After staying at the house of the Marquis de Treville for a while, Aiglon ended his visit to Alice, bid farewell to this noble lady who was "more than a friend but not quite a lover" with him, left Paris, and returned to the palace of Fontainebleau.
.
However, this time when he returned to the palace, there was one more person with him - Alice's daughter Xia Lu, who he brought back to Fontainebleau with him.
After hearing the news that her husband was back, Teresa came over happily to greet her husband, and then unexpectedly discovered Xia Lu who had stayed with Aigron.
"Your Highness, why did you bring Xia Lu here?" she asked doubtfully.
"After I returned to Paris this time to meet with the ministers, because of the recent meritorious service of the Marquis de Treville, I made a special trip to visit him at his home. I also visited Lady Alice by the way."
Aigron knew that if he came back to mobilize troops, his whereabouts would definitely not be hidden from Theresa, so he took the initiative to tell his actions. Anyway, he had a ready-made reason, and Theresa would not find anything strange.
"How is Mrs. Alice doing now?" Teresa asked casually.
She has always admired Alice and relied heavily on this lady in various court affairs. After the "Edgar Incident" broke out, although she had to temporarily shun Alice, she always loved Alice in her heart.
Si has a sympathetic attitude.
Now, Edgar has been exiled abroad, and although Alice has a husband in name, she is completely alone. She feels even more sympathy for Alice's situation.
"Her situation... is a bit delicate. It can't be said to be good, but it can't be said to be bad either." Aigron sighed softly, looking quite sympathetic. "Before Edgar left, the two of them lived together for a while. Now,
He left and Alice became pregnant."
"What?" Teresa was shocked. "Didn't their relationship completely break up? Why do they still have the same room?"
"Because Mrs. Alice wants to have someone to rely on for herself after her husband leaves." Aigron answered matter-of-factly. "After Edgar went abroad, he became a stranger to her. For her, in addition to the children, there are also
What can be left?”
This "reasonable" reason made Teresa immediately speechless.
As a wife and mother, she can deeply understand the importance of children to a mother. Perhaps after breaking up with her husband, Alice's remaining spiritual support is her children.
From this point of view, although she and the Treville father and son have turned against each other, she will still devote herself to raising two children named Treville. It is ridiculous to think about it.
Perhaps, the disputes within the Treville family are far from over, and there will be more drama in the future... Teresa thought to herself.
"So, Mrs. Alice entrusted Charlotte to you?" she asked again.
"Yes, because she was pregnant, it was inconvenient to take care of a young child, so before I left, Mrs. Alice begged me to take Charlotte back to the palace and have someone take good care of her until she gave birth.
Give her back the child." Aigron replied. "I looked a little pitiful towards her, so I agreed to her. Besides, now that the Treville family is my hero, in order to show my praise to the hero, I also want to be nicer to Xia Lu.
"
Although this kind of rhetoric was a bit "subtle", it seemed logical, so Theresa didn't have any suspicion.
Moreover, after understanding the whole story, Teresa felt even more sympathetic to the helpless Alice.
"In this case, let's keep Xia Lu by our side first, as a favor to Mrs. Alice." Teresa agreed to this request without any hesitation, "Besides, this child is so cute, I originally
I really like it.”
Then, she changed the subject, "In addition, Your Highness, since Edgar has gone abroad on his own, the previous turmoil should be completely over, right? Times have changed, and we don't need to continue to punish Mrs. Alice... I think,
After she has given birth, shall we invite her back to the palace? There are few people who can be as diligent and astute as her. She has helped me a lot. If I keep her outside from now on, it will be a loss.
It’s a pity that we lost valuable talents.”
Aiglon had this intention in the first place. When he saw Theresa taking the initiative to speak good words for Alice out of sympathy and cherishing Alice's talents, and proposed to invite her back as soon as possible, he was naturally happy to agree.
"You are the queen, and you have the final say on everything in the palace. If you want to invite her back, just invite her back. I have no objection." He deliberately used a casual tone to hide his true thoughts.
After he finished speaking, he picked up Xia Lu next to him and teased the child who was like a doll.
In a few casual words, the couple decided Alice's future fate - Alice, who almost died with Edgar, was finally lucky enough to escape from the disaster.
Moreover, she also found the most solid guarantee for her future.
Teresa quickly put aside the matter of Alice. She now had more important and urgent things to be busy with.
As the remains of Emperor Napoleon were brought back to French soil, a nationwide mourning and commemoration event slowly began.
Emperor Napoleon's coffin will be transported all the way from the south to Paris for burial. Because there are commemorative ceremonies at various places along the way, it will stop and go. It is expected to officially arrive in Paris next month.
"The Emperor returns to his loyal capital", which is bound to be an unprecedented historical moment.
For such a historical moment, the imperial government and the Paris city government have mobilized and made every effort to organize such a huge march with thousands of people filling the streets.
In addition to the government, the palace cannot be idle either.
All members of the royal family, senior courtiers and concubines, as well as the entire court, will naturally come out to witness the burial ceremony of the late emperor's coffin - only such a grand ceremony can reflect the late emperor's "totem" role in the imperial ideology.
Therefore, the entire Fontainebleau palace is naturally working overtime to prepare for such a ceremony.
The funeral attire that matches each person's job title, the necessary props, the details and order of the ceremony, the positions and seats of various people...all these aspects come together, like a huge project.
Moreover, because of the highly political nature of such a ceremony, Teresa had no choice but to personally intervene. Naturally, she was extremely busy during this period.
Although she has a group of female officials around her to share her worries, their abilities are not as good as the shrewd and diligent Alice. This is one of the reasons why she hopes to recall Alice as soon as possible.
At the same time, Teresa also had mixed feelings in her heart.
As a member of the Austrian royal family, she had admiration for Emperor Napoleon when she was a child, but she was more hostile - after all, it was him who made the Habsburg family give up the title of Holy Roman Emperor and was forced to flee the capital twice.
The land was ceded as compensation and even his daughter was given to beg for mercy... The shame and hatred were already too much.
However, by chance, she became the daughter-in-law of Emperor Napoleon. She even had to personally prepare his funeral for more than ten years after his death, and strive to be perfect and stand the test of history.
The so-called "everything in the world is impermanent" was nothing more than this, so much so that she herself found it a bit funny.
But who made her fall deeply in love with His Highness?
She is now a member of the Bonaparte family and the matron of the Bonaparte Empire.
All previous grievances were gone. What she wanted to bury was not the biggest enemy of the Habsburg family, but her husband's father-in-law, her own father-in-law, and the "founding king" of the Bonaparte family.
She, her husband, and their children and grandchildren will also be buried here together with Emperor Napoleon.
This is the fate she has chosen, and she is happy with it.
When she thought of this, a relieved smile appeared on Theresa's face again.
Thinking about it, his spirit in heaven would also feel gratified when he saw what he and his wife did for him, right?
==============================
After returning to Fontainebleau, Aigron also began to focus on preparing for the upcoming funeral.
And the very next day, he suddenly received a message from Princess Maria requesting an audience.
Although he was a little confused about this, he still allowed the other party to see her and brought her in front of him.
"Your Highness Maria, what do you want from me?"
"There is an important thing, Your Majesty." Maria's expression was unkind and she seemed to be in a bad mood. "I did not receive an invitation to attend the funeral, and no one told me what I should do next..."
After Maria's narration, Aigron probably knew what happened.
It turned out that while the entire court was intensively preparing for the funeral of Emperor Napoleon, Maria seemed to be forgotten like an outsider. And when she discovered that even her niece Princess Theoderlande had been scheduled for that day.
After the meal, I was even more angry, so I came to Aigron to protest.
After listening to her story, Aigron immediately understood that Teresa must have deliberately done this to hang her up.
However, thinking about it carefully, it seems that Maria has no reason to attend.
In what name?
Princess Theodelande is the daughter of Prince Eugène and a member of the Beauharnais family. She is now also a member of the royal family of the French Empire. She is naturally the "granddaughter" of Emperor Napoleon. She is of course qualified and must attend.
But Maria, she was a princess of the Bavarian royal family and a foreigner. Although she was related to Aigron, she had no direct kinship with the late emperor.
So Teresa deliberately left her alone, which seemed to make sense.
Obviously, although Teresa has a good temper, she has never been a person who likes to swallow her anger and compromise (except for Aigron). Ever since the two had a dispute, she has also unabashedly ignored Maria. On such an important occasion
Explicitly excluding Maria, naturally also clearly expressed her rejection of Maria, which further showed that Maria had no status or influence in the court.
Maria was furious about this and came over to complain to Aiglon. Naturally, she had her reasons.
Since both sides had their own reasons, Aigron suddenly felt a big headache.
"Your Highness, Teresa is personally responsible for this part of the palace during the funeral. If she insists on not inviting you, then I will have nothing to say."
"You are your Majesty, you only need one sentence to decide who will attend..." Maria replied angrily, "Of course, if you are perfunctory and evasive, that is another matter."
"But in what name?" Aigron asked. "I have to give a convincing reason, right?"
"Isn't it hard to find a name? The emperor was kind to Bavaria during his lifetime. My father relied on his help to officially become the king from elector. This favor is worth remembering by our family; and now, the relationship between our two countries
The relationship is also very harmonious, and my brother is your good friend... In this case, as the only member of the Bavarian royal family in Paris, I should attend the emperor's funeral for reasons and reasons, so as to highlight the generations of the two countries.
Friendship, isn’t it?
Besides, at the funeral, envoys from friendly countries will be present, so as a princess, can I just be a spectator watching from a distance?"
I have to say that although Maria is in a state of anger now, the reasons she comes up with are really one after another, and they really sound like what they are.
"That does make sense." Aigron nodded.
But soon he became worried again.
With Maria's independent and arbitrary character, if she made a big fuss at the funeral, wouldn't it shock the entire country? She would not be able to step down either.
"What should I do if you lose your temper on the spot like you did the last time I saw Theresa?" So he asked.
"Who do you think I am?" Maria frowned, her eyes full of grievance and anger. "No matter how willful I am, will I cause trouble at your father's funeral? Don't I cherish the time I have with you?
Feelings? If I do this, you will never forgive me."
This is true.
Although Maria is willful, she is not crazy. Although she has always been at odds with Teresa, she has never been careless when it comes to showing off her manners.
Judging from her performance, she was just angry that she was deliberately excluded from such an important occasion by Teresa, so she came over to fight for her "coffee position".
He really refused to give in even an inch... Aigron smiled bitterly in his heart.
So, should I agree to this request which is not unreasonable?
At that moment of unprecedented grandeur, the entire court would run over, and their families would all be present.
If Maria is excluded alone, it seems that he does not regard her as a family member.
So, in the end it boils down to one question - do I regard Maria as my own family?
To be honest, if it were just her, she wouldn't have such deep feelings.
But if "Sophie" is added to the balance of personal feelings, the situation will be different.
If given the choice, Aigron would definitely hope that at this important moment, Sophie would be like half a daughter-in-law, welcoming his father's coffin with him.
There is no choice now, but Maria seems to be a substitute.
so……
"Okay, Your Highness Maria, don't be angry, I will handle this matter." Aigron nodded calmly. "But in exchange, I hope that you will greet his coffin in the most respectful and calm way.