Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 921 - 829: Luxembourg Quietly

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

Count Stroganov bowed, placing his hand on his chest, then looked up at the Tsar and whispered, "Your Majesty, about that matter?"

Catherine II knew he was referring to Alexandra’s religious conversion—yesterday, the Ambassador to France had informed her that, according to French custom, a Russian princess practicing the Eastern Orthodox faith would need to convert to Catholicism after marrying into France.

She nodded without hesitation, "Yes, tell the envoy that I agree."

A conversion was no small matter for a princess of the Romanov family, but at this moment, Catherine II needed this marriage to secure her throne, so no matter how significant, it became insignificant.

...

On the east side of Raphael’s Corridor in the Winter Palace, a young maid quickly approached Alexandra, who was practicing the piano. She whispered something in her ear.

The Russian Princess suddenly stood up, and gracefully pulling the maid along, exited the room. Confirming that no one was around, she eagerly asked, "Engagement? So hurriedly? Is it the Prince of Saxony or Mecklenburg?"

These two countries had proposed marriage half a year ago, but nothing had come of it since.

The maid struggled to suppress her laughter, feigning innocence, "I don’t know, maybe it’s one of them."

"Did Grandmother agree?"

"It seems so."

"Didn’t she say she already refused?"

"Apparently, it was Count Zubov and Count Bezborodko who mediated."

Alexandra clenched her small fists tightly, "Ha, those two should drown in the ink with their ill-gotten gains! Yes, they must have received a hefty sum; I can almost hear them counting the gold coins from here."

The maid earnestly said, "It’s said to be an effort to bolster our empire’s strength beyond the Dnieper River..."

Alexandra’s face flushed with anger, "Having lost in Poland, they now want to throw me to the hungry wolves of Germany as if I were discarded, bloodied offal."

She paced irritably on the lawn, "Those parasites cut corners on soldiers’ winter clothing just last winter, and now they want to use a pitiable princess to exchange for dozens of rusty cannons, so they can muster the courage not to wet their pants when facing the Polish army!

"Do you know why those men in the Foreign Ministry always chew on pickled cucumbers after meetings? It’s to corrode the dignity of the royal family with the dripping acidic liquid!"

She was ten years old this year, already considered a young woman in this era, beginning to understand her marriage and politics, hence her deep resentment and helplessness.

The maid looked tense, "My God, do speak softly, if the Ceremonial Officer heard you..."

Alexandra gritted her teeth, as if making a decision, "I will go to Grandmother, I must reclaim the reins of my own freedom!"

The maid hurriedly grabbed her, "Miss, doing so will only lead you to spend the rest of your life in a monastery..."

"No, let me rot in a monastery then!"

The maid suddenly changed to a mischievous smile, moving in front of her, "If you’re truly determined, I could help you poison the envoy from Paris."

"No, no, that would get you killed...," Alexandra hastily stopped her, then suddenly froze, "Wait, what did you say? The envoy from Paris?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the envoy sent by the Queen of France, said to arrive in Saint Petersburg next week."

"But, why..."

The little princess was not dull; she realized instantly and glared at the maid angrily, pretending to roll up her sleeves, "Yelena, how dare you mock me!

"Uh... What does the Queen’s envoy want?"

"Naturally, to arrange your marriage."

"Me? You mean, an engagement with the French Royal Family?"

Yelena nodded forcefully, "My aunt told me personally. His Majesty the Emperor has already agreed."

Her aunt was the wife of Nikolai Rumyantsev.

Alexandra’s mind spun quickly.

There were only two princes in the French Royal Family whose status matched hers.

Charles was only eight years old now, nowhere near the age for an engagement, which left only one possibility...

Her small face instantly blushed, the earlier anger dissipated, replaced by a touch of shyness.

It was that Crown Prince, proficient in mathematics, physics, and chemistry!

It was that Crown Prince who spearheaded numerous reforms in France!

It was that Crown Prince who trained a formidable army for France and led them across the European Continent!

It was that Son of Divine Favor,

who invented the carousel, the Ferris wheel, and the entire amusement park...

The little princess felt a bit dizzy.

He was the white horse prince every girl in Europe dreamed of. She had seen him many times in Paris, but never thought she could one day...

She made the sign of the cross on her chest and whispered, "Jesus, thank you for your favor."

Yelena, seeing her in a daze, hurried up to her face worriedly, "You’re not really mad at me, are you? I was just..." freёnovelkiss.com

Alexandra suddenly ran towards her room, smiling, "I must write a poem to give to him as a gift!"

...

Luxembourg.

Massena finished his routine patrol and sat down under a maple tree beside the command post, waiting for today’s reconnaissance report.

He suddenly noticed the cicadas had gone silent.

He couldn’t help but frown slightly and sighed.

Since midsummer, he had been poised to launch a counterattack on the Duke of Brunswick, but the General Staff kept sending strategic adjustments.

It was already autumn, the Allied Forces’ vanguard even appeared 8 kilometers north of Luxembourg City, yet the orders from the General Staff this morning still required him to delay the offensive again.

Lieutenant Colonel Brüna approached with wine and a chessboard, smiling and greeting, "It seems today will end this way. Let’s play a game of chess."

Massena looked towards the southeast irritably, "You must have heard, right? The Italian Army has begun attacking Mantua. And we, we can only play chess here, cursed chess, I wish I could use cannons and cavalry as chess pieces and play a round against the Prussians!"

"It’s all for the overall strategic needs." Brüna turned the white pieces towards Massena, "I heard Allied Forces from the Antwerp direction might already be moving towards us.

"If we rashly attack, we’ll expose our flank to the British."

He gestured around with a smile, "See, doing nothing here still contributes to victory."

Just as Massena was about to pick up a chess piece, the Order Officer came jogging, handing him an official document from the Sharp Signal Tower:

"Commander, the news just came in, over 40,000 Allied reinforcements will arrive in Luxembourg within five days."

"40,000?" Massena’s face darkened; where did the enemy get so many soldiers?

He glanced over the intelligence and frowned, handing it to Brüna, "It’s the forces of Thuringia, Bavaria, and other countries."