Novels online

Chapter 1462: A Bright Future

The guards and the nearby nobles hurriedly bowed their heads and turned away, but they couldn't help but steal one last, frantic look with the corners of their eyes.

The door was slammed shut once more.

Tina, her face burning with a mixture of shame and indignation, shoved the man in front of her. "They're gone. Get up, quickly..."

Just moments ago, this man had actually suggested that to save the Queen's reputation, she should stay here and perform an act of infidelity with him.

Under the Queen's direct orders, she had no choice but to accept.

Baron Trudaine gently covered her mouth, maintaining the rhythm of his movements as he whispered, "Shush—be careful. Someone might be peeping through the keyhole. We can't let them see through our act."

Back in the main hall, the guests began to gossip excitedly. "Haha, Tina certainly has a way with men. To think two men would nearly duel over her." "Does that mean Her Majesty the Queen is also here?"

"Both Tina and Atanice are present. Her Majesty is almost certainly in the building."

"Do you think the Queen might be in one of those rooms as well..."

The Queen's Guard, who had been blocking Charles and his companions, immediately cleared a path. The lead officer apologized nervously to Count Binder. Charles simply tightened his stag mask and jogged out through the crowd with his head down.

In the courtyard of Count Schlobitten's estate, the group was about to climb into their carriage. Count Binder looked back at the villa where the ball was still ongoing and sighed with relief. "Fortunately, no major chaos broke out tonight..."

Suddenly, he frowned, squinting as he stared intensely at the second floor. "Is it just my eyes playing tricks on me, or is there someone out there?"

Charles was still wrestling with his own thoughts. It had clearly been Louise's voice in Room 219, so why had it turned out to be her lady-in-waiting? Hearing the Count's remark, he instinctively looked up.

It was already nine o'clock at night. The candlelight flickering through the windows was dim, and it took him a long moment to spot a silhouette. Someone seemed to be standing on a narrow ledge of the outer wall, their hands gripping the window frame tightly.

If Binder hadn't pointed it out, he never would have noticed a person there.

'What is that person doing?'

Charles's adjutant noted the most important detail. "That should be Room 219."

Count Binder immediately let out a loud shout. "Over here! A thief! Catch the thief!"

Queen Louise, clinging to the outside of the window, never imagined that someone would be observing the villa's exterior so closely in the pitch-black night. Startled by the shout, she nearly lost her grip and fell.

She struggled to climb back into the room, but the arm strength of a noble lady was simply not up to the task.

She was forced to rap on the windowpane, calling out in a low, urgent voice, "Jacques, let me in! Quickly!"

Jacques was Baron Trudaine's first name.

The Queen's Guard and the servants of the Schlobitten estate came running, shouting as they approached. "You dare steal from this place? You must have a death wish!"

"Damn it, don't let him get away!"

Charles stared at the figure on the second floor for a while, a sudden sense of familiarity creeping over him.

Count Binder produced a small telescope from his pocket as if by magic. Frowning, he aimed it at the second floor. "Let me see who... No, impossible. How could it be her..."

Charles snatched the telescope away. Through the lens, he saw a panic-stricken face.

He froze. The person was unmistakably Queen Louise!

She was currently wearing an oversized, ill-fitting man's coat. Her hair was disheveled, and her entire body was trembling.

'It really is her...'

The last embers of his illusions crumbled into dust. It was blindingly obvious now—the person in the room earlier had been her.

Count Binder seemed to realize the gravity of the situation as well. He hurriedly dragged the Prince into the carriage and barked at the driver, "Quick, leave this place!"

After a long silence, he looked nervously at Charles. "Your Highness, that lady... she couldn't be..."

Seeing that Charles didn't deny it, the Count took a deep breath and whispered, "Your Highness, the implications of this are too great. I will not mention this in my report to the Prince Regent."

Charles nodded blankly. "Thank you..."

In front of Count Schlobitten's villa, men held torches high while others aimed rifles at the window of Room 219.

The guard officer and several men scrambled over the flower beds, pointing at the figure above. "Bastard, get down here right now!"

"Don't force me to fire!"

Just then, a woman's voice drifted down from the darkness above. "Mared, act as if nothing happened. Do not let anyone approach this area."

Captain Mared's scalp tingled with fear, and cold sweat drenched his back. He instinctively snapped to attention. "Yes... understood."

He heard the Queen's voice for ten hours a day; there was no way he could mistake it.

Count Schlobitten's butler, who often accompanied his master to the palace, was so terrified that he began to shake violently, trying his best to shrink into the shadows. As Charles's carriage pulled out of the estate, more than twenty servants had already set up a cordon in front of the villa's eastern wall. Captain Mared was worried that the regular soldiers might notice something suspicious, so he didn't dare use the guards for this task.

However, by the time Queen Louise was finally pulled back into the room by her lover, the topic of conversation in the masquerade hall had already shifted drastically. "Really? How is that even possible?!"

"It's absolutely true. My brother-in-law told me himself. You know he's the accountant for the Count's estate."

"Good heavens, no wonder Atanice was so nervous just now..."

"Exactly. Even the guards rushed in. They must have been worried the duel would hurt Her Maj—cough, that person."

"This is going to be a royal scandal..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? No one saw her, and she has absolutely nothing to do with what happened here!"

"Thank you for the reminder. That was a slip of the tongue..."

Shortly after, Count Schlobitten rushed into the hall, his face pale with panic as he announced the ball would end early.

Two days later.

William III slammed his hands down on the piano keys, producing a thunderous roar like the howling of a demon, as if the piano itself were the physical incarnation of the rumored adulterer. In noble circles, gossip traveled faster than a cannonball. Now, everywhere one turned, people were whispering about the Queen having two paramours, one senior and one junior. What infuriated him most was that the person who had challenged the man to a duel wasn't even him!

And yet, there was nothing he could do.

First, he had no physical evidence. The Queen's captain of the guard and Count Schlobitten's butler had both suddenly vanished. Everyone else's information was merely hearsay.

Second, Queen Louise claimed she was doing something that would determine the fate of Prussia, and that certain sacrifices had to be made.

Ever since William III's leg had been crippled, the Queen's influence in Prussian politics had grown significantly. The Reformist officials, in particular, had almost entirely coalesced around her as their core leader.

He wasn't sure if dealing with her harshly would truly destroy Prussia's future.

He grabbed a nearby bottle of brandy, took a heavy swig, and continued to pound violently on the piano keys.

Meanwhile, in a brick-red villa in the middle of Landstrasse, Queen Louise glared coldly at Baron Trudaine, her teeth clenched. "You bastard, I almost became the laughingstock of all Berlin!"

Trudaine, however, appeared quite relaxed. "It's all in the past, my dear. Believe me, the future will be full of light."