The illegitimate daughter Etienne de la Courcel named sole heir to Averoigne — murdered two weeks later, before she could be crowned. Madeline Foussard was her tutor.
What We Know (all GM)
- Illegitimate daughter of King Etienne de la Courcel; under age at his death, hence the regency.
- Summer 1731: named his sole heir on his deathbed, before witnesses including Marc Abayante, who was made Regent and Lord Protector until she came of age.
- Madeline Foussard — knight-confessor of the Order of the Phoenix — was her tutor, and was in Vyones in that capacity when she took charge of Constanza Bethlen’s witchcraft trial.
- Two weeks after the designation she was killed in the royal castle by a large, well-equipped band of assassins, along with Marc Abayante and numerous owl knights. See The Night in the Royal Castle.
She was raised in a monastery. (GM, S6) Before any of this — before the legitimization, before the tutor, before she was an heir — the king’s natural daughter was in religious keeping.
And Madeline was appointed her tutor in anticipation of her being legitimized. (GM, via Visenne, S6) Not at the legitimization, and not after it — before, because it was coming.
Speculation
Somebody knew the legitimization was coming, and moved a Phoenix knight-confessor into position first. That is the whole placement question, answered in the worst direction. It was not a tutor hired for a new heir; it was a tutor installed for a girl who was about to become one. Which means the Order — or whoever appointed Madeline — had advance knowledge of Etienne’s intentions.
Two weeks after the deathbed designation, Marie-Celeste was murdered. The list of people who knew early is now not empty.
Speculation
A monastery is also a place you keep someone you may later need. A king with no legitimate heir, an illegitimate daughter raised in religious custody, and a designation at the very end — that reads less like a sudden improvisation and more like an option held in reserve for years. Who placed her in that monastery, and who paid for it?
Visenne also adds that Madeline was rumored to be Marc Abayante’s paramour — which would mean the tutor lost both her pupil and her lover in the same hours.
Why She Matters
She is the reason the party’s own informant was in Averoigne at all. Madeline told the party about Constanza and said nothing about the murdered girl she was raising — which is either grief, or discretion, or the shape of something she isn’t saying.
Speculation
A Phoenix knight-confessor as personal tutor to a king’s natural daughter is not a routine posting. Either the Phoenix had placed someone close to the Averoigne succession years before it became a crisis, or Marie-Celeste was thought to need watching. Ask Madeline which.
Relationships
- Etienne de la Courcel — her father.
- Madeline Foussard — her tutor.
- Marc Abayante — her designated Regent; died with her.
- Michel d’Envers · Guillaume de Fausseflammes — the claimants her death made possible.