Eagle’s Glory

As night fell, the quiet Schönbrunn Palace ushered in its own lively moment.

After this period of silence, the graceful palace has finally returned to its radiance with a new public event.

Although the official announcement has not been made, the gossip in the upper class has already spread, and Her Royal Highness Princess Sophie, who is recovering from a serious illness, will also appear this time.

Her Royal Highness Sophie suddenly disappeared from the public eye before, which aroused extreme curiosity from the outside world. The official explanation was that she was seriously ill and needed to rest. Well-informed people speculated that she was punished because she angered His Majesty the Emperor. .

But now that she has reappeared in public, this rumor has finally been shattered.

After nightfall, carriages drove into the gates of the palace along the bridges on the Vienna River, and naturally there was a carriage belonging to Archduke Karl's family.

Soon, Teresa and her mother Henrietta stepped into the palace again.

Walking on the scarlet carpet, Teresa recalled her glorious night in a trance.

On that day, she came here to participate in a celebration, a coming-of-age ceremony that belonged to her. It was here that she accepted the royal arrangement, danced with the young man, and received the crown presented by His Majesty the Emperor and Empress...

In the splendid brilliance, the teenagers and girls in Chinese costumes danced selflessly in the middle. It was a memory that was as gorgeous as a rose, and it still shines in her mind to this day.

By the way, the crown that His Majesty gave to Teresa that night was also packaged by Teresa as a precious souvenir and collection. It will leave with the owner and be revealed to the person she loves again.

In the memory, Teresa came to the banquet hall with her mother and other guests.

She looked around subconsciously, but she couldn't find many traces in her memory.

Well, it saves you the trouble of touching the scene.

There is no His Highness here. Even though the brilliance is bright and everyone is jeweled, it is so desolate that there is no trace of warmth.

Teresa noticed that from time to time someone recognized her, and then looked at her secretly, as if to judge her state of mind at the moment, and when she inadvertently looked at these people, the other party would always reveal An embarrassed yet polite smile, and then looked away as if nothing was wrong.

Although more than one person here has talked about the news about Her Royal Highness Princess Teresa in private, on this occasion, no one dared to show a little mockery or pity in person. Boundless chatter is killing the time.

A series of sensational events that happened a while ago seem to have disappeared into the invisible, and no one remembers those gossips anymore.

How can you vulgar people who take pleasure in judging other people's opinions all day long, how can they understand their true interests? Teresa thought to herself.

Teresa didn't care about the thoughts of these people at all. After she came to the banquet hall, she consciously hid in the corner and waited quietly for the purpose of her trip to come true.

And her mother, Henrietta, was strolling through the banquet hall, looking for an opportunity to approach His Royal Highness Sophie.

Just as people were chatting, "God Save the Emperor Franz" was played in the hall, and then someone loudly announced.

"His Majesty the Emperor is here!"

With this shout, the hall suddenly fell silent.

Then, the door opened, and His Majesty the Emperor appeared in front of everyone.

Because of the ravages of time, this majesty has become more and more old, even wearing a gorgeous uniform, can not hide the wrinkles after the decline of energy.

According to etiquette, people stood on both sides and watched His Majesty arrive at the center of the hall.

However, unlike usual, this time the focus of people's attention was not on His Majesty the Emperor, but instead passed over his withered body and landed on the woman behind him.

His Royal Highness Sophie, as rumored, has reappeared in public.

People who knew this Highness, the moment they saw her, compared her current appearance with the appearance in their own impressions.

Compared to the past, Her Royal Highness Sophie is now losing weight. At the same time, the skin exposed at the neckline of her skirt is strangely pale, as if the sun has not been seen in her long-term residence.

Seeing her current appearance, most people immediately believed the official statement that she had been seriously ill before.

And at this moment, Her Royal Highness, with a calm smile, calmly followed behind Her Majesty the Emperor, but her eyes only fell on the void in the distance, and she never met anyone.

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor!"

Amidst the cheers, everyone bowed to the emperor.

After His Majesty the Emperor walked to the throne, he nodded to everyone, "Thank you for attending tonight's event, and I wish you all a good time."

After saying a short sentence, he seemed to have no interest in saying more, just turned his head and explained a few words to Princess Sophie beside him.

Princess Sophie listened to His Majesty's words calmly, nodding from time to time, indicating that she fully understood His Majesty's will. Then, she left His Majesty's side and came to the crowd.

Then, the banquet officially began, and people resumed their normal rhythm, and began to gather in twos and threes to chat.

Taking advantage of this gap, Henrietta walked to Princess Sophie's side without a trace, and at this time, a lot of people had gathered around her.

Many people wanted to take advantage of Princess Sophie's recovery from a serious illness to impress her in front of her, but seeing that Grand Duke Karl's wife took the lead, they had no choice but to give up and wait for the end of their conversation to please Her Royal Highness. .

"Good evening, Your Highness." Henrietta smiled and bowed to Sophie with her skirt up.

"Good evening." Sophie also smiled.

Although there is not much kindness in this smile, Henrietta can't care so much at this time.

"Your Highness, on behalf of my husband and all my family, I congratulate you on your recovery from your illness. Thank God for your victory over your illness." Henrietta said respectfully to Sophie, "Your health is the most important thing for the Empire. Precious, please take care of your health in the future."

"Thank you for your concern, ma'am." Sophie nodded lightly. "I also wish you and your family good health."

While saying compliments, Henrietta secretly looked at the princess who had not been seen for a long time.

She didn't have much contact with Princess Sophie before, but she already had some impressions of this princess. In the impression, she is high-spirited, a little arrogant, and full of energy, full of courage in her gestures.

But now she is different - although she is standing here, but no matter how you look at it, she is not thinking, with a sense of weariness that cannot be erased, and the original bright eyes seem to be extinguished at this time, He just stared at everything in front of him mechanically and indifferently.

The smile on her face was very gentle, but not warm. Although the two looked at each other for only a moment, Henrietta only felt a shiver in her heart.

In the end what happened? She seems to be a different person... Henrietta thought to herself.

Could it be that the condition is too serious, and it has not recovered yet?

No, it's not just a physical change, it's a mental one.

Could the previous rumors be true... Her Royal Highness Sophie was severely reprimanded and punished by His Majesty for helping that Highness escape?

Although there were so many thoughts in her heart, Henrietta couldn't make too many guesses, and she couldn't lose her appearance in front of everyone's eyes, so she quickly put down her consternation and smiled.

"While you were recovering, my daughter was also worried about your health, but unfortunately she never had the chance to see you." Henrietta calmed down, then stated the purpose of her trip, "I heard today that you want to To face the public again, so she also begged me to bring her over, saying she had to see you."

"Huh? See me?" Sophie was slightly surprised.

Then, the corner of her mouth twitched, and she smiled slightly mockingly, "She will worry about me? Then I really want to thank her for her mercy."

The smile on Henrietta's face instantly collapsed.

It seems that this His Royal Highness has not changed at all, and the point of being poisonous with his mouth has not changed.

When her daughter was told this, as a mother, she was naturally a little angry, but in order to fulfill her daughter's wish, she also suppressed the anger in her heart and asked the other party again.

"Then are you willing to give Teresa such an honor?"

"Of course, I also want to see how she is now." Sophie thought about it, nodded immediately, and replied with a smile, "No matter what she thinks, everything that has happened has already happened, maybe the two of us There will still be some resonance between the unlucky ones."

Unlucky bastard... Henrietta frowned again, even more annoyed.

The other party's words sounded like they were ridiculing Teresa for being an abandoned wife after running away from marriage.

Since that incident, she hated others the most for exposing her daughter's scars in front of her, and now she was ridiculed in person, how could she not be angry?

As the emperor's younger brother, her husband has a detached status. If he is treated coldly by His Majesty, it will be fine. It is unbearable for a prince and concubine to be so arrogant to his own family.

She decided to leave with Teresa immediately after the two of them finished chatting, so that she would never be disliked again.

"Thank you for your generosity." She decided to stop talking, saluted and left immediately. "I'll bring her over to find you later."

Soon, she returned to where she was just now, and to Teresa's side.

"My daughter..." After seeing Teresa, she shouted first, then picked up a glass of wine from the side and drank it angrily.

"What's the matter, Mom?" Teresa asked with concern.

After taking a sip of wine, Henrietta finally calmed down and looked at her daughter again.

"Child, in order to fulfill your wish, I just walked up to that Highness and made your request politely and diligently. She agreed."

"That's great..." Teresa breathed a sigh of relief, and then she immediately noticed something was wrong, "Then why are you so unhappy?"

"Of course it's because of her! She sneered at me, and sneered at you secretly." Henrietta became angry at the thought of this, and couldn't help frowning. "I thought she was recovering from a serious illness and I felt pity for her, but I didn't expect her to treat us like this, it's too much!"

Having said this, Henrietta couldn't help but draw a conclusion indignantly. "She's still the same as usual, even worse than usual."

"Maybe it's because of the bruised and bruised heart that I can no longer be sympathetic to other people's feelings." Teresa muttered softly.

"What?" Henrietta didn't hear.

"It's nothing." Teresa shook her head quickly, "Anyway, thank you, Mom, for being wronged like this for me... I'm really sorry."

"Silly boy, what do you need to apologize for? It's not you who should apologize." Henrietta shook her head, "Anyway, she'll meet you later when she's free, you can finish talking, and then we'll get back to you. Go home, there's really no need to give her much face."

"Okay, Mom." Teresa nodded slightly.

As usual, everyone started dancing during the banquet, and the melodious music resounded throughout the hall.

Princess Sophie was unwell because of her serious illness, so she did not dance, and no one was stupid enough to take the risk of the recent public opinion, and took the initiative to invite Her Royal Highness Theresa to dance, so the two of them both took time off.

Theresa waited silently until,

A court attendant walked up to her respectfully and bowed to her softly and gracefully.

"His Royal Highness, do you still have time? Her Royal Highness Princess Sophie wants to see you."

It was this moment that Teresa had been waiting for, so of course she didn't say much, and nodded immediately.

"I am honored."

Then, she stood up, followed the attendant out of the banquet hall, and then walked along the corridor to the door of a room.

The attendant knocked softly on the door.

"Your Highness, Teresa has come down."

"Come in." came the answer.

So he opened the door carefully and walked in with Teresa.

After Teresa entered the room, she found Princess Sophie sitting on the sofa, looking at herself proudly.

"Go out." Sophie waved at the attendant.

The attendant hesitated, but did not move.

"Go out!" Sophie called out again impatiently, "Are you afraid that the two of us will not be able to conspiracy?"

Facing the anger of Her Royal Highness, the attendant finally nodded slightly and left the room, so there were finally only the two of them left.

Teresa finally came face to face with her once again.

They didn't meet much, but every time they met was unpleasant, and this time was no exception.

Only this time, she felt a little more pity in her heart.

"Long time no see, Teresa." Sophie looked at the girl in front of her with a smile, and then greeted in a low voice, "Although it's not always pleasant to meet you, but thinking about it, I'm also relieved... …How would I describe our meeting? The settlement of a feud, or the symphony of the hapless?”