Designs, PG, One-Shot

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LaughtersMelody
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Designs, PG, One-Shot

Post by LaughtersMelody »

Title: Designs
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight, nor am I making any money from this, though I'm certainly having fun playing with the characters. No infringement intended.
Warnings: Subtle references to the life of a courtesan, and a warning because Coraline's father is simply not a nice person.
Summary: Antoine DuVall was always an ambitious man.

A/N: This month's Champagne Challenge has given me the chance to write more about what I imagine to be Coraline's past, and I've written a few times about her father, Antoine. I wound up inspired to explain a bit more about what drove Antoine to treat his daughter the way he did. It's another one that wouldn't fit in seven sentences, lol, but I hope you enjoy it.

This fic is essentially Antoine's thoughts during the ball mentioned in my fic, Lady in Red. Antoine is also mentioned in my Seven-Sentence fic, Demoiselle, and my other one-shot, One Acquainted With the Night. It's not necessary to read those fics to understand this one, but I hope that you'll check them out. :blinksmile:

As always, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the source of all inspiration.

~*~*~*~*~

Designs

1731

Distance, Antoine had thought many times, the problem was distance. There were simply too many generations between the DuVall family line and the throne.

True, they were shown the respect due anyone descended from royal blood, but beyond that, they could only claim their sizeable estate as evidence of their heritage. Their particular branch of the Royal House had no official title. (Oh, how it galled Antoine to lack something the lowliest roturier could obtain through lettres patentes from the king.*)

He’d done what he could to strengthen their position by marrying a wife who also possessed a royal lineage, but he knew that it wasn’t enough. Even finding advantageous matches for his sons and his daughter would be, at best, a stop-gap measure; within two generations, perhaps three, the DuVall name might very well fade into obscurity.

He’d fought that decline, spending countless hours simpering like a fool before lesser men who held greater authority than he, and yet, all his efforts seemed in vain.

That was, until tonight.

He’d often been told that his daughter was lovely, but he had paid little mind. Beauty was an asset, yes, but in the end, only power mattered. Tonight, however…tonight, he saw that he’d underestimated her charm. Nobles young and old were dazzled by nothing more than her smile.

Gradually, an idea had begun to form in Antoine’s mind.

Seeing Coraline married would give him, at best, the support of one man within the Court…but there was another position - rather unofficial, perhaps - that could guarantee the support of many, many more.

A courtesan.

He would need to wait until she was a bit older, of course, but in the end, patience would have its own reward. Men would fall at her feet…and the DuVall name would be on every tongue.

Yes, Antoine thought, watching his fifteen-year-old daughter curtsey to yet another duke who’d stopped to compliment her, Coraline is the answer.

Fin

~*~*~*~*~

*roturier is the old French term for a commoner (source here) and lettres patentes were "a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person" (source here).

A/N: Thank you for reading, and of course, please let me know what you think! :blinksmile:

-Laughter
Last edited by LaughtersMelody on Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:11 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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allegrita
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Re: Designs, PG, One-Shot

Post by allegrita »

Great story! :clapping: I was a history major in college, specializing in European history, so these origin stories about Coraline are particularly interesting to me. And I think you've done a great job of capturing the way things were done in Coraline's day. For readers unfamiliar with this period, it's important to understand that all nobles thought of their kids as pawns in a game of strategy--very valuable ones, yes--but still, just tools. Marriages weren't made for love, but for political and financial gain. So Antoine's plotting, while cold-blooded in the extreme, is also typical, and quite historically accurate. Coraline had the misfortune of being the daughter of a man with huge ambition. She was brought up to know that she would be married to someone who would be beneficial to her family; that was simply a matter of fact. How tragic for her that her father saw this other route to his family's advancement, which would have the regrettable side effect of ruining his daughter's life. :Mickangel:
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