Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2408 "Green Sleeves" (below)

   At every ball there is always a focal point, usually the "young women" who are innocent, natural, graceful, lively and full of life at the same time, generally from the bourgeoisie. They don't actually need to pack themselves. Jewelry and clothing are used by rich old women to cover up their age and wrinkles. No matter how carefully they take care of them, they are not as good as freshly bloomed roses.

   But this time, the focus of attention was not an adult woman with a skirt flying on the dance floor, but a dark-skinned girl who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, and people talked about her even more than Georgiana.

   She came with the fifth generation of the Duke and Duchess of Spain, Jérica, and beside her was a little boy under ten years old with a Golden Fleece around his neck.

   This little boy is the 14th Duke of Alba, the richest nobleman in Spain, without one. The 13th Duke did not leave any heirs, not even a girl. The dark-skinned girl was originally the daughter of a slave who was adopted by the thirteenth duchess and gave her the name Maria.

Despite being an adopted daughter, it is impossible for Maria to inherit the title of Duke of Alba, and the father of the little boy who inherited the title of Duke Jerica is a sidekick of Stuart. He has two sons, the eldest son was born in 1795. He died at an early age, which means that this little boy will inherit his father's title in the future.

In addition to talking about how this big pie fell on the family, there are also discussions about the thirteenth Duchess of Alba, who also had a female heir, the thirteenth duchess is, she and Her husband, Spain's richest couple, had funded a number of artists, including Goya, who was already a famous painter before the Duke's death.

After the death of the Duke   , he created many paintings, including two oil paintings, Maha with clothes and Maha without clothes. It is said that the model is the Duchess of Alba.

   Although many years have passed since the Renaissance, it is widely regarded as shameful to paint such "disgraced" paintings in Spain. But the heroines of these two oil paintings are called "Maha", and Goya has never said who she is. The Duchess died of tuberculosis and fever in July 1802 at the age of 40, but some say she was poisoned because Goya was summoned by the Inquisition shortly after her death.

   In order to seek protection, Goya painted a portrait for the family of King Charles IV. Whether he can escape is also one of the contents of the discussion.

   Compared with Mechelen, there are significantly more Spanish and Italian nobles in Brussels. Austria did not use all the money in its own treasury to pay off the war bonds. Some people, such as Count Charles de Merrod, were in the arms business, and Joseph II once asked him to replace the Austrian governor, Acting as minister plenipotentiary to the province, he donated 40,000 florins to pay for the bond, and others like him. When the Austrians evacuated, they also emigrated to Germany, along with their industries, so Brussels is currently facing serious unemployment problems, and only the Free Stonemasons are still providing jobs.

At this time, it can be said that Belgium has nothing, or it can be said that all kinds of businesses are waiting. Some of these people are here to buy high-quality assets, some to see if there are new opportunities, or to “see the world” like the 14th Duke of Alba, so that everyone can Know that he is the new heir.

  Although the little duke is less than 10 years old, there are already families of "marriageable age" girls discussing the possibility of marriage. As written at the beginning of "Pride and Prejudice", there is such a universally recognized truth that any single man with rich wealth must lack a wife.

   That scene made a "single person" like Georgiana want to roll her eyes, but if she really did that, she probably wouldn't be like Napoleon who said other people's hairstyles were ugly, and someone came to her rescue.

   She hadn't seen Padma for a long time at the dance, and now Georgiana regretted not letting Padma wear that striking blue dress.

   There was a sudden applause at the door, and the applause became louder and louder. When she looked over with everyone's gaze, she found that Bonaparte in the uniform of the green marshal appeared.

   Being struck by lightning is not enough to express Georgiana's shock at the moment, she can only watch him walk in front of her.

"you are not……"

   "I'll be in Brussels in the morning." He interrupted her. "Where do you think I've been?"

   She really had nothing to say.

   Then he bent his arm and let her take his hand, and the two walked to the middle of the dance floor, and the others dispersed, as if they were doing an opening dance.

  As the music started, they waltzed, making her head spin.

   For a moment she thought she was dreaming, then she thought carefully, hey, isn't she dreaming?

   She danced and searched for Padma in the crowd. Whether she wanted to get lost in this dream or not, she wanted to send Padma back to the original world, because she still has a sister.

  But Georgiana didn't find Padma, but found that the dark-skinned girl who was being talked about was looking at her. The girl's eyes didn't look like a teenage child.

   "What are you looking at?" Bonaparte asked her.

   She turned her eyes to him.

   "Did you know that Henry VIII was also good at playing the flute?"

   He did not answer.

   "There was a time when he suddenly ordered everyone in the court to wear green clothes, because he fell in love with a woman with green sleeves, and it was generally believed that he had created it for Anne Boleyn."

   "But?" he said.

   "That's his imagination. No woman is perfect, and there will be some flaws." Georgiana said, "And they are good at it, just like Plato said the lover in heaven and the lover on earth."

   He looked straight at her.

   "Are you listening to me?" she said resentfully.

   "I must be dreaming." He whispered "That's why I saw you."

   She wanted to say something more cruel, but said nothing.

   "I heard you met the manager of the Royal Opera House. What did he tell you?" asked Bonaparte.

   "He told me that he wanted to perform The Magic Flute at the concert tomorrow night."

   "Where to perform?"

   She froze for a moment, then said, "Isn't it the Royal Opera House?"

"If you're talking about the Opera de Monnet, it's been demolished," Bonaparte said. "It was badly destroyed during the war. It was completely demolished in 1795. Remember the Opera Comedy in Paris. Well, it was built after the Opera Monnet, the most beautiful theatre in all of Europe."

   "You want to build a new opera house?" she asked in disapproval.

   He smiled, his eyes glowing, showing his white teeth.

   "Don't spend money on unnecessary things, you should pay more attention to people's livelihood."

   He completely ignored what she said, and led her to continue dancing. If the music hadn't stopped, he would have danced with her until she died of exhaustion, just like those ordinary people who broke into the veela dancing circle.

   (end of this chapter)