Eagle’s Glory

"But before that, I want to meet with my cousin for a while. I want him to know that my son will not be at his mercy."

The Duke's words made the Madam even more worried. After all, the cousin was no longer what he used to be. He had become the head of the country. He and his wife could not easily shake him. If her husband angered him, the consequences would be really difficult. Anticipate.

However, she was also concerned about her eldest son. Although she said "don't worry about him anymore", as a mother, why didn't she hope that her son would be safe?

"How about we talk about it together?" So she suggested to her husband, "If we make our position clear to him together, he should be more wary. After all, he has just come to power and needs to worry about foreign influence..."

"No, Theresa, that's enough for me." The Duke shook his head, "I can't remind myself and others all the time that I am a member of the Austrian royal family, and it is enough for me to be the Duke of Lechstadt. It’s been a long time, and today I have to face my cousin as Bonaparte. This is a dispute between me and him, and I don’t need others to support me.”

Although the Duke's tone was calm, Teresa's face turned red in an instant, looking guilty and helpless.

"I'm sorry... Your Highness... I made you sacrifice so much because of my own willfulness. I know that you have had a lot of disappointments in your heart, especially after Francois left, I often heard you talking in your sleep. …I originally kept silent because I was afraid, but I still can’t ignore your unwillingness, so please forgive me!”

As she spoke, she almost cried again, "Twenty years! You have accommodated me for too long, so now I should accommodate you. If you want to get back to your past self, then do it! Now we are in Paris, no matter what you want to do, no one can stop you, and I will never be your resistance, I will only be your eternal help! I just ask you not to hide it from me, and don’t give up. Come on, if you want to stay, then I will stay with you. There are spies among our group, but I have a way to deal with them... No matter what you want to do, whether we are facing the throne or face to face Against the muzzle of the firing squad, I will be by your side without regrets, until death can separate us..."

Teresa's affectionate confession makes people feel pitiful, and the Duke is no exception.

"Teresa, don't think so much. You know, I am not a capricious person. After making a decision, I will stick to my decision regardless of unwillingness and resentment. This is my own choice, not I am sacrificing for you. You can understand that during those sweet times we spent together as teenagers, at a certain moment, the warmth I got from you defeated my desire for the crown. I was willing to leave this country behind and just For staying with you forever...you should be proud of it." After comforting his wife, the Duke made a promise in a soft voice, "We will go back together, and soon,

All that's left now is one last battle. "

Her husband's comfort made Teresa laugh from tears. This time, her husband made the choice she desired most - and this was enough to prove how heavy she was in his heart.

Although it was less than a month before they left the secluded manor, she was already extremely nostalgic for the home she had carefully managed for twenty years. It was everything to her, and everything outside of it was worth mentioning. , even the crown is nothing more than that.

The wishes that the girl made after the two people got married have all come true in the twenty years after their marriage. She got all the happiness she wanted, and she just wanted to let this happiness last until the two of them got married. On the day when a person passes away, although Francois's incident is an unfortunate episode, it can be overcome in the end.

As long as he is still by his side, that's fine.

"Okay, Your Highness... In that case, everything will be as you wish. I'll wait for you." Teresa kissed her husband's cheek gently, and then watched her husband leave.

==================================

After receiving his cousin's request to meet him, President Louis Bonaparte immediately agreed. So, while the grand banquet was still being held, he went to the spacious room belonging to the president in the Tuileries Palace. In it, the cousins ​​are finally reunited - and just the two of them.

At this time, Louis was naturally very satisfied. He was qualified to be proud of his current achievements - after twenty years of hard work, he finally realized his ambition of reviving the family and became a He is currently the person with the highest status in the family.

Now, it was the King of Rome who wanted to see him.

With the splendid room and the dazzling halo on his head, Louis Bonaparte no longer had the fear he had in the past when facing his cousin, and there was even a little ridicule in his calm smile.

"Your Excellency, I am grateful for the warm hospitality you have shown me." After a moment of silence, the Duke spoke. "This hospitality is more than I deserve."

"You are too humble. As the King of Rome, you deserve to be warmly embraced by Paris with open arms. I am afraid that you think you are not doing enough now." President Louis Bonaparte replied with a smile, "Have you seen it? What you have experienced People everywhere are cheering for you loudly, they miss the late emperor, and therefore they are full of respect for you."

"I am a person who is used to living in seclusion. To me, the cheers from the crowd are not worth looking forward to, but are a burden." The Duke responded calmly, "Besides, now you have become the esteemed person of the country and the leader of our family." Leader, if I keep hanging around in front of people, I'm afraid it will damage your reputation, and this is not what I want to see."

Seeing his cousin admit that he was "the leader of the family" so simply, Louis Bonaparte felt a burst of joy in his heart.

After forty years of wishful thinking and forty years of struggle, the world finally recognized what I was supposed to have!

Before the birth of the King of Rome, Emperor Napoleon had no heirs and could only look for an heir among his nephews. Because his eldest brother Joseph had no sons and his third brother Lucien had a falling out with him and left Rome, he could only look for an heir among the heirs of his fourth brother Louis. The current President Louis is the youngest of three sons.

When Louis was just beginning to understand, he was taught by everyone around him that one of their brothers would become the heir to the empire. However, with the birth of this cousin in 1811, everything seemed to disappear. When this child was born His cries shattered all hopes of his own lineage to inherit the throne.

However, he turned everything over again and defeated his fate.

The huge ecstasy made Louis, who had always kept his emotions secret, find it difficult to control himself at this moment.

"Actually... you should have done all this." Because of his ecstasy, he couldn't help but secretly ridiculed the other party, "My brother and I found you in Austria, but you rejected our proposal. You chose to stay together with your little wife forever... Since you have put aside this responsibility, I can only bear it reluctantly, right?"

[In this timeline, although the two brothers still ran over to find the protagonist, the protagonist who was moved by Teresa firmly rejected them, so their restoration of the country suffered a huge setback. It took 20 years for the protagonist to Finally declared success. 】

Faced with his cousin's teasing, the Duke did not feel dissatisfied and just shrugged lightly, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. We all got the life we ​​wanted. This is worth celebrating, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's worth celebrating! As for Caesar...you are right!" Louis echoed loudly, "You have got everything you want, a happy family, a perfect marriage, you have nothing missing...but My journey is not over yet. To tell you the truth, I will use all my skills to fight those damn Orleans and Republican bastards. I will defeat them one by one and then destroy our The family has assumed the supreme throne, and on that day, my obligation is finally declared complete... This will be another arduous journey, but since I have been walking for twenty years, I am naturally not afraid to continue walking. Go down."

"I believe you can definitely accomplish it, and when that time comes, I will extend my most sincere congratulations to you in Austria." The Duke still looked calm. "As for me, I'm afraid I won't come to this country again, lest I give you the most sincere congratulations." You are causing trouble."

Louis Bonaparte was naturally overjoyed to see the other party being so condescending.

That's all he wanted.

In any case, although he has painstakingly cultivated his own party and supporters in the past twenty years, the other party's identity as the "emperor's only son" cannot be circumvented. In this favorable situation, if the other party insists on borrowing Using this identity to seize the fruits of victory, although he should be able to defeat the opponent who only has a name with his own skills and the foundation he has laid over the past twenty years, it will definitely cause huge trouble and may even cause the empire to die. , and this is a result he absolutely does not want to see.

Now that he saw that the other party promised that he would never shamelessly come to pick peaches after he paved the road, his biggest worry was naturally relieved.

Of course, the removal of the biggest worry does not mean that there are no other worries within the family - as the direct eldest grandson, Francois's reputation is also rising rapidly, and he is also eager for the throne. Although the two of them are still working together happily, But that won’t be the case in the future.

"François, what are you going to do?" While he was still thinking, the Duke suddenly asked abruptly.

"What should I do...?" Louis' eyes suddenly flickered, seeming a little guilty.

"I just heard Francois tell me that you promised him that if the empire is restored, you will be the emperor for a while and give up the throne to him when the time is right. Is it true?" the Duke asked. While staring at His Excellency the President, the gaze in his eyes seemed to make all hypocrisy invisible.

damn it! Louis cursed in his mind.

What a beautiful idea you have!

For Louis, everything today is the result of his painstaking efforts and overcoming obstacles in the past twenty years. Although Francois helped him somewhat, it did not affect his judgment.

Therefore, in his opinion, the father and son are now forcing him to have a wife, and they are shamelessly trying to rob him of the fruits of his life's hard work.

What do they rely on? It’s just blood! Is this true? If we talk about blood, our Bonaparte family should still stay in Corsica to farm. How can we have the throne? !

Although he is only the president now, he is extremely convinced that the throne is not far away from him, and he will let his branch occupy the throne of the family forever. He has never thought of being just a "gatekeeper", Xin After working hard all your life, you end up making wedding clothes for other people's father and son.

Although he was cursing fiercely in his heart, Louis just smiled calmly on the surface. He knew that now was not the time for a showdown, and he wanted to stabilize the father and son first.

"This is my plan. You see, the hearts of the people in the country are floating now, and there are our opponents everywhere. Even if the empire is restored, I am afraid we will have to face a very difficult situation... Francois is too young to control the situation. , so I think I can only be the emperor to stabilize the overall situation - I am already old, and sooner or later I will be unable to do my job. When I think the time is right, I will hand it over to Francois. Don't you think this is the safest way? "

He thought that his performance was very smooth and natural, without any flaws, but all he got in response was the Duke's mocking smile.

"Although we have not met many times, I know you better than you think, Your Excellency the President, or His Majesty the Emperor. You are an excellent careerist. This is not a derogatory term. I think you are this One of the most outstanding people of the era... You are ambitious and extremely confident. You hide yourself in the thick fog and never let anyone see through you, because you want to control power alone and will never be willing to be controlled by others. Manipulation! You will not give up your throne. Once you sit on the throne, no one can automatically step down."

Being exposed by the Duke in this way, although Louis was very deep in the city, his face could not help but heat up at this time. He was about to defend himself, but the Duke immediately interrupted him.

"I can guess what you want to do. After you sit on the throne, you will get married, and then find ways to get an heir. During this period, you will give Francois smooth words to stabilize him, while secretly evading him. And when you have an heir, there will be no need for him then! You will show your cards and make everything clear—"

The Duke's words were very calm, but they made the President's face become extremely livid.

"You are very good at making up stories, and you are indeed an excellent writer." He sneered, with a hint of exposed anger in his smile.

"Although I live in seclusion in the countryside, my mind is not stupid, my cousin." The Duke looked back at the other party uncompromisingly, "But you don't have to worry - for a person who has lived in Austria for a long time, the crown is a must. It's too useless, so I won't interfere with you, nor will I help my son snatch the fruits of victory in your eyes. I don't like picking up other people's leftovers, and if my son doesn't have that ability, then he doesn't deserve it either."

The Duke pointed to the colorful chandelier above his head, and then said leisurely.

"This position should have been yours."

But soon, he warned the other party sternly, "But if my son encounters any danger, then you will face the anger of a father... I promise you, if you have a person with a righteous name like me, I know your enemy better than anyone else, and that will be your disaster...I will destroy everything you have worked so hard for, leaving nothing behind! So, please use your due measure..."

After finishing speaking, he bowed slightly to salute the president, left the livid president and walked away.

He's had enough here, it's time to go home.

A warm home is much better than this cold palace...