Chapter 720: 628: The Temptation of Macarons

Chapter 720: Chapter 628: The Temptation of Macarons

Joseph was left dumbfounded with laughter by Charles’ antics.

However, he could understand; inside the Palace of Versailles, his little brother truly didn’t have many friends. After Alexandra arrived in Paris, she became one of the few peers he could play with.

What really occupied his brother’s mind was that his swordsmanship often lost to the little girl and he hadn’t won a single time against her—Alexandra was a head taller than him and also very intuitive with the sword. Thus, although Charles trained very hard, he was always soundly defeated by her.

Joseph patted Charles on the head and chuckled,

“You’re a Bourbon too, why don’t you just propose to her yourself?”

Unexpectedly, the little guy burst into even louder tears upon hearing this, “I’ve proposed to her.”

“Oh? And did she say yes?”

“Sob, she said she doesn’t want to marry a little brat…”

Joseph almost couldn’t hold back his laughter this time; a kid barely under 9 years old calling a 6-year-old a little brat. Alright, that’s quite reasonable.

He quickly cleared his throat and comforted his brother, “The Russian Grand Duchess will probably return to Paris after the funeral.”

“But what if she doesn’t come back?”

Joseph had no choice but to rationalize for him, “Look, she still has painting lessons with Mr. Greuze, and her music lessons with Madam Garland aren’t finished. She’ll come back.”

Charles wiped away his tears and stared with wide eyes, “Are you sure?”

“Alright, I’m sure.”

“That’s great!” Charles immediately burst into a smile. His brother was the person he admired the most; since his brother said so, then there must be no problem.

Having cast aside his “worries,” the little Prince bowed to his brother and then turned to his tutor,

“I must go feed Walnut first, then I’ll immediately join you for Latin lessons.”

Walnut was the Cape parrot that Joseph had given him.

As he passed by Joseph’s desk, he was attracted by the beautifully packaged pile of macarons there and his pace slowed. Hmm, he perfectly inherited Queen Mary’s obsession with sweets.

Sensing this, Joseph quickly said,

“Do you want some? If you do, just take them, help yourself to as many as you like.”

He was actually worried about this large pile of sweets; they were all from Valentine’s Day when Soleil brought them to him—he had designed a “custom” of giving macarons to one’s sweetheart on Valentine’s Day, referencing a future trend, to stimulate consumption. He initially wanted to reference the future tradition of giving chocolate, but sadly, solid chocolate had not yet been invented in this era.

As a result, many noble maidens wanted to give macarons to him, but due to their status, they couldn’t meet him. Later, they heard somehow that Soleil could reach the Crown Prince, so they entrusted her to convey their affections.

Soleil, always delighted to help others, agreed to every request—goodness, she actually brought several large boxes of macarons to meet with Joseph, and then they all ended up in the Crown Prince’s Bedroom Palace.

Charles happily filled his pockets with macarons and suddenly noticed a card in the packaging; he curiously began to read the words on it,

“To the esteemed Crown Prince, your graceful demeanor has deeply… Brother, how do you read this word?”

“Cough—” Joseph quickly intervened to stop him, “Don’t worry about these words, just tear off the outer packaging…”

After Charles left, Joseph headed towards the Petit Trianon Palace, ready to discuss with Queen Mary the arrangements for Potemkin’s funeral.

Potemkin was the most powerful person under the Tsar of Russia and also had the title of “Russian Empress,” so his funeral had to be taken seriously.

Moreover, England was recently intensifying its diplomatic offensive in Russia, for example, expanding the scope of British-Russian trade and investing on a large scale in Donbass, clearly aiming to neutralize France’s influence.

Joseph also wanted to use this funeral to make some “investments” in diplomacy.

Before long, Talleyrand, holding a list of Russian officials, said to Queen Mary at the Petit Trianon Palace, “Your Majesty, there’s also Duke Zubov. Perhaps you should mention him in your letter to the Tsar. His influence in Saint Petersburg is immense, especially now without Potemkin to check him. The Tsar will likely show your letter to him.”

Queen Mary nodded and gestured to the clerk beside her, “When drafting the letter, please include greetings to him.”

She then looked at the gift list with some confusion, “Why send the Tsar eight sets of bookcases, all of the same style?”

Joseph smiled, “That way she can only give them to other nobles.”

Indeed, it wasn’t just bookcases—the gift list included many duplicates of ironware, cosmetics, carriages, and the like.

These items, once distributed to Russian nobles from Catherine II’s hand, were essentially a large-scale promotion for French goods.

Including the carriages for Potemkin’s procession, which were also provided by the Gem Carriage Company.

After the funeral, Talleyrand would be able to negotiate with Zubov about opening a department store in Saint Petersburg.

Joseph was well aware that after Potemkin’s death, this “fresh meat” would dominate Russian politics for many years, until Catherine II passed away.

And this individual was far less capable than Potemkin, short-sighted, boasting, and greedy, making it very cost-effective to invest in him.

Just then, Alexandra walked into the tea room, led by the Countess of Debeninac, and curtseyed to Queen Mary and Joseph.

“Your Majesty the Queen, Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I will be returning to Saint Petersburg tomorrow and have come to bid you farewell.”

Joseph suddenly thought of something and whispered to Talleyrand, “Prepare a gift for the Grand Duchess similar to the one given to Duke Zubov.”

The young girl would hardly be able to use these gifts, which would ultimately serve as publicity for themselves.

At that moment, Charles burst into the room, obviously just out of his Latin class.

Seeing his mother, the boy slowed down, straightened his back, and moved forward with courtly etiquette to pay his respects.

Then he noticed the young Russian princess and immediately pulled a handful of macarons from his pocket and offered them to her, saying with a twinkle in his eye, “These are really tasty, try them.”

In fact, these sweets weren’t as well made as those by the court’s pastry chefs, but children are like that; someone else’s food always tastes uniquely delicious.

Alexandra, however, politely declined, “Thank you, Your Highness, but I rarely eat sweets.”

Then with a surprisingly mature demeanor, she whispered, “And I would advise you not to eat so much sweet food either. It can make all your teeth fall out and is said to even lead to your feet festering.”

Charles looked stunned at the macarons in his hand and suddenly dropped the sweets on the ground as if stung by a scorpion.

Then he burst into tears…

Joseph thought to himself that this little girl was indeed very self-disciplined; it was usually hard for kids to resist the temptation of sweets.

He glanced at his mother, hoping she would take the hint as well.

However, Queen Mary pulled Charles into her arms, took a macaron from his pocket, and took a bite, smiling, “Sasha was just joking with you. These sweet delicacies are a gift from Jesus; how could they be so dreadful?”