After the official business was done, Empress Elizabeth left Peter alone.

"You've surprised me again today, Peter. Fedorovich"

"Thank you aunt for the compliment, hehe"

Peter grabbed the apple from the bowl and nibbled on it.

"Why do you think I'm complimenting you and nothing else?"

The Empress leaned forward and approached Peter's eyes, which were staring at him.

"Oh, when you're usually angry, you're very calm at first, but just now, your tone was a questioning voice raised, so I guess you didn't really want to get angry."

"Hehe, you have experience in being scolded by me, right?"

"Well, well, so to speak..."

Peter pouted helplessly.

"Well, let me ask you again, did someone tell you about the mastermind of the incident that you just told Ivanovich about in advance, or did you discuss it, or did it come from your own thinking?"

"Huh? That's what you wanted to ask? Of course I thought it was for myself."

Peter continued to nibble on the apple.

"But how did I hear that Baron Mirkovsky discussed it with you?"

"Oh, after escaping from the forest that day, I discussed with Mirkovsky and Captain Larshev about the mastermind behind it, both of them are more experienced than me, and if I have to say it strictly, it wasn't all my own thoughts, but in the end it was indeed my own thoughts."

"Well, according to the confession of Janissary Captain Larshev, you were the first to identify the person disguised as a Praetorian Guard, how did you find out that there was something wrong with that person at that time?"

The more the empress asked, the more detailed she became.

"Hmm... How to say it... I feel that there is still a big difference in idiomatic language between those who have been a janissary and those who have not."

At this, Peter suddenly smiled.

For example, there are often guests from afar in the palace, such as Moscow, Yaroslav, Novgorod, and other cities, although they all speak Russian, but the accent and common words are also different, and they often make funny jokes. In other words, if that person is really a palace guard, this kind of problem will not occur. In addition, there is a problem with the title of this man, even if he is the new Praetorian Guard this month, and he should know how to address me since he set out from St. Petersburg, but the man is completely unaware of the problem with his own etiquette, so I suspect that this person has probably never been in contact with the high nobles, and is completely indifferent to the high etiquette of the upper circles, but this person is not ignorant at all, and judging from his manners, it is impossible for him to be a serf, so I guess he is an illegitimate child."

"Oh? It seems that you have been playing all day in the palace all these years, and you can still distinguish these differences, it is really not a waste of time."

"Look at what you said, I'm also working hard to learn how to be a qualified heir, okay."

But how do you know for sure that this person didn't leave a flaw on purpose? Isn't it a trap set up by the other party to confuse the investigation? What if I only follow this one clue, and the other party is secretly speeding up the destruction of other clues that may be exposed? If this matter was planned by some foreign force at all, wouldn't it be a waste of time and manpower? ”

Empress Elizabeth suddenly accentuated her tone and asked rhetorical questions.

"Look, it's this expression, it's this tone, that's what you look like when you're angry."

Peter tossed the apple core on the table.

"Of course, I also thought about whether it was instigated by someone from abroad, but after thinking about it, I felt that such a lot of effort and thankless effort was really unnecessary. Also, I was the only one who had spoken to the pretender, and I had asked him at the time, if he just wanted to assassinate, he didn't need so many people, and the more people there were, the easier it would be to track down, how could a real assassination be so exaggerated, right? ”

"How do you know? Do you know any of this well? ”

The Empress frowned.

"Oh, I've told you, I've read the book, the whole history of Russia is a bloody history of power struggles, nothing new to do, and there are just a few routines back and forth, nothing new..."

"That's it! Don't talk about it useless! ”

"Uh... Actually, I guess the mastermind didn't really want to assassinate, at least not at first."

Peter whispered suddenly.

"With their preparation, it is likely that they want to kidnap me or you, and then they want to do something, if they don't agree, the other party will really click..."

"Your imagination is rich enough."

"Really, that's another reason why I suspect that the mastermind of the incident was initiated by someone in the country, who is likely to want to release a prisoner or rehabilitate someone or something. This kind of thing is rare, but it has not been unheard of before, and of course the results are certainly not very good..."

"Humph! What grievances can be redressed under my rule? If it's for my sister Anna's business... That's impossible, no one missed her back then, and now there won't be! ”

Empress Elizabeth remembered some past events that she did not want to recall, and snorted coldly.

"This... I don't know, but one of the masterminds must have been born in that place, and it should be more or less possible to look into it according to this."

"In other words, do you think it's likely to be Anna's remnants?"

"At least, these people know the route of the palace convoy that is difficult for outsiders to know, and according to the layout of the scene, it is impossible to complete it in three days, at least the attackers must have tested how to knock down a palace carriage, not to mention that there are more than one that has been knocked down, these people can also get the clothing of the palace guards, if there are no insiders leaking, I don't believe it"

"Hmm... I've thought of this for a long time, but I'm really not sure who did it, who do you think it might be? ”

"I can't guess this, I'm not very familiar with the people in the court, and the people I usually contact are limited, and who do you think can know the route of travel that I don't even know?"

"Hehe, of course it's the one who arranged the route, you don't have to think about it!"

"However, I am strange that the attacker did not know that you would temporarily take another route, and unfortunately it was me who was attacked."

"Humph! Do you have an opinion? ”

The Empress feigned anger again.

"You're not right, are you? If the other party is not assassinating but kidnapping, then what is the use of kidnapping me? Do you care about my safety? Would you make a decision you are not willing to make for my safety? Will you be willing to be blackmailed? I don't think so, right? ”

Peter also responded with some anger.

"Hehe, you understand!"

"Don't look at me like that, I can't afford this kind of murderous look."

"Are you doubting me! Isn't it? ”

Empress Elizabeth was a little angry and slammed the table.

"Oh oh how dare I! I haven't given birth to an heir yet, so it's still useful, and of course you won't do it so soon! ”

Peter's every word was tinged with a sharp edge.

"But, I think, your enemies have realized something that you have neglected for a long time, and that is that even if I have an heir, I am much more important than him until this heir reaches the legal age of inheritance!"

"Hehe, you're thinking too much!"

"You still don't get it? If you and I are gone, you know better than me that your young heir may only be a puppet of other sinister, mean, and treacherous villains, or even a target for exploitation! It was the 'mysterious prisoner' you took me to meet. If a situation like the one I just spoke about happens, it will end up like a mysterious prisoner, and the Romanov dynasty will be extinct again! So, do you expect such an outcome? ”

The mysterious prisoner refers to Ivan VI, who was deposed after being usurped by Empress Elizabeth.

"Naturally, I'll do everything I can to prevent this from happening! But don't take yourself too seriously, at least be self-aware! ”

"So, you and I already have common interests on some issues, am I right?"

"Hehe, what do you want to do?"

"It's nothing, it's just self-preservation, I hope to have my own guard, I'm not at ease with the palace guards"

"Humph! You say your own guard? Do you still want your own army after that? Don't you want to do the opposite! ”

"If you really want to protect the country, and want to inherit and maintain the rule of my maternal grandfather, Peter the Great, then I suggest that you agree to it. Of course, I'm not a lion opening my mouth, and you should be able to have a guard of about 1,000 people at the beginning, right? ”

"How dare you think about it! Or a thousand people? You will be given a quota of five hundred at most."

"That's not good, five hundred is too little, at least eight hundred"

"Six hundred, no more, this is my money, what do you think!"

"You buy less of the latest French haute couture and come out, so why bother! Seven hundred, I want to form five companies, six hundred people are not enough"

"It's five companies, you've learned arithmetic, haven't you? Which country has a company of 140 people now? ”

"My company, the extra 20 is for the cavalry"

"The cavalry is a separate company, your company is a hundred years ago, read more books!"

"No, my company has to be formed like this, I know what you said, but my company is formed like this for other reasons."

"Where do people come from? In the army? And recruited among the nobility? ”

"I was originally Prince Holstein, of course I was recruited from Holstein"

"Huh, Holstein? What a joke! Can Holstein's soldiers be called soldiers? Do you have to get a bunch of Germans to Russia? Do you know how many people in the Reich rebelled against the Germans? Well? Just like you, something will happen sooner or later! I don't know what to do! ”

"This is my own soldier, of course you have to pick me to trust! Besides, if you had brought me to St. Petersburg two years later, you might have included Sweden in the Russian Empire! I see that you still wish that I would live a few more days, and that my uncle, who sat on the throne of Sweden, would die a few days sooner! ”

"Don't be delusional! Still want to be the co-emperor of Russia and Sweden? Do you think the neighboring countries will agree? It's pretty beautiful, and the King of Sweden? It's no wonder you can sit still like this! ”

"Not necessarily! If my uncle hangs up and my cousin hangs up, hehehehe"

"Are you serious? Thought that this kind of conspiracy was easy to achieve, right? Ridiculous! ”

"I'm a person who has just experienced life and death, and I've already seen it, okay! Besides, you are a monarch who is not merciful for the sake of power, do you think I have just said something wrong? If you are serious about planning for the future of the Russian Empire, then I am not thinking that it is an option, right? ”

"Hehe, if you change too quickly, I'm going to worry that you're going to do something I don't want to see! Then I'll have to take some necessary precautions! ”

"Yes, yes, what you said is right, but I'm telling the truth, as for whether I can do it... It's not up to me to decide, I'm worried about something! ”

"You! If your words are spread outside, you will be assassinated at any time! ”

“...”