Eagle’s Glory

"She woke up and still wants to look for me?"

The Duke had already been tortured by the bad news. Now that he heard the worse news, it was like a bolt from the blue, which shocked him and left him speechless for a long time.

After the shock, he quickly became suspicious.

If Bianca had really woken up, why didn't the King of Rome send her directly to the hearing? Why did he let her apprentice appear? He is already so worried now. It is conceivable that if Bianca comes on the stage in person and tells everything, he will definitely be killed with one blow, and he will be directly accused of being the murderer behind the scenes.

So he immediately suspected it was a trap.

But soon, his last chance of luck was broken. A close confidant handed him a letter, which he opened impatiently.

"Dear Your Excellency the Duke:

I don't hate you for sending people to kill me. This is the retribution I deserve for my incompetence. I even regret that I didn't die. But since I survived thanks to the mercy of my old friend, I had to continue living for his kindness, even if it cost me my reputation.

I am very sad about Gaudan's death, maybe even more sad than you are, but now that he is dead, we cannot disobey God's will.

In addition to mourning the death of my old friend, I also wanted to do something at the end to comfort his spirit in heaven.

Therefore, I sincerely request that you take the time to come to my residence tomorrow at noon. Please be careful not to bring too many irrelevant people. I have some important things that I want to talk to you about.

Of course you can choose to ignore my words, but if you do so, please bear the consequences.

Shame on you, Bianca. "

The Duke of Orleans quickly read this short letter, but after reading it, he was still confused.

What on earth was she thinking? What do you want to do again?

However, he did not doubt the authenticity of the letter. It was indeed Bianca's own handwriting, and judging from her knowledge of Gaudin's death, it was indeed written recently.

The Duke confirmed the authenticity of Bianca's awakening and was furious.

"What on earth did Gao Dan do? He took his own life but still let her live!"

But he didn't get too angry either.

After all, this man has passed away. Thinking of Gao Dan's service over the years, he can no longer bear to insult his spirit in heaven.

Besides, he is already exhausted from dealing with the situation in front of him. Where can he find the time to curse the dead people?

He quickly regained his composure, and then carefully thought about the current situation and his own response.

In the letter, although Bianca said that she did not hate herself for sending people to kill her, her tone was very unkind and even more threatening.

It was obvious that if he did not meet her requirements, he would do so at his own risk.

And the Duke just couldn't afford the consequences now. After all, if she stood in front of everyone and told all the truth, she would be doomed.

But since Bianca didn't stand up, no matter what the reason was, this gave herself a chance to bargain, so she couldn't let this opportunity pass.

Maybe it would be risky to see her, but this risk must be taken. If the King of Rome used Bianca as bait to kidnap or murder himself, it would only turn his previous hard work into a joke, and he would suffer the same fate as himself. He believed that the scheming little bastard would not take the initiative to cause trouble when he had the upper hand.

So even if he doesn't know the situation at all now, he still has to bite the bullet and take a risk.

After making up his mind, he looked around again, and then sighed sadly, "It would be great if Gao Dan was still here! At least I wouldn't be so helpless."

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At noon the next day, the Duke of Orleans took a small number of his entourage to the apartment Bianca had rented on the outskirts of the city.

His followers carefully surveyed the surrounding area to make sure there was no ambush, then carefully escorted him to the door of the apartment, and then opened the door.

The spacious living room was almost empty as before, but there were several people standing, and Bianca was indeed among them.

Because of the serious injury she suffered before, Bianca's face was much paler than before, and she looked quite tired, but her eyes were still bright and bright, enough to reveal a little bit of her past aura.

"I'm very glad that you came as promised and didn't do any tricks, Your Excellency." After seeing the Duke of Orleans himself, she smiled weakly.

"Do I still have a choice?" the Duke responded with a smile.

Then, he and his followers walked in one after another, and then faced each other a few steps away, but no one took out their weapons - after all, no one wanted to cause trouble.

"You don't just have no choice in this matter, Your Excellency." Although Bianca was weak, her sneer still revealed her usual meanness, "Your entire career has been screwed up, I believe that. Everyone can see it, including yourself.”

"Why, have you become the lackey of the King of Rome?" The Duke replied sarcastically, "It seems that your bones are not as hard as I thought before."

"If I had become his lackey, you would not be able to see me here. You would be identified as a criminal, and then suffer stigma and shame, and lose everything you have." Bianca calmly said Reply, "So you should at least be grateful that I'm not yet."

"You...!" The Duke was irritated by Bianca's response, and was furious for a moment.

But he did not lose his mind, he just stared at her fiercely, "Then why did you specifically threaten me and call me here? Tell me, I don't have time to chat with you in vain!"

Although the Duke's voice was stern and he had a commanding aura because he had been in a high position for a long time, Bianca did not waver at all. She just looked ahead blankly, her eyes full of nostalgia.

"I didn't kill Gaudan. It's not that he failed. In fact, he had countless opportunities to kill me, and I didn't intend to resist... But he didn't do it. He left everything to fate, in disguise. The earth left a way for me to survive and blessed me to live well, even if the price was his life."

At this point, Bianca smiled bitterly, "It's really ironic, isn't it? He wanted to kill me, but he died and I lived... Fate will always play such embarrassing jokes on us, and we can only try Accept it."

"What on earth do you want to say!" The Duke became impatient and asked the other party loudly.

"When I was injured and unconscious, he told me that I didn't owe him anything anymore, but I don't think that's the case. I still owe him a lot, and just being seriously injured once is not enough to repay what I owe him. So...I Intending to fulfill his last wish.”

Facing Bianca's narration, the Duke had some doubts. "What is his last wish?"

"He didn't tell me, but I probably guessed it." Bianca sighed indifferently, "He chose to carry out such a dangerous mission, and chose to commit suicide without hesitation in the end, which means that he Everything is desperate. He knows that it is impossible to realize his wish, so he would rather die and take all the responsibilities. Then... his last wish is to allow you to walk off the stage with dignity and safety after failure. Let’s leave the country with our families, rather than being stigmatized and slaughtered.”

"Nonsense!" Bianca's words angered the Duke again.

"Is this really nonsense?" Bianca asked.

The Duke was speechless.

Based on his understanding of Gaudin, he believed that Bianca's words really made some sense.

Even though he didn't want to admit it, he also knew that Gao Dan did have some despair in giving up on himself in the end, otherwise he wouldn't have chosen to commit suicide so easily.

Sigh...why did it all come to this? Why did the originally promising path turn into despair?

After all, he is not that hateful boy.

The anger, pain and shame made the Duke almost unable to control himself.

"I know that it is difficult for you to accept the reality. If anyone has worked hard for a cause for decades like you, then when it faces collapse, it will be as difficult as you to accept it. This is what we as human beings "It's inherent nature." Bianca continued calmly, "However, even if you are no longer willing to face reality, you should face it now, because your time is getting less and less. If you don't seek a If you don't have the chance to leave the situation with dignity, then you and your family will face the risk of an unpredictable future... You may not care about everything anymore, but what about your children? Do you think they should be as ambitious as you are? A victim?"

Every word of Bianca's words hit the Duke's weakness, causing him immense pain.

"So you're just here to lobby for him? To persuade me to bow my head to him?"

"Now that things have happened, does he still need me to be a lobbyist?" Bianca asked, "I just hope to fulfill Gaudan's last wish so that you can exit safely... You have not been convicted yet, and you have been tolerated. space, but if you are convicted, it will be difficult for the King of Rome to be polite to you even if he wants to."

This is persuading surrender.

The Duke understood that Bianca was making a condition on behalf of the King of Rome - if he was willing to surrender, he would have a chance to exit with dignity, make this case a pending matter, and allow his whole family to leave safely. .

If you don't want to... the answer is self-evident.

It's a nasty threat, but a deadly one.

If Bianca no longer remained silent, but appeared at that hearing like her apprentice, she didn't even need to say anything, as long as she admitted that she was indeed ordered by her, everything would be a disaster.

The Duke stopped talking, but fell into anxious weighing.

On the one hand, intellectually, he vaguely felt that this was indeed the best condition available now;

But on the other hand, deep down in my heart, there is still too much unwillingness. In order to fulfill my wish, I have worked hard for so many years and paid such a high price. How can I give up so easily?

The torn apart between reason and emotion made his brain anxious and his heart began to ache.

However, no matter how much unwillingness and pain there is, reason gradually prevails.

If he had just fought that kid alone, he would have had some courage to continue fighting, but when powerful factions such as Talleyrand, Soult, etc. all came forward to express their support for the King of Rome, he no longer had the courage to bear the showdown. consequences.

In fact, it is precisely because he is unable to control the situation that an incident becomes a fatal weapon in politics, leaving him flustered and unable to resist.

If you are unable to control the situation, there are only two ways to go, either admit the reality or fight to the death.

However, he did not dare to put his whole family as a desperate bet.

Under the current absolute disadvantage, he still did not have the determination to fight to the death. Gao Dan's death gave him a huge blow and made him lose the fighting spirit to continue fighting.

Since we can't fight to the death, we can only look for an opportunity to end gracefully.

It hurts his self-esteem to let himself and his family rely on that kid's forgiveness, but if he compares his self-esteem with the lives of his family members, it's self-evident which is more important.

Yes, he still has children, and in the future the children will give him more descendants, and he will have a huge family. He himself will die, but the family will live on forever.

In a sense, his life and ambition will also rest on the entire family and continue forever.

Before, his ancestors had coveted the supreme authority for several generations, so his descendants can also spend several more generations on this ambition.

Only living people have hope. No matter how many flowers and applause a dead person has, it is meaningless.

He has seen too many honorable but unknown dead people, and he does not want to, nor can he, become one of them.

The Duke thought about it and finally bit his lip.

"How can I believe that what he says is true?"

And when he asked this question, he actually proved his position at the moment.

Once a position is chosen, the rest is just a matter of technical details.

Technical details of this kind did not concern Bianca, and she could not decide them.

"As long as you promise me and write a handwritten letter, the King of Rome will discuss the remaining issues with you clearly." Bianca replied calmly, "He said that as long as you cooperate, everything will be better for your family and your family." Your property will never be violated in the slightest, so you can rest assured.”

The corners of the Duke's mouth twitched, not with pleasure, but with irony.

Because similar conditions were used by him not long ago on the family of poor King Charles X.

Is this retribution? It is indeed fast enough.

If it weren't for the fact that he was feeling too disappointed at the moment, he would almost laugh wildly.

"No...his verbal promise alone is not enough. I want the joint guarantee from him, Talleyrand and Soult!" He suddenly shouted loudly.

"Okay, I will convey this request to you." Bianca nodded gently without any hesitation.

"You are so proud!" After another moment of silence, the Duke said coldly, "Now not only can you clear your name, but you can also make a great contribution! You can probably get a lot of rewards, right?"

"I'm not afraid of punishment, and I don't ask for reward." Bianca replied calmly, "I just want him to rest in peace."