Eagle’s Glory

In another early morning, the young Prince Albrecht came to the Tuileries Palace again.

But this time he was not going to meet his sister, Princess Theresa, but had another purpose - he was here to meet Prince Talleyrand.

Not long ago, he had found Alice and protested to her about what Agnes had done. While Alice sternly defended her sister, she gave the prince an idea, suggesting that the two sides should act separately to resolve the incident as soon as possible. The public opinion storm calmed down.

Following Alice's suggestion, the prince privately requested an interview with Prince Talleyrand. Given his status, this request was naturally easily granted, so today, he was taken to the prince's house. before.

Like his sister Theresa, the prince hated Prince Talleyrand extremely because of his upbringing, but he also knew that everything should not be acted on his own initiative. Now Prince Talleyrand is in great power, and his sister and brother-in-law still have requests from him. Therefore, he did not show his inner disgust and still greeted Talleyrand politely.

After a few clichés, Prince Talleyrand, who had many things to do, stopped delaying and began to directly ask him about his purpose.

"Your Highness, what exactly do you want to see me for?"

"Recently, my family and I encountered some very unpleasant things in your country." The prince replied.

"Are you saying that we didn't treat you and your group well?" Prince Talleyrand knew this, but he still deliberately raised his eyebrows and looked confused. "If that's the case, please tell me. Whoever is responsible will be punished severely!"

"No, it's not about my personal treatment. In fact, I have received quite appropriate courtesy from your country. I would like to express my gratitude to you on this point. The officials you appointed are very reasonable and make me very happy." Prince Yao He shook his head and then went straight to the point, "What I feel unhappy about is not with me, but with my sister. To be honest, after coming to France, I have been paying attention to the newspapers in Paris. However, these newspapers have been reporting recently. There's news about a certain lady that I think is very damaging to my sister's reputation."

Now that the prince had made it so obvious, Talleyrand could no longer pretend to be confused, so he sighed, "Oh, it turns out you were talking about Miss Agnes... To be honest, I think so too. She has indeed attracted too much attention from the outside world recently, but what can be done? She is now traveling with His Majesty, and people are naturally interested in her. The newspapers will definitely keep reporting on her for the sake of sales, and I am very sorry for this."

Without Alice's guidance, the prince might have let Talleyrand fool him so easily, but it was different now, and it was completely impossible for him to just stop.

"Your Royal Highness,

You can't say something so irrelevant. It is unconscionable that Ms. Agnes should be in such a limelight, and where would that leave my sister if she was allowed to be cheered on? To tell you the truth, my father heard about this in Austria, and he was furious and extremely dissatisfied with the treatment of my sister——"

"I can understand the Grand Duke's emotions, but all this is beyond my control - the common people like to hear such frivolous stories, so what can I do?" Prince Talleyrand retorted with a smile, "After all, we are a group of scholars. In a country with civil rights, newspapers also have freedom of publication..."

Seeing that this old cunning man was still dodging, and even secretly mocking the strict publishing ban system of his home country Austria, the prince became even more angry, so he no longer maintained the superficial etiquette and began to become more sharp, " Your Highness, you can sing high-profile to me, but reality cannot be deceived. In the past few months, your government has banned many newspapers and imprisoned so-called dangerous elements. As a foreigner, I may not know the details. Figures, but you must know best! You keep talking about freedom of the press, but from my point of view, if your country really has this kind of freedom now, you will definitely be the one who suffers the most! Because people who want to scold you can if they exclude If we form a team, we can march from Paris to Vienna!"

The prince's words were merciless, but they also hit the point. However, Talleyrand was an old man after all. Even if he was refuted in person like this, he did not blush at all and remained calm as usual.

"Your Highness, our country has just experienced an unfortunate turmoil. People from all walks of life have experienced great pain. Under such circumstances, the people need something festive. The news about Your Majesty and Miss Agnes can just give them. Bring some fun so that we can quickly make up for the mental trauma of the recent past..."

Sure enough, she was right! The prince thought to himself.

When Prince Talleyrand said this, he was tantamount to admitting that he had secretly manipulated public opinion and deliberately encouraged newspapers to add fuel to the flames and raise Agnes's reputation.

Why did he do this? Is he really trying to divert people's attention as he said; or is he deliberately giving Princess Teresa eye drops to show his influence? Or does it have some other purpose?

The prince did not ask further questions. He knew that for a person like Prince Talleyrand, it would be meaningless for him to ask further.

Now he just wants to solve real problems.

"I deeply sympathize with the mental trauma of the French people, and I believe in your sincerity in trying to bridge the differences in the country, but I believe that such efforts should not be aimed at harming my sister. Don't forget that she will be your future queen. , How can a country laugh at its own queen so openly? This is not only destroying the majesty of the palace, but also destroying the order of the entire country!" Prince Albrecht spoke righteously to Talleyrand with full of indignation. The prince said, "And this will also affect the relationship between your country and our country. Humiliating a member of the royal family of our country will not only anger my father, but also make the entire Habsburg royal family dissatisfied."

"My dear prince, based on my understanding of Metternich, he won't care about this kind of thing." Talleyrand shrugged, not taking the prince's threat to heart.

However, he soon softened his tone, "Of course, from my personal point of view, although Princess Theresa is young, she is smart and shrewd enough, and is indeed qualified to become an outstanding queen, much better than the previous one." If possible, I don’t want to embarrass her, after all, her prestige is also crucial to the empire.”

"Since you also believe that her prestige is crucial, you should not allow this kind of public opinion to continue!" Seeing Talleyrand's attitude relaxed, the prince quickly urged him to change his current approach as soon as possible. "I ask you to put an end to this ridiculous farce now and let everything calm down, otherwise it will only make everyone unhappy."

"Your Highness, there is no doubt that we can dilute the public opinion about Miss Agnes, but this requires a little skill -" Prince Talleyrand replied calmly, "Let me ask you, if I go now because of your protest Suppressing public opinion, then what will people think? They may think that poor Princess Theresa is too jealous. In order to save herself face, she actually found a foreign royal family to put pressure on France... Please believe me, this will give Her image was an even bigger blow."

The prince was suddenly speechless.

He also knew in his heart that Talleyrand's words did make sense - it was precisely because his sister was concerned about this that she was unwilling to deliberately interfere with public opinion.

"Then what are your plans?" So, he asked dryly, "You're not going to say that you want to continue to let it go, are you?"

Seeing the prince's anxious look, Prince Talleyrand showed a calm smile, "Your Highness, don't worry. Although we can't do things too deliberately, we are not completely helpless. We can use gradual changes to gradually Downplay the attention paid to her and divert the public's attention through short-term manipulation of public opinion. Our national mood has always been fickle, and the public attention Miss Agnes is receiving now will soon be diluted by time... "

Having said this, he reminded the prince, "In the final analysis, this matter all started because of Your Majesty, and only Your Majesty can solve the real problem. As long as he says something, Miss Agnes will naturally know where she should stand." superior……"

To Talleyrand's reminder, the prince could only nod in agreement - because he knew that this seemed to be the best solution at the moment. In any case, Talleyrand's willingness to stop fueling the flames can be regarded as giving him face.

Of course, even if he "released his kindness", the prince's bad impression of the old man has not changed at all - if it weren't for his deliberate mischief, how could his sister have been humiliated like this, and how could his father have been furious? Just because he has stopped now does not mean that all previous responsibilities have been cleared.

"Thank you, Your Highness, I hope you will keep your promise to me. I will always pay attention to this matter from now on." He bowed slightly to Prince Talleyrand to say goodbye, then turned and left.

Seeing how the prince was filled with hatred but still had to show respect to him, Prince Talleyrand couldn't help but feel that evil secret of joy again.

Of course he could hear that the prince was threatening him and would not give up, but he didn't care at all - when Emperor Napoleon furiously insulted him in front of him, he just regarded it as a matter of course, and it was just a prince of the Habsburg branch. What does it matter?

The reason why he was behind the scenes and causing trouble for Princess Teresa was, on the one hand, to drive a wedge between the couple and make them both have to rely more on him; on the other hand, it was also to make the King of Rome more quickly recognized by the people. and acceptance.

For the French, there is no news that they like to hear more than the romantic affair of a king. The spread of this incident has attracted more attention than the parade of the King of Rome itself, and the King of Rome had an affair with a noble lady born and raised in France. Dyeing, more than any argument, proves that he has "integrated" into the country he will rule.

Judging from the current results, his plan has been implemented quite smoothly. Now it is time to finish. The support of the King of Rome from all over the world is much more enthusiastic than he expected. With the help of Agnes Under this circumstance, even in the northwest where religious sentiments were extremely enthusiastic, they received cheers from the crowd.

In his opinion, if such a result can be obtained, then what does it matter even if Princess Teresa makes some sacrifices?

There is no doubt that what he does will make Princess Theresa hate him so much, but it doesn't matter to him - because Princess Theresa already hates him so much that it doesn't matter if she records another amount of hatred in her ledger. So called.

He also knew that after his death, the future Queen Theresa would intercept all his inheritance and take back all the art treasures he received from her.

But so what? At least at this moment, no one can do anything about him. It is enough for him to enjoy the glory and wealth of his life and then go to hell happily. Whoever wants to do what he likes in the world after his death.

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

While Prince Albrecht was arguing with Prince Talleyrand for his sister, Agnes, who was on the parade, also received a letter from Paris.

This letter was sent by Alice. In the letter, she convincingly described the entire process of Prince Albrecht coming to her to accuse her. She also analyzed the situation for her sister and sincerely suggested that her sister should not continue to keep a high profile. Go down, so as not to embarrass Princess Teresa even more.

After reading the letter, Agnes, who was already feeling guilty, felt even more ashamed and guilty.

"I'm sorry... I didn't expect things to turn out like this..." She crossed herself, and then apologized to Teresa in Paris.

Then, she packed up the letters and rode her horse to Aigron's side.

"Agnes, what's the matter?" Agron asked.

"We seem to have done a big bad thing, Your Majesty..." Agnes said in panic, "Your father-in-law entrusted your brother-in-law to lodge a protest with my family, thinking that I had ruined Princess Theresa's reputation... …”

"What?" Aigron was startled.

The reason why he was surprised was that he had kept in touch with Theresa after the tour, but Theresa never mentioned a word about this matter, which made him have some luck. I thought that the public opinion storm would not spread too widely.

He did not expect that his father-in-law had known about this for a long time, and he was so angry that he actually asked Prince Albrecht to find people to protest...

He was also a little silent for a while.

"So, you should restrain yourself, right? I'm afraid this is not good news for you, right?" Agnes asked angrily when he was silent.

In her opinion, all of this was caused by Aiglon. Now she has become a villain in the eyes of others, and has caused her sister to be scolded. It is really aggrieved.

"Okay, I will tell Talleyrand." Aiglon sighed, "Since everything has become such a mess, let him tone down the public opinion..."

Then, he looked at Agnes again and said, "Agnes, I feel sorry for you. I thought I could share more things with you."

"No, I don't have any grievances, Your Majesty." Agnes shook her head, "My duty is to protect you and help you complete this parade. I never thought about making myself famous... It's just right now, you give me I’ve got enough!”