"Elizabeth, what’s wrong with you? Why are you always so absent-minded?"
Franz Joseph’s reprimanding voice reached Elizabeth’s ears, and her expression imdiately tensed. Her slender little hands unconsciously clenched, "I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I was just distracted!"
Damn it! Why did I speak to her like that just now!
Looking at his tense fiancée in front of him, Franz Joseph couldn’t help but feel regret. He hadn’t given up Helen to choose Elizabeth just to vent his anger on her.
However, based on the Emperor’s pride, Franz Joseph didn’t choose to apologize to Elizabeth. Instead, he spoke to her in a slightly firm tone, "Be careful next ti!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Elizabeth responded, then finished the last part of the dance with Franz Joseph.
After the dance ended, Elizabeth withdrew her hand from Franz Joseph’s grasp.
Under Franz Joseph’s astonished gaze, Elizabeth looked around, searching for Jero Bonaparte’s figure.
A few seconds later, Elizabeth spotted Jero Bonaparte.
At that mont, Jero Bonaparte was holding a graceful noblewoman with one arm, while his other hand was tightly entwined with hers, incredibly suggestive.
Pah! What an adulterous couple!
Elizabeth couldn’t help but curse internally, feeling it unfair for her sister Augusta.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" Franz Joseph’s voice reached Elizabeth’s ears once again.
Snapping back to reality, Elizabeth hurriedly responded to Franz Joseph, "Your Majesty, what are your orders!"
"The second dance is about to start! You mustn’t be like you were just now!" Franz Joseph reminded her.
"Yes!" Elizabeth replied to Franz Joseph.
The second piece began once again. This ti, Elizabeth didn’t make frequent mistakes like before, but Franz Joseph keenly noticed that her gaze kept drifting in a certain direction.
Thus, during the interval between the second and third pieces, Franz Joseph followed Elizabeth’s line of sight while dancing, and at the end of it, he spotted Richard tternich.
Could it be that Elizabeth is interested in him... Impossible! They don’t even know each other!
Franz Joseph shook his head, dispelling his absurd thoughts.
Poor Richard tternich had no idea that his unintentional standing position almost ensnared him in the monarch’s suspicions.
After a few more dances, Elizabeth gradually lost all hope.
In her heart, Jero Bonaparte had changed from a family-oriented monarch to a deceitful villain.
"Elizabeth, I’m afraid I can’t join you for the next dance!" Franz Joseph said apologetically.
"Why?" Elizabeth asked Franz Joseph in confusion.
Franz Joseph inford Elizabeth that he had received a request to dance from Madam Valerovsky.
"Countess Valerovsky? Is she very skilled?" Elizabeth asked quietly.
Franz Joseph nodded and replied to Elizabeth, "Her husband is a favorite of Jero Bonaparte, and Valerovsky is likely to succeed De Luy as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, so I can’t refuse the invitation!"
"I understand!" Elizabeth nodded understandingly.
After Franz Joseph had left, Elizabeth stood alone.
Many who wished to invite Elizabeth to dance were stopped in their tracks by her status.
Looking at the elegantly dressed gentlen around her, Elizabeth’s face showed a disappointed expression.
Just as Elizabeth was about to leave the dance floor, Jero Bonaparte’s voice reached her ears, "Princess Elizabeth, are you also without a dance partner?"
Elizabeth turned around to look at Jero Bonaparte and nodded.
"May I have the honor of being your dance partner?" Jero Bonaparte asked politely, extending his hand to Elizabeth.
"It would be my honor, Your Majesty!" Elizabeth respectfully replied, then placed her hand in Jero Bonaparte’s.
As Jero Bonaparte’s hand grasped Elizabeth’s, the band once again struck a joyful tune, this ti selecting a piece by the late music master Chopin.
Jero Bonaparte and Elizabeth began to move together in rhythm.
"Little one, you seem unhappy!" Jero Bonaparte whispered to Elizabeth as they danced.
"Your Majesty, I am not a little brat!" Elizabeth emphasized with a pout; she didn’t like being viewed as an immature child.
"Then what should I call you? Elizabeth? Sisi?" Jero Bonaparte asked Elizabeth with a smile.
Still just a little girl!
"Sisi, I suppose!" Elizabeth thought for a mont and responded to Jero Bonaparte.
"Sisi, why do you look a bit unhappy? Did Franz upset you again?" Jero Bonaparte curiously asked Elizabeth.
"No!" Elizabeth shook her head and then glanced at Jero Bonaparte.
"Then why did you look so troubled just now?" Jero Bonaparte continued.
"It’s because..." Elizabeth hesitated for a mont and didn’t speak.
"Because of what?" Jero Bonaparte inquired, puzzled.
"You are all liars!" Elizabeth said sothing that made Jero Bonaparte feel helplessly amused.
"When did I beco a liar!" Jero Bonaparte pretended to be wronged and said, "I risked my life to dance with you!"
"Hmph! Weren’t you just talking about Augusta in the room earlier?" Elizabeth’s tone carried a slight accusation.
"That’s right! I do love Augusta!" Jero Bonaparte paused for a few seconds and answered confidently.
"And yet you were holding soone else’s waist, making such intimate gestures!"
At this point, Elizabeth’s face blushed slightly.
All this fuss, this little girl had barely experienced any dances.
"Is it intimate?" Jero Bonaparte slightly adjusted his position so that Elizabeth could see Franz Joseph.
At this mont, Franz Joseph also had one hand on Madam Valleski’s waist, making a gesture that appeared very intimate to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth montarily lost her composure, and her previously orderly steps suddenly beca chaotic. If Jero Bonaparte hadn’t quickly supported Elizabeth by the waist, she might have embarrassed herself at the dance.
"Thank you!" Elizabeth expressed her gratitude to Jero Bonaparte, then imdiately realized that their current posture was also sowhat ambiguous.
Their bodies were almost touching, with Jero Bonaparte bending down to et Elizabeth’s gaze.
"Sisi, this is social dancing! Physical contact is, of course, essential!" In such a situation, Jero Bonaparte didn’t find anything inappropriate.
In his eyes, Princess Sisi was no more than an endearing little sister.
In terms of cuteness, she was definitely the best in the hall.
However, when it ca ti to contest the hardware, whether it was Augusta, Marchioness Aile, Eugenie, or Madam Valleski, they all surpassed this little girl in front of him, even the first-ti eting, Vilnius’s front was far more imposing than Elizabeth’s.
Seeing Princess Sisi reminded Jero Bonaparte of his first eting with Vilnius.
"Moreover, how do you know I was sneaking around behind Augusta’s back?" Jero Bonaparte continued to ask.
"Ah!" Elizabeth couldn’t help but gasp softly, "Are all French people so bold?"
"I am not a pure Frenchman!" Jero Bonaparte switched to German to respond to Elizabeth, "In fact, I’ve lived in Wurttemberg longer than in France! Augusta is also my childhood friend!"
Elizabeth also switched to German and said to Jero Bonaparte, "Even if you’re not a pure Frenchman, you shouldn’t..."
"Sisi, you don’t understand France!" Jero Bonaparte explained to Elizabeth, "This country exudes a carefree romanticism from its bones, so to beco its Monarch, one must embrace romance! A conservative Monarch could never rule this country. My love for Augusta is the sa as my love for Tuileries Palace!
Only children make choices!"
"Then you shouldn’t deceive Augusta!" Elizabeth spoke up for Empress Augusta.
"I’m not deceiving her!" Jero Bonaparte told Elizabeth, "All of my lovers are known to Augusta, and they get along quite well!"
"Ah!" Elizabeth was once again astonished by Jero Bonaparte’s statent.
"I cherish everyone I love and everyone who loves !" Jero Bonaparte solemnly responded to Elizabeth, "Though I can’t give everyone the sa status, my love for them is the sa, and I respect all their choices!"
"Hmph! In the end, how are you different from other Monarchs!" Elizabeth accused Jero Bonaparte.
"In this world, the hardest thing is to treat people as people!" Jero Bonaparte replied to Elizabeth, "Which of the Monarchs you’ve seen truly respect won? They rely regard won as their possessions or gifts!"
"And what about you?"
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