King's Landing in France

An Ning had never eaten such a raw steak in her life.

But now that the Duke's family is drinking blood, it's not good for him not to eat, so An Ning stuffed the steak into his mouth patiently.

There is no bloody smell as imagined. In fact, the taste of this steak is quite good, and it is a tender feeling that An Ning has never experienced.

Could it be that steak is like Cantonese white-cut chicken, and Cantonese white-cut chicken also pays attention to a fire that is just cooked, and can't be stewed too old.

An Ning continued to taste the three-rare steak while thinking about it.

After eating the steak, it’s time for dessert. Today’s dessert at the Duke’s is fruit salad. After eating the salad, an authentic French meal comes to an end.

An Ning looked out the window, and found that good guy, the sky outside was still bright before eating, but after eating, the sky outside was as dark as ink, and eating western food was time-consuming.

The Duke wiped his mouth and looked at his daughter: "Christina, do you have any activities tonight?"

Christina: "Dad, there is a ball at the Palace of Versailles tonight, do you think I should go?"

"Of course you should go, if you can show up at the royal ball, you should show up as much as possible." The Duke looked at An Ning, "Let the commoner heroes accompany you, so that there will probably be fewer people coming to you to propose marriage in the future. "

An Ning thought, good guy, this is asking me to serve as a human shield for your daughter.

An Ning: "I'm a commoner, isn't it good to attend the palace ball?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Christina shook her head and said, "How could that be? In fact, quite a few commoners attended the ball of the nobles. Last time I saw the wife of a clerk at Mrs. Necker's ball, She looks no different from a noble lady."

It seems that the urban middle class of this era is already trying to learn the lifestyle of the nobility.

I just don’t know if the clerk’s wife that Christina mentioned will be like the heroine in a novel, asking someone to borrow jewelry for the ball.

An Ning: "In this case, I'll go and have a look, but I may not have clothes suitable for the court ball..."

The Duke waved his hand: "You don't have to worry about this, just leave it to my housekeeper. My house has plenty of clothes."

Before, the Duke was picky about his clothes, but now he has become so generous all of a sudden. It can only be said that the title of hero of the common people is indeed very important.

Christina stood up: "Then I'll go get ready, Mr. Frost, see you later."

An Ning looked at Christina's dress, and said to herself that you still need to prepare, it's fine to wear this dress, it's already beautiful enough.

But the girl ignored An Ning's thoughts at all, and left the table with a smile.

The Duke looked at An Ning: "Go and change your clothes too."

The butler immediately stepped forward: "Mr. Frost, this way."

An Ning wiped her mouth, stood up, and nodded to the housekeeper.

※※※

The Palace of Versailles is on the outskirts of Paris, quite a distance from the city.

An Ning sat in the carriage, looked at the dark night outside the window, and muttered, "There isn't even a street light..."

Christina, who was sitting opposite, asked suspiciously: "This section of the road is in the wild, and there are no people around. It's all in the Royal Forbidden Forest. Who will light the lights for?"

An Ning: "For the rabbit?"

Christina laughed.

At this time, An Ning saw lights appearing outside the car window.

"There are lights!"

"It should be coming soon, that is the lights of the palace."

At this time, the coachman pulled the front window of the carriage and whispered, "We're going to Versailles soon."

Christina: "Got it."

An Ning opened the window, and the sound of music drifted in.

Christina: "The dance has begun."

An Ning: "Is it okay for us to be late?"

"No, it's very common for people to be late for this kind of dance. After all, the Palace of Versailles is so far away from Paris."

An Ning: "Will the royal family feel that you have neglected them?"

Christina smiled: "What are you talking about, I am the daughter of the Duke of Orleans, my father sponsors others to write about the queen's affair..."

An Ning: "Yes, your father has been neglecting the royal family."

Christina: "It is said that the Queen has already sent a thunderbolt several times for this."

"Then you still come to the queen's ball?"

"If I don't care about the queen's ball all the time, I'm really neglecting it." Christina laughed. "And no matter how angry the queen is in private, she will definitely be pleasant at the ball."

An Ning: "After all, your family is also considered a relative of the emperor."

"No, the royal family owes my father money."

An Ning: "So that's how it is!"

Chapter 023 and the deficit queen go head to head

After the carriage stopped, An Ning opened the door and got out of the car, then turned around and held Christina's hand, helping her get out of the car.

Christina: "You are quite familiar with this set of etiquette."

An Ning: "There is a proverb in my hometown that even if you have never eaten pork, you have seen pigs running. For example, if you have not experienced it yourself, you will have heard it."

"What a strange proverb." Christina laughed.

At this time, the guards of the palace came forward: "May I ask who you two are..."

Christina: "I am the daughter of Duke Tollesterne, and this is my dance partner."

An Ning introduced herself: "I am Andy Frost, the son of a Caen cobbler."

When the guard heard An Ning's self-report, he looked at him in surprise: "This... this is the royal ball, do you have an invitation card?"

A cobbler's son certainly couldn't get an invitation to a royal ball.

Christina took a step forward: "Frost is my savior, and he also won the Legion Medal of Honor on the German battlefield."

Guard: "So you are a war hero, I'm sorry. But I don't seem to see you wearing a medal..."

An Ning: "Because my medal has not been awarded to me, but General Carnegie has indeed applied for me."

Guard: "That's right. Then there's no problem. Please come this way, the two of you. The ball is being held in the palace garden."

The guards began to lead the way.

Christina naturally took An Ning's arm.

The evening dress Christina wore had a low placket unique to this era. She held An Ning's arms in such a way that An Ning's entire left field of vision was filled with white.

Christina pulled An Ning and followed the guards into the palace garden.The lights here are brightly lit, and amidst the sound of music, the ladies are like blooming roses on the dance floor.

At this time, a gentleman stepped forward to greet Christina: "Hey, isn't this Christina? And this one, is it the civilian swordsman who won the duel this afternoon?"

An Ning: "Uh, I did win a duel this afternoon, I don't know if you are..."

"He is Viscount Raphael, the son of Earl Lane." Christina said and stretched out her hand, so Viscount Raphael respectfully kissed his hand.

"Oh Christina," Raphael recited a poem, "your arrival makes the whole ball more gorgeous."

Christina smiled and said, "Don't say that, the queen will be upset if she hears it."

"What's wrong with me?" Came a pretending majestic voice.

An Ning followed the prestige and saw a graceful and luxurious woman walking towards her.

The woman's appearance made An Ning think for a moment that she saw the goddess Audrey Hepburn, and she was so surprised that she couldn't close her mouth from ear to ear.

Christina let go of An Ning's arm, pinched the corner of her skirt and saluted the woman: "His Royal Highness, good evening."

It was Mary the Deficit Queen herself!

An Ning hurriedly followed Raphael's example and saluted the queen.

The queen looked at An Ning: "Are you the son of the cobbler who won the duel this afternoon?"

An Ning: "Yes."

"Some people say that you are the son of a fallen noble, so you have learned swordsmanship." The queen stepped forward, ignoring Christina next to her, "Is that so?"

"No, I am indeed the son of a cobbler."

"But you beat the best swordsman in Paris."

An Ning raised her eyebrows: "That means that Reginald is not as powerful as he is."

"But he won three duels."

"It means that the person who dueled with him before is worse than him." An Ning shrugged.

At this time, Christina forcibly intervened: "Andy saved me on the battlefield. No one who has seen the cruelty of the battlefield is comparable to a son like Reginald."

The queen glanced at Christina, and did not hide her dissatisfaction with her interruption at all: "Christina, I heard that you went to the battlefield disguised as a man?"

Christina nodded: "Yes, I did."

The queen glanced at her breasts, and said with a smile, "How did you do it? It must take a lot of effort for you to have the same figure as a man."

An Ning echoed silently in her heart: Indeed.

Christina: "There is nothing impossible. The girl Joan of Arc of Orleans could do it back then, so naturally I can do it too."

An Ning: "Joan of Arc didn't disguise herself as a man, did she? And she's not from Orleans, she was born in Champagne..."

Christina stared at An Ning, with an expression on her face that seemed to be asking "Which side are you from?".

The queen smiled and said: "It seems that your knowledge is quite broad, no wonder everyone will say that you are the heir of a declining noble family."

An Ning: "If a person has knowledge, everyone will say that he is a fallen noble or something. This is wrong. Common people can also have knowledge."

Queen: "As expected of being the servant of the Duke of Orleans, the Duke is about to praise the commoners to heaven."

A woman behind the queen immediately interjected: "It's a pity that this is France, and commoners are only the third class, subjects."

An Ning glanced at the woman speaking, and asked suspiciously, "Who are you?"

Female: "Oh quietly, 'Who are you', Mary, look, this commoner doesn't know anything about ball etiquette."

Hearing the woman call Queen Mary directly, An Ning probably guessed the woman's identity. She should be the queen's best friend, Mrs. Lamballe.

An Ning's guess was immediately confirmed by Christina: "Andy, this is Madame Lamballe, a good friend of Her Royal Highness the Queen."

Mrs. Lamballe snorted: "Yesterday I heard that Reginald was challenged by a commoner, and I wanted to go to see the fun today, but after thinking about it, I think that the commoner will definitely be instantly killed by the experienced Reginald." , I didn’t go.”

An Ning: "So you missed my wonderful performance today."

Mrs. Lamballe rolled her eyes: "Although I didn't look at it, I can guess that it must be because Reginald underestimated the enemy. But are you so leisurely? Reginald's father, the Marquis Richard, is very precious." As for this son, I guess when the news reaches his territory, he should come to Paris to ask you to ask for your punishment."

An Ning raised her eyebrows: "I thought the nobles lived in Paris."

In this era, many French nobles did not stay in the territory, but bought real estate in Paris to live permanently, and handed over their territories to housekeepers and agents.

Many French farmers in this era have never seen their lords since they were born. They only know that the lord's housekeeper will come to collect taxes.

The organizers of life in the French countryside have long since changed from lords to priests everywhere.

The rule of feudal lords over their subjects has long since existed in name only.

But there are always exceptions.

These nobles who still lived in the countryside were sent to lampposts by the peasants after the outbreak of the Great Revolution.

Madame Lamballe looked at An Ning proudly: "The Marquis Lichar likes his castle, he just sent his precious son to study in Paris. Now that his precious son is killed by you, the Marquis will definitely throw it away. Go down to the castle and come over aggressively to question the teacher, just wait, there will be a good show! You'd better find yourself a good lawyer!"

Queen Mary looked at An Ning and said loudly, "You can ask the Duke to find a lawyer for you, but I don't know if the lawyers in Paris will sue a shoemaker's son."

An Ning corrected with a smile: "My father is a cobbler, which is different from a shoemaker. Of course he also makes shoes, but his main job is leather products."

The queen and best friend seemed to be amused by An Ning's correction.

"Listen, Mary, leather goods! He said that as if it were something of great value!"

"I heard my dear, for common people, leather products may indeed be valuables!"

An Ning: "I'm sorry, I forgot that this is the imperial palace. In the imperial palace, locks are the most valuable items."

Christina: "Pfft!"