"De Mopp—" Madame du Barry stiffened her head and looked at Lord Mopp on the presiding bench, her eyes, which had been out of focus, gradually became clearer, and her pupils finally regained a little rejuvenation.

Her body was trembling slightly, but not from the cold, but from the anger and fear that filled her brain.

Madame du Barry could not understand how they dared to kidnap herself to the Palais de Justice for an inexplicable trial, as the most powerful woman in all of France.

However, looking at the thousands of pairs of eyes that stared at her tightly, a sense of fear that went straight to the bone marrow preceded the humiliation of being kidnapped into Madame Dubarry's brain.

She took a deep breath, desperately restrained the trembling of her legs, and then looked at Lord Mopp, trying to maintain her status and majesty as the Countess du Barry, and reprimanded sharply: "What the hell do you want to do, de Mopp!" You and that damn Lawrence Bonaparte, what the hell are you trying to do! I'm telling you, after I return to the Tuileries today, this matter..."

"Silence!" Seeing the appearance of Dubarlif's mouth, Justice Mopp directly picked up the judge's gavel in his hand and slammed it heavily on the presiding table, instantly interrupting Madame Dubarry's words: "Jeanne Bequ, the person on trial, must not make noise in the courtroom. ”

"You! Mopp! Madame Dubarry's pupils shook, and she raised her voice to say something, but in the next second, the voices of the citizens immediately drowned out all her words: "What? That woman is Madame du Barry?! I thought she had escaped from an insane asylum. ”

"It can't be wrong, Justice Mopp just called her Madame, they must have known each other."

"This damn woman is not hiding in the palace."

"Hmph, it's really good luck to be able to see this femme fatale woman on trial with my own eyes."

"This vicious bitch, fuck it, I'm mad at the sight of her face!"

"Slut! Go to hell! ”

"Go to hell!" ... At this moment, the people in the courtyard were finally convinced that the unkempt madwoman on the stage was the legendary Countess du Barry.

And with the identification of Madame du Barry, the emotions of the citizens instantly changed from shock to anger.

Even the insults and curses could not soothe the anger in the hearts of the citizens, and many of them directly picked up the stones on the ground and threw them at Madame du Barry.

From the eyes of the townspeople, Madame du Barry was the root of all the evils of this winter, and almost all the newspapers they read every day emphasised this.

Even many of the people present vented their dissatisfaction with the state and society on Madame du Barry.

Whether it's inflation or rising prices, or corruption and economic malaise, it seems that the main culprit of all this misery is the Countess du Barry in front of them.

On the judgment seat, listening to the rude and straightforward insult in her ears, and looking at the stones that rained down in front of her, Madame Dubarry's mind went blank, as if she had not yet accepted this nightmarish reality.

She was a noble countess, a noble mistress of the king. But now, she stood in the middle of thousands of people with an unprecedented ugliness, and was forced to swallow the most vicious insults by thousands of people.

Such a huge gap instantly caused Madame du Barry to fall into a trance, and she could not say a word for a long time when she opened her mouth.

In addition to this unbearable humiliation, Madame du Barry suddenly had a terrifying question in her mind as she looked at the thousands of angry people: whether she would return to the Tuileries Palace alive today.

Justice Mopp did not take the initiative to stop the discussion of the crowd at the scene, he waited quietly for the invective in the courtyard to gradually subside, and then said in a deep voice: "Jeanne Bequard, since you have come to the courtroom, please cooperate with all the investigations of this court; If you are innocent, this court will not force you to be wronged, but if you are tainted with sin, this court will not miss any clues, do you understand? Madame Dubarry swept around the crowd out of the corner of her eye, and barely squeezed out a sentence from between her teeth: "I understand." At this point, Madame du Barry's last remaining sanity told her that there was no hope of getting out of the palace only if she cooperated with Lord Mopp to continue this pretentious trial, otherwise the crowd alone would never allow herself to leave the palace with a swagger.

"Very well, Jeanne Bequ, we will now begin our investigation and interrogation of you." Justice Mopp nodded with satisfaction, spread out a blank file on the main bench, took out a quill pen dipped in ink, and prepared to begin recording this unprecedented public trial: "First of all, about your alleged crime of embezzlement of citizens' property, the person on trial listens, have you embezzled those property that should belong to the common ownership of citizens? And before Justice Mopp could finish speaking, Mrs. Dubarry shook her head twice and said sharply: "Misappropriation? What are you kidding, when have I ever done something like that, and what charges can be put on my head! As soon as she finished speaking, there was an overwhelming insult from the crowd below: "Shameless woman! It's still lying at this time! ”

"Die! Dare to quibble! Justice Mopp's face also became gloomy, and he put down the quill in his hand and confirmed in a low tone: "Jeanne Bequ, you should understand that if you tell any lie in court, this court will definitely punish you with the highest sentence. Madame Dubarry snorted, not taking Justice Mup's threat to account for for the thousands of emotional mobs she feared, not any High Court decision.

She knew in her heart that no matter what charges this hypocritical court had convicted her, as long as she could return to the Tuileries and Louis XV, no matter how thick the verdict was, it would be nothing more than a pile of waste paper.

Unimpressed by Madame du Barry's contempt, Lord Mup said with a solemn expression: "Well, Jeanne Bequette on trial, since you have maintained your innocence, this court needs you to give an explanation of the following things. With that, under the bewildered gaze of Madame du Barry, Lord Mopp took out a stack of accounts from his robe, handed it to an assistant judge beside him, and motioned for him to read it out.

The assistant judge took the account, which was nearly half a foot thick, went to the center of the courtroom, and read it aloud to the public: "On April 2, 1769, two hundred and fifty thousand livres were transferred for the Countess du Barry to order a dress, and it was noted that the cost of the jewels on the dress was not included in this sum." ”

"On June 12 of the same year, 2.2 million livres were transferred for the Countess du Barry to purchase a garden villa in the Saint-Germain district, note: the cost of repairs to the villa is not included."

"On July 7 of the same year, four hundred thousand livres were transferred for the Countess du Barry to purchase eight purebred Andalusian horses to be used to pull the carriage for Madame's troika."

"On September 15 of the same year, a hundred thousand livres were transferred for Madame du Barry to hold a salon and a reception in Versailles." ... This stack of accounts is exactly what Lawrence has obtained from the hands of Director Jonah, all the records of the misappropriation of funds from the royal accounts by Madame du Barry over the years.

As the assistant judge recited, the eyes of the people in the audience gradually widened, and they all had expressions of disbelief.

Although the citizens had heard of the luxurious life of the royal family before this, it was not until these specific figures were put in front of them that the citizens knew that this woman's greed and extravagance had far exceeded their imagination.

Two hundred and fifty thousand livres for the dress, four hundred and forty livres for the horses, the citizens could not imagine that the riches they would never look up to in their lives were spilled out like flowing water in the hands of Madame du Barry.

And after the shock, the people immediately became angry. Such an extravagant and wealthy woman, she was not satisfied with this extravagant and indulgent life, and even extended her claws to the subsidy money that the poor people were looking forward to, which was a matter of life and death.

Madame du Barry looked at the account in the assistant judge's hand in a daze, and she did not understand how this account from within the palace could be in the hands of Lord Mopp.

But there was no time left for her to think about these questions, and Madame du Barry, listening to the insults that rang in her ears again, suddenly turned red, and directly interrupted the assistant judge and shouted: "Enough! What the hell are you trying to say, all this money was given to me by His Majesty, are you questioning His Majesty's decision?! Justice Mopp struck the gavel again and said in a deep voice: "I have said that Jeanne Bequ, the person on trial, must not make noise in the courtroom; Since you said that these were all gifts from His Majesty the King, then we will investigate later, but... What do you have to defend the last page of the accounts? The assistant judge also hurriedly turned to the last page of the accounts, and shouted at the top of his voice: "On December 20, 1770, four million livres were transferred for the purchase of a set of jewels by Madame du Barry. ”

"On January 14, 1771, the income of seven million livres, from the donations of Lawrence Bonaparte and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, was used for the payment of the winter allowance of 1771."

"On the 17th of January 1771, seven million livres were transferred from the account of the Winter Allowance Fund to the account of the Inner Treasury at the request of Madame du Barry." As the last three records were read out, the scene fell into a brief silence.

Madame Dubarry froze in place, her face pale, her eyes fixed on the accounts in the assistant judge's hand, unable to utter a word.

She had no idea where that last record came from. She hadn't even seen the damn Director Jonah these days, and there was no way she could have made such a ridiculous request to embezzle the seven million bailout funds again.

After a brief pause, the crowd finally understood what the last three records meant: it meant that all the rumors about Madame du Barry had been thoroughly confirmed these days.

It was this woman, not anyone else, who shamelessly and pathetically embezzled two bailout funds in a row.

Thinking of the miserable lives of the poor in the newspapers this winter, and the frozen corpses found on street corners every morning, including even their wives and children, the citizens' hatred for the woman on the stage reached a new climax in an instant: the next moment, the invective swept from all sides to the judgment seat like a raging storm: "Hypocritical bitch! ”

"Confess your sin, you slut!"

"Every second of your life is a waste of our time!"

"Hang her, hang her!" ... Madame Dubarry stood helplessly at the centre of the storm, and in whichever direction she looked, her gaze was met by the fierce eyes of the citizens who were eager to eat their flesh and blood.

She took two steps back in horror, her voice trembling and crying out, "No, I didn't! That account is forged! I didn't touch the seven million livres, are you all fools?! Mopp, you despicable villain! Madame du Barry cried out in a broken heart, trying to make the crowd around her understand that she could not, and would not dare to touch the seven million livres, again.

It was a donation from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and Madame du Barry would not have touched it even if she was stupid.

But no one would listen to the arguments of a hateful sinner, and Justice Muppe looked coldly at Madame du Barry, waiting quietly for the insults to subside, and then said: "Jeanne Bequét, this account comes from the court, and every record is stamped with a seal, and you say it is forged, but what evidence is there?" ”

"I... You...! Madame du Barry shuddered and could not say a word, and of course she could not prove that the last record was forged, for she had only learned of the existence of such a record three minutes earlier.

Lord Mup looked at Madame du Barry's ugly appearance like this, and after a moment continued: "If you have no reasonable doubt, the evidence of this court is valid, and what explanation do you have for these records?" ”

"I... Madame du Barry bowed her head in despair, the most important of the hundreds of records was the last, or the last, and what justification could she make for a forged record.

Lord Mopp nodded slightly, calmly took the account from the assistant judges, and then looked around at the fifty-two voting judges sitting on either side.

The voting judges also looked at Justice Mopp and nodded in unison, although it was not yet the final decision, but the judges knew in their hearts how to cast their votes.

Madame Dubarry bowed her head and said nothing, she now only hoped that this disgusting trial would be over sooner rather than later, and that she would soon get out of the mob surrounded by thousands of blood-soaked people.

Regardless of whether he was imprisoned or placed under house arrest, as soon as His Majesty learned of her whereabouts, Madame du Barry was confident that Louis XV would turn over at once and strangle the pretentious Mope and Bonaparte who dared to send someone to kidnap her.

However, Lord Mapp did not immediately proceed to the vote. He took a quill and made some notes on the file, then looked at Madame du Barry again and said, "This is the end of the discussion of your first charge, then, Jeanne Bequé, and then your second charge, but before that—" Madame du Barry was stunned again, and she could not think of anything else that Justice Mup could do other than embezzle the subsidy funds.

Justice Mopp ignored Madame du Barry's doubts, he gently put down his quill pen, looked at the crowd of people in the audience, and said in a deep voice: "Witness summoned, Jean Dubarry enters!" ”