Chapter 1444: Queen Marie's Plan
Paris.
Inside the first-class dining room of the French Engineering Design Institute, Queen Marie glanced at the fish soup before her and looked up at Louis XVI, who sat opposite her.
"Joseph told me to exercise more, so I just jogged over here from the Petit Trianon Palace," she said.
The King nodded, his expression filled with relief. "That is quite a distance. Thank heavens, your health is much better than before."
"Particularly after the trip to Brest," Queen Marie added with a hint of pride. "It was like paradise there, with beautiful beaches and humid air. There were crabs and razor clams everywhere. I went foraging every day."
"By the way, do you know what foraging the sea is?"
"Uh, what is that?" he asked.
"It is about receiving nature's bounty at the shoreline! It is truly fascinating..."
More than ten minutes later, Louis XVI poked at the roasted oysters on his plate with a fork, asking somewhat indifferently, "So, it's just catching crabs and shrimp like a fisherman?"
"Sounds, well, not bad," Louis XVI replied absently. His mind was already drifting toward an improvement plan for a forge's gearbox.
Queen Marie seemed to have expected such a reaction from her husband. Not discouraged in the least, she leaned forward with a smile. "Do you know about the automatic seaming machine?"
Louis XVI's fork froze mid-air. "That sounds like a mechanical device."
"You guessed correctly," Queen Marie said, recalling the knowledge she had acquired about the seaming machine during her return journey. "It is a machine used to seal tins, and it is quite miraculous."
"Oh? Tell me more."
"As you know, tins must be airtight to prevent bacteria from coming into contact with the food inside. Previously, tin cans were sealed using solder, but the solder contains lead, which can cause poisoning in anyone who eats the contents."
Louis XVI nodded. "So, the seaming machine is...?"
"This machine can seal tin cans without any solder at all!" Queen Marie explained. She picked up two napkins and overlapped their edges. "Like this. There is a lug that secures the tin can onto an iron pillar, and then a steam engine drives it to rotate."
"Meanwhile, there is a uniquely shaped wedge-shaped iron block on the upper side that presses down on the edge of the iron sheet..."
By the time she finished her explanation, Louis XVI's eyes were shining. "That is a stroke of genius! It makes masterful use of mechanical structure and the ductility of the iron sheet. Where did you see such a machine?"
"Brest, at the Saint-Malo Coastal Cannery," Queen Marie replied, intentionally drawing out her words. "They also have a steam oil press. In just over ten minutes, it can extract several large barrels of incredibly clean rapeseed oil."
"By the way, Joseph said that the machine was originally designed to solve urban environmental problems. Ah, essentially by compressing 'unclean matter.'"
She proceeded to describe the structure of the oil press. Now, Louis XVI couldn't even bother to eat. He began to ask repeatedly about the machine's details, constantly praising the ingenuity of the design.
Consequently, the lunch lasted for a full hour and a half.
Queen Marie performed the post-meal etiquette perfunctorily before standing up and taking her husband's arm. "Yes, Paris has canneries, and perhaps oil mills as well, but there is another massive machine that I swear can only be seen in Brest."
"What is it?"
"A steam warship. A warship that can still travel at high speeds even when there is no wind at sea."
For the first time since he began working at the Engineering Design Institute, Louis XVI skipped his workshop duties. Instead, he spent the afternoon in his private lounge, listening to his wife tell him about the Decision.
"This is truly the greatest engineering creation in the world!" the King exclaimed from the bottom of his heart. "I truly wish I could see it for myself."
"You are right. Brest is certainly a fascinating place."
Queen Marie smiled like a smug little fox. "Not just see it—you could even participate in the design of such a ship."
Hearing this, Louis XVI sighed. "But I cannot simply leave Paris... perhaps, if there were some major diplomatic event in Brest."
He felt even more discouraged after saying it. Brest faced the Atlantic Ocean with no neighboring countries nearby. Where would a diplomatic event come from?
He muttered to himself, 'It seems the only possibility is that a rebellion breaks out there, and I can go to pacify the people after it is suppressed... No, better if such a thing doesn't happen.'
Queen Marie glanced at his expression and leaned close to his ear. "If someone else were to shoulder the duties of the King in Paris for you, you could enjoy your life with total freedom."
"What? Is someone planning a coup?"
Queen Marie gave him a reproving look. "You do love to joke. What I mean is, we could appoint Joseph as the Prince Regent."
Louis XVI didn't hesitate for even half a second. He nodded immediately. "That is indeed an excellent idea. However, I am not yet old enough, so it might not conform to the rules."
Queen Marie tilted her chin up proudly. "We just need to coordinate and put on a show. Actually, I began making arrangements while I was still in Brest."
...
In a spacious suite in the South Wing of the Palace of Versailles, the Duke of Lévis unfolded a copy of the Paris Business Journal by the window, catching the afternoon sun.
The news at the bottom of the front page caught his interest—
"The famous Master of Pharmacy Dr. Petit published his latest research paper in Natural Science, proving that the head of a freshly caught fork-toothed sea bream can effectively treat typhus. This discovery is of great significance in medical history..."
The Duke of Lévis put down the newspaper, unable to help but marvel at the rapid development of medicine in recent years.
He had been to the battlefield with his father when he was young and remembered that back then, any soldier who was wounded faced a near-death experience. Now, the mortality rate for wounded soldiers had dropped to less than twenty percent.
Recently, he had overheard the servants chatting about how even in remote villages, dangerous diseases like smallpox could be cured through a new technique called vaccination. And a child could receive a vaccination for just five sous.
Well, he still couldn't distinguish between immunity and treatment.
Just as he was sighing to himself, his valet hurried in and bowed. "My Lord, the Duchess has returned."
The Duke of Lévis stood up quickly and went to the main door with the servant, just in time to meet his weary-looking wife.
"My dear, you are back," he said, stepping forward to embrace his wife. Then, he asked urgently in a low voice, "Did this long journey increase Her Majesty's trust in you?"
Queen Marie had returned from Brest to Paris two days ago, but the Duchess of Lévis had only just finished her handover duties and was finally able to return home.
The Lady-in-waiting nodded. "I have indeed earned Her Majesty's trust this time... though, it seems perhaps I have earned a bit too much of it."
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