Flowers, Swords and France

In the long corridor, an old lady in court dress walked forward step by step. The footsteps on the marble floor were very light but very rhythmic. Behind her, there were several cautious court ladies.

When she was about to reach the end of the corridor, the old lady stopped because a smiling court attendant stood in front of her.

"Madam, His Majesty is resting now..." His voice was very gentle and flattering, as if he wanted to tell her - if it wasn't for my duty, I would never dare to stop you.

"I want to talk to His Majesty about something." Lady Adelaide smiled, but her tone was full of irresistible orders, "Please move aside."

"But..." The attendant hesitated.

"You have fulfilled your duty." She waved her hand, motioning the other party to move aside.

"Okay... please come in." After thinking for a moment, the attendant made way.

As the lady said - she had fulfilled her duty. If she blocked him more, she might not be able to please both sides later.

The lady knocked on the door gently, and then pushed it open and walked in without waiting for a response from inside, while the ladies-in-waiting waited outside the door in compliance with her orders.

In this palace, she was probably the only one who had this privilege, and even Her Majesty the Queen could not be so disrespectful of etiquette.

"Adelaide?" His Majesty, who was sitting on a chair to rest, was a little surprised, but soon recovered, "Why are you here?"

"Because you are free today, I took the liberty to ask for an audience." The king's sister replied with a smile, and then slowly walked in front of him.

Although she was now thin, pale, and covered with fine wrinkles, even so, she could not completely erase the charm she once had.

"Did you come back yesterday? Did you have fun outside?" His Majesty also smiled, "Sorry, I've been busy with too many things recently and haven't had time to accompany you."

"You are the King of France, it's normal to be busy with state affairs, why do you need to apologize to me?"

"Then what do you want to see me today?" His Majesty looked up at the clock next to him, "Well, there's still some time today, you can talk slowly."

Hearing this, the lady's expression began to slowly become serious.

"What? Is there something big?" The king was a little confused.

"I came for your throne, it doesn't look stable." The princess suddenly said something that shocked the king.

After a moment of shock, the king regained his composure, then smiled and waved his hand.

"Your words are not surprising, but if you didn't say this in front of me, you would have been arrested long ago."

"I'm glad you're not surprised by what I said, but... my brother, this is not something you can pretend not to see just by joking." The lady's voice became a little hurried.

"Okay, okay," the king smiled at his sister, then returned to his seriousness, "There is no completely stable throne in the world. But in my opinion, everything can be maintained for now."

"Oh, God! It can be maintained!" Lady Adelaide sighed slightly, and a trace of fatigue appeared on her pale face. "My brother, don't be deceived by the courtiers around you. They will only say good things to you to make you happy, and then get benefits from you. None of them will really want to help you."

"How did they provoke you?" His Majesty asked with a smile, "I don't think anyone among them would dare to provoke you?"

"Of course they won't, they all flatter me, afraid that I hate them..." Lady Adelaide shook her head gently, "But because of this, I hate them even more."

"What do you think?" His Majesty was a little confused.

"They have kept us from understanding what really happened, just as their kind had kept the poor king in the dark in 1789." The king's sister sighed, "I'm afraid they are about to achieve this new feat."

The dark clouds quickly covered the face of the supreme ruler. If it were an ordinary courtier, he would have stopped talking at this moment, right? But his sister still looked at him, her eyes clear and firm.

In the end, the king still did not get angry, and his eyes became soft again.

"What do you want to say?"

"This time I went out of the palace to relax, and I also specifically inquired about your reputation among the people. Do you want to know the result?" Lady Adelaide said softly.

His Majesty frowned.

"You mean bad?"

"I mean, very bad." Lady Adelaide's expression was very serious, "It's worse than expected. I went out in plain clothes and talked to people everywhere. Everyone I talked to, whether it was a farmer, a businessman, or even a noble, didn't say anything good about you. Brother, what I want to tell you is that the situation is worse than I originally expected..."

"Why, you went out just to meet some rebellious people?" The king's expression became worse and worse. "This is really bad."

However, in front of the monarch who became a little stern, the king's sister was not moved at all.

"It's not that I went to see the rebels on purpose, but all I could see were the rebels you mentioned. Brother, you can understand the severity of the current situation without me having to explain it. They don't dare to tell you the truth, but I do. As a monarch, if I don't get the respect and love of my subjects, it's such a terrible thing."

The king frowned, but didn't speak.

"Brother, I came to see you because I'm really worried about you and your dynasty. Now anyone can see that your dynasty has reached a critical moment. If you don't care and pretend nothing has happened, I'm afraid... I'm afraid..." Adelaide secretly glanced at her brother's face, but in the end, in order to persuade her brother, she still made up her mind to say, "What happened to the Bourbon family and our father will be repeated in front of me!"

His Majesty the King finally couldn't help it.

"Adelaide, you're really going too far!"

"Brother, I'm saying this for you!" Lady Adelaide looked at her brother, tears suddenly welling up in her eyes, "I can't just say nice things to you. It's not too late for you to change your ways now."

The original text can be read on Six # 9 @Books/Bar!

Her eyes were full of expectations, and her gaze remained the same whether she was fifteen or seventy years old.

Seeing his sister's look, the king sighed and calmed down his anger.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"You should provide famine relief so that people can temporarily get rid of hunger; then you should revitalize the industry so that workers will not suffer the disaster of unemployment; in addition, you should relax regulations at home and eliminate people's grievances..." Ms. Adelaide said a few ideas she had been thinking about recently, "Next, you can find a way to revoke the August decree, reconcile with the church, and let the church soothe people's emotions. Religion can educate people's hearts..."

[After the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, the French church was extremely supportive of Bourbon orthodoxy, so it was very disgusted with the usurpation of the Orleans family. So in early August 1830, the newly established July Dynasty government submitted a bill to the parliament, demanding the abolition of Catholicism as the state religion of France. The parliament at that time passed the bill with an absolute majority, so the July Dynasty and the church were completely at odds. 】

After listening, the king shook his head.

"You women don't understand politics."

"Are these words wrong?"

"Yes, absolutely right." The king admitted directly, "Ideally, every king should do this, as long as he does it, the country will be peaceful and the people will be safe, but Adelaide, we don't live in an ideal. In fact, I also want to do this, but can we do it? Or, can I do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Relieve famine and develop industry and commerce, it sounds good, but where does the money come from? If I increase taxes, the burden on the people will be heavier. If I borrow, the government, which is already heavily in debt, will have to pay the bills. Who should I borrow the axe from? Can I rob? I would like to rob, but who should I rob? Robbing those who put us on the throne? "

"As for religion, haha," the king couldn't help laughing, "I am a usurper, and I stole the throne from my relatives. The more I preach Catholicism and orthodoxy, the more people will remember this - Napoleon doesn't have this burden, anyway, his throne was snatched from the people, and it's easy for the people to remember who the king is a relative of, but it's hard to remember that they once had a crown in their hands..."

"But..." The king's words confused the lady.

"Adelaide, you have a compassionate heart, which is good, but now we can only live in a "maintainable" state. Since ancient times, haven't people ruled by making do? Wise kings only exist in myths. "

"But..." The lady was still a little hesitant.

"Don't think too much, Adelaide, I will take care of everything." The king sighed again. "Before we leave, I will take good care of this family business. When I hand it over to Albert, he will naturally find a way."

[Ferdinand Philippe, the crown prince of Louis-Philippe, died in a car accident in 1842, so the eldest son of the crown prince, Louis-Philippe Albert, was appointed as the heir to the throne (born on August 24, 1838). After the July Monarchy was overthrown and Louis-Philippe died, the Orleans supporters supported the former crown prince as the pretender to the throne, calling himself Philip VII. 】

If the current king is so stupid that he can't see the surging undercurrents in the country and the overflowing anger of the people, it is obviously impossible. But seeing it is one thing, whether it can be solved is another matter.

Due to her knowledge, his sister can only think of suggestions such as "easing people's emotions and eliminating contradictions through lenient rule and promoting religion", but she can't come up with any better solutions for deeper problems.

If it is so easy to govern a country, how can there be dynasties that have collapsed since ancient times?

After all, her brother had been in politics for half a century and had been king for seventeen years, so he had enough vision to see the more difficult and profound fundamental problems in the country, but he also couldn't come up with any good solutions. Moreover, he was already old and didn't have the determination to destroy the existing order in France or even Europe, so he could only rule reluctantly, hoping that the next generation would find a way to solve them, or that time would automatically solve these problems.

God knows if he still has time... (To be continued.)