Chapter 224 The Culprit

Vienna, Hofburg Palace.

A box full of filth was sent to Queen Anna's bedroom, and the pungent smell made the stomachs of the people around churn.

"All of you go out."

After hearing Queen Anna's words, everyone immediately fled out of the room as if they had been pardoned.

Only Karl von Slote, Queen Anna, and her attendant Baron Dill were left in the room.

"No." Baron Dill saw that Queen Anna had put her hand on the box in front of her and hurriedly stopped her.

With the size of the box in front of her, it is impossible to fit an adult.

Two of the four maids around Queen Anna had been killed, and Baroness Felidi broke her neck while riding a horse yesterday. Today, someone found this box in Mrs. Dora's garden.

Mrs. Dora had been missing for almost a month before. She was Queen Anna's nanny, and they had been together for more than 30 years.

Queen Anna had to confirm this matter anyway, and Baron Dill pried open the box with a crowbar.

Queen Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath to look at the box. Inside was a body that was no longer in human form. All the bones seemed to be broken. A very distorted elephant was stuffed into the box. The time of death should be more than a week. The swollen body and the foul smell all proved it.

Fortunately, it was not the body of Mrs. Dora, but what frightened her was that it was the envoy of her cousin, King Albert of Sardinia, Count Monterey.

Queen Anna showed a horrified expression, which was not wrong in the eyes of Slote and Baron Dill. Seeing such a horrible scene, it was not uncommon to panic.

There was also a letter in the box. The letter was left by Mrs. Dora to Queen Anna. The letter said: I hope the queen can be healthy and beautiful forever, cherish the life in front of her, she will go to the New World to retire, and cutting off the connection with the Savoy royal family is the last thing she can do.

However, the death of Count Monterey made her feel complicated. Because Queen Anna's contacts with Count Monterey were all secret, even her two lovers didn't know.

Although the handwriting of this letter is fine, it is the last one. They had agreed before that the word "forever" in the first sentence of the letter means that the two will be separated forever.

So the person who killed Count Monterey would naturally not be Mrs. Dora. More importantly, since the other party knew the identity of Count Monterey, it was easy to guess who Queen Anna was helping.

Because Austria formed the Apennine Customs Union under the advice of Franz, the income of the Kingdom of Sardinia dropped sharply, and it also felt the strong pressure from the Austrian Empire.

Carlo Alberto is not a person who will sit and wait for death. He will try every means to prolong the life of his kingdom.

Anna, the Queen of the Austrian Empire, is Carlo Alberto's cousin. The two belong to the Savoy royal family. Carlo Alberto had a bold idea, which was to kill the orthodox heir of the Habsburg family and let his cousin give birth to an heir with the blood of the Savoy royal family.

Occupying the magpie's nest, just like the Habsburg family once did.

Although Emperor Ferdinand I could not have children, the Queen was healthy, and Alberto knew that his cousin had always been secretly in love with him. However, the first step was to get rid of the legitimate heir of Austria.

As a person who has lived in the harem for many years, it is not too easy to create a vicious rumor.

Soon the Queen found a great opportunity. The Austrian government was seeking to enhance the influence of the royal family, and they chose Archduke Franz, the future heir of the empire.

Just as the news that Archduke Franz led his army to recapture Belgrade was spreading, people's attention to the Archduke reached an unprecedented height.

At this time, Queen Anna sent the two most trusted maids she brought from Savoy, and they lived up to expectations and quickly found a newspaper willing to cooperate.

After the transaction was completed, the two maids returned to the palace to avoid the subsequent search. However, what the Queen did not expect was that the government's response was so quick, and then the rumor spreader was severely punished with thunder.

The expected huge waves did not appear. After that, people around her disappeared mysteriously one after another. She knew that the other party not only suppressed the rumors, but also found out that she was the culprit, and even the Count of Monterey was found out.

Queen Anna felt that she was innocent. She had long light golden hair, brown eyes, and was confident that her temperament and figure were not inferior to those of queens from various countries.

But Emperor Ferdinand I was obviously not blessed with these. He preferred meatballs (literally) to women.

Maria Anna's father had no sons, so he loved his daughters very much. Anna and her sisters enjoyed a very free life.

Until 1830, her uncle Carlo Felice married her to the future emperor Ferdinand I as a gift to please the Austrian Emperor Franz II.

After the death of her uncle, her cousin Alberto became the only hope for Queen Anna.

She naturally went all out for her cousin's entrustment.

However, she did not expect that today's situation would appear.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Slote, who saw that the queen was a little distracted, shouted.

Anna had just come to her senses when Slote asked again.

"Does Your Highness know this person?"

"I don't know her." At this time, Queen Anna looked like an innocent little white rabbit, with tears in her dark gray eyes.

Of course, no one believed this nonsense, but Slote and Baron Dill pretended to believe and care at the same time.

They all felt that Queen Anna had been conquered by them. The difference was that Baron Dill had guessed the mastermind behind this series of assassinations, while Slote felt that this was just a jealous internal struggle.

Baron Dill felt that the mastermind behind these tragedies was Mrs. Sophie, after all, there were only a handful of people who could kidnap and assassinate in the Hofburg Palace.

Others would not abuse this power even if they could, but Mrs. Sophie would not care so much, otherwise she would not have the "elegant title" of the only man in the Habsburg family.

Although Baron Dill didn't know why, the other party had the ability to create trouble in the palace, but did not attack Queen Anna, which proved that only by the queen's side was safe.

In fact, Queen Anna was not well-received in the court. First of all, her German and French were very poor, and secondly, she did not give birth to children for Ferdinand I.

Although everyone knew that the emperor was not good, they could not say it, so they put all the blame on the queen.

Baron Slote believed that his perfect plan could not be discovered so quickly, and the only explanation was that Baron Dill was playing tricks.

As for the reason, of course it was jealousy, and the question of who would be the husband after helping Queen Anna to control the government.

Of course, what he had to consider at this time was not the future, but how to save his life at the moment. Dill was the queen's attendant and had a powerful guard.

That guy could kill all the maids trusted by the queen, and he would definitely not be soft on his rival.

Under the guidance of this idea, Slote decided to leave the palace immediately and then find a way to get rid of his opponent.