While Prince Metternich and His Majesty the Emperor were discussing, Aglon strolled down the long corridor, preparing to return to his bedchamber.

He was not in a good mood because of the quarrel with Prince Metternich just now, but he showed no signs on his face, and he had been accustomed to keeping his thoughts in his heart for many years.

Just as he walked to the door of his room, he suddenly noticed that there seemed to be an extra person next to him.

It was a woman of about twenty years old.

She wears a long dress, although she is not tall, but because of her slender figure, she still looks tall, her neck is also quite slender, which makes her movements and expressions appear quite elegant and agile, and her brown hair is curly according to the fashionable style.

looked at him with a smile, his white and red face was full of youthful charm, but because he was a new wife, he had a little bit of the charm of a young woman.

"Aiglon! Good morning. When Agron looked at her, she greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Your Highness." Aiglon stopped and saluted her.

She is Princess Sophie.

Born in 1805 and married the youngest son of His Majesty the Emperor, Archduke Franz-Karl (i.e. Aiglon's younger uncle), at the age of 19, at the age of 19, she lived in Schönbrunn Palace, where they became acquainted.

Aiglon has a good relationship with her, and loves the smile on her face when she greets her.

This is not only because she has a good voice, but more importantly, because she is the only person in this sprawling palace who can refer to herself by this nickname in French.

In addition, although the princess was his aunt, she was only 6 years older than him, and the newfound princess had much more in common with him than the rest of the court.

It is worth mentioning that her sister, Princess Caroline, born in 1792, married the widowed Austrian Emperor in 1816 as a successor, so she became his titular "maternal grandmother" - although only 19 years older than him.

It is worth mentioning that their eldest sister, Princess Augusta, born in 1788, married Napoleon's adopted son, Eugène de Beauharnet, in 1806.

Therefore, if you follow the strict order of generation, the three princess sisters are counted as his "brother and sister-in-law", "maternal grandmother" and "aunt" respectively.

This is also evident in the chaotic political marriages of the aristocratic world, as well as the efforts of the Napoleonic family to assimilate into the royal families of Europe when they came to power.

From the first day he met her, Agron didn't bother with "what to call her", after all, in this luxurious and leisurely court, these members of the royal family, who were born with fine clothes and food, why should they care about the so-called wheel order?

From the moment they met, Princess Sophie was very friendly to him and had no Austrian prejudices at all.

After all, the Bavarians did not hate Napoleon, after all, in the era of Emperor Napoleon, the giant single-handedly founded the Rhine League and elevated the Elector of Bavaria to the Kingdom of Bavaria, making it another great power in Germany.

In gratitude to Emperor Napoleon, the King of Bavaria married his adopted son and fought with Napoleon, only to turn his back on him in 1813 when Napoleon was at his last end.

At the same time, despite the destruction of the empire, the king took in his son-in-law, Eugène, who had nowhere else to go, and until Eugène's death in 1824, he enjoyed a fairly good life.

And Eugène and Princess Augusta are also very affectionate, which can be regarded as a rare loving couple in political marriages.

Princess Sophie, who grew up in this living environment, naturally did not develop hostility towards the Bonaparte family, and after marrying into Austria, it was very normal for her to be friendly and cordial to Aigron.

After the two of them got acquainted, Princess Sophie directly called him by you, which shows that she really treats him differently.

"I heard that your Excellency our dear Prime Minister just approached you?" Princess Sophie asked as she approached.

"You're really well-informed—" Aglon smiled helplessly.

"It doesn't look like you had a particularly pleasant conversation, did he reprimand you?" The princess asked again.

"It's not a reprimand, is it...... It's just a bit embarrassing. Agron continued to smile wryly.

"This bad old man is probably up to some kind of thing again." Princess Sophie said with some dissatisfaction.

Aglon didn't answer, after all, it was not convenient to talk about this topic in the hallway.

"Hmm...... It's not a good place to talk. Princess Sophie squinted to the side, then raised her eyebrows, and between the waves of her eyes, there was a charm in her wit. Come with me—"

With that, she turned and walked away, her skirt fluttering and leaving the boy with a slender back, and Aglon had to follow her.

The two of them walked out of the grand palace room, and then walked down the steps to the fountain at the door, because there was the sound of running water, they did not have to worry about the ears of the partition wall.

"What the hell did he say, Aiglon?" The princess asked again.

"He said he wanted me to go to a military school, and I didn't want to." Aiglon replied honestly, "And then we had some arguments. ”

"Is that so......" Princess Sophie lowered her gaze slightly, thinking, "He's not someone who changes his mind easily." ”

"That's where I'm struggling." Aiglon nodded, "I really don't want to go at all, but I don't want to go blatantly against his will. ”

"Then reject him strongly, I think you still deserve this bit of freedom." Princess Sophie pursed her lips in displeasure, "No matter how powerful he is, he can't control all the actions of the royal family, right?" ”

"But he can convince His Majesty to do so......" Aiglon shook his head, "if His Majesty were moved by him, perhaps it would be difficult for me to refuse." ”

Princess Sophie was dumbfounded.

Indeed, His Majesty the Emperor is both the supreme emperor and the unquestioned patriarch of the Habsburgs, and his orders to the members of the royal family are absolutely not to be offended, not to mention that Aiglon is still such a special and embarrassing status, even if he wants to refuse, I am afraid it will be difficult to do it.

"In that case, then I'll also go to Carl and ask him to intercede with you, His Majesty the Emperor is not a mean and ruthless person, as long as we intercede together, there will still be a turnaround." Princess Sophie's voice softened, apparently comforting Agron.

Aiglon was silent.

Her Royal Highness the Prince and Princess, who was standing next to the fountain, although the distance between the two people was very close, because of the water vapor that permeated everywhere, her side seemed to be covered with a halo, which seemed hazy and real.

"Thank you." After a moment, he stammered, "I'm not saying I'm thankful for your help, but ...... I really appreciate your kindness, it's really something to cherish. ”

"Haha...... Lovely kids. Seeing his reaction, Princess Sophie couldn't help but laugh, "Don't be so restrained, after all, we're a family now, aren't we?" Of course I should do what I can to help you. ”

"You're not a few years older than me—" Aglon retorted in a whisper.

"But I'm married, and I'm destined to take on this, and I've lost the right to continue being young, and you haven't." Princess Sophie's expression became serious, and she raised her hand and pointed to the grand palace opposite the two of them. "Aiglon, do you know why I'm so kind to you?"

"To be honest, I do have doubts sometimes......" Aglon replied.

Her Royal Highness looked up at the sculpture at the top of the fountain, and then sighed a little sadly.

"Before I got married, my brother-in-law, your brother, was already dying, and when he was seriously ill, he told me that he was happy enough in this life, that he had never betrayed anyone, even if he went to heaven, he was worthy of his heart, and that he could face that person with dignity. But he still has one regret that he has never been able to settle, and that is his younger brother. He was already doomed to save the poor boy trapped in the cage, and he couldn't bear the pain at the thought of this, so he begged me to do everything in my power to take care of you when I got here, so that you don't die early out of despair......"

After saying this, Princess Sophie withdrew her gaze, and then looked solemnly at the young man in front of her.

"I don't want him to die with regret, so I'm going to keep that promise. Aiglon, here you can think of me as your own sister, and will help you grow up safe and happy. ”

Aiglon listened to her quietly, and suddenly there was a faint pain in his heart.

Obviously, this was not actually his own business, but he felt a sense of sadness inexplicably.

Both for the late Eugène de Beauarne stepbrother and for the princess Sophie in front of her.

The two world lines that had already diverged seemed to have an intersection in her.

Historically, the relationship between two people has been very close.

After she married to the Austrian court, the Roman king, who had lacked friendship all her life, regarded her as one of the few friends he could be close to in Schönbrunn Palace, and Princess Sophie seemed to have extraordinary feelings for the Roman king.

The two often dance together at the ball, and usually interact a lot, because of their feelings for each other, which has caused a lot of rumors in the court, and some people even suspect that Maximilian, the youngest son of Her Royal Highness the princess, is the illegitimate son of the king of Rome.

Such rumors are of course unfounded, but it is a fact that the princess was grief-stricken when the Roman king died early in 1832.

Perhaps in the eyes of Princess Sophie at that time, the King of Rome was her real relative in the strange Austrian court.

"I will do everything in my power to protect you, Your Highness." In the midst of emotion, he whispered a promise to the other party.

Suddenly, there was a little more sentimentality between the two of them.

"Agron, don't be discouraged, these bad days will eventually pass." After a moment, Princess Sophie adjusted her emotions and comforted the boy, "I said it...... Someday I'll be in charge here, and that's when you'll be completely free, no one will be able to bully you anymore, and you can do whatever you want...... Just wait until then, trust me! ”

Aiglon knew that Her Highness was right.

Although she was married to the emperor's youngest son, Archduke Karl, it is well known that the emperor's eldest son, Ferdinand, suffered from a serious congenital disease and lost his fertility, and even if he succeeded to the throne, it would be difficult to rule the country, and eventually the Austrian throne would fall to the side of Her Royal Highness the Princess.

In history, Ferdinand succeeded to the throne in 1835, abdicated in 1848 due to serious illness and could not handle state affairs, and Princess Sufi's son Franz Joseph succeeded to the throne at the age of 18.

However, it was already 1848, and now it is 1826.

Even if Her Royal Highness Princess Sophie does not change her mind in the future, she is really willing to fulfill her promise, and it will be at least 20 years before she has the final say in the court.

How many twenty years of life are left to waste here?

He didn't want to wait that long.

He didn't have that much time to endure either.

"I believe in you, Your Highness." Aiglon closed his eyes with great emotion, "I'll wait for that day." ”