"Dear, you must try this. It's Viennese Vanilla Puff Cake," Queen Marie offered the cake to her son, then asked, "You just returned from Austria a month ago, and now you're going back?"
Joseph savored the unique vanilla flavor, noticing it wasn't as overwhelmingly sweet as the cakes he'd had from his mother before. "Ah, this tastes quite good. Your pastry chef has really improved."
He casually complinted the cake before getting to the main topic. "My uncle is preparing for a large-scale campaign in Silesia. You know, I need to show my support."
"I do hope the war ends soon," Queen Marie sighed, then suddenly seed to rember sothing. She looked at her son with concern. "You're not planning to go to the front lines again, are you?"
"Uh... I'll be far from the front. Don't worry, there won't be any danger."
Queen Marie held his hand and spoke earnestly, "Dear, I know you're destined for great things, and I will support you wholeheartedly. But you must promise to stay out of danger! Don't make your father and receive heartbreaking news."
Joseph quickly nodded, but his mother continued, "And I always tell you, when traveling, you must bring a chef. They can ensure you eat well. Oh, and bring a pastry chef and a musician. No matter how busy you are, you need ti to relax. A tailor, a cobbler, a beautician would be good too... And take more maids. You can't leave all those tedious tasks to Viscount Aymon alone..."
Joseph's head was spinning: Mother, I'm heading to the front lines, not on a luxury tour. If I take all these attendants, I might as well do nothing else.
"Ahem, the cake is really special," he tried to change the subject. "I wonder if it will be very cold in Vienna..."
The Queen was about to continue when she saw Camélia, dressed in a white gown, approaching quickly. She curtsied to the Queen. "Your Majesty, did you call for ? Oh, Your Highness, you're here too? It's a pleasure to see you."
Queen Marie smiled warmly and beckoned her closer. "Dear, your desserts are simply wonderful! I think Mr. Cécilien might have to worry about his job, haha."
"That's all thanks to my mother," Camélia replied. "She used to be a pastry chef in the household of Archduke Ferdinand."
The Queen noticed the sweat on Camélia's forehead and spoke gently, "You should leave the cleaning to Bettina and the others. There's no need for you to—"
She paused, suddenly recalling her son's praise of Camélia's cake. The girl was also incredibly diligent and capable, doing the work of several maids by herself. An idea struck her: if Camélia accompanied Joseph to Austria, she could at least take care of his als.
The Queen imdiately turned to Camélia, "Dear, would you be willing to accompany the Prince to Austria and help look after his als and daily needs?"
Camélia's heart raced, and she rembered her teacher's words. She hesitated for a mont before quickly nodding. "Of course, Your Majesty, I would be honored to travel with the Prince."
Joseph was taken aback and quickly protested, "Mother, I'm not sure if that's—"
Queen Marie imdiately feigned a stern expression. "Then you'll need to take three chefs, five maids, and..."
"Ah, okay, fine," Joseph surrendered. "You win. I'll take her with ."
That afternoon, Joseph's convoy set off for Austria.
In the third carriage of the convoy, Camélia politely nodded and smiled at Perna, who sat across from her. General Berthier was riding with the Prince to discuss matters, so Camélia had to share the carriage with the female doctor.
Perna returned the nod but couldn't help feeling uneasy. Isn't this girl the Queen's maid? How did she end up with the Prince? Did she insist on coming, or did the Prince ask for her...? No, why am I thinking about this?
In Joseph's carriage, Berthier reported, "Your Highness, 12,000 sets of bulletproof inserts have been packaged as military uniforms and sent to Silesia."
Each set of bulletproof inserts contained five plates, enough to outfit a single soldier.
Joseph nodded. "Make sure they arrive on ti. They will be crucial to our victory over the Prussians."
Berthier then glanced at the map on the table and said, "Your Highness, Duke Brunswick has positioned nearly 200 cannons on the western line of Liegnitz. Breaking through the Prussian defenses could result in heavy casualties."
"You're right," Joseph agreed, his expression serious.
Silesia was different from the Southern Netherlands. It was purely enemy territory, and a well-fortified region where troop movents and supply lines were highly efficient. The French army would face a difficult challenge.
"That's why we must avoid a direct assault on the Prussian front lines."
...
Southern Donbas
Yekaterinoslav—this peculiar na was ant to honor Catherine the Great's achievents in taking control of the Cria.
But at this mont, aside from a rough little town, the area was mostly barren land.
The entire expanse of Donbas, stretching to Cria, housed fewer than 700,000 people, yet its area was larger than the combined size of the Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands!
Viscount Olivier, owner of Silke Steel Company, stood on a barren hill, feeling extrely uneasy. He had invested half of his fortune in Russia this ti, and if the massive coal and iron deposits that the Crown Prince spoke of weren't found, he would face bankruptcy.
A captain rode up and shouted, "Colonel, the laborers have arrived. What should we do with them?"
The Donbas Developnt Group consisted of 170 people, and since Viscount Olivier had invested the most, he was appointed as the group's leader. His deputy was Captain Lemaire, a forr lieutenant in the Guard Corps, sent by Joseph to manage military affairs within the developnt group.
Viscount Olivier peered down the hill with his binoculars and indeed saw a long, winding line of people snaking through the barren grassland—at least a thousand of them.
He tugged on the reins and followed Lemaire back to camp. "No special instructions. Just have them level the ground and build shelters out of the weeds. In this godforsaken place, they won't slack off without us pushing them."
Shortly after, they and their guards returned to the camp—a large flattened area with seven or eight wooden huts and many tents.
By then, over a hundred laborers, dressed in North African-style clothing and looking ragged, had flooded into the camp. Lemaire quickly spurred his horse forward and instructed the soldiers, "Have them expand the camp and build shelters. They'll only get food after they finish."
Soone imdiately translated Lemaire's orders into Arabic, and the crowd dispersed, each person picking up tools to start working.
These people were the labor force Joseph had arranged for the Donbas developnt. So were prisoners of war from Algiers and Tripoli, including black-skinned n from the Moroccan Guard. Although the number of captives taken in North Africa wasn't large, it still amounted to three or four thousand—strong, able-bodied n.
Algiers didn't dare submit any requests for their return. In Ottoman tradition, soldiers who were captured and then returned would face severe punishnt, and so might even be enslaved. So, many of the prisoners from Tripoli had no desire to return. Of course, even if they did, Joseph wouldn't have let them go.
(End of Chapter)
Friends, if you want to read chapters in advance, subscribe to my patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon/johanssen10
User Comments
0 comments from readers