On the Trail of the Countess's Ghost
is a The Queen of Spades Alternate Universe Fic by AutumnLeaves. It diverges from canon early in the plot when the ballad of the three cards is accidentally heard by Prince Yeletsky… and it gets him thinking.
The story was inspired by a theory on the opera detailed on the same fanfic site.
Tropes featured in the fic:
- Adaptational Mundanity: In the opera, it's at least ambiguous whether the Countess's ghost ever appears. Here, it explicitly doesn't — it's a trick arranged by Tomsky.
- Adaptational Heroism: Thanks to the ballad of the three cards making him suspicious early in the plot, Prince Yeletsky is too preoccupied with finding out whether Liza's life is in danger to get properly mad at Herman. In the opera, though he never slips into outright villainy, he plans to get his revenge on Herman by beating him at cards and succeeds a bit too well.
- Adaptational Villainy: Count Tomsky is a fairly nice character in the opera, but here, the niceness is just a facade for an unscrupulous, manipulative murderer.
- Amateur Sleuth: Prince Yeletsky tries to figure out whether there's foul play in the Countess's death and Liza's failing health. He thinks of involving the police several times but realizes that with only vague suspicions and ideas, he doesn't have much of a case for them.
- Betty and Veronica: Like in the opera, Liza has the choice of a conventional but lackluster romance with Yeletsky or a wild Destructive Romance with Herman. Here, she ends up with Yeletsky when she realizes their relationship only lacked passion because he didn't show it and she didn't feel it for him.
- Bluffing the Murderer: Yeletsky realizes that even with the proof he has of Tomsky's actions, there's nothing directly illegal in them, so he opts for publicly accusing Tomsky, mixing what he actually knows with a fair bit of bluff. In particular, he lies that he has met with the footman who took the ghost's costume from Tomsky and that Liza has already changed her will in favor of an orphanage. He hopes to provoke Tomsky into attacking him so that he'll be able to shoot him in self-defense. Instead, Tomsky commits suicide.
- The City vs. the Country: Brought up in the end when Liza announces she's leaving Saint-Petersburg for her estate in the mostly rural Pskov Governorate. Most of her friends are appalled and try to convince her that it would be extremely boring in the country compared to the glamorous society of the capital, and then they decide she simply wants to spend more time with Yeletsky whose brother-in-law's estate is nearby. While it is one of the reasons, the main one is that Liza desperately wants a change of scenery after what she's been through.
- Deathbed Confession: Tomsky confesses to his scheming on his deathbed to a priest, and the priest, at his request, relays it to Liza.
- Graceful Loser: Due to retaining more of his sanity than in canon, Herman quickly realizes and accepts that Liza's love is lost to him after he hears about her nearly committing suicide because of him. He asks both her and Yeletsky's forgiveness (in the latter case, in writing) and leaves to try getting his health back.
- Gratuitous French: As befits the time period, the characters, especially Liza's friends, lapse into French every now and then.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Though he does occasionally feel furious at Herman, Yeletsky's top priority is Liza's happiness and wellbeing.
- In Love with Love: Liza realizes she is an example. When she gets engaged to Yeletsky, she only views him with admiration and respect but mistakes it for love, leading to her feeling unsatisfied as she ponders if that's all love should be. Then she is swept off her feet by Herman's wild passion. Her feelings for Herman meet a dismal end when their relationship ends with his Sanity Slippage and her suicide attempt, and she falls in love with Yeletsky not because he saves her life but because it dawns on her how much he loves her.
- In Spite of a Nail: Like in the opera, Yeletsky's behavior at the gambling-table drives another character to suicide. Except here, the character is Tomsky, and the behavior is a Bluffing the Murderer speech rather than a gambling bet.
- Inheritance Murder: It turns out Tomsky arranges for the deaths of the Countess and Liza due to being the next one in line for the magnificent inheritance.
- Karmic Death: Tomsky, who manipulated Liza into a suicide attempt, commits suicide after being unmasked. Moreover, the manner thereof (stabbing) is the same Herman uses in canon.
- Kissing Cousins: For a while, Yeletsky thinks that Tomsky wishes to marry Liza (his cousin) for her money.
- Manipulative Bastard: Count Tomsky easily manipulates Herman and Liza, using their trust in him to get them to indulge in their Destructive Romance. He manipulates Herman into scaring the Countess to death, and almost succeeds into getting Liza to kill herself.
- Mid-Suicide Regret: The instant after Liza throws herself into the river, she wants to get out of it. Sadly, it's easier thought than done when one is weighed down by heavy clothes and the water is terribly cold. If it hadn't been for Yeletsky jumping in to at least hold her afloat and the coachman calling the night watchmen, she would have died.
- Not with Them for the Money:
- Yeletsky thinks that Liza suspects him of marrying her for money, but in truth he doesn't care whether she inherits or not.
- In his letter to Yeletsky, Herman reaffirms that he genuinely loved Liza and didn't pursue her because she was an heiress.
- Oblivious to Love: For a long time, Liza never even realizes how strongly Prince Yeletsky loves her.
- The Only One I Trust: After saving her from the river, Yeletsky gives Liza into the care of his cousin Polina, saying that now she's the only one he trusts.
- Patchwork Fic: The fic is mostly based on the opera, but some of the details (like Liza's Patronymic and Herman's fate in the ending) echo Pushkin's story more.
- Related in the Adaptation: Two downplayed examples, since the characters are implied (though never stated) to be related in canon as well.
- Yeletsky and Liza's friend Polina are cousins.
- Tomsky and Liza are cousins and each other's next of kin.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Yeletsky suspects something is shady with the Countess's death after Liza's health begins to fail soon afterwards, and attributes both events to poisoning. He is right that someone, namely, Tomsky, plans for both women to die, but Tomsky uses manipulation rather than any direct killing methods.
- Saying Too Much: When Yeletsky asks the others if anyone has played any practical joke on them just now, Tomsky asks: "Why? Have you seen anything?", and Yeletsky realizes Tomsky was involved in arranging the fake ghost's appearance.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Herman doesn't die and ends up rich since he never bets for the third time and therefore never loses his winnings from the first two bets.
- Liza is saved in time.
- Significant Name Shift: Yeletsky calls Liza "my darling" when they are engaged but instantly (apart from a single Freudian Slip) switches to the formal "full name and patronymic" after she breaks off with him. Then, just after he saves her from the river, he calls her "Liza" in his agitation and even switches to an informal form of "you" which he didn't even use during the engagement. A few days later, even though they are on much warmer terms and he sees she wants to renew their engagement, he is back to "full name and patronymic" and the formal "you" since that's what propriety demands.
- Starting a New Life: Liza decides to sell the Countess's old house along with everything inside it to get rid of all the dark past.
