I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 624: For Love (4 words long chapter, please vote)
The Notre Dame Square fell silent in an instant.

The ladies who were originally planning to bid for the "first ticket" were stunned - who is this? It's totally unconventional!

Normally, everyone would bid one, two, three, or even three thousand francs, gradually pushing the atmosphere to a climax. In the end, several wealthy ladies who refused to admit defeat competed fiercely, and one of them, in a fit of excitement, shouted out an astonishingly high price, overwhelming all the opponents...

At this time, someone directly added more than 3 francs, pushing the price to a terrifying height of 4 francs!
In the square, everyone stretched their necks to look in the direction of the shout of "4 francs". Most people could only see a black and white lace dress, while those who were closer to the front saw the owner of the dress, whose face was so beautiful that they forgot to breathe.

Seeing that the atmosphere had become awkward, Archbishop Beaumont desperately winked at the priest who was in charge of the "bidding".

The latter coughed dryly, made the sign of the cross, looked at the crowd and said:
"Oh, this lady's piety has allowed her to be bathed in the light of the Lord. So, who else wants to show her holy faith and soul to God?"

Still no one spoke.

In fact, there are still a few noble ladies here who can afford 4 francs, but they are all hesitant.

The momentum with which Camelia raised the price just now clearly showed that she was determined to win at all costs. If I bid higher, she would probably add another 10,000 or 20,000 francs. Should I follow her lead then, or not?

It was too expensive to bid, and if I didn't, it would seem that I was outbid by her. So, it was better to show that I had no intention of bidding and let her do what she wanted.

In fact, Camelia had never thought of using any price-raising tactics. She just heard that the "First Love Ticket" was very effective - last year, Miss Debrey, who got it, got a marriage proposal from her sweetheart after returning home, and before that, the gentleman didn't seem to be very interested in her.

So, in order to attract the prince's attention, she decided to "buy" this love ticket. Yes, she had never participated in any auctions before, so she just thought of it as buying from the church, and based on last year's "sale price" of more than 4 francs, she directly shouted it out.

Unexpectedly, it unexpectedly produced a "scare" effect.

The priest who presided over the bidding tried all kinds of persuasion and spoke eloquently for two or three minutes, but still no one joined in raising the price.

Archbishop Beaumont's heart was bleeding. He had invested a lot of energy in promoting the Valentine's Day event and thought that the "first love ticket" would be sold at a sky-high price, but he didn't expect it to be 5 francs lower than last year.

The priest on the stage could no longer delay and finally announced loudly that Camelia would be blessed by the Lord.

Archbishop Beaumont made a bitter face as he took out an exquisitely crafted love ticket, sprinkled holy water on it, prayed, and then solemnly handed it to Camelia.

After the dust settled on the "first love ticket", people flocked to the church gate. There were more than a dozen priests selling love tickets. Ladies who couldn't get the first ticket could buy a less effective one - the cheapest one was only 5 sous, the one blessed by the archbishop was only 3 francs, and the one sprinkled with holy water was 7 francs.

Camelia's face flushed with excitement. Holding the love voucher, she prepared to find a secluded place in the church - according to the church's propaganda, she only needed to write the prince's name on the voucher, and God would make him fall in love with her!
However, as soon as she got out of the crowd and came to the church corridor, she met two noble ladies. The one on the left wearing a dark pink puffy skirt was the one who had just offered 7 francs for the love ticket.

The two noble ladies stared at Camelia with eager eyes. The latter turned around and tried to walk around them.

Unexpectedly, I heard the sarcastic voice of "Puffy Skirt":

"Oh! How ridiculous! A wild girl from Austria, without even a noble title, had the audacity to come to Notre Dame de Paris to buy the 'first love ticket'.

"Don't think we don't know your dirty thoughts. You want to think that with this voucher, God will bless you to become the crown prince. Humph! Dream on!"

The noble lady next to her had a look of solidarity on her face and pouted:

"That's right! Even if you get the 'First Love Ticket', His Highness will never be interested in you. He will only think you're disgusting!"

Camelia immediately lowered her head and nervously wanted to slip away quickly.

Seeing her timidity, "Puffy Skirt" became even more excited and stretched out his hand to block her:
"4 francs, haha, that should be a huge sum of money for you, right? It would be a pity to waste it.

"Let me tell you, only someone of my noble birth can possibly interest His Highness, and I don't need any coupons to help me."

She was "humiliated" by Camelia's bid of 4 francs today, at least that's what she thought. At the same time, she was also a fan of the Crown Prince, and she came to compete for the love ticket in order to get His Highness's favor, but there were rumors in the Palace of Versailles that Camelia wanted to become the Crown Prince's mistress. This made her angry and jealous.

"I...you...how could you...do this..." Camelia was so anxious that she could hardly speak clearly, and tears kept welling up in her eyes.

"Puffy Skirt" pointed at Camelia and smiled softly at the woman next to him:

"Look, she's really good at pretending to be pitiful, as if we bullied her. I guess she used this trick to seduce His Highness in front of him."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Austrian bitch, put away your ridiculous tears! I warn you, do not write your Highness's name on this ticket, do you hear me?"

The two of them kept on making sarcastic remarks. This was also the habit of the nobles in the Palace of Versailles. They considered themselves to be of noble birth and looked down on people without noble titles, especially those from Austria.

Moreover, this person whom they looked down upon was extremely beautiful and able to be close to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Today, she had embarrassed them in public. They only wanted to humiliate her to vent their anger.

Camelia just lowered her head and wiped her tears in grievance:

"You...you...are going too far..."

At this moment, Perna, holding a 7-franc love voucher in her hand, walked from the other end of the corridor, but she felt that she heard a familiar voice. She immediately took a few steps back and turned to look at the place where more than a dozen people were watching.

"Camelia?"

When she saw the long, slightly curly golden hair, she couldn't help but frowned slightly, and then walked over quickly.

"Your Highness has at least a hundred servants like you around him, and you are the only one who dares to..."

As "Puffy Skirt" was speaking, a tall woman in a dark green dress stood between him and Camelia, and she immediately became annoyed:
"Damn it, get out of my way..."

However, when she saw that the person coming was Perna, she took a half step back nervously:
"Ms. Perna."

Although Perna was born into a minor noble family, she was the rumored chief mistress of the Crown Prince in the Palace of Versailles - His Highness valued her so much that he even took her with him to the battlefield.

Perna glanced at Camelia who was crying loudly, and said coldly to "Puffy Skirt":

"Ms. Herriot, what are you doing?"

"Ms. Perna, I... ahem, I just want to remind this lowly fellow not to have any wishful thinking about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Perna saw the love voucher in Camelia's hand and immediately understood about 70% of it - she had just witnessed the latter's extravagant spending - although Camelia was her love rival, she couldn't turn a blind eye to such a situation. After all, she had been trained in the military camp and had seen big scenes, so she immediately turned to Miss Herriot and said coldly:

"Really? Perhaps I can help you ask His Highness for credit, and tell him that someone stopped his maid in public today, humiliating her background, and ask her to stay away from you. I think His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely thank you for your kindness, right?"

"No! Please don't do this!" Herriot was horrified and shook his head desperately, "I'm not..."

She looked up at Perna, and seeing that she was unmoved, she had to grit her teeth and bowed her head to Camelia:
"I apologize for what I said just now. Please forgive me."

The maid's tears suddenly flowed even more violently.

Perna stroked her back and said to Herriot:
“I hope this doesn’t happen again.”

After the two noble ladies left in embarrassment, Perna pulled Camelia out of the crowd. Seeing that the latter was still crying, she turned around and went into the church, found a prayer room at random, and pushed the door open.

Her attention was focused on the maid, and she didn't notice the guards in plain clothes standing at the door of the prayer room.

But the guards were familiar with her and Camelia, and thought that the prince had invited them, so they let them in.

Perna asked her rival to sit on the bench, wiped her tears with a handkerchief, and comforted her: "Don't be sad, they are just jealous of you, you are more beautiful than them, and you got the first love ticket.

"Don't talk about those people. Actually... Actually, even I am a little jealous of you. You know, jealousy can make people stupid..."

Camelia suddenly hugged her slender waist and choked up, "Thank you, thank you, Miss Perna. If you hadn't appeared, I really don't know what to do..."

As she spoke, she lowered her head again: "But they are also right. I come from a humble background and I shouldn't have any unrealistic ideas about His Highness..."

At this moment, a person who was sleeping soundly on a bench in the last row of the small prayer room was awakened by their voices.

The man took the Bible off his face and rubbed his sleepy eyes. It was Joseph.

Actually, it's not his fault. Reading the Bible was too hypnotic for him. Plus, he read the report from Caribbean a little late last night, so he actually fell asleep just now.

He was about to ask the priest whether the Valentine's Day event was over, but suddenly he remembered that there was a girl's voice just now.

He leaned his head over the back of the bench and saw Perna and Camelia sitting on the front row of benches with their backs to him.

"..."

Joseph raised his hand to greet the two, but heard Perna say:
"You shouldn't think like that. Everyone has the right to pursue their own love, especially a beautiful and lovely girl like you."

Joseph hesitated for a moment, feeling that they would think he was eavesdropping, so he slowly lay back on the bench.

"Thank you for your comfort." Camelia took a deep breath, as if she had made a great decision, and stuffed the love coupon in her hand to Perna, "Ms. Perna, I know you also like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and you are the one who deserves him.

“This love ticket is given to you, hoping it can bring you the love you expect.”

Perna looked at the expensive love voucher in surprise, and hurriedly pushed it back, saying softly:

"This... How can I accept this? It's too expensive. Besides, you should stick to your love. I don't think His Highness will reject you."

Joseph opened his mouth suddenly, as if he had heard something he shouldn't have heard!
Camelia was obviously very surprised: "But, Miss Perna, don't you blame me for trying to snatch His Highness from you?"

"Rob?" Perna sighed, "Your Highness, how can he belong only to me?"

She looked at the maid and smiled helplessly: "You also know that His Highness's wife can only be a princess. Even if he has me in his heart, I can only be his mistress at most...

"His Highness is so perfect and full of charm. In fact, as long as I can always be by his side, it is already a gift from God. How can I expect to have him all to myself?"

Camelia hesitated for a long time, finally raised her head, looked at her, and stammered:

"So, I can also..."

"This is your right," Perna nodded, "If His Highness likes you, then you should stay by his side, take care of him, and bring him happiness and peace of mind.

"Of course, this doesn't seem fair to you, but we have to endure something for love.

"You see, our destinies are actually so similar. We are both attracted by a perfect soul and are willing to give everything for it."

Perna didn't know why she said all this to Camelia. Perhaps it was because the feelings in her heart had been suppressed for too long, and the latter was the one who could best understand these feelings.

Camelia stood up and bowed to Perna:
"You are really... so kind. I finally understand why His Highness can't leave you."

Joseph already felt like his brain was shutting down.

Are all girls of this era so generous?
Even if this happened in the Eastern Empire, there would be at least dozens of episodes of palace fighting, with a lot of musk, aphrodisiacs and the like used. How can you discuss these things in such a friendly manner?

Ah, no, it seems that the person they are talking about is me!

These little girls are too...

Joseph was suddenly stunned. He always subconsciously regarded them as little girls, but in fact Perna seemed to be 19 years old and Camelia would be 18 soon.

And I am already 17 years old this year and will soon be an adult.

He subconsciously glanced at the muscles on his arms. Even if something really happened between them, it seemed normal...

Somehow, Joseph suddenly thought, if he had to choose between Perna and Camelia, who should he choose?
Both of them are top beauties with gentle and pleasant personalities, and they are very good to themselves.

Ah...it's really a difficult problem!

(End of this chapter)