Versailles is worse than being queen

◎"Honest Man"◎

The fire on the banks of the Neva River became the talk of people's gossip in the next few days.

"I heard that the emperor was so excited that he ran out to see the disheveled clothes, and he didn't forget to bring his mistress with him."

"It's not surprising at all, after all, Peter likes watching fire the most."

The speaker looked at each other and smiled tacitly.That foolish tsar!

It didn't take long for the queen to recover from her "sprained ligament" and return to social situations, looking like business as usual.

"The fire?" She clutched her heart lightly, "It was really terrible. But I was very tired that day and went to bed early...I didn't see anything."

Antanya's heart was relieved.

She didn't know what Catherine had done with the newborn baby, but the emperor apparently knew nothing about it.When she went to visit the queen again, she never saw any newborns, as if everything was just an illusion.

No one noticed anything unusual about the Queen.

Other than the fire, the most talked about is Peter's increasingly absurd words and deeds.

For example, he intends to change the Orthodox Russian Church to Lutheranism - I don't know how this half-truth got out, and he ordered the confiscation of the church's property.

The Church had publicly broken with the Tsar.

As another example, he ordered the withdrawal of all Russian troops fighting alongside the Austrian army, announcing that Russia would return all German territories it had occupied since the start of the war.

It is said that the Russian soldiers have been filled with righteous indignation-the land they took back with their blood and lives was just returned to the enemy by a spiritual German who betrayed the motherland!

Of course, the Earl of Melsey from Austria shared their hatred.

At the same time, there are some absurd rumors circulating among the people—for example, Peter has a hideous face, vulgar behavior, low intelligence, and ridiculous behavior. He even planned to give Russia as a gift to King Frederick of Prussia and kiss Frederick himself. strong feet.

This rough land is gathering storms.

"Antanya, I want to teach you a truth - to weaken the enemy is to strengthen yourself." Ekaterina gracefully scooped up the orange jelly in the crystal cup with a small silver spoon, and smiled at Antanya road.

The queen's cheeks were rosy, her complexion was even more radiant than before, and there was a sense of calmness between her gestures and gestures.

Antanya couldn't help pursing her lips.

That's not bad at all.After all, she herself had personally experienced the power of the poisonous arrows of public opinion shot from all directions at the cost of her life.

Vulgar jokes and novels about her were widely circulated in Paris in those years. It is said that when she heard that the people were too poor to eat bread, she replied lightly: "Then let them eat cake."

At that time, Marie Antoinette only felt ridiculous when she heard this rumor-how could anyone believe such absurd rumors?

But Antanya now understands that never expect strangers to know your original appearance through turbulent rumors.

When everyone thinks that a person deserves to die, this person may have no other choice but to die.

She looked on now, watching the Tsar as stupid as she had been without knowing it.

"I remember, Your Majesty." The little princess replied calmly.

"Sometimes, I think you are too mature compared to your age." The queen suddenly glanced at her, and there was no emotion in her voice.

Antanya froze for a moment.

She immediately relaxed her body, turned her head and showed a surprised and shy smile: "Really, Your Majesty!"

"Hmm." Ekaterina rubbed her hair with a smile, and couldn't help laughing: "It's very similar to me."

Antanya's clenched hand on the other side of her body slowly relaxed.

At this moment, the door of the dormitory was suddenly kicked open with a bang.

"Ekaterina! You bitch!" Peter yelled at the door, "Whose bastard is that baby? Where did you send it?"

The queen was silent for half a second, put the small silver spoon back into the crystal cup, then slowly got up and looked towards the door.

"I do not understand what you are talking about, Your Majesty," she replied dryly.

"You don't understand? You don't understand the bastard coming out of your stomach?" Peter's face turned red, his hands seemed to be twitching, "You slut! Shameless woman! When Elizabeth and I get married, we will Send you to the most dilapidated monastery in the northernmost part of Siberia, where you will die of old age!"

Yekaterina stopped talking, but looked at the furious emperor coldly.

After a few seconds of stalemate, Peter III kicked the sofa violently: "Gudovich, from now on, everyone who comes in and out will be searched! As for the queen...the queen is not allowed to leave this place!"

He walked out resentfully, turned back after a few steps, and gave Ekaterina a fierce look: "No! I'm going to go to Denmark with the King of Prussia. I can't leave you, a disaster, in the palace." .”

"You!" Ekaterina's face changed slightly at this moment.

"Didn't you think so?" Seeing her expression, Peter twisted his face with pride, "Do you think I'm a fool? Although I know that the Russians warmly support me, if someone with evil plans is attacked by you, the devil, Bewitched, what should I do if I support you as the tsar?"

He waved his hand: "That's the decision. I'm leaving for Oranienburg in three days. You have to get out of St. Petersburg before I leave and go to the Peterhof Mansion, where you'll be ready to pick you up."

Peterho House is adjacent to Oranienburg, both on the Gulf of Finland.

Ekaterina was silent for a while, then said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, can you let me leave Russia? Let me take my Paul back to Germany. I will never set foot on Russian land again..."

"You're dreaming!" Peter was furious, "Paul is my son! I will never allow you to take him away! You listen to me, now, immediately, immediately! You set off alone, you are not allowed to take anyone, Go to Peterhof immediately!"

"Now, Gudovich, search the whole place for me! Once you find any evidence of treason, report it to me immediately!"

A group of guards walked in immediately, and began to search the queen's bedroom separately and violently.

The curtains of exquisite brocade were pulled back with a clatter, and the guards moved the vases and cabinets, completely treating the queen who was still standing there as air.

Until Gudovich, the chief guard in red uniform, walked up to the queen and bowed to her: "Your Highness, please leave."

Antanya sighed inwardly.

Feeling ashamed.But she couldn't help—

The next moment, she threw herself into Ekaterina's arms, tugged at the corner of her clothes, and burst into tears.

The queen patted her on the back reassuringly, and said to the guards coldly: "This is the Grand Duchess of Austria. Out of courtesy, I should say goodbye to her, right?"

"...Indeed, please." Antanya cried hard, and could only hear a vague hesitant response behind her.

Ekaterina squatted down in the posture of being hugged by her, and reached out to hug her.

"Honey, don't cry, I'm just going somewhere else for a few days and I'll be back soon."

"But, Your Majesty, just now His Majesty the Emperor said..."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. After all, I'm still the Empress of Russia. When I get back, I'll check on the progress of your reading, besides Gulliver's Travels, there's also Candide."

While speaking, Ekaterina wiped away Antanya's tears with a handkerchief, and straightened Antanya's collar.

The intricate pearl lace pattern is three-dimensional, covering the small piece of paper she stuffed into the gap between the collar.

The queen kissed the little princess lightly on the forehead: "Okay, go back. Tell Earl Mercy, I have returned you to him."

She turned around and nodded to the chief guard: "Let's go."

Everyone watched as the queen in the black velvet dress left the bedroom.Antanya also walked out.

"and many more!"

Suddenly someone called her from behind.

Antanya stopped, turned around slowly, and smiled obediently: "Sir?"

The shoulder blades under the paper cover seemed to be slightly hot.

The guard did not hide his suspicious eyes, but due to her identity, he squatted down and stretched out his hand to her: "Let me read this book."

Antanya held a book in her arms, which she had just picked up from the small bedside table.

Antanya resisted his command with silence.

The chief guard came over and saluted Antanya politely: "Your Highness, please forgive me, this is an order from the Russian Tsar."

The little girl pursed her lips tightly, looking at them with eyes full of grievances.

Finally, after a long stalemate, she snorted angrily and handed the book out reluctantly.

The guard took the book and quickly flipped through it, but found nothing suspicious.

"Sir, I don't seem to find anything... What's written on it?" He couldn't read.

""Gulliver's Travels"?" The chief guard glanced at it, "It's just a child's stuff, let her take it away. The key point is the things in the room, you need to search carefully."

Antanya carefully hugged the book to her chest and walked out of the queen's bedroom.

One step, two steps, three steps.

The sound of rummaging through boxes gradually faded away, and she gradually moved away from the source of danger.

But she didn't show any abnormality, maintaining the elegant court steps cultivated since she was a child, turned straight around the corner, came to another corridor, then stood in front of the deep wooden door, and turned the golden doorknob.

Dunik's study on the west side of the Winter Palace.

The wooden door closed silently behind him, and the study room was suddenly dark, with pale sunlight shining in through the hollowed-out glass windows.

Antanya's breathing slowed slowly.

She picked up the "Gulliver's Travels" just to distract the guards.

After all, the goal of this book is too obvious, and the guards will definitely check it out.

After checking the obvious suspicious target, people will subconsciously relax their vigilance to other places. Coupled with her high status and young age, they automatically ignored the emperor's order that "all people who come and go must be searched".

This is just a little skill of using people's hearts. She learned it without a teacher when she was imprisoned in the Tuileries Palace in her previous life and secretly communicated with the outside world.

Unexpectedly, the intelligence skills she learned before she died could be used in Russia, and Antanya felt a little ironic for a while.

Encrypted sent letters, decrypted received letters, lists of proper nouns, cipher tables hidden in books, and even "blank" letters written with invisible ink or lemonade - what she used to use was comparable to these simple and rude Russians The method is much more precise.

However, apart from the scrap of paper in the collar, she suspected that the queen had hidden something in the "Candide" in the study.

After all, when Ekaterina brought her here for the first time, she said that she sometimes hid things here, and she had to check the progress of reading "Candide", which the queen had never mentioned before.

She guessed that the Queen probably wanted her to bring the hidden things to Earl Mercy.

Thinking of this, Antanya raised her eyebrows slightly—when did the Queen contact the Earl?She didn't even know it.

It seemed that Earl Mercy was not as simple as she imagined.

While turning her thoughts, Antanya began to identify the books on the shelf.

Although the place is not big, it is packed full of books. If you only look for a book title, you may have to search for a long time to find it.Fortunately, she remembered that the queen had mentioned to her that "Candide" was a novel written by Voltaire.

The books in Dunick's study are sorted by author.

Antanya searched along the subtitles of the bookshelf, and soon found a row full of Voltaire's works.The bookshelf was too high, so she moved a small round stool from the side and stepped on it to be able to pull out the "Candide".

The book was pulled out, and there was nothing behind it.

Antanya stood where she was, spread out the book on the shelf, and the pages slid through her fingertips like running water—still nothing.

Did she understand the meaning of the wrong queen?Isn't this "Candide"?Or is there some other code?

Antanya looked at the old book that had turned white in front of her, and recalled doubtfully.

At this time, a breeze blew on her neck, and a faint voice suddenly came from behind——

"Are you looking for this..."

The author says:

Hey!Which monster is scary here!