Versailles is worse than being queen

◎You deserve to be the queen. ◎

Ekaterina lowered her eyes.

Her complexion remained unchanged, and she replied word by word: "Please tell your majesty that I am not feeling well and cannot drink strong alcohol. And I think that the royal family is composed of your majesty, me and our eldest son Paul, so I There's no need to stand up."

At this time, the cannons were rumbling, and the band in the hall was still playing gorgeous and cheerful movements.People were chatting and laughing, but diplomats and politicians who are always good at observing words and expressions have obviously noticed some incongruous episodes. Although they pretended not to see it, they all had their ears pricked up.

The young man didn't say anything, but just shrugged helplessly, then he returned to Peter III, and whispered a few words in front of him.

A clear anger suddenly appeared on the emperor's face.While viciously rubbing the chips in his hand, he stared in the direction of Ekaterina with hatred, and said something to the young man.

This time, the young man lowered his head deeply, with a look of embarrassment, as if he didn't even dare to help the emperor anymore.

The emperor glanced at him contemptuously, then "slapped" the chips in his hand away, and cursed across half the hall: "Idiot! Anyone who can't drink vodka is not worthy of being a Russian!"

In an instant, the entire hall was silent.

Peter III didn't seem to be having fun yet, he flicked the napkin on his hand, raised his chin, looked at Ekaterina and said fiercely: "The royal family only includes me and my two uncles, you idiot!"

The whole hall was deadly silent, Ekaterina lowered her head slightly, continuous tears slid down her cheeks and dripped onto her clenched hands on her knees.

Antanya thought for a while, and jumped from the sofa to the ground.

But at this moment, the queen quickly grabbed her hand and pushed her back on the seat.

Her palms were terribly cold.

Because Antania was too short, standing on the ground was not even as high as sitting on the sofa, the actions just now didn't seem to attract anyone's attention.

Out of the self-cultivation and etiquette of the upper class, the people in the hall quickly forcibly restored the excitement before the embarrassing situation, laughing and joking, as if nothing had happened.

No one looked in their direction anymore.

In the restored banquet atmosphere, Antanya breathed steadily and looked up at Ekaterina.

The queen straightened her back, she didn't seem to be looking at Antanya, but she shook her head invisibly.

Those bright eyes were full of tears at this moment, but they had a strange and firm light.

Antanya was silent for a while, then turned sideways, and gently hugged the queen's slightly trembling body.

……

After the banquet, Antanya followed the Queen straight to her room—not forgetting to ask the waiter to bring a message to Earl Mercy.

Mr. Earl might shake his head and sigh again, Antanya thought with a guilty conscience.But she has more important things to do right now.

When the maid closed the door from the outside, Antanya stood on tiptoe, leaned into the queen's ear, and said each word: "Your Majesty, you should become the queen. Otherwise, he will definitely kill you."

Yekaterina didn't panic at all when she heard these words, she just frowned slightly, stretched out her hand to stop her, and glanced across the door.

Antanya continued seriously: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I won't tell Earl Mercy. I just can't stand the emperor treating you like that—I like you very much."

She thought for a while, and added: "You know, I'm just a child, and I can help you in unexpected places. After all, no one will suspect that there is a conspiracy in me."

Ekaterina was amused by her serious expression: "Thanks to the Grand Duchess of Austria for her commitment, it is very important to me - but not yet."

She squatted down, pulled Antania into her arms, and whispered in her ear: "I told that Mr. Knight to tell Peter that I didn't stand up."

He is her man.

Well, still her man.

"You have to know that people will always sympathize with the weak who suffer from unfair oppression." She winked at the little girl meaningfully, "This country is made up of people."

It took Antanya a moment to realize what she meant, and she was stunned.

Ekaterina picked up the candlestick on the small round table, held her hand, and asked with a smile, "Come on, I'll take you to a fun place. Do you want to hear a story?"

……

It was late at night, the empress' bedroom was far away from the emperor's activities, and the palace was completely silent.

"Once upon a time there was a little princess. She was neither the eldest daughter nor the son of the king. She was very inconspicuous among the many brothers and sisters."

The queen spoke softly as she walked, "Later, she married in a distant foreign country, and even learned a new language for this. But the prince of the foreign country didn't like her, and she also suffered a lot."

Antanya listened quietly, already guessing what story Ekaterina was telling.

This is the beginning of their common life story.

"But she didn't despair. She believed that since God would give her a crown, he would bless her."

"And, even in the worst of times, she had friends of her own. They helped her through this difficult time, not giving up, not getting discouraged, going through all kinds of hardships, and finally... changing her destiny."

In the end, Ekaterina's voice was almost inaudible.She stopped by a wooden door and turned the golden handle on it.

The moment the wooden door opened, Antanya held her breath.

On the huge wooden shelf tens of meters high, there are full of books, and the long fragrance of paper and old ink blows to the face.

"This is Dunik's study on the west side of the Winter Palace. In theory, only Peter and I can come," Ekaterina raised the candlestick, "but he is not interested in reading at all, not to mention that it is almost a stone's throw away from his bedroom." There’s a corner line, so he never comes, and there’s almost no one here—so I sometimes hide things here.”

The volumes of books covered with shiny cowhide have been polished to a shine, and the original bright colors have also turned white under the erosion of sunlight, candlelight and air.

"I have been married to Peter for more than ten years. I have not wanted to escape here for a moment, but I can't go. So I read a lot of books."

"For example here," she held a candlestick to light up the entire thick history books, "it took me a few months to finish reading ten volumes of German history, twenty volumes of Russian history and European history, and then Read four volumes of History of Philosophy—I especially liked Voltaire. After reading Philosophical Letters, I looked for all his other works, including his novels, such as Candide, and felt The whole world has been turned upside down."

Antanya couldn't help pinching the corner of her clothes a little guilty.

When she was young in her previous life, she almost never read books.For her who is superficial and has unlimited choices, how can those long and boring things be more interesting than a happy masquerade, exquisite jewelry and dresses, and close friends who talk and laugh?

She had met Voltaire.The return of the old man to Paris after the death of Louis XV was more sensational than the arrival of a monarch.But before and after meeting him, the people around her were not talking about his thoughts, but his private life—when the great thinker woke up in the morning, was the woman in his arms black-haired or red-haired?

She knew he was a great thinker, a celebrity.But what does that have to do with her?

Antanya glanced over the rows of books, silently remembering her last days in prison.

It was then that she first began to read in earnest.

A hand fell on her shoulder, "Oh, although I brought you here, it's getting late today. You are still young, so you have to go back to bed early. Starting tomorrow, you can come and look for books at any time. You have Do you like the book?"

Maybe I should try... In any case, it won't be worse than my previous life.

Antanya laughed to herself.

She hesitated for a moment, then stood on tiptoe to look at the books on the shelf.

She was a little annoyed that the height was too small.When she grew up, she was tall and tall, but she grew up very late-now she is seven years old and she is not as tall as the first shelf of the bookshelf.

There was an uncontrollable laugh from above her head, and the faint incense on the queen's dress enveloped her.

Ekaterina reached over her head, pulled a book from the third shelf, and put it in her hand.

"Look at this Gulliver's Travels. I almost forgot you were a kid. It's better from the story."

Antanya stared at the book in the reddish-brown leather bag and was lost for a while.

Ekaterina led the little princess along the long corridor, and the firelight of the candelabra printed two figures, one tall and one short, on the snow-coloured marble palace wall, swaying with the soft flame.

The queen sent someone to send a message to the Austrian mission in advance, and the grand duchess would stay with her overnight.

Antanya lay on the soft blanket, watched the Queen gently tuck her quilt, and finally couldn't help asking softly, "Your Majesty...are you afraid?"

She knew that Ekaterina later became the empress of Russia, but the empress herself did not know it now.

Once the child in the womb is exposed, it will be fatal. She also faces the emperor's humiliation and injury, and faces an uncertain fate.

Yekaterina was startled for a moment when she heard her words, and then smiled.

"My dear, when you wear the crown, it doesn't matter whether you are afraid or not - what matters is your choice."

She sat on the edge of Antanya's bed, brushing the little girl's somewhat unkempt blond hair on top of her head so it wouldn't tickle her neck at the back of her head and make her sleep restless.

"Don't be afraid, you won't be like me." There was a gentle smile in her eyes, and she easily understood the reason why the little princess asked this sentence, "You will have a happy life."

happiness?

Antanya smiled silently in her heart.

Many years later, after becoming the queen of France, she learned in the French palace that the queen of Austria had actually received a report about the stupidity of the French prince very early.

The Austrian envoy to France at the time carefully reported to her that the princess would not be happy if she married the crown prince.

But the queen just snorted lightly: "Why should the princess be happy? It is enough for her to become a queen."

She did become queen.

Sure enough, happiness is lost forever.

In the confusion of thoughts, the candlelight by the bed was extinguished.

Ekaterina leaned over and kissed her soft forehead: "Good night, my little angel."

……

After the turbulent dinner, the Winter Palace didn't seem to have any additional changes.

After all, it is not news that the emperor and empress have their own lovers, and the emperor's admiration for King Frederick of Prussia is even more unbelievable—Peter III's eccentricity has long been spread inside and outside the Winter Palace, and even the monarchs of various countries have heard of it.

Recently, all the guests in the Winter Palace learned that the Empress had "sprained ligaments" and was unable to move, so she no longer left the bedroom.

Is it really a sprained ligament?

There is of course all sorts of speculation, but there will always be sympathy for a noble woman publicly humiliated by her husband in an ungenteel way.

Maybe she just said she was sick and didn't want to go out to meet people, everyone can fully understand her mood.

Antanya still visits Ekaterina often.

The queen's belly was getting bigger day by day to the point where she could no longer hide it, so she stayed behind closed doors.Although the queen didn't say anything directly to Antanya, she keenly felt that they had already started to act.

Antanya calmly observed the movement around her, and found that the people around the queen seemed to be deliberately suppressing their abnormal excitement, but Ekaterina herself became more and more calm—only the one who took her up every time Her hands were cold and wet, betraying her nervousness.

Even Antanya herself, even knowing the continuation of history, couldn't help but worry.

The childbirth period is approaching, and it is a moment of life and death—screaming during childbirth, crying of babies, maids and objects coming and going in and out of the dormitory, and even the inadvertent leak of a servant may bring disastrous consequences as a result of.

She can only use her child's identity to cover up as much as possible, and often pretends to be playful to eavesdrop on the chats of people in the palace—she has learned a lesson from her own painful experience in her previous life, and understands that rumors in the palace can often become the beginning of a whirlpool.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, you will get through this smoothly." Antanya held the queen's hand, "God bless you."

A tired smile appeared on Ekaterina's face, and she raised her hand to pinch the little princess's face, but suddenly her expression changed, and she let out a low snort.

"Your Majesty!" The maid immediately rushed to the bed.

Ekaterina took a deep breath and pushed Antanya: "Antanya, go back now."

Antanya immediately understood what was about to happen, and looked at her pale lips worriedly: "Your Majesty..."

"Go back." Ekaterina said firmly, lowering her voice: "I have a way."

Antanya hesitated for a moment, then lifted her skirt and walked out quickly.

She walked through the candlelit long corridor, calm on the surface, but in fact she was always worried about any unexpected noises, and saw the emperor's guard running towards the queen's bedroom with teeth and claws.

At this moment, the window suddenly lit up.

Antanya stopped in her tracks.

She saw that the raging flames lit up in the distance of the Winter Palace, illuminating half of the sky.

The author says:

The dialogue between Peter and everyone at the dinner in these two chapters is taken from "Ekaterina II" edited by Wei Hong. Wuhan: Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2012.

There are modified interpretations.