Chapter 129 Oscar-Winning Acting (Please Comment)

"Ah, Virgin Mary! Why did such a terrible thing happen..."

The Princess of the Two Sicilies covered her mouth and wanted to check the situation outside the window, but she was too scared to raise her head. She just huddled in the corner of the seat and kept crying: "Your Highness the Crown Prince came to pick me up. Those who were attacked all blamed me... wu wu... it's all my fault..."

The ambassador Timothy glanced out the window warily, pulled down the curtains with a swish, then handed the handkerchief to the princess, and whispered anxiously: "Your Highness, calm down, this matter has nothing to do with you.

With a handkerchief to wipe away her tears, Maria cried harder: "What should I do if something happens to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

"No, it won't be." Timothy hurriedly advised, "I heard the gunfire, it should be very far away, even if it hits the crown prince, it shouldn't be fatal."

"Really?" Maria recalled the physics knowledge she had learned, nodded slightly, and her crying gradually turned into sobs, "May God bless the crown prince..."

Then another thought popped up in her head - she had just arrived in Paris and caused the Crown Prince to be attacked. Would this make him have a bad impression of her? Will Her Majesty the Queen be angry with herself for this? Maybe he will be immediately driven back to the Two Sicilies...

Thinking of this, she suddenly started sobbing again.

At this time, two to three hundred people gathered around Joseph's carriage. The shouts of people, the neighing of horses, and the sound of gunshots from time to time turned the scene into a mess.

Since the court physician did not come with him - no one expected that a doctor would be needed to welcome a "blind date" - the French Guards doctor was brought over on horseback by an officer.

The officer threw the doctor off his horse, pointed at the Crown Prince's carriage and shouted anxiously: "That's the one, hurry!"

The military doctor hurriedly got into the car, looked at Emang and asked, "Where is the injury?"

"I don't know." The latter looked panicked.

The military doctor is already praying in his heart, but he must not let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince die in his own hands...

Outside the carriage, Bessonval also urged his horse to come over. Looking at the chaotic scene around him, he wanted the Crown Prince's carriage to turn around to avoid danger, but he was also worried that it would delay his healing. He was so anxious that he didn't know what to do.

In the farmhouse not far away, a lieutenant officer of the French Guard rushed up to the attic first, but only saw two bodies on the ground.

He immediately ordered his men to disperse and search.

Soon, the soldiers returned and reported finding no one else.

The lieutenant confirmed it personally before reporting the situation to Adrian who was waiting outside. The latter hurriedly ordered the herald to summon him, saying that the attacker had been killed.

As a blast of trumpets with a unique rhythm sounded, the French Guards gradually stopped shooting blindly and began to form a team under the command of the officer.

When Besonval learned that the attacker had been caught, he quickly ordered the carriage of the Crown Prince and Princess to return to the Palace of Versailles immediately.

He himself led more than 200 cavalrymen, escorting them all the way with a solemn expression.

…

In the Palace of Versailles, Queen Mary, who was all dressed up, was humming a tune and admiring the newly made wig on her head in front of the mirror, when she saw Countess de Berninac trotting in with a pale face.

Queen Mary was about to ask the maid why she was so rude today, but she heard the latter say urgently: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's motorcade was attacked halfway! It is said... His Highness was injured!"

Queen Mary stared, stunned for a second, then suddenly tilted her body and fainted.

After a long time, the queen was finally awakened by the foul smell of the smelling salts in the doctor's hands.

She pushed the doctor's hand away hard and looked for Debeninac among the servants around her: "Where is Joseph? How is he?"

The maid hurriedly came over to support her and said softly: "Your Majesty, the latest news is that His Highness's life is not in danger. The military doctor of the Guard has treated his wound. He should arrive at the Palace of Versailles in two hours."

"Are you sure? It's not life-threatening?" Queen Mary ignored the crooked wig on her head and grabbed the maid's hand, staring at her without blinking.

"Yes."

"God bless! Amen!" The queen made the sign of the cross on her chest, took a few deep breaths, then struggled to stand up, supported by others, and walked towards the square of the Palace of Versailles on her legs and feet, and at the same time shouted loudly, " Let Dr. Gruset go to Paris quickly and treat the Crown Prince on the way..."

On the side, Countess Debeninac said: "Your Majesty, the doctors have already gone."

"Okay, that's good..."

Two hours later, a large group of cavalry drove into the Palace of Versailles with two carriages.

The nobles who were originally waiting here to welcome the Princess of the Two Sicilies were now concerned about the condition of the Crown Prince. There were even many young girls who were so worried that something happened to their Highness that they kept wiping tears.

Queen Mary, who had taken off her wig, shook off Countess de Berninac's supporting hand and ran towards the carriage. Louis XVI also followed behind with a heavy expression.

The cavalry immediately moved out of the way. The queen saw the bullet holes in the car door through the gap between the soldiers, and her heart immediately tightened.

When she opened the car door, she suddenly felt dizzy - the car was in a mess, with sawdust and blood everywhere. The son was leaning on the seat, his body covered in blood, especially his right arm. Although he had been briefly bandaged, his entire arm was almost soaked in blood.

Of course, she couldn't possibly know that most of the food here was chicken blood.

"Joe..." As soon as she uttered the word with her trembling lips, tears flowed out.

Behind her, Louis XVI stared at his son with red eyes.

Dr. Grousset got out of the car first, bowed to the queen and the king, and then comforted them: "Your Majesties, please don't worry. His Highness is only injured, not in danger of life. He should be frightened now and needs to rest as soon as possible."

"Rest? Oh, good, good," the queen nodded subconsciously and ordered Countess de Berninac, "Quick, send the prince back to rest."

Joseph was "weakly" helped out of the car, and then lay on a stretcher and returned to his bedroom.

The king, queen, and a group of nobles immediately followed.

Joseph lay on the bed, pretending to be very weak, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep. The queen sat by the bed, lowered her head, and stroked the thick hemostatic bandage on her son's arm-it was the military doctor who wrapped him with more than a dozen layers at Joseph's repeated request.

She wiped away her tears, adjusted her breathing, turned her head and looked at the group of people around her, her voice full of chill: "Can anyone explain to me why things turned out like this?"

Csode immediately looked at Bessonval, who was standing at the door of the palace with a pale face. Following his lead, the others also looked at the commander of the French Guard.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Bessonval moved to the middle of the room with difficulty, saluted the king and queen, and stammered: "Your Majesty, someone...someone fired a gun in the middle of the attack..."

Queen Marie glanced at him: "How did the attacker get close?"

"I don't know about this..."

"Not sure?!" The queen frowned, "How many people in the French Guard are on guard?"

"Three thousand, Your Majesty."

Queen Marie stood up suddenly, stared at Bessonval, her eyes full of anger, and roared: "Three thousand people! What are you doing! You didn't even notice that someone attacked?!"

"Yes, yes..." Bessonval's head almost dropped to his crotch, and he whispered, "It was my negligence..."

Louis XVI stood up and gently patted his wife's shoulder.

Queen Marie glared at Bessonval fiercely, ignored him, looked at the doctor and repeatedly confirmed her son's condition, then turned to the officials who came to visit: "Count Robert, Baron Vermorel, please start the investigation immediately. I want to know what happened today!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The head of the secret police and the second captain of the Queen's Guard bowed at the same time.

In the following time, Louis XVI and Queen Marie stayed by the bedside of the prince, and didn't even eat lunch.

Until dusk, Joseph finally "woke up slowly".

The queen immediately grabbed her son's left hand and said softly: "My darling, you finally woke up! How do you feel?"

"God bless you!" Louis XVI also looked at his son with a very concerned look.

Joseph showed the panic and helplessness that a 14-year-old boy should have at the right time. He looked at his parents pitifully and frowned, saying, "I feel very weak, and the wound hurts so much..."

The queen almost cried out of heartache again, and comforted him softly, "The Lord will protect you, dear! You will be fine."

Louis XVI looked at the doctor beside him with an inquiring look.

The latter came over helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, the wound of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been carefully treated, and now he can only rest. As for the pain, perhaps His Royal Highness can take some Dover powder."

Joseph's eyelids twitched when he heard this - "Dover powder" is a commonly used painkiller nowadays, made of Ying millet, and it is not a good thing.

He hurriedly changed the subject and said to the queen in horror, "Mother, the bullet flew between me and Count Emmans. If it was half a foot off, it would hit my heart..."

The queen and Louis XVI were both terrified and comforted their son again and again.

Emman added, "Your Majesty, although the bullet did not hit your Highness at that time, the flying wood chips in the carriage were also very dangerous. You see, your Highness's wound was caused by the flying wood chips.

"Fortunately, God has blessed you, otherwise if the wood chips had pierced your Highness' eyes or something like that, the consequences would have been terrible!"

Joseph and his servant looked at each other inconspicuously and praised each other's acting skills.

It was not until late at night that Queen Marie and Louis XVI left the Crown Prince's bedroom, still in shock.

At ten o'clock the next morning, a group of cabinet ministers were summoned to the conference hall. There were several sketches in front of the queen. Count Robert was telling her about the investigation of yesterday's attack.

"It was a British 1742 flintlock bullet," Robert pointed to the sketch of the interior of the carriage, "shot in from the door and finally blocked by the pillar on the other side of the carriage. Judging from the power of penetration, it should have been shot from a distance. ”

Anyone who investigates will definitely come to this conclusion.

Because the marks on the carriage were fired by Csaud himself with a 1742 flintlock rifle. In order to make the power more appropriate, he carefully adjusted the amount of gunpowder.

Then, he sealed the damaged parts of the door and the carriage with wax and painted them, making it difficult to see from the outside. When the "attacker" fired a gun, Joseph removed the wax seal and put the bullets and wood chips collected before, and restored it to the shooting scene.

"Who is the murderer?" Brian asked with a frown.

"They are two gang members." Robert pointed to the sketch of the murderer's body, "called the Blood Knife Gang. They have committed many crimes recently, robbing people on the road, and killed seven or eight people."

The Queen's Guard Captain Baron Vermorel added: "Your Majesty, we have compared the wanted notices in detail and asked the police in Moretrowan to identify them. It is confirmed that they are gang members."

The Minister of Justice Baron Breteuil was very puzzled: "How did they get close to the convoy?"

Robert pointed to the map and said: "This should have slipped from the farmland in the east, and then took advantage of the negligence of the French Guards to run into the farmhouse."

He and Vermorel were very puzzled before. The farmland was more than 300 steps away from the farmhouse, and there were at least more than ten French Guards around who could see it.

They talked for a long time, and finally attributed it to Bessonval's negligence, such as loopholes in the patrol arrangement, or lax control of the subordinates, and the soldiers were lazy and slept.

No one would have thought that the attackers were taken to the scene by the biggest victims.

Robert continued to report the results of the investigation: "Then the two men killed the soldiers guarding the farmhouse and hid in the attic. When the convoy passed by, they shot at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

"When the French Guards heard the gunshots, they opened fire at the attic and killed the attackers on the spot."

Baron Vermorel continued: "We compared the bullets and the conclusion is completely consistent."

The Minister of Justice pondered: "Why did these two guys want to assassinate His Royal Highness?"

"Humph, someone must have paid a lot of money to hire them." Monod snorted coldly, "There are too many conspirators who want to ruin the future of France."

Brian pondered: "Or, they wanted to assassinate Princess Maria, but the distance was too far and the bullet missed."

If it is true as he said, then the murderer's purpose is to provoke a war between the two countries. But in any case, the consequences of this attack are extremely serious.

Queen Marie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said: "It seems that the course of events is very clear. Count Robert, please continue to investigate the mastermind behind this. ”

She looked at Breteuil again: "I want to know what kind of punishment the French Guards, especially Bessonval, who are responsible for protecting the Dauphin's motorcade, will receive?"

Breteuil thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I think General Bessonval has committed serious dereliction of duty and should be dismissed and exiled."

Thanks: ATPX-4869 for his generous donation to this book! The author is grateful!