I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 162

Became the Genius of the French Royal Family 162. Marionette (162/355)

< Marionette >

A roar that shook the earth.

A burst of sound so intense it made my ears ring and my body tremble.

Even though he had never been on a battlefield, Duke Chartres knew what this sound was.

He had heard the noise of celebratory gunfire at royal events countless times and had seen warships firing cannons on many occasions.

But he didn’t know how terrifying it was for this shelling to be aimed at people.

Boom!

“Ugh! What is this!”

“It’s, it’s an enemy attack!”

The self-proclaimed revolutionary army, which had been marching triumphantly without even imagining there would be an enemy, was directly exposed to the enemy’s shelling.

Most of the soldiers gathered here had been hastily assembled, so they didn’t have enough experience.

Many of them were not yet familiar with the sound of gunfire, let alone cannons.

“Aaaagh! Save me!”

“Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be thy name…”

With just one shelling, a considerable number of soldiers lost their will to fight and sat down on the spot.

Half their souls gone, the soldiers were in a panic, clutching their heads and trembling.

“I didn’t hear about this… There was no mention of this…”

“Don’t panic! The enemy’s numbers aren’t great! We have more men, so calmly take your positions!”

Marquis Bellile tried to rally the soldiers, but a hastily formed unit could not be properly commanded.

His face gradually distorted as he assessed the situation.

“Duke Chartres! What’s going on! Why on earth are there artillerymen stationed here!”

“…”

*What’s going on?*

Well, obviously, it’s because the plan was leaked in advance.

Chartres, who had far better insight than ordinary people, sensed that everything had gone wrong the moment the first cannon fire rang out.

And as he watched the relentless barrage of cannons and the fragments flying in all directions, he let out a blank, hollow laugh.

“They’re not falling in front of us…”

“What nonsense are you talking about! Why did things turn out this way! We can’t go to the Tuileries Palace [Royal palace in Paris] like this. We should pull the troops back and join up with Marquis Lonnay’s forces…”

“Do you still think Marquis Lonnay is holding his position after seeing this? He’s probably already been captured by them. The ones who opened the gates for us were Prince Christian’s soldiers.”

“You mean… we were just pawns on a chessboard…”

Marquis Bellile’s hands trembled as he finally grasped the situation.

Chartres saw the illusion of the throne, which had seemed within reach, receding far into the distance.

No, that was just his delusion.

From the beginning, his hand had never even been near the throne.

This wasn’t due to someone’s mistake, nor was it a failure due to bad luck.

They were simply clowns brought in to make this stage a success from the start.

Once he realized that, he felt strangely relieved.

“Are those young officers commanding the soldiers the ones from the rumors? The ones called the children of Orléans…”

“Duke! Let’s escape first! If Marquis Lonnay has been captured, we should at least save ourselves! We don’t have all the troops we can mobilize anyway. Let’s gather all the nobles’ forces and try again!”

“With our plan exposed, there’s no way they’ll let us escape safely.”

If he knew Christian, he would have already deployed troops in the rear to cut off their retreat.

“Surely Christian’s forces are coming to capture us by now…”

Nothing. There were no troops blocking their retreat, and even the soldiers in front of them showed no signs of turning back.

Why?

Doubt clouded Duke Chartres’ eyes.

“Duke Chartres! Turn the horses around quickly! The retreat isn’t blocked yet! Are you going to end it like this?”

“…Ah, so that’s it.”

Only after hearing Marquis Bellile’s desperate cry did he understand everything.

He thought it was strange.

There was no way Christian would make such a basic mistake as not blocking their retreat.

Even if Christian hadn’t given such an order, the commanders on the ground wouldn’t just let the enemy escape.

The reason the retreat was wide open like this was because they had been ordered to do so from the start.

He could guess the reason.

They intended to force the rebels, who had no way out, to squeeze out every last bit of strength and then wipe them out.

“Marquis Bellile, I’m done for. If you want to get out, you should escape.”

“Surely you’re not giving up just because this plan failed once? Are you such a weak person!”

“They won’t let us all escape anyway. Someone has to be left as bait.”

If his prediction was correct, Christian would have ordered him to be captured, if no one else.

Since he was in the front row anyway, he couldn’t easily get out.

They would have to practically open the way for him.

Having already grasped the overall situation, Chartres had no desire to struggle in vain like Marquis Bellile.

He had already lost the will to do so.

Of course, Marquis Bellile, who was completely unaware of this, was moved.

“…I’m sorry, Duke. I didn’t know you had such deep intentions…”

“Marquis Bellile, since we were comrades on the same ship, let me give you some advice: go to the port and take a ship to England. That’s the only way to survive.”

“Yes?”

“If you receive any contact from the British side offering secret support, ignore it. I’m warning you clearly…”

Boom!

A deafening roar and the screams of soldiers were heard from the rear.

If they stayed like this, they might not even be able to escape and be annihilated.

“Duke, I will never forget your noble sacrifice!”

Overwhelmed, Marquis Bellile didn’t listen to Chartres’ last piece of advice and turned his horse around.

“All troops! Retreat! Retreat! This raid has failed, so immediately withdraw from Paris!”

They hadn’t even had a proper fight, but no one cared about that anymore.

Marquis Bellile and the soldiers retreated without regard for those who fell and were trampled in front of them.

Napoleon and Lannes, who were watching the scene from afar, smiled bitterly.

They had been dispatched on the glorious mission of suppressing the rebellion, but who would have thought it would end so anticlimactically?

This wasn’t war.

They didn’t even feel the sense of victory or accomplishment that came with winning a battle.

He felt like a fool for having prepared three countermeasures in case the enemy made a desperate breakthrough.

“Still, we completed the mission perfectly, so I should take comfort in that.”

Napoleon slowly rode forward and looked down at Duke Chartres, who had not fled and remained in his place.

“Are you Duke Chartres, the mastermind behind this rebellion?”

“I am.”

“Why didn’t you flee like the others?”

“Because you would have come after me if I had.”

Perhaps surprised by the answer, Napoleon narrowed his eyes slightly.

“That’s quite a judgment. But why did you become the mastermind of such a foolish act… Ah, I’m not really curious about the reason, so you don’t have to answer.”

Napoleon gestured, and soldiers approached with disciplined steps and placed handcuffs on Chartres’ hands.

“Let’s go, then. His Highness is waiting.”

Duke Chartres’ lips twisted into a self-deprecating smile as he recalled what Christian had told him two days ago.

“I see… the banquet was a forced attendance after all.”

Chartres obediently climbed onto the carriage prepared by Napoleon and was taken to the Tuileries Palace.

It seemed he had no choice from the start.

※※※

From the finest steak to beef bourguignon [French beef stew] and flavorful wine.

I was worried that the dishes, which the chef had put his heart and soul into making, would get cold, but fortunately, Napoleon returned as scheduled after completing his mission.

Behind him, walking in triumph like Guan Yu [Famous Chinese general] returning after beheading Hwa Ung [General under Dong Zhuo] before the wine cooled, the face of Duke Chartres was faintly visible.

“I must have timed it well. If I had been 20 minutes late, the food would have been a little cold. Napoleon, Lannes, Davout, you all did a great job. I have prepared clothes in the next room, so change and let’s enjoy the victory together.”

“Yes! We’ll go change right away.”

The greatest contributors of the day hurried out to the next room, leaving only me and Duke Chartres at the table.

He looked around at the food prepared in front of him with a calm expression, not at all like the captured leader of a rebellion.

“So this was the banquet Your Highness wanted me to attend. Were those the people you wanted to introduce me to at that time?”

“Did you notice? If I had been sure that you had truly become my man, I might have introduced them to you as allies, but it’s a shame.”

If Chartres had voluntarily accepted my invitation, I would have interpreted it as an expression of his willingness to give up his ambition and come under me.

But he didn’t abandon his ambition until the very end and chose the path of destruction himself.

I gave him enough opportunities, and it was Chartres’ choice to refuse, so there was nothing more to argue about.

“But looking at your expression, you don’t seem very upset. Did you manage to sort out your emotions in the meantime?”

“I realized everything from the moment I was hit by the first cannon fire. To be honest, I’m more impressed than upset. How on earth did you know I was going to betray you? Was there a flaw in my disguise?”

“No. You did it perfectly. You brilliantly saw through all the traps I had set, as expected, and used them in reverse.”

“Then how on earth… Could it be?”

“Do you understand now? I expected you to see through the traps. That’s why I said to you last time, ‘You were the talented person I thought you were, and you did a great job.'”

I don’t know how Chartres will feel, but those words weren’t mockery at the time.

They were sincere without a hint of falsehood, and that thought hasn’t changed even now.

“So… Your Highness predicted that I would definitely betray you if you showed any weakness. Because I couldn’t possibly follow the person who killed my father in silence.”

“No, if I only thought about that, the possibility was fifty-fifty. You have the intelligence to recognize that I could have killed you but spared you. Besides, as a thorough meritocrat, you value me more than anyone else in France, don’t you? It’s just that the ambition you have was the problem.”

“…That’s a painful point. It’s true. When I decided to betray Your Highness, I didn’t even think about avenging my father. I just coveted the top position in this country.”

“I like that you’re honest.”

As Chartres said, I was sure that he would betray me if I showed any weakness.

Sending most of the troops brought from New France to Africa under the guise of a shipwreck was bait for that from the start.

“At first, I didn’t expect you to set such a large trap just to deceive me. But after seeing you deliberately open the retreat and let Marquis Bellile escape just now, I could understand everything. The New France army was bait, but not bait.”

“Amazing. You saw through that much? You really are a brilliant talent.”

This time, I was sincerely impressed as well.

The New France army, which had been biding its time in Africa, is now returning to France as planned.

To wipe out the rebel nobles who have no choice but to resist until they are beheaded.

My close aides are currently showing remarkable growth and promotion, but even for me, it’s impossible to promote them beyond the rank of lieutenant colonel to general.

For young officers to become generals, they must have commensurate achievements.

And there are few things in the world that can fulfill that justification as much as suppressing a large-scale rebellion.

“Duke Chartres, if it weren’t for you, the nobles wouldn’t have united so strongly to resist. I sincerely thank you for that.”

Even though Duke Chartres had fallen, he was still a member of the royal family boasting the first place in the line of succession among the collateral relatives.

Moreover, he is also a representative figure of the nobles whose families were wiped out by me.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that there was no more suitable talent with the representativeness to unite the nobles in France.

That’s why I gave him one more chance at the last moment.

But it was Chartres himself who kicked it away.

“In summary, it was just my delusion that I was engaged in a fierce battle of wits, and I was just a marionette manipulated by Your Highness. But when did you predict that I would move like this?”

“From the beginning, Duke Chartres.”

“From the beginning… Are you talking about the time when I went to Your Highness and asked you to write it down? I see…”

“No. Didn’t I say? From the beginning.”

Chartres, who still didn’t understand, asked back in a half-cracked voice.

“If you say from the beginning, what time are you talking about…”

“When your father, the late Duke of Orléans, agreed to spare your life in exchange for surrendering himself.”

Casting a glance at Chartres’ face, which was strangely distorted as if he was fed up, I took another shot.

Was this too shocking after all?

Well, it’s been a while.

< Marionette > End