After getting permission from Aiglon to "make decisions on life-long matters by herself," Haidee was satisfied.
For her, the days she stayed at the French court could be said to be the happiest time in her short life.
In this picturesque place, she didn't have to worry about anything. Although the people around her knew that she was just a puppet, they still treated her according to the etiquette of a king. In addition to obeying the will of the emperor and his wife, she
There will be no restrictions here.
Agron and Teresa have many things to deal with every day and do not have much energy to control her. This means that she can enjoy almost absolute freedom most of the time.
Of course, because of her young age, she cannot travel everywhere, and she has a dedicated teacher to teach her every day. She must cheer up to learn all kinds of knowledge and write all kinds of troublesome homework, but even if
In this way, she still cherishes today's days very much.
She now hopes that she can grow up a little more, and then she can follow the emperor and his wife or take people on a tour to various places, enjoy the beauty of the mountains and rivers, and enjoy the fun of travel.
In her heart, she already felt that this was "her country", and the Principality of Ioannina, which she nominally ruled, was actually just a distant and strange foreign country.
Of course, no matter what, she is still the Grand Duchess of Ioannina after all. She also has obligations and responsibilities that she must fulfill. She must act as a "rubber stamp" and grant nominal legitimacy to major activities in the principality.
So when Father Faria passed away and the new prime minister took over, she had to rush back to witness important ceremonies such as the funeral and inauguration.
For her, it was just a short journey. After all these troubles were over, she would come back and continue her favorite happy time.
After everything was settled, Haidee bid farewell to Aiglon.
Before leaving, she specially reminded Aiglon, "Your Majesty, I saw Sister Chanel was very sad at the funeral today. You'd better comfort her... Only you can comfort her best."
"I understand, thank you for the reminder." Aigron nodded slightly, and then said goodbye to Haidee.
Then, instead of dealing with other matters, he directly called his personal maid Chanel over.
"Your Majesty, do you have any orders?"
Normally, Chanel would wear a simple maid uniform when she was around Agron, but because she had just attended the funeral of Father Faria today, she wore a dark black mourning dress and a pearl necklace around her neck.
Because she had cried just now, her eyes were still slightly red and swollen, her voice was much hoarse than usual, and she looked pitiful.
Because of Aigron's grace, she had been named Marquis of Giverny. Although everyone knew that this title was mostly a joke, but no matter what, at least she already had an official identity, plus Aiglon
She had also been canonized as a formal member of the Knights of Fontainebleau before, so her status in the court was quite transcendent. Even those who believed in their high position and authority, superficially respected her very much.
However, even with such an honor, Chanel did not get carried away. She still followed Aigron in a low-key manner and performed her various responsibilities without any domineering attitude. This also made her
Won praise from people including Queen Theresa.
Of course, for Chanel, it doesn't matter whether the outside world praises or slanders her. As long as she can follow her little master and share the joys and sorrows like before, she will be extremely happy.
"Chanel, please have your condolences. Although the death of the priest is a tragic blow to all of us, birth, old age, illness and death are also common sense in the world... We can only accept this reality silently." Aigron spoke first to comfort Chanel.
.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Chanel knelt down to thank Aigron, but his expression was still a little depressed, "I know what you said, but... when I took care of the priest, I received a lot of advice from him, and he also
I feel the love of a grandfather in my body, which is a kind of family affection that I have not experienced for a long time in my life. So, now that I see him die like this, even though I have been mentally prepared, I can't help but feel heartbroken and shed tears -
—”
Hearing what Chanel said, Aiglon couldn't help but sigh.
Chanel's family was broken up since she was a child, and her longing for family affection deep down in her heart was deeper than ordinary people's. When they got along with the kind and wise old priest, she was treated as an elder like a grandfather by her, which is understandable.
"You are lucky to have met him; but it is also his luck to be treated as a relative by you. I believe that his soul in heaven will be moved to tears by you and Edmund sincerely mourning him as juniors.
.”
Hearing Aiglon mention the count, Chanel felt sour again. "Mr. count is almost out of his mind today. Everyone who sees him will feel pity. He really regards the priest as his father. I really hope
He can recover quickly."
"He will. He has endured too much suffering in his life, so no disaster can defeat him. No matter how sad he is now, in a few days, we will be able to regain his original energetic self.
Demon."
After finishing speaking, Aigron returned to the topic, "Now that the funeral is over, we must get back on track, Chanel, there are still many things we need to do."
"I understand, Your Majesty, I will recover soon."
In addition to taking care of Aiglon, Chanel also worked with Teresa to manage the palace's expenses and accounts on weekdays.
For Aiglon, loyalty is more important than skill in managing such a huge amount of funds. He asked Chanel to manage these accounts so that he can keep abreast of the palace's money and can use large sums of money temporarily when necessary.
of funds.
Chanel is also well aware of the risks involved. In order not to fail the errands assigned by Aiglon, she also went to a teacher to learn basic accounting knowledge when she had free time. Although she was only a "half-way monk", she relied on her knowledge
With her enthusiasm and strong willpower, she got started quickly and became more and more proficient in counting accounts, which made Teresa feel a lot more relaxed.
But today, Aigron didn't want to discuss any accounting issues with her.
After comforting Chanel, he asked another question.
"Chanel, actually I have been wanting to ask you, what is your impression of Princess Maria?"
This question caught Chanel off guard. She hesitated for a moment, her expression was a little tangled, and she seemed to hesitate to speak.
"You don't have to think about your words, just express your feelings directly." Aigron saw her confusion, so he encouraged her, "There is no need to hide anything between us."
After receiving encouragement from Aigron, Chanel seemed to have finally made up his mind.
"Your Majesty, I think she is a person who is very...very easy to cause trouble. And so far, she has indeed caused you a lot of trouble. She has a sharp personality and is hard to fathom. She will not be very popular in the court.
of."
After saying a bunch of derogatory words, she suddenly changed the topic, "Oh, but even so, it's hard for me to hate her, after all..."
"After all, she is exactly the same as Sophie, right?" Aigron immediately guessed what she wanted to say.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Chanel smiled bitterly and admitted.
Chanel originally fled to Bavaria and worked as a servant in the palace. Then after Sophie married to Austria, she came to Schonbrunn Palace as one of the maids in the dowry, and was later "given" to Aiglon by Sophie.
Therefore, in Chanel's heart, there is still some master-servant love for Sophie, and it is this master-servant love that makes it difficult for her to hate Maria, who is exactly like Sophie.
Maybe it was because this topic touched Chanel, her spirit was much higher than before, and her chatterbox quietly opened up.
"Your Majesty, just because I think like this, I can actually understand why you are so kind to her. You feel guilty for Her Highness Sophie, so you want to compensate her. Naturally, you can't bear to criticize Maria, who is exactly like her.
Your Highness, precisely because I know what you are thinking, I have never advised you on anything..."
"But, in fact, you still don't agree with it, right?" Aigron asked.
This question immediately made Chanel speechless.
Normally, in the conversation between two people, Chanel passively accepts orders, rarely "expressing her feelings" like this, and Chanel is not used to this rhythm. She is afraid that she will say something unpleasant and offend her little master.
unhappy.
However, Aigron's direct eyes were staring at her at this time, making it impossible for her to dodge and dare not lie.
"Of course I don't dare to slander you, Your Majesty. I just feel... I just feel that no matter how much you protect Yourong, Her Majesty Maria is just a shadow after all, not herself. You have worked so hard for a shadow, and even lost love with Her Majesty the Queen.
And, it’s really...somewhat not worth it.”
Aiglon did not get angry as Chanel feared, but instead laughed with great interest.
"So, in your heart, if you do this not for the shadow but for yourself, is it all worth it?"
Chanel was speechless again.
"Your Majesty... I didn't mean that..." She defended repeatedly, but her eyes became more and more evasive.
"Chanel, we have been together for many years. Just as you know me very well, in fact, I also know you very well -" Aigron spread his hands, "Am I still misunderstanding what you mean?"
Seeing that she had no way to dodge, Chanel had no choice but to lower her head in shame, and then nodded in admission.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I miss her too."
But soon, she raised her head again and seriously advised Aiglon, "But Your Majesty, times have changed now. No matter what happened at the beginning, it has all passed now. You and her have been separated forever.
You also have Her Majesty the Queen... Her Majesty the Queen is so excellent, is there anything you are not satisfied with? I can understand that you still feel sorry for that, but many things are like this, and once they become reality, they cannot be changed.
Come on...you'd better accept the reality."
"What if I don't accept it?" Aigron asked with a sneer, "Or what if I hope to create reality again like I did before?"
"You mean..." Chanel looked at Aigron blankly, and some guesses suddenly flashed through her mind. These guesses were still vague, but they were enough to send shivers down her spine.
"Actually, you're right. It's not wise to pay so much effort and cost for Maria, but if it's for Sophie, it's just right -" Aigron seemed to be interested and began to ask Xia Nai seriously.
Er explained, "Although Maria is doing things here now, which will indeed offend many people, but at the same time, she has also created an 'identity' that can appear here and walk normally. And with this identity of hers, is it possible?"
Is there no one else available besides her? Chanel, what do you think?"
"Your Majesty...you..." Chanel's voice began to tremble, "Do you wish to bring Her Royal Highness Sophie here?"
"Yes, I hope so. Don't you want to see her again?" Aigron asked.
He now has a direct showdown with Chanel. Although it was not his plan to reveal it at this point in time, Aigron had long planned to tell the truth to Chanel.
Why Chanel?
Just because she was the one who ran away from the Austrian court with him, and she was also Sophie's old relative.
"Completely aware of the inside story" and "having an old relationship with Sophie", these two conditions determine that she is the most suitable person to take charge of the entire conspiracy in Aigron's place.
Now that he has convinced Maria, the next step is to convince Chanel.
Anyway, the time was ripe, and Aigron took advantage of his interest to tell the truth.
As he expected, Chanel's first reaction was shock, and then he began to violently resist.
"Your Majesty... the past things are in the past. Why are you so obsessed with it that you would take risks for yourself? I do have old feelings for her, but I never agree with your idea. This is too... this is too dangerous.
Already."
"Yes, this is very dangerous, but is it more dangerous than when you and I ran out?" Aigron asked, "Since we were able to do it back then, we should be able to do it even more now, because we are already stronger than before.
A thousand times better, isn't it? In other words, don't you think I have the ability to create reality?"
After finishing speaking, Aigron looked at Chanel quietly, waiting for her answer.
He knew that Chanel would only give one answer.
As a young master, every time he was willful, she would only give him an answer.