Chapter 624: For Love
The Notre-Dame de Paris square instantly fell silent.
The ladies who had planned to bid for the "first love ticket" froze in place. "Who was that? That's completely outside the norm!"
Normally, bids would increase by one or two thousand, or two to three thousand francs, gradually building the atmosphere to a climax. Eventually, a few wealthy and stubborn young ladies would compete, their faces flushed, with one of them, in a moment of passion, shouting out an astonishingly high price to overwhelm all rivals...
But this time, someone immediately added over 30,000, driving the price to a terrifying 40,000 francs!
In the square, everyone craned their necks, looking towards the direction where "40,000 francs" had been shouted. Most could only see a black-and-white lace-trimmed gown, while those closer saw the gown's owner, whose beauty made them forget to breathe.
Archbishop Beaumont, seeing the sudden silence, frantically signaled the priest presiding over the bidding.
The priest quickly cleared his throat, made the sign of the cross, and addressed the crowd:
"Oh, this lady's piety allows her to bask in the Lord's radiance. Now, who else wishes to demonstrate their sacred faith and soul to God?"
Still, no one spoke.
Camelia's bidding earlier showed a clear determination, regardless of cost. If they were to bid, she would likely add another ten or twenty thousand francs. At that point, would they follow, or not?
Following would be far too expensive, and not following would make it seem as though they'd been outdone by her. So, it was better to show no intention of bidding and simply let her have it.
In reality, Camelia, in her guilelessness, hadn't considered any bidding strategy. She had simply heard that the "first love ticket" was incredibly effective—last year, Mademoiselle Debré, who acquired it, received a marriage proposal from her beloved shortly after, even though he hadn't seemed particularly interested in her before.
Thus, to make the Crown Prince fall for her, she decided to "buy" this love ticket. Indeed, she had never participated in an auction before and simply regarded it as a purchase from the Church. Based on last year's "final price" of over 40,000 francs, she had simply blurted out the number.
To her surprise, it had an unexpected "deterrent" effect.
The priest leading the bidding offered various inducements, speaking eloquently for two or three minutes, but still no one joined in the bidding.
Archbishop Beaumont's heart was bleeding. He had put considerable effort into promoting the Valentine's Day event, expecting the "first love ticket" to fetch an astronomical price. Yet, it turned out to be 5,000 francs less than last year.
The priest on stage could delay no longer and finally announced loudly that Camelia would receive the Lord's blessing.
Archbishop Beaumont, with a strained expression, presented a beautifully crafted love ticket, sprinkled it with holy water, offered a prayer, and then solemnly handed it to Camelia.
With the "first love ticket" settled, people surged towards the church doors. More than a dozen priests were selling love tickets there. Ladies who missed out on the first one could still buy slightly less potent ones—the cheapest cost only 5 sous, those blessed personally by the Archbishop were 3 francs, and those sprinkled with holy water were 7 francs.
Camelia, her face flushed with excitement, clutched the love ticket and planned to find a quiet spot in the church. According to the Church's promotion, all she needed to do was write the Crown Prince's name on the ticket, and God would make him fall in love with her!
However, just as she emerged from the crowd and reached the church's long corridor, she came face-to-face with two noble young ladies. The one on the left, wearing a dark pink puff-sleeved dress, was the very person who had bid 7,000 francs for the love ticket earlier.
Both noble young ladies glared at Camelia with predatory eyes. Camelia pivoted, intending to bypass them.
To her surprise, she heard the acid, cutting voice of "Puff-Sleeves":
"Ha! How utterly ridiculous. An unrefined girl from Austria, without even a noble title, brazenly comes to Notre-Dame de Paris to buy the 'first love ticket'.
"Don't think we don't know your sordid intentions, deluding yourself that with this ticket, God will bless you into clinging to the Crown Prince, hmph! Dream on!"
The noble young lady beside her, wearing an expression of shared hatred of the enemy, sneered:
"Exactly! Even if you did get the 'first love ticket', His Highness would never deign to look at you, he'd only find you disgusting!"
Camelia immediately lowered her head, nervously wanting to slip away quickly.
But seeing her timidity, "Puff-Sleeves" grew bolder, reaching out to block her path:
"40,000 francs, heh heh, that must be a colossal sum for you, wouldn't it? What a pity to waste it.
"Let me tell you, only someone of noble birth like myself could ever interest His Highness; there's no need for any ticket to help."
She felt "humiliated" today by Camelia's 40,000-franc bid, at least in her own estimation. At the same time, she was a devoted admirer of the Crown Prince, and her reason for vying for the love ticket was to win His Highness's favor. Yet, rumors in Versailles claimed Camelia wanted to become the Crown Prince's mistress. This filled her with both anger and jealousy.
"I... you... how could... you do this..." Camelia stammered, her words tripping over each other in distress, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Puff-Sleeves" pointed at Camelia, chuckling softly to the woman beside her:
"Look at her, playing the pitiful act so well, as if we've been bullying her. I suppose she uses these same tricks to seduce His Highness, too."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you Austrian hussy, put away your ridiculous tears! I'm warning you, don't you dare write His Highness's name on that ticket, understand?"
The two continued their relentless taunts and sneers. This was a common habit among the Versailles nobility, who, considering their own exalted birth, utterly disdained anyone without a noble title, especially if they came from Austria.
Moreover, this person they looked down upon was exceedingly beautiful, could approach the Crown Prince, and had publicly shamed them today. At this moment, they simply wanted to humiliate her thoroughly to vent their anger.
Camelia, however, merely bowed her head, wiping away tears, filled with grievance:
"You... you... this is too much..."
Just then, Perna, holding a 7-franc love ticket, walked past the other end of the corridor. She thought she heard a somewhat familiar voice, so she took a few steps back and turned to look at the spot where over a dozen people had gathered.
"Camelia?"
She saw the slightly curled golden hair, furrowed her brow slightly, and then quickly walked over.
"His Highness has at least a hundred servants like you around him; only you would delusionally think you could..."
"Puff-Sleeves" was in mid-sentence when she saw a tall woman in a dark green gown stand between herself and Camelia, immediately growing somewhat annoyed:
"Damn it, get out of my way..."
However, when she recognized the newcomer as Perna, she nervously took half a step back:
"Pe... Mademoiselle Perna."
Although Perna hailed from a minor noble family, she was rumored to be the Crown Prince's Chief Mistress at Versailles—His Highness valued her greatly, even taking her to the battlefield.
Perna glanced at the profusely weeping Camelia, then spoke coldly to "Puff-Sleeves":
"Mademoiselle Herriot, what do you think you're doing?"
"Mademoiselle Perna, I... cough, I was merely reminding this low-born individual not to harbor delusions about the Crown Prince."
Perna saw the love ticket clutched in Camelia's hand and instantly understood most of what had transpired—she had also witnessed Camelia's extravagant, spend-a-fortune bidding earlier. Although Camelia was her romantic rival, Perna couldn't simply ignore such a situation.
After all, Perna had experience from military camps and had seen her share of grand occasions. She immediately turned to Mademoiselle Herriot and said coldly:
"Oh really? Perhaps I can assist you by reporting this to His Highness, informing him that someone publicly stopped his maid today, insulted her origins, and told her to keep her distance from you. I imagine the Crown Prince would certainly appreciate your kind intentions, wouldn't he?"
"No! Please, I beg you, don't do that!" Herriot instantly blanched, shaking her head frantically. "I didn't mean..."
She looked up at Perna, saw that she was unmoved, and could only grit her teeth, bowing her head to Camelia:
"I apologize for my words just now. Please forgive me."
The maid's tears instantly flowed even more profusely.
Perna gently stroked her back, then said to Herriot:
"I hope this kind of incident doesn't happen again."
After the two noble young ladies retreated in disarray, Perna led Camelia out from the surrounding crowd. Seeing that Camelia was still weeping profusely, Perna reluctantly turned and entered the church, found a random prayer room, and pushed the door open.
Her attention was entirely on the maid; she didn't even notice the few plainclothes guards standing by the prayer room door.
The guards, however, were quite familiar with both her and Camelia. Assuming they had been summoned by the Crown Prince, they let them enter without question.
Perna had her rival sit on a bench, and used her handkerchief to wipe away her tears, comforting her: "Don't be sad. They're just jealous of you. You're more beautiful than all of them, and you even got the first love ticket."
"Never mind those people. Honestly... honestly, even I'm a little jealous of you. You know, jealousy makes people foolish..."
Camelia suddenly hugged Perna's slender waist, choking out, "Tha-thank you, Mademoiselle Perna. If you hadn't appeared, I really wouldn't have known what to do..."
As she spoke, she lowered her head again: "But they weren't wrong, I have humble origins, and I shouldn't harbor unrealistic ideas about His Highness..."
Just then, on the last row bench in the small prayer room, a person who had been sound asleep was awakened by their voices.
The person removed the Bible from their face and rubbed their sleepy eyes. It was Joseph.
It couldn't really be blamed on him; reading the Bible was simply too hypnotic. Besides, he had stayed up rather late last night reading reports from the Caribbean Sea, and had simply fallen asleep just now.
He was about to go ask the priest if the Valentine's Day event was over, but then he suddenly remembered hearing girls' voices earlier.
He peered over the back of the bench and saw Perna and Camelia on the front row bench, their backs angled towards him.
"..."
Joseph raised a hand, about to greet them, but then heard Perna say:
"You shouldn't think that way. Everyone has the right to pursue their own love, especially a beautiful and charming girl like you."
Joseph hesitated, feeling that they might think he was eavesdropping, so he slowly lay back down on the bench.
"Thank you for your comfort." Camelia took a deep breath, as if making a great decision, and pressed the love ticket in her hand into Perna's. "Mademoiselle Perna, I know you also like the Crown Prince, and you are the one truly worthy of him.
"I'm giving this love ticket to you, hoping it can bring you the love you desire."
Perna looked at the expensive love ticket in surprise, quickly pushed it back, and said softly:
"I... how could I accept this? It's far too valuable. Besides, you should also hold onto your own love. I believe His Highness wouldn't reject you."
Joseph's mouth instantly dropped open. 'I think I just heard something I shouldn't have!'
Camelia was clearly very surprised: "But, Mademoiselle Perna, don't you resent me for trying to win His Highness from you?"
"Win?" Perna sighed. "His Highness, how could he possibly belong only to me?"
She looked at the maid, a helpless smile on her face: "You know, His Highness's wife can only be a princess. Even if he has feelings for me, at most I can only become his mistress...
"His Highness is so perfect, so full of charm. Truly, just to be able to always stay by his side is already a blessing from God. How could I ever hope to possess him entirely?"
Camelia hesitated for a long moment, finally looked up at her, and whispered hesitantly:
"So, I can also..."
"That is your right," Perna nodded. "If His Highness favors you, then you should be by his side, caring for him, bringing him joy and peace of mind.
"Of course, this may seem unfair to you, but we must always endure something for love.
"You see, our destinies are actually quite similar. We are both drawn to a perfect soul and are willing to sacrifice everything for it."
Perna wasn't sure why she was saying all this to Camelia. Perhaps the feelings in her heart had been suppressed for too long, and Camelia was simply the one who could best understand those feelings.
Camelia stood up and curtsied to Perna:
"You truly are... too kind. I finally understand why His Highness cannot be without you."
Joseph felt his brain about to shut down.
'Are girls in this era all so magnanimous?'
'Even if this were in that Eastern Empire, there would be at least dozens of episodes of palace intrigue, with musk and aphrodisiacs being used in abundance. And yet, you two are discussing these matters so amicably?'
'Ah, wait, it seems the person they're talking about is me!'
'These young girls are just too...'
Joseph suddenly froze. He always subconsciously thought of them as mere young girls, but Perna was already nineteen, and Camelia was almost eighteen.
And he himself was already seventeen this year, soon to be an adult.
He subconsciously glanced at the muscles on his arm. Even if something were to develop between him and them, it seemed... normal.
Somehow, Joseph suddenly wondered, if he had to choose between Perna and Camelia, who should he pick?
Both were top-tier beauties, both had gentle and charming personalities, and both were exceedingly kind to him.
'Ah... what a dilemma!'
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