting here with Leon in the evening, the day’s work done, a glass of champagne in her hand.
    The next room was a library, with bookshelves running along all the walls. Among the books, Isabelle noticed immediately, were a large number of specialist volumes about viticulture and champagne manufacture. There were books about chemistry and other technical topics, but also a lot of novels, biographies, and ancient tomes clad in leather, with text on the covers that Isabelle could not decipher—she assumed that they were valuable antique treasures. Most of the books were in French but a number were in German. Isabelle could not help thinking of how much she had been starved for books in Grimmzeit. Her own library—she would certainly never get bored here.
    The third room was a study, in the center of which stood a very large escritoire. As in the previous room, a lovely tiled stove stood along one wall. With so many stoves, they would never have to be cold. As soon as Leon came in, she would ask him to light a fire; she wanted their first evening in their new home to be cozy.
    Every room radiated so much airiness and joy that Isabelle’s own heart grew lighter, too. Clearly the man who had lived there had enjoyed having beautiful things around him. Was this the French savoir vivre that so much had been written about? Enjoying life with all one’s senses—was