Eagle’s Glory

As the sun tinted the horizon with a hint of gold, the elderly Lady Letizia-Bonaparte opened her eyes and began another boring morning of her own.

Old people always wake up very early, even though there is nothing in the world waiting for her to do.

As usual, the old woman rang the bell to call the servant, and asked her to help herself get dressed and tidied up her completely gray hair. Then she walked out of her bedroom and prepared to have breakfast first.

Since the fall of the Empire in 1815, the former Empress Dowager Letizia Bonaparte has been in Rome and has lived in seclusion in this palace.

Although living in the spacious Bonaparte Palace, there are not many people living here, and even fewer people can dine with the master.

There was already a middle-aged woman sitting at the dining table. She was Miss Anna Barbara Bansey, a female painter hired by Letizia. After seeing the old lady appear, she quickly stood up and saluted her respectfully.

The gray-haired Letizia, wearing a pure black dress, has a decent and solemn expression, but it looks like a mourning dress, with a low and depressed expression.

After sitting down, she looked around, then at the empty seat opposite.

"Where's Joseph?" she asked.

This Joseph is her younger brother, Cardinal Joseph Fish. Since he came to Rome, the older sister and younger brother have lived here in seclusion together, living a retirement life that no one cares about.

The world seems to have forgotten them, but it has not poured out more malice, just placed the two old people here until they meet their doomed death.

"Someone sent a letter just now, and the bishop went to receive it. It may take some time." Miss Bancy, the female painter, replied.

send a letter? Does anyone still send letters here? Letizia's heart flashed a little doubt.

Will it be sent by my grandson?

Since she learned of the sensational news from Austria, she has been feeling a vague expectation and fear in her heart these days.

But soon she gave up thinking. She was old and didn't have the energy to think about so many problems.

"Is that so? Let's wait a while," she said flatly, then waited quietly at the dining table.

Soon, Cardinal Fish, who was also very old, walked to the dining table with a fairly quick pace.

His expression was strange, neither anger nor ecstasy, but full of surprise.

Letizia quickly noticed that there was a letter in his brother's hand.

"Joseph, what happened? Who sent you the letter?" she asked in the Italian language she was most familiar with.

"You won't believe it," Cardinal Joseph Fish replied with a wry smile. "Did it come from an Austrian princess?"

Letizia froze for a moment.

"Louisa?" she asked in disbelief, and then shook her head in denial. "Impossible, we've already cut off all communication with her, and she doesn't want to have any communication with me."

Although Princess Louisa used to be her daughter-in-law, but since the fall of the empire, Louisa has reorganized her family, and the two sides have long since broken. Letizia does not believe that Louisa may still contact her.

However, if it wasn't for Luisa, it seemed even more impossible for others.

"You guessed right, it's not a letter from Princess Louisa, but...Princess Teresa." Cardinal Joseph Fish's expression was still very strange, "Yes, it is the eldest daughter of Archduke Karl."

"God!" Letizia and Miss Bansy exclaimed at the same time, then looked at each other.

Although Letizia lives in seclusion, she is not completely isolated from outside information. At least what happened to her grandson, she has always been paying attention—

She clearly remembered that the princess was once designated as her granddaughter-in-law by the Austrian court.

When she heard the news, she didn't feel disgusted, on the contrary, she was a little relieved, because it also meant that her worried grandson had a support in Austria after all, but who could have imagined that there would be so many changes in the future Woolen cloth!

"She... why did she write to me? Is it to scold our family?" Letizia came back to her senses, then smiled bitterly, "Oh, we really can't be sorry for this little girl..."

The grandson left without saying goodbye, and the marriage naturally ended without a hitch, and the Princess Teresa was naturally in the storm of public opinion and was under great pressure.

Putting herself in the shoes, Letizia can also imagine Princess Teresa's mood at the moment - I'm afraid she is full of resentment and annoyance, right?

poor child.

"No, Letizia, it's not what you think." The cardinal shook his head, then handed the letter in his hand to his sister with a strange expression. "This is her letter, you should read it first."

Letizia took the letter in surprise.

The envelopes are made of very particular paper, and there is also the emblem of the Habsburg family double-headed eagle on it. After taking out the letter paper, a fresh fragrance also spreads in the room.

Then, the graceful handwriting on the letter paper came directly into the eyes of the old woman—for her convenience, it was written in Italian.

"Dear Her Majesty the Queen Mother:

Although I have never seen your face, I have long heard of your kindness, and I have always admired your efforts to maintain your family and your children. I have regarded you as a role model countless times in my heart, and I hope to be like you. , to use my own efforts to maintain a family that belongs to me, and to help my husband continue the glorious history of a great family.

Presumably you have also heard about the piles of piles surrounding me and His Highness, so I don't have to endure the pain and continue to repeat to you what happened to me and the pain I had to go through...

I have to admit that now His Highness has put me in a very difficult situation. If I don’t want to maintain this marriage contract that I have sworn to keep, that’s fine; but I don’t want to break my oath, so this is also Means I need to fight against the court and even my own parents.

I am not afraid to face the pressure, my own vows are enough for me to draw enough strength, but I am afraid that my efforts will be in vain in the end, and I am even more afraid that Your Highness will not appreciate my painstaking efforts, so that our original The promised happiness also vanished...

Originally, we should find a way to deal with the matter of our junior, and we should not bother you in front of you, but now the situation has deteriorated, it is really difficult for me to deal with it silently and alone, so I hope to be able to meet you in person, Tell you about my pain, my worries, and my determination.

I would be grateful if you would grant me the grace of seeing you.

May God bless you with good health and long life, and watch over us forever!

Always loyal to you, Theresa von Habsburg. "

Although the old man's nerves were dulled, Letizia couldn't help but be moved by the overflowing emotion in the letter.

"This girl! It's so..." She shook her head gently, not knowing how to describe it.

How can you be considered a queen now? Just a reclusive old woman.

A girl from the Habsburg family, who put her posture so low in front of herself, really didn't know what to say.

"A very polite and affectionate girl indeed." Cardinal Joseph Fish nodded. "If it wasn't for your grandson, she would never have spoken to you like that."

"Yeah, yeah..." Letizia sighed, "This is really a sin! How could that little **** do such a thing!"

"Have you seen her yet?" the cardinal asked again. "The messenger told me that Her Royal Highness is waiting outside our door in Piazza Venezia."

"What?" Letizia was a little surprised, then nodded immediately and agreed, "See you! Of course we will see you, we can't do anything wrong."

"Okay." The cardinal nodded, then he didn't eat breakfast, turned his head and walked out again, "I'll bring His Highness here."

After the cardinal left, Letizia looked at the breakfast on the table and found that she had no appetite.

The painter Miss Bancy watched all this. Although she didn't see what was said in the letter, but seeing the interaction between the sister and the younger brother, she probably guessed it closely.

"Has Princess Teresa come to see you?" she whispered.

"Yeah, she's here." Letizia nodded in confusion.

"What's her attitude towards that messed up marriage?" the painter asked cautiously.

"In the letter, she said she wanted to stick to the engagement," Letizia replied.

"This is really..." Miss Bansey was a little shocked. "She has reached the point where she still wants to fulfill the marriage contract?"

Letizia can only correct with a wry smile.

"Poor child, we are sorry for her."

Not long after their conversation, the cardinal returned, this time behind a girl wearing a silk wide-brimmed hat and a skirt.

After walking in front of the old woman, she took off her hat, then showed her face, and then saluted Letizia elegantly and respectfully.

"It's an honor to meet you, Her Majesty the Queen Mother."

After she took off her hat, Letizia kept staring at her, and couldn't help being a little lost by the girl's beauty and radiant youthful energy.

What a pretty little girl!

But if you look closely, you can still see the sad look between her eyebrows, obviously she has been in a bad mood recently.

As for the reason for the bad mood, it is estimated that all Europe knows.

Thinking of this, Letizia couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt in her heart.

"There's no need to be so respectful to me, Your Highness, I'm no longer an empress dowager." As she said, she stepped forward and hugged Teresa's white and thin shoulders, "Son, we owe you too much. Much more... trust me, if I had the chance to be there, it wouldn't be like this at all."

Seeing the concern and guilt in the old man's eyes, Teresa couldn't bear it any longer, her eyes were flushed with tears, and she hugged the old woman.

"Sorry, Your Majesty, I lost my temper in front of you... can you allow me to hug you for a while?"

"It's okay, you also need to vent." Letizia shook her head, then continued to hug the girl tightly.

In this warm embrace, the grievances and sorrows accumulated in Teresa's heart finally had a place to vent, and the tears could not stop flowing.

She finally found a place where she could cry at ease without worrying about breaking her parents' hearts.

As she vented her emotions, her crying became louder and louder, and everyone in the room couldn't bear to hear it.

After a while, Teresa finally regained her emotions, then raised her head and looked at His Highness's grandmother with bloodshot eyes.

The old lady looked dignified and kind, almost exactly as she imagined, and the gauze on the other side's chest was now wet.

"Sorry, Your Majesty, I suddenly ran over to cause you trouble." She apologized in a low voice.

"It's okay, what is this compared to the damage my grandson has done to you?" Letizia shook her head.

Then, she sighed again, "I thought you would cut ties with him, but I didn't expect to receive this letter from you... Child, do you really want to continue?"

"Since I have agreed to the marriage contract, of course I have to continue to perform it." Teresa replied solemnly, "Actually, it is not His Highness's departure that I am aggrieved by, and why, why can't I get engaged first and then leave...I...I You can wait!"

As soon as she said this, she almost cried again, and it was difficult for her to control herself. "Your Majesty, has your Highness come to find you?"

"Not yet." Letizia shook her head, "Teresa, I didn't lie to you, if I find me, I will tell you."

Looking into the eyes of the old man, Teresa also believed.

Unfortunately, it seems that His Royal Highness is still waiting and has not dared to contact his grandmother in Rome.

She knew that waiting in Austria was a waste of time, so she went to Rome to see His Royal Highness's grandmother.

Even if she didn't know the trace of His Highness from here, at least she could get the favor and approval of the elders of the family, so that the marriage contract could be fulfilled again.

However, she believed that His Royal Highness would definitely come to contact. As long as she and Empress Dowager Letizia got along well, she would be able to get news from the other party.

Judging from the situation when the two met, it shouldn't be difficult.

While Teresa pondered, Letizia also stroked Teresa's hair, the more she looked, the more happy she became.

"What a good girl..." she murmured to herself, "how could someone be willing to abandon such luck!"

Then, she asked again, "Did you cross that line when you were together before?"

Because she was a little obscure, Teresa didn't understand it, and it took a moment for her to react.

"Not yet..." She shook her head shyly. "However, His Royal Highness has already kissed me on the initiative, and promised me that he would create a happy future with me. As a result..."

"It turns out that he said so many rhetoric, and turned his head and refused to admit it!" Letizia frowned and looked at Teresa indignantly, "This little bastard! If I can see him, I have to hit him with a cane. You can't break his leg!"

"His Royal Highness also has his own plans..." Teresa hurriedly said good things for Her Highness.

"No matter what plan he has, he can't take you as a victim for no reason!" Letizia said, the more angry he became, "It is his honor to be associated with you, does he dare to deny the account? If he If he dares not to admit it, I will not recognize him! At least now I am the eldest member of the Bonaparte family, and I will not allow him to do such a thing!"

Although she has been the empress dowager for more than ten years, Letizia is essentially an ordinary small landowner and old lady in Italy. Her life experience, her thinking mode, and even her values ​​have not been substituted into the "French" Queen Mother" level.

This may be her luck, at least in the most glorious era of the empire, she still maintained the virtue and simplicity of an Italian mother, as well as her love for her children and relatives, and was not corrupted by the boundless power and honor.

Teresa was pleased to find that her purpose was achieved when they met.

What a kind and kind grandma... She hugged the old woman again with full of emotion.