“Since the Crown Prince is here, you could refine your painting by studying him closely,” Queen Mary indicated with a smile to the painter Lady Lebrun, then she had her maid bring a chair and forcefully seated Joseph on it.
Brian, upon seeing this, cast a helpless look towards Joseph and, holding the potato promotion plan signed by the Queen, took his leave.
Lady Lebrun very professionally directed her assistants to set up the painting equipment. She squinted at the sunlight and, once satisfied with the angle, began to revise the painting titled “Child of Divine Favor.”
Joseph had plans that required a painter as well, so he assumed the posture of prayer as the Queen had requested and inquired of Lady Lebrun, “Excuse me, would you be able to paint a ‘The Last Supper’ like that of Da Vinci’s?”
Lady Lebrun, rolling the paint on the canvas with a finger, nodded without hesitation, “Your Highness, that is certainly possible. In fact, every student at the Paris Academy of Art has copied that painting hundreds of times.”
Joseph smiled and asked, “Then could you make some changes to the painting for me?”
“Oh, please return to the expression you had just now, Your Highness,” Lady Lebrun frowned, but she nodded and said, “That’s certainly possible, are you thinking of altering the attire of one of the saints?”
Joseph quickly subdued his smile and looked upward obliquely, “Ah, no, actually, I was thinking of adding two potatoes to the food on the table.”
“That would be easy…” Lady Lebrun had begun to respond when she suddenly froze, “You mean ‘the devil from the ground’?”
She looked distressed, “Your Highness, I’m afraid that would require the Church’s consent, otherwise I fear it would cause some sort of sacrilege. You know, that could make me subject to ecclesiastical trial…”
Joseph tried to persuade her some more, but Lady Lebrun dared not agree and expressed that any other painter would also dare not casually add such a controversial thing as potatoes.
Joseph felt helpless and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: Pleading on behalf of God was indeed not such an easy task…
Queen Mary, sitting a little way off, saw her son frown and used her fan to shield him from the sunlight, calling out loudly, “Darling, what are you talking about?”
“Potatoes…”
The Queen showed a gracious smile, “Stop thinking about potatoes for now, those matters will naturally be taken care of by Archbishop Brian.
“Oh, by the way, did you know? Next month, Princess Maria Amalia from Two Sicilies is coming to Paris for a visit.”
“Ah, alright,” Joseph, preoccupied with how to persuade the Church, treated the Queen’s words as mere small talk and responded nonchalantly.
However, he forgot something critical—by royal custom, such pointed “visits” usually signaled a matchmaking opportunity.
Queen Mary, seeing her son’s agreement, took it as a sign he was pleased with the Princess, and couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious inside. She hastily added, “Also, your cousin, that is, Maria Clementina from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, will be visiting next month. How do you feel about that?”
Since the current Archduke of Austria, who was also the Emperor of Holy Rome, Queen Mary’s brother Joseph II had no sons and his wife had passed away many years ago, it was almost a given that the daughter of his younger brother, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, this Archduchess Clementine, was one of the highest-ranking young ladies in the Habsburg family.
And she was the daughter-in-law Queen Mary favored the most—her own dearly beloved niece.
Joseph still hadn’t caught on and maintained his pose, saying, “She is welcome to Paris.”
The Queen was pleased but then felt slightly perplexed. Her son had no objections to either party; which one did he favor more?
Never mind, it’s better to wait until they arrive.
She was quite concerned about the marriage of her overly excellent son, but precisely because of his excellence, she had to consider his own opinions as well.
If it had been someone with the temperament of Louis XVI in his younger years, she might have arranged a marriage proposal long ago.
When noon finally arrived, Queen Mary pulled her son, whom she hadn’t seen for several days, to enjoy an exceptionally lavish lunch.
Louis XVI was the last to enter the dining room. Although he appeared to be in high spirits, the heavy bags under his eyes reminded everyone that His Majesty the King was deeply engrossed in weapons research night and day.
First, Louis XVI embraced his wife and son, then he whispered excitedly yet covertly to Joseph’s ear, “Joseph, the first prototype has been assembled. However, the airtightness still needs improvement, I believe, by next week you will be able to witness its firing!”
Joseph gave him an immensely appreciative look and responded in a similarly hushed tone, “You truly have the most skillful hands in all of France! Without you, who knows when the gun would have been completed. Let’s go to the Paris Police Academy next week for a test fire; they have a professional shooting range there.”
The father and son nodded to each other, grinning secretly, but as soon as Queen Mary looked their way, they both immediately suppressed their smiles—His Majesty the King secretly crafting dangerous firearms in the palace was something she cannot know, or she would scold him for days.
After finishing lunch, Joseph gave Louis XVI a thumbs-up gesture and, before Lady Lebrun had arrived, he promptly beckoned Eman and dashed out of the Palace of Versailles.
In the carriage, Eman leaned forward and asked, “Your Highness, do you wish to return to the Industrial Planning Bureau or…”
Joseph immediately said, “No, let’s go to Notre Dame de Paris!”
“Very well, Your Highness.”
After hours of bumping along, the carriage finally entered Paris City. Through the carriage window, Joseph saw workers digging and building walls by the roadside, clearly a construction crew erecting public toilets.
Along the way, he had already seen seven or eight construction sites for public toilets.
Joseph nodded to himself, thinking that although Mono is an old political fox, he actually does a good job when put in charge of a project.
He just wondered how much of the funds he might have embezzled.
Joseph grimaced, contemplating that he needed to remind him sometime soon that this was his own project, so he better not be too greedy.
After a while, Joseph finally saw the towering spires of Notre Dame de Paris peeking above the treetops. Soon the two square towers, standing tall like fortresses between heaven and earth, appeared in sight.
This largest cathedral in Paris is also home to the Archbishop of Paris.
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Joseph was visiting on this occasion to discuss with the Archbishop the revision of “The Last Supper.”
Although Archbishop Brienne also held the title, his influence in the Church had waned since he became Finance Minister. Moreover, as the Archbishop of Toulouse, he held even less sway in Paris.
Upon learning of the arrival of the Crown Prince, a group of black-robed priests quickly greeted him at the church entrance, led by Archbishop Beaumont.
Joseph warmly took Beaumont into Notre Dame de Paris, saying with a genial smile, “Archbishop Beaumont, I have a small favor to ask of you.”