Chapter 58 Sarabande

The ladies immediately turned their eyes to Madame Semperand, and when she spoke of the idea for the ball, it immediately caused a burst of laughter.

"I think this is a good idea." Count de Berninac was the first to affirm it.

Queen Marie smiled and nodded: "It's very interesting, let's do it this year."

The ladies followed suit, "This year's masquerade will definitely be very exciting!"

"Madame Semperand is really full of wisdom."

"I plan to dance all night."

From that day on, a new face suddenly appeared in the prince's bedroom.

Enchanting and charming, making every man look at her sideways, it was Madame Semperand.

There was a tradition in the Palace of Versailles that the nobles served the royal family members. For example, when the queen got up every morning, the wives of princes and dukes would often come to dress her.

Although Madame Semperand's status was not very noble, she was still qualified to do some chores in the prince's bedroom. Especially after she gave some small gifts to the maid of the Crown Prince, she could be seen everywhere except for the tasks that were handled by designated personnel.

Madame Semperand was very skillful. She often appeared in the Crown Prince's peripheral vision with a vase or tablecloth, and let other maids call out her name, but never let the Crown Prince notice her directly.

Joseph had no idea that there was such a maid. There were too many beauties in the Palace of Versailles. However, after a few days, he was somewhat familiar with her.

A week passed in a flash, and soon it was St. Nicholas Day.

Joseph walked out of the study very reluctantly under the repeated urging of the maids.

The Queen's maid, Count de Berninac, came over in person with a black long dress and called the maids to help.

Joseph's face was even darker than the color of the black dress. If Count de Berninac, who was equivalent to the chief steward of the harem, had not been watching him personally, he might have escaped from the Palace of Versailles.

The maids hurriedly took off his coat and trousers, and Count de Berninac immediately and gently put the black dress on his head, then helped him put his hands out of the sleeves and tightened the plastic belt on the back of the dress.

Joseph was strangled and hurt, and hurriedly shouted: "Be gentle, be gentle, I'm suffocating!"

"The ball is about to start, please cooperate with me, Your Highness." Count de Berninac put a translucent silk shawl on him, took out a tall wig with feathers, put it on his head carefully, looked up and down and nodded, "Well, it fits very well."

Joseph looked at the skirt on his body, and he just wanted to beat up the person who came up with this idea - he was a straight man in his previous life, but he didn't expect to be forced to dress up as a woman in the 18th century.

Yes, the theme of this masquerade is "swapping men and women", men wear women's clothes as ladies, and women wear men's clothes as gentlemen.

Joseph glanced at the mirror, it was simply unbearable to look at, shook his head and said to himself: The French are really playing with flowers.

In fact, in some private balls of nobles in this era, there were many unscrupulous ways of playing. And tonight's masquerade ball was already very serious.

Fortunately, Count de Berninac did not force him to wear high heels, because these were not for ladies.

When Joseph put on the mask and came to the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles like a zombie, a rhythm of cheerful music immediately sounded all around.

The 24 huge Bohemian crystal chandeliers on the ceiling emitted dazzling light, illuminating the hundreds of noble "men and women" attending the ball, who turned their heads to look at Joseph.

The king and queen have arrived. Queen Marie, who was wearing a bright red swordsman costume and had a short mustache on her lips, looked at Joseph and said angrily: "Miss, you are late."

Louis XVI wore a dark blue long dress, holding a silk folding fan of the same color to cover his face, and smiled and nodded at his son.

The Minister of the Seal, dressed as a shepherdess, came to the middle of the Hall of Mirrors, said a series of festive greetings, and then announced the start of the ball.

The masked men and women began to dance to the music. Almost in an instant, seven or eight noble ladies in various men's clothes rushed to Joseph, bowed and extended their hands to him, "Dear lady, can I invite you to dance?"

"Madam, are you willing to dance with the police?" The girl who spoke was wearing the latest Paris police uniform.

"Miss, you know, I was the first to invite you."

"Beautiful lady, please dance with me..."

Although Joseph was wearing a mask, he was obviously recognized by these beautiful women immediately.

According to court etiquette, only people of high status can invite people of low status at a dance, and the reverse is prohibited.

In addition, it is basically men who take the initiative to invite women to dance, and today is the theme of gender reversal. These girls finally caught the opportunity and rushed to the Crown Prince who was obsessed with them without hesitation.

Finally, a strong "coachman" pushed the other girls aside, took the hand of Joseph, who was still in a daze, and dragged him to the middle of the dance floor, coughing hard, "Ahem!"

She must have greeted everyone long ago, and the nobles around her immediately stopped and surrounded her and Joseph.

The "coachman" asked softly: "Excuse me, young lady, what dance steps do you want to dance?"

Joseph was so embarrassed that he wanted to hide in the ground. Following the expectant eyes around him, he had no choice but to say: "Sarabande dance."

"As you wish." The "coachman" signaled to the musicians, and Bach's dance music was immediately played.

Joseph was dragged to dance. He had only learned court dance for about a month and looked extremely clumsy.

The musicians stared at the prince's feet, trying desperately to make the accompaniment follow his pace, but it was obviously a very difficult task.

If they knew the word "Brownian motion", they would definitely use it to describe the prince's dance steps.

Soon, Joseph stepped on the "coachman" three times and gave her an elbow...

The girl in police uniform took advantage of the gap when the "coachman" rubbed his shoulders and rushed forward to grab Joseph: "Beautiful lady, what dance steps do you want to dance?"

"Sarabande dance."

Joseph had no choice, he only learned this kind of dance steps.

The music started, the dance started, and soon the "policeman" gave up and replaced the "cavalry": "What dance do you want to dance?"

Joseph sighed: "Sarabande dance."

In this way, he danced the Sarabande dance for nearly an hour. Although the noble ladies were miserable because of his poor dancing skills, they still went forward one after another and fought bravely.

In the corner, Madame Semperand, who was dressed as a scholar, watched a large group of young girls surround the prince, and angrily kneaded the "Descartes Geometry" in her hand.

She came up with the idea of ​​this dance party, just to give herself the opportunity to tease the prince, but at this time she couldn't get close to him at all - those noble ladies were too strong!

She suddenly threw the geometry book aside and smiled disdainfully: "Huh! With this little ability, you want to compete with me?"

She asked the servant for paper and pen, thought for a moment, quickly wrote a note, handed it to Viscount Valais, and gestured to Joseph.

Finally, after Joseph changed his tenth dance partner, Perna, who had been silently watching him and wearing a waisted white coat, saw his embarrassed look and couldn't bear it. She stepped forward and pushed away the "woodcutter" who was about to invite him to dance.

"Your Highness' pneumonia has not yet healed, and it is not suitable for long-term exercise."

"Ah! She is right!" Joseph felt as if he heard the sound of nature. He felt that Perna at this time was just like Mary coming to the world, exuding a holy glow all over her body.

He nodded to her gratefully and squeezed out of the crowd as if he was running for his life.

Thanks: Mr. Wang, who gave me a reward for this book the night before! The author is so grateful! I will work harder!