Eagle’s Glory

While the Count of Monte Cristo impassively conveyed the greetings of His Majesty the Emperor to his comrades, a small storm was also rising in a certain manor in far away Vienna.

The storm only pervades the living room, and outsiders have no way of knowing it, but it has a far-reaching impact, enough to shake the direction of future history.

On this afternoon, Teresa tiptoed to the door of the study, and knocked gently on the door.

She knew that her father was at home today, and because of the recent official business, his mood was much better.

So, it's time to discuss the important things.

"Who is it?" A greeting came to mind.

"It's me, Dad...I have something I want to tell you." Teresa replied softly.

"Oh, come in then." Father agreed quickly.

Teresa did not open the door immediately, but took a deep breath to adjust her spirit to the best state before pushing the door in.

She knew that she might face a spiritual war next, but she was fearless.

In the spacious study, she passed through the rows of bookshelves, and then came to the center of the study. At this time, Archduke Karl was also sitting on a chair with a book that had just been put down beside him.

"My daughter, what's the matter?" He asked gently, then pointed to the seat next to him and motioned for his daughter to sit down.

He is really in a good mood now.

Since returning from a trip to Rome, Teresa's complexion has obviously improved a lot, and the smile on her face has occasionally appeared, which also made the old father feel a little more at ease.

Maybe time can indeed heal all wounds, and Teresa finally came out of the shadows slowly.

However, he did not expect that instead of dissipating the hidden shadow, it expanded recklessly, swallowing his daughter's heart - and today is the day Teresa finds a good time to reveal it to him.

What a cruel day! And he doesn't know it yet.

Teresa sat down at her father's orders, then looked at her father.

Then she spoke solemnly.

"Father...I have something important to tell you, and...a request."

Then, in the stunned gaze of Archduke Karl, Teresa calmly stated the truth, "During the journey to Rome, I saw His Royal Highness."

"What?!" Her first sentence caused her father to exclaim, interrupting her. "He came to find you secretly?!"

"Actually, I took the initiative to find him, and I was lucky enough to find it..." Teresa sternly corrected her father's wording error, and continued, "We met and reiterated The agreement to each other, that is to say, we both believe that the marriage contract will continue to be valid..."

"What the hell! You're here to tell me this?!" Her father interrupted her again, and then snapped, "What else did you do?"

"Do you really want to know?" Teresa raised her head and looked at her father, "Well, let me tell you, we hug, we cry, we dance, we promise life, we kiss, and we have…"

"Shut up! You actually... You dare to say these shameless words to me. When did I teach you to speak like this?" Duke Karl was so angry that he was about to lose his temper. He stood up aggressively, and then looked around the study room. , "Where's my gun? I'm going to kill him!"

After a while, he came back to his senses, and he was already dizzy.

He forced himself to sit down, but his lips were trembling, "He...after he did such a thing, how dare...how dare he come back to tease your heart and destroy your only remaining happiness? Shameless, bastard! "

"Don't scold him like that. If you have to scold him, then I will also have a share, because I did it with happiness." Teresa said without hesitation, "We share half of all the responsibilities. I am also very happy to take on this responsibility. So I implore you to be lenient with us one more time and give His Highness another chance..."

"What chance?" Archduke Karl asked sharply.

"Be your son-in-law and give me a chance to be happy in the future," Teresa replied in a low voice, "We have made an agreement that I will go abroad to find him again in the name of traveling after a while, and then stay together like this, just like that. Like any unmarried couple. This time back home, I just want to get your permission."

"Hey! Okay, okay!" Archduke Karl laughed angrily and shouted ironically, "It turns out that you have already decided everything, and then asked me to acquiesce and give me a chance to bless you... Do I still want to thank you?"

Teresa didn't answer. She knew that her father was angry now, so she didn't want to provoke him any more, but she kept looking at her father, begging him to forgive him once.

"No, no!" Archduke Karl replied firmly. "You know what he did, he lied, he broke his trust! He seriously damaged the interests of our country, and he made you a laughing stock, how can such a person deserve me to give me another chance? It's ridiculous! What's more, he He has done even more vile and shameful things!"

"What?" Teresa asked in surprise.

Archduke Carl frowned with a gloomy face. After a while, he sighed, "Well, it's just the two of us here, so I'll tell you something—"

Then, his expression became serious, "His Royal Highness Sophie has been disappearing from public view recently. It is officially announced that she is ill and recuperating, but according to the private news from my friends, she...she is pregnant."

"What?" Teresa was so surprised that she fell into a state of absent-mindedness for a moment. "This...is this true?"

"It should be true, that friend of mine wouldn't have the guts to joke about this kind of thing." Grand Duke Karl's voice became lower and lower, obviously he also knew that this topic was definitely not safe. "I didn't want to say this after I learned about it, but today, in order to wake you up, I'll tell you, I hope this basin of cold water can wake you up - think about it carefully, Her Royal Highness Sophie's pregnancy should have been a royal family. The good news means that the continuation is hopeful, but why is the official so secretive...?"

He didn't go into any further details, because he knew that Teresa's intelligence was clearly capable of guessing the answer on her own.

After learning about this, he didn't even tell his wife. After all, this kind of thing involves the secret of the main branch of the royal family. With his sensitive identity, he should not touch it. His royal brother was right How could he allow his younger brother to spread his own scandal?

He continued to look at his daughter, and found that Teresa was stunned, her face was as pale as paper, and a fine cold sweat suddenly appeared on her originally firm and meaningless forehead.

I'm sorry, since he's said this, he can only continue.

"The question now is who does the child belong to - although I dare not ask carefully, but according to court rumors, the relationship between His Royal Highness Sophie and the boy is very good. This Bavarian and the French have the same disease, and they are almost inseparable between each other. It's a pity It was too late when I found out about it! Well, my daughter, you know now... what a wicked man he is, and how far he has deceived you!"

Teresa closed her eyes slightly, and her body was shaking slightly, like an asthmatic attack. She took a deep breath and shook her body.

Was the blow a little too big? He thought to himself.

However, this is not a good medicine, which can relieve both father and daughter from pain.

The father watched his daughter's every move. After an unknown amount of time, Teresa finally raised her head and looked at her father again. This time, her gaze was no longer as sharp and agile as before, but instead there were tears shining. .

"Teresa, stop worrying about that guy, he's not worth it." Archduke Karl sighed, "Let this be over."

"I hate them," Teresa said suddenly.

"Yeah, so their business is up to them." Archduke Karl shrugged, "Leave them alone."

"No...it won't end!" Teresa shouted back.

"Huh?" Archduke Karl's eyes widened, unbelievable what happened next.

"I know about them... Father, His Highness didn't hide it from me, and what I said before, I understand his desire, as well as His Highness Sophie's care and love for him, so I respect their mutual affection, this is The trick of fate, who told them to attract each other before I appeared? But I didn't expect that she would choose such a decisive way in the end..." Theresa's tears fell, "I... I really hate it. Ah! After they get married, they can end it all!"

"What the **** are you talking about?" Archduke Karl was completely shocked, "So you all know...?"

"I hate him, but I also hate her... Obviously she can calmly be like those ladies, start her own romance with her beloved young man, and then say goodbye to each other politely, obviously there are so many ways not to stay The traces, let everything be sealed in the memory... In the end, she just happened to be her own willful, disturbing my life, I must let all this continue... How greedy she is, and how selfish she is!" Teresa replied with gritted teeth , there was also a flash of resentment in his eyes. "I will never forgive her for this."

But after a moment, she closed her eyes slightly again, "But, I also admire her... She is true to her own paranoia, risking losing everything, doing extraordinary things, and taking horrific sacrifices, which also proves that After all, she is really not playing a role, but really and desperately throws herself into it, with a terrifying and fearless smile, facing the flower of love that may only bloom once in her life... How admirable and noble she is!"

Teresa took a deep breath, then looked back at her father, her eyes becoming clear again.

"I used to think that our country was like a desert, with no real emotions to speak of. It's ridiculous that this fire is burning right next to me... Okay! I salute her, I really regret not saying more when I met her It's over. But if she can do it, then I...I'm not going to lose."

Looking at his daughter's aria like on the stage of the theater, Archduke Karl's heart could not help but tighten, and an absurd premonition arose.

"Hey...you won't be able to wake up, are you?" Archduke Karl asked in a trembling voice.

"Wake up? What do you mean?" Teresa glanced at her father suspiciously, "I have had a pale dream for more than ten years, but now I have plunged into a reality that makes me uneasy and excited. Of course I have woke up."

"Can you say something normal?" Archduke Karl couldn't help scolding his daughter, "Can't you think about what is best for you? Why should you abandon your glorious future and trample yourself into the mud among?!"

"Only I have the right to define what a glorious future is for myself, father." Teresa replied solemnly. "I'm absolutely myself at this point. And, I think I've found it for myself."

It's over, she's already fascinated and doesn't listen to anything. Archduke Karl sighed in his heart.

How could I be so stupid at the time, to take her to the Schönbrunn Palace in a hurry?

He couldn't help hating Metternich, Louisa, and the stupid self last year.

It is a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world, and everything is so pale and powerless now.

"You...you can't be willful any longer." After a while, Archduke Karl hissed to his daughter, "As a father, I have the right to decide your life and decide your marriage."

"Didn't you already decide once?" Teresa asked, "I think it's a good decision, and I accept it—don't you like him a lot too?"

"That's a thing of the past!" Archduke Karl the Rager interrupted his daughter, "His actions have made me change my decision, it's not my fault but his own, now I take back my decision, I want to Looking for a husband for you again, there will always be better candidates in the world."

"I beg you not to do this..." Teresa couldn't help crying, "I... I have made a decision, I love him!"

"Love? A vague and ridiculous word, without it, human beings can live well." Archduke Karl shook his head, "Life will change a person, maybe after ten or twenty years, your thoughts will be different. It's the same."

"You can do it, because it is your right, and I will never have any complaints against you, because you are my father, my beloved father - but in turn, I have my right to do what I want things to do.”

Teresa had tears in her eyes, but she still raised her head and looked at her father, "Since you don't agree to me, then I will change my habits, and I will attend every banquet that I have been troubled by. , in the name of Madame Bonaparte; I will also write letters to all who I know or not, to confide in my choice, with the same signature! This is not my claim, but the title I deserve, I Use it with pride, I don't believe who would marry such a woman... And then the world will know that Austria not only imprisoned the Roman king for more than ten years, but also intends to continue imprisoning his wife, ruthlessly letting her A family is broken because of some resentment that should have disappeared with time!"

"Shut up!!" The incomparable anger caused Archduke Karl to shout loudly.

The prince can no longer see the usual calmness now, and even the blood vessels have protruded. He raised his hand tremblingly, wanting to slap his daughter, but Teresa was still fearless and held high. He looked into his father's eyes.

After all, Archduke Karl's slap didn't come down. His hand covered his chest. The commander who had commanded thousands of troops was like being shot, and he couldn't move.

"You... crazy! You're already crazy!" My father scolded him like this for an unknown number of times.

"Maybe I'm really crazy, but this is also my choice. A person should face up to the weight of his choice. Even being a lunatic is better than being a capricious clown. In other words, if there is no such awareness, I will not be like this. Standing in front of you." Teresa replied in a low voice but solemnly, "Father, I am your daughter, so I know you, but you should know me as well, once I have made a decision, I will not I am moved by others because I cherish myself and refuse to easily destroy the quality of my soul, and you cannot force me to do so, because you are the person who should respect me the most in the world!"

Theresa's words buzzed in Duke Karl's ear, giving him a splitting headache.

He felt as if he had entered an unfamiliar world.

Why did the daughter who had always been quiet and docile and proud of her become someone he no longer recognized?

When did she develop such a sharp tongue, and when did she forge such a heart of steel?

He didn't know the answer, but he could see that he really couldn't convince her with words.

Is it really something to be proud of letting your daughter read so many books? For the first time in his life, he doubted the way he was raising his children.

How to do? If you let it go, Teresa can really do what she said, disgrace herself and the royal family, and make Habsburg a laughing stock in the eyes of the world—this is something he and His Majesty the Emperor will not tolerate no matter what. of.

So, should she be imprisoned indefinitely until she changes her mind, or...

If it were His Majesty the Emperor, I would probably choose the former, but Archduke Karl asked himself, he was reluctant to do this no matter what, how could he bear to see his daughter wither and wither at the brightest age in her life?

So, this cunning daughter, taking advantage of her father's love and intolerance, threatened me fearlessly...

He had a lot of thoughts, but he didn't seem to think about anything.

In the end he could only take a long sigh, "Teresa, have you really stopped thinking about it? Even if your father begged you?"

Teresa was about to cry, but she held back her tears and slowly shook her head.

"I'm so angry today, let's calm down first." Archduke Karl sighed, then turned around and prepared to leave. "We'll talk about that in a while."

Then, he disappeared at the door.

"I'm sorry, Dad..." After her father's back finally disappeared, Teresa could no longer hold back her sorrow and pain.

She never liked to speak to her father in such a tone, but she knew that she had to show the strongest stance right now, and only in this way could she hope that the situation would be resolved in the way she wanted the most.

If she cowered because she was timid, it would end in pain for everyone, and she could never be freed.

For momentary heartache and permanent heartache, she had no choice.

I only hope that I will have the opportunity to repay my father in the future and redeem my sins of unfilial piety...

She raised her hand to dry her tears with her sleeve.

It seems that my father has no choice and is starting to waver. Now it only takes a little time for him to finally nod... It will take some time for His Highness to start his journey anyway, so I don't need to worry so much.

She placed it gently on her chest and closed her eyes.

I hate you, Your Highness, you have only revealed a part of your soul to me, and your heart has been stolen by fate's mischief.

But... it doesn't bother me, we will meet again eventually.