Versailles is worse than being queen

◎The pale pagan country◎

A black sleigh-drawn carriage emblazoned with a golden double-headed eagle gallops across the snow-capped expanse, through howling snow that covers the sky.

The white skyline faintly reveals the pale gray outline of the white pine forest, extending to the invisible distance of wind and snow.

Antanya hugged the warm small hand stove quietly, and under the warmth of this exquisite vessel from the east, she looked at the golden or green domes or white marble walls that flashed from time to time in the snow mist, which she had never seen before. pagan church.

This means that she is gradually moving away from the grand and magnificent Habsburg kingdom in the southwest, away from the fate soaked in blood and the throne, and heading for the pale pagan country on the northern ice sheet.

Antanya's eyes gradually turned deep.

Now, she has completely sorted out the memories of her previous life and this life.

Originally, it was her sister, 1762-year-old Amelia, who was sent to Russia by Queen Theresa in early 16.

Although the Grand Duchess did not suffer any substantial harm in Russia, after returning to Austria, the relationship between Amelia and her mother almost dropped to freezing point.

Seven years later, Amelia married the Duke of Parma. Not long after the marriage, Parma became famous for her arrogance and wantonness. ashamed.

Now, Amelia can probably live a comfortable winter.

"Your Highness, we will arrive at the Russian Winter Palace tonight." The convoy paused at the station, and Earl Mercy came to her car door and greeted her.

"Okay." Antanya nodded with a smile, "I'm sorry to trouble you along the way, Lord Mercy."

"It has been an honor to serve you, Your Highness."

The Earl of Mercy, in his early 30s, has silver hair and drooping eyes that look gentle and generous.He saluted her with an elegant movement that could hardly pick out any flaws, and stretched out his hand to help her off the carriage.

Beside the warm and throbbing fireplace, misty coffee and black tea are already placed on the small white table.

With the protection of the courts of Austria and Russia, the traveling convoy has a proper staffing-Torvia's heavy cavalry clears the way in front, and the light cavalry of the Livonian Army Corps defends the main convoy.

Of course, for the sake of necessary decency, etiquette and safety considerations, all the personnel of the main convoy are sent by Austria, including a stable manager, a food manager, a beverage manager, a jam maker, a pastry chef, four Cook, a coffee waiter, a tea waiter, six servants and two bodyguards.

"Sit down too, Lord Mercy." Antanya raised her head, showing a child's innocent smile, "We are away from home, and the queen can't control me, so you don't have to be too formal."

Mercy's face twitched unnaturally.

finally come.He has long heard that this little princess is sexual and rebellious, and has always taken pleasure in flouting the palace rules. Probably only Her Majesty the Queen can control her—but she obviously feels that she has escaped from the Queen's control.

"I am sincere, my lord." The little princess nodded to him again, "I also want to know the latest information you have received."

Melsey froze again when he heard the words—he thought that the whereabouts of his subordinates sending information to him were secret enough, but he didn't expect that he didn't even hide it from a little girl, which made him feel a great sense of crisis.

After all, what he was going to was a place where safety and danger were uncertain, and if he made a mistake, he would incur unknown dangers.

After careful consideration for a few seconds, he sat opposite the princess without touching the coffee in front of him.

"Excuse me, I really want to ask a question - Your Highness, why did you come to Russia?"

Mercy raised a question cautiously, and immediately added, "Please forgive my rudeness, but this place is very dangerous and not suitable for a young princess like you...I heard that you requested it on your own initiative. "

But don't tell him, it's really because she felt tired of staying in the palace and came here because she thought Russia was fun.

God bless, he didn't know what the little princess said to the queen.

"If Russia is in danger, it is more dangerous to you than to me." Antanya whispered while stirring the honey in the black tea with her head down, "Why did you come?"

She is just the last princess in Austria, and basically has no inheritance rights, and her only value to the royal family is probably marriage.

The Earl of Melsey shouldered a special mission—Antanya knew clearly that although this trip was named as her visit on behalf of the Queen, she was only a cover for what Earl of Melsey was going to do.

Mercy's expression became serious, and she couldn't help straightening her back: "Your Highness, I am an Austrian diplomat, and this is my duty."

"Duty." Antanya repeated in a low voice.

She raised her head and looked at the diplomat she was very familiar with—he was almost one of the Austrians she was most familiar with.

When she married to France 24 years ago, she was asked not to take away a maid and a piece of clothing belonging to Austria.

Since then, she has never returned to her hometown.

During those years of struggling alone in the Palace of Versailles, the Queen sent the Earl of Mercy, whom she trusted deeply, to Paris as the Austrian ambassador to France.

Year after year, Ambassador Mercy has been watching her with loyal and worried eyes, writing her every move to report back to the queen, and persuading her earnestly after every out-of-the-ordinary behavior—it’s a pity that she never listen.

After she was dragged into the dungeon of Paris by the storm of revolution, the same old minister with gray hair ran around, calling on her relatives to rescue her, and calling on her enemies to show integrity and morality to release her.

She died tragically in the end, which was probably a big blow to him.

"Lord Melsey, I am also very clear about my duty—that is to enable you to perform your duties smoothly during this trip."

Antanya tilted her head playfully, "So, is there anything new about the Winter Palace?"

Mercy flinched.

This little princess seems to be different from the rumors.

"Has the new tsar already sworn allegiance to Frederick II?" Antanya joked.

"That's not true," Mercy came back to his senses, and muttered in a low voice, "but I'm afraid this day is not far away, he just hasn't had time to get to this point."

Worry crept up his face.

"The new tsar's behavior is too ridiculous." He lowered his voice cautiously, "He refused to watch the night for the queen, made various indecent actions in front of the queen's coffin, made fun of the priest, and openly organized a feast during the national mourning. Participants are not permitted to wear black mourning dresses, dress must be worn."

For a diplomat, an unreasonable ruler is the most troublesome existence.

So it was not wrong for him to end up like that in the end.Antanya thought silently.

Her hands paused slightly, and she suddenly raised her head: "I heard that the current Russian empress is also German."

"Yes. But what do you ask her to do?" Mercy was taken aback. "She, uh, I'm afraid she won't be a queen for long."

He hesitated for a while, and did not tell the little princess about the tragic experience of the queen—the czar had a new love, and that woman had been rejected by Peter III, and she did not even recognize her status as a queen. I am afraid that she would be deposed soon and sent to the final In the barren and barren monastery, there are remnants of life.

The story is too sad to be told to a carefree little princess.

Antanya did not answer, but insisted: "Do you know her background?"

Melsey nodded, "She was originally the daughter of a low-ranking prince in many principalities in Germany, but she met Peter III who grew up in Germany when she was young, and her mother is the Russian Empress who just passed away. The younger sister of her fiancé, so the two families are very close, which eventually led to this marriage."

The diplomat displayed a sufficiently sophisticated intelligence resource.

Antanya stirred the small silver spoon once and for all, and nodded thoughtfully.

Peter III, who had just ascended the throne, was actually born in a small principality in Germany. He had half German blood in his body, and he also considered himself a German, and he didn't even speak Russian very well.

The reason why he can become the Russian Tsar is only because he is the grandson of Peter the Great, and the daughter of Peter the Great, the recently deceased Russian Empress, has no heirs.

How ironic, Antanya couldn't help thinking.

The eighteen children of the Habsburg family needed an entire banquet hall to sit down, while the Romanov family in the north was depleted and had to find a German to inherit the throne.

"I see."

She winked at Earl Melsey, "Lord Melsey, if you need help, please tell me at any time—I may not be able to help much, but people will always be less wary of children."

"Thank you, Your Highness," said the Earl of Mercy.

But if he needed to let the young Grand Duchess interfere in those dangerous things, he probably didn't have to.

……

On this snow-covered continent, night comes very early.

When the convoy arrived at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, the falling snow was dazzling in the blinding lights.

The carriage passed through three huge arched iron gates along the frozen Neva River, passed by the feet of the Atlas giant statues, passed rows of tall colonnades made of marble and malachite, and finally heard the sound of rumbling gun salutes. And the gorgeous fireworks stopped in front of the white arches of the Winter Palace complex.

Antanya has long been used to the grand pomp and pomp of France—it is even worse than that of Russia, so she turned a blind eye to it and just sat quietly in the carriage, waiting for the next arrangement of the host.

But at this moment, a court protocol officer by the arch hurriedly ran to Earl Mercy's carriage, covered his mouth with his hands, and whispered something to him.

Antanya looked through the car window and saw the count's expression suddenly changed.

"What does it mean?"

Mercy's tone was gentle but unceremonious, and his voice pierced through the cold air forcefully, "In front of the carriage is the Archduchess Maria Antalia of Austria, on behalf of the Archduchess of Austria, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Her Majesty Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, is here and deserves the courtesy of a state visit."

Antanya looked at the standing Earl of Mercy and the Russian protocol officer in front of him who was scratching his head in embarrassment, and roughly guessed what happened.

It seems that this grand pomp is not for them.

As far as she knows, there are not many envoys from countries closest to Russia who can arrive in such a short period of time, so... everything is self-explanatory.

The Russian court protocol officer stood in the cold night where a white mist rose with his breath, but he was sweating profusely.

The princess and envoys of one country were here, but he had to ask them to leave quickly to make way for the late envoy of another country-it was too rude, but he had to obey, because it was the emperor's will.

Oh, God!This disastrous scene will probably become the eternal nightmare of his protocol career.

"What's the matter?" The front window opened, and the little girl in the red hood poked her head out with a curious expression on her face.

Mercy didn't want to involve the young princess, "Your Highness, it's too cold outside, you can just sit in the carriage..."

But the Russian protocol officer might have given up hope of persuading Mercy, so he turned around and pinned his hopes on this seemingly innocent and kind little princess.

He hurriedly stepped forward in two or three steps, and bowed deeply to Antanya: "Your Highness, because His Majesty the Emperor has an important official business and cannot get away temporarily, the Queen will receive you and his party, and I will guide your convoy to drive forward. Just two doors away, the queen is already waiting for you."

Antania hadn't spoken yet, but Mercy had already suppressed her anger and said, "I would like to remind you that the standards of diplomatic etiquette are related to..."

"It's all right, Lord Mercy," Antanya interrupted him just in time to prevent him from saying something truly irrevocable.

She put a strand of blond hair hanging behind her ear, smiled at him and said, "Let's go, we shouldn't keep Her Majesty the Queen waiting."

Mercy clenched her fist tightly, without even looking at the protocol officer beside her, she bowed and saluted: "Yes, Your Highness."

After this deliberately depressing episode, the protocol officer led the convoy to move on, and soon stopped in front of the third gate, leading them into the palace of the Winter Palace.

Antanya saw from a distance the figure in the black velvet dress on the steps, and the many costumed followers behind her.

Before she could get close, she heard the chief concierge bow to the queen: "Then I will trouble you, Your Highness."

The queen's face changed suddenly, but she quickly glanced at the protocol officer coldly, but she didn't say a word.

Antanya has lived in the red-tape Palace of Versailles for decades, and her heart is like a mirror.

Peter III has become the new tsar, and the emperor's wife is the empress of Russia, who should be called her majesty.

Still calling her His Highness is tantamount to denying her legal queen status.

Even the court protocol officer treated her so contemptuously, and never restrained herself in front of foreign envoys. It seems that Peter III was at odds with the queen, and it was indeed true that Peter III did not recognize her as queen.

Antanya could understand the subtleties of this in an instant, not to mention Earl Mercy.

But he knew that Austria did not want to get involved in Russia's complicated domestic situation at this sensitive time, so he just pretended not to hear anything.

Because the Queen pursed her lips tightly and did not make a sound, the welcoming ceremony, which should have been closely connected, was at a standstill for a while.

Until the silence was broken by a sweet voice.

The little Austrian princess wore a red cloak embroidered with the double-headed eagle coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire, looked up at the somewhat pale queen, and curtsied with an elegant gesture that even the strictest protocol officer could not fault.

"Good evening, Her Majesty Ekaterina."

The author says:

Antanya: Your Majesty, I have come to learn from you (serious face).

Many little angels guessed right!It's too powerful, the author of the vegetable chicken is trembling orz