I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 84

The Beginning of Change

“Ughhh! Let me go! I’m innocent!”

It was a peaceful afternoon at the harbor, with not a cloud in the sky and calm waves.

A loud scream echoed, drawing the attention of the people.

“I! I was just doing as I was told! It’s not my fault!”

The Countess Lamotte, dragged from England, cried out desperately.

Anyone would think she was an innocent person being unfairly dragged away.

“There must have been contact from above, right? Something must be wrong. There’s no way they’d just let me be dragged away like this!”

The soldiers escorting the prisoner pretended not to hear and didn’t even look at her.

Countess Lamotte sensed that something was going wrong.

She hadn’t been able to contact anyone while being brought to France, but she still had a reason to believe she would be saved.

Logically, if something happened to her, it could splash over to the Duke of Orléans, so he should be trying to stop it.

If she decided to open her mouth, the Duke of Orléans would inevitably be harmed.

However, even after arriving at the harbor and being dragged to Paris, there was no move to release her.

Moreover, she occasionally heard words like treason being thrown around.

Treason? What kind of frozen-to-death treason was that?

She just wanted to live a life befitting her status.

“Something’s wrong! Duke of Orléans! I did everything you said! Why am I going through this! I’m a descendant of the Valois royal family!”

Her mouth didn’t stop moving until she arrived in Paris.

But of course, no helping hand came.

“What is this… What’s going on?”

An enormous crowd had gathered on the road to Paris.

It wasn’t just ordinary citizens.

There were high-ranking nobles who looked important, as well as emblems symbolizing the royal family.

The Duke of Orléans, the last resort Countess Lamotte had been relying on, was nowhere to be seen.

And she was able to hear why, and how her fate would end.

“Indicted for… treason? Along with the Duke of Orléans?”

It was absurd and ridiculous news that not only herself but also her husband, who had been arrested with her in England, were all implicated as accomplices.

Moreover, the trial was being presided over by the King, just like a High Court trial.

Then the conclusion was already out.

The fate awaiting those who committed treason was nothing but death.

“······.”

Her mind went blank, and nausea surged from within.

Who would have imagined she would die like this?

The Duke of Orléans had said that even if things went wrong, she could just wash her identity and live in England.

If she had known that failure meant death, who would have participated in such a plan?

“Duke of Orléans! Do something! You said I just had to follow you!”

She screamed in desperation, but the target was about to lose his head as well, so it was just an empty cry.

Just as she was being dragged away powerlessly, she saw the person she least wanted to encounter.

“Princess…”

Countess Lamotte gritted her teeth.

Marie Antoinette’s pitying gaze was unbearably irritating.

“Why did you do such a foolish thing?”

“Foolish?”

Countess Lamotte’s face twisted.

She would not have been so angry if she had been insulted or despised.

“You’re still pretending to be so kind until the end. Or should I say you’re just stupid at this point?”

“What nonsense is this crazy woman spouting…!”

As the soldiers hurriedly tried to shut her mouth, Marie raised her hand to stop them.

“Why are you so full of anger? I don’t think we have any reason to be on bad terms.”

“That condescending gaze from above. What’s so different about you and me? I’m also a descendant of the royal family that ruled France, but you’re just lucky to be in that position, and I’m…”

“I admit that I was lucky. But that doesn’t justify what you did.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I wasn’t supposed to live being treated like this!”

The ravings of a madman, with no logic to be found.

It was her husband, who was being dragged from behind, who refuted her words.

“You’re the one talking nonsense!”

“What?”

“A descendant of the royal family? What’s so great about the bloodline of a royal family that’s already been cut off? I’ve been hearing that since the first time I met you, but look at reality! That moronic eye that couldn’t even tell the diamonds were fake was your reality!”

The Countess could not properly refute the bone-crushing criticism.

As her husband said, if Countess Lamotte had known that the diamond necklace was fake, she could have at least escaped.

But until the moment they were arrested in England, they did not know that the diamonds were fake.

If Marie had been in Countess Lamotte’s position, she would have immediately known that something was wrong with the diamonds.

It was a tragedy caused by the fact that the insight and knowledge she possessed could not keep up with her lofty vanity as a royal.

In fact, Marie had asked Christian about this insecurity after hearing the plan.

At that time, he had said nonchalantly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have surveillance on her until she leaves the harbor, but she doesn’t have the ability to distinguish fake jewels anyway.”

She didn’t think it would really happen, but that was the reality.

Moreover, even at the last moment of being dragged to the execution ground, they were just arguing about who was to blame for the situation.

Even Marie, who tried to see the positive side of people whenever possible, thought it was ugly.

Christian and Crown Prince Louis Auguste, watching the scene from afar, sneered.

“I thought we should give those who dared to insult you a more severe punishment… but watching that, I somehow don’t even feel like it.”

“When faced with such a situation, people’s true nature naturally comes out. When they face reality, the rosy future they dreamed of is brutally shattered, and even the trust between husband and wife vanishes without a trace.”

“In that respect, the Duke of Orléans was a better person. At least he didn’t show such an ugly side.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

The downfall of the swindlers, who did not see reality until the last moment and screamed ugly, was sweet.

Auguste soon took his eyes off the couple and turned to me.

“The succession of the dukedom is completely confirmed this time, right?”

“Yes. Once the trial is over, His Majesty will officially announce it. The core nobles have already expressed their approval.”

“What about the faction that followed the Duke of Orléans?”

“Of course, they were the first to agree.”

There was not a single word about illegitimate children without succession rights.

It was obvious that if they misspoke here, they could be considered accomplices of the Duke of Orléans.

It was a comedy that those who were usually close to the Duke of Orléans cast the most enthusiastic votes in favor.

Some of them even created a spectacle by saying that the Duke of Chartres should also be punished.

“I felt once again how cold and scary the lives of nobles are. There are so many people like that, and I’m scared if I can run the country as well as my grandfather.”

“Don’t worry. I will become the Duke of Orléans so that you can do that. I will remove all those who hinder you from ruling France.”

“Thank you for saying that. I get dizzy when I imagine what it would be like without you. I will continue to trust and follow you. Hahaha!”

“Yes. Please leave it to me.”

The Crown Prince’s clear laughter echoed in the outskirts of Paris, where the clear sky and the angry shouts of the citizens poured out on the swindlers being dragged away.

※※※

The subsequent trial process naturally flowed without any obstacles.

This was because the indicted Duke of Orléans willingly admitted to all his charges.

Countess Lamotte protested, claiming she was innocent, but no one listened to her.

All the evidence was clear, and the person who was pointed out as the main culprit also admitted it, so there was no reason to drag it out further.

“In the name of Louis XV, King of France, I declare that the Duke of Orléans and all his accomplices’ positions and property will be confiscated and they will be sentenced to death by guillotine.”

With a swift verdict, the sentence was immediately carried out.

Countess Lamotte tried to drag the Duke of Chartres into the mess, but even this did not go as planned.

“Your Highness is truly compassionate.”

The nobles who were watching the trial threw out compliments one after another.

They pointed to the Duke of Chartres, who was watching the trial from afar.

“You could have easily implicated him if you wanted to, but you deliberately spared him. I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

“Even so, the House of Orléans is a prestigious family that has supported France. I judged that completely cutting off the lineage would be too cruel.”

“All the other nobles will be impressed by Your Highness’s compassion. Oh, and congratulations on becoming the Duke of Orléans. This is the finest tea leaves that I managed to obtain with difficulty…”

Even as the guillotine was being set up, the nobles hovered around me, not stopping their flattery for a moment.

Of course, no one went near the Duke of Chartres.

Rather, everyone was thoroughly distancing themselves, fearing that they might get involved with him.

Thanks to this, every time the Duke of Chartres passed by, the crowd split to the left and right as if Moses had come.

No one offered words of comfort to him as he watched his father being dragged to the execution ground.

It may seem cruel at first glance, but this is the inevitable reality.

“But to think that the Duke of Orléans would go like this… who would have imagined it.”

Lavoisier, who had approached me, fixed his gaze on the execution ground as if he still couldn’t believe it.

“Moreover, for Your Highness to inherit that position…”

“Well, you and I couldn’t have imagined this scene when we first met.”

“Yes. Of course, I had a feeling that this person might cause something to happen… but the first nobleman of France. Who would have imagined it.”

Louis XV announced one change for sure when he announced that I would inherit the title of Duke of Orléans.

I will rise to the position of Duke of Orléans, but I will not use the title of Prince de Joinville.

Instead, from now on, I will use the title of the first nobleman [Premier Nobleman of France] instead of that title, which means prince.

The nobles and educated intellectuals would have immediately realized what this meant.

In the end, this decision can only be seen by third parties as part of strengthening the royal authority, just like when the court was purged.

The Duke of Orléans offered words of apology to me as his last words and stood bravely in front of the guillotine.

Everyone gathered at the execution ground held their breath and watched the scene.

Not just the nobles.

Robespierre, who was watching the execution from a seat I had specially prepared, was also watching the flow with a serious expression.

There were several people I had never seen before next to him in the short time I hadn’t seen him.

All of them had intelligent faces, and I thought they might be big names who would be classified as the main players in the revolution in later generations.

They were all talking to each other with serious faces.

It’s not just because it’s the execution of a great nobleman.

The eyes of those staring at the guillotine were filled with various emotions such as tension, excitement, and anxiety.

“The air is heavy.”

Lavoisier muttered, taking a deep breath.

“Yes. They must be feeling it too. We’ve destroyed the dam that was stagnant and rotting.”

Even if they are the same nobles, it is a different matter for the neck of a legal noble to be cut off and for the neck of a duke, one of the princes, to be cut off.

What that heavy guillotine blade cuts off is not just one person’s life.

Yes. This execution is just the prologue.

Now, neither Louis XV, nor the nobles, nor even I can turn back.

Soon, Charles-Henri Sanson, the executioner of the guillotine, put his hand on the device to drop the blade.

Clang!

Along with the eerie collision sound, the crowd’s cheers echoed in the square.

Along with the symbol of the old era being cut off, the unstoppable wave of a new era was rushing in.