Versailles is worse than being queen

◎Enough for him to be hanged in Russia◎

"Your Highness! I absolutely cannot let you participate in such a dangerous thing again!"

In the official residence of the Austrian mission, Earl Mercy's voice was stern.

After reading the queen's letter brought to him by the little princess, his first reaction was deep fear—His Highness is still a child!

They didn't do anything, and Peter III was already full of hostility towards Austria. Earl Melsey even seriously considered whether to fabricate a reason to send the little princess back to the country for safety reasons, and don't even wait for the coronation ceremony—after all, in case The two countries really fought with each other, and he didn't expect anything from the character and morality of the lunatic tsar.

If the evidence was really found by the Russian guards on the spot, I don't know what he would do to Antania and Austria.

—This is a conspiracy by foreign powers to overthrow the rulers of Russia!

"My lord, I was wrong."

Antanya obediently admitted her mistake, with tears welling up in her bright blue eyes.

She was quite good at the art of coaxing, and many years ago, when she was a child, she had coaxed her chaperones and priests into her mercy, not to mention her old friend of many years, the Earl of Mercy.

"Next, you must never go to the queen again." Earl Mercy resolutely refused to look at the poor little princess, and said forcefully, "Your Highness, you can live quietly in the mansion for a while. In the Winter Palace You should also go less to banquets."

It's too much!Melsey became angry when he thought about it. These savage Russians didn't even spare children!

This is the most well-behaved and beautiful little daughter of the Queen!If something happened to her, Mercy herself would not let herself go.

"Okay, my lord." Antanya obediently agreed.

Anyway, the queen has left St. Petersburg, and the emperor will leave soon.Until something important happens, there won't be any high-profile banquets in the Winter Palace.

Seeing that the count seemed to have calmed down a bit, she asked cautiously, "Lord Melsey, what did you write in the letter?"

"Don't ask me that." Mercy gave her a stern look.

"Oh." Antanya pouted.

If I knew it earlier, I would secretly look at the content.You must know that when she was imprisoned in the prison in Paris before, she had already mastered the skill of opening the letter and then restoring it to its original state, so that Earl Mercy would not find out.

However, according to the date in her memory, Ekaterina is probably ready for everything now, and it shouldn't have any impact if she is missing.

After all, that was Ekaterina the Great.

Antanya looked out the window—it was April, about the last snowy night of late spring in St. Petersburg.

In the vast snow, the melted surface of the Neva River reflected the brilliant lights of the Winter Palace.Stars twinkled in the white night sky—the Peter and Paul Fortress on Rabbit Island on the right bank of the Neva River, like a long sword guarding the ice field.

Russian wine is strong, and the snowy night in St. Petersburg is beautiful.

When the empress and emperor left St. Petersburg successively, the capital city in the midst of winter was like a dormant stage, quietly waiting for the return of its true owner.

Antanya was finally able to relax and began to concentrate on playing a well-behaved seven-year-old little princess.

For example, appreciate the architecture and art collections of the Winter Palace.

Although the palace was originally a small wooden palace built hastily by Peter I, after several tsars expanded it, the palace is now almost comparable to Schönbrunn Palace in Austria and Versailles in France.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt... the works of many masters together constitute the existing art collection here - Antania knows that when the queen ascends the throne, there will be a steady stream of art collections here new collection.

And during the rare banquets, Antanya spent a lot of effort, and finally found out about the mysterious Eastern European boy named Nicholas, and then finally understood why he seemed to be alone in the Winter Palace. And so low-key.

That was the eldest son of Duke Obrenovic of Serbia.

Today, Serbia is under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, but because of the differences in religion and nationality, the people there seem to have never stopped their efforts to become independent from the Ottoman Empire.

As Ottoman's number one opponent, Russia is naturally happy to support Serbia's independence.

But that's the way revolutions are -- wherever they are, foreign support for them can only be surreptitious until they succeed.This is exactly what Russia is doing.

The Obrenovic family is the most prominent family in Serbia.

In order to win the support and trust of Russia, the Duke sent his eldest son, who was only eight years old, to Russia and placed him under the direct protection of the Tsar—or under his supervision.

The situation of the child is not the same as it was when she was in Paris.

She was sent to a more deterrent country by her family as a guarantee of good relations between the two countries... and she was imprisoned after the outbreak of the Great Revolution, and became a hostage used by the French to threaten Austria.

It's just that Austria didn't save her.

Antanya absently spooned all the olives out of the cabbage soup and tossed it aside.She hates olives.

That being said, Nicholas' identity is quite dangerous.

As an heir-apparent hostage, he would sooner or later be a pariah if Serbia failed to become independent - as a gift from Russia to the Ottoman Empire, for example.

And as the eldest son of the duke, if Serbia really becomes independent and becomes a grand duchy or even a kingdom, I am afraid that there will be many people in Serbia who want him to go back.

At least in Antania's memory, Serbia has had a lot of movement in the past few decades, but it seems that it has never succeeded in becoming independent.

More than a week ago, Antanya heard from several diplomats at the banquet that Serbia seemed to have some unusual moves recently.

However, the little boy didn't look scared.

Oh, before she was imprisoned in her previous life, she never thought that she would be guillotined.

Antanya smiled lightly.

At this moment, someone knocked roughly on the door of the mansion.

The servant opened the door suspiciously: "Excuse me..."

A chill rushed into the room with the opened door.

"Mercy Corps, Captain Itzhov. I have ordered the Austrian special envoy, Mercy de Argento, to accompany us to the investigation, by order of Minister of State Vorontsov."

But Lord Mercy was not there.In fact, most of the officials in the mission are not in the residence at the moment.

The mansion is full of maids and servants at the moment, where has this kind of formation been seen before.They looked around in a panic, looking in shock and vigilance at the Russian Royal Guards outside the door who were wearing Prussian military uniforms and their leather boots made a cold metal sound.

"Mersey isn't here?" The leader of the guard raised his chin, "I'm sorry, we need to get this place under control first. Listen to my order—"

"Wait." The immature voice, neither loud nor urgent, interrupted him calmly.

"His Royal Highness Antania!" The male servant at the door yelled in horror, not knowing what to do in a panic.

What did the maids do?At such a dangerous moment, why did the Grand Duchess come to the door!

This, this is the search team of the notorious lunatic Czar Peter. There are not many Russian czars who are normal. There was even one who killed the prince when he got angry——

"Miss Grand Duchess?" The captain who led the team lowered his head and recognized the little girl's identity.

"Captain Itzhoff." The little girl nodded, her small face, which was not as big as a palm, looked calm, and she didn't panic at all.

"Ambassador Melsey is an Austrian diplomat and a special envoy representing Queen Theresa. This is the residence of the Austrian mission, and it enjoys diplomatic immunity with the approval of His Majesty the Tsar."

Her voice was neither high nor urgent, but it had a strange force that made people have to listen, "You can't come in without the consent of Ambassador Mercy."

The servants in the mansion looked at each other nervously, but they were relieved a lot.

Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, the young Grand Duchess was so calm.

Captain Itzhoff's face sank—he didn't know what diplomatic immunity was or was not exempt from those complicated political etiquettes, because he hadn't received any formal education and training.

It was only because he played many dog ​​training tricks with Peter III and won his appreciation that he got the post of captain of the palace search team.

But although he had always led the search team, and with the support of the tsar, he was arrogant no matter where he went, but he couldn't put on that arrogant posture in the face of this little girl who was not as tall as his waist.

"Your Highness," he deliberately took a step closer, trying to scare the little girl with his oppressive height and cold expression, "According to the investigation of secret agents, Mercy is suspected of participating in supporting the launch of a palace coup. We are ordered by His Majesty the Tsar , come to the official residence to search for evidence. This crime is enough for him to be hanged in Russia!"

He waited for a few seconds, but still didn't wait for the little girl to show a frightened expression.

She just stood on the doorstep and looked at him indifferently, her light blue eyes were as clean as a clear spring, but she didn't have the slightest intention to back down.

Uh...that's a little tricky.

Although the search team was used to being overbearing, it would be too detrimental to the image of a little girl, especially a young foreign princess, to be treated roughly.

"Your Highness, let me say it again." Captain Itzhoff gritted his teeth, "Please step aside."

Antanya smiled coldly in her heart.

She absolutely cannot let them in - as the residence of the mission, the principle of inviolability of the embassy itself cannot be compromised, and more importantly, there may be evidence of relevant personnel involved in planning a coup d'état in the mansion.

The Earl of Mercy was not there, and she was the only one here who could stop them.

Just as the two sides were in a stalemate, the clear and rapid sound of horseshoes suddenly shattered the surrounding silence.

The noise in the distance seemed as if a boulder had been thrown into the pool suddenly, and waves of waves were pushing through the roof ridges, getting louder and louder.

"The Winter Palace—something has happened to the Winter Palace!"