Northwest side of the Palace of Versailles.
In the music room of the Petit Trianon Palace, Queen Mary signaled the musicians to pause and turned her head to look at a court official standing by, frowning as she asked,
“Are you sure you heard correctly?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was having a carriage prepared at that time. By now, he and Princess Maria should have already left the Palace of Versailles.”
Queen Mary became somewhat anxious—this official was in charge of looking after the princesses of the Two Sicilies. He had just reported that the Crown Prince intended to take Princess Maria to Paris for leisure.
If Clementine doesn’t arrive in Paris soon, my son’s heart may well be captured by that Italian girl!
The Queen sighed, “My poor niece, your luck is really too bad.” Originally, Clementine had left very early with plans to first take a ship to Marseille and then proceed to Paris.
But just after she had embarked, a storm broke out in the Tyrrhenian Sea—around January each year, the Mediterranean weather often isn’t so calm.
For safety, her escort decided to take a land route, heading north through Echitar over the Alps, and then into France. Although it was a significant detour, if everything went smoothly en route, she would still arrive in Paris before the princesses of the Two Sicilies.
Poor Clementine hadn’t even left Tuscany when news came of a serf uprising in the southwest of Austria due to Emperor Joseph II’s reforms on serfdom—yes, those foolish souls actually opposed the reforms that granted them freedom!
Afterwards, poor Clementine had no choice but to wait for the storm in the Tyrrhenian Sea to subside before setting off. Now, after continuous travel, she had just reached the vicinity of Navarre, still three to four days away from Paris.
Queen Mary wrote a letter urging her niece to hasten her pace and handed it to a messenger to send out, praying in her heart that her son must not fall in love with Princess Maria…
On the Champs-Elysees in Paris, at the Paris Angel Exclusive Store, the Crown Prince’s Guard stood shoulder to shoulder in two rows, separating the Crown Prince and the princess from the other nosy customers.
Indeed, this was the first place Princess Maria wanted to visit. It seems all women can’t resist the temptation to make themselves more beautiful.
The princess, having applied exquisite makeup and dressed in a light purple puff dress, was stunningly beautiful.
She surveyed the luxuriously packaged cosmetics, silently noting their functions, her eyes sparkling with delight, yet she modestly picked only a few products, directing the staff to hand them to her maid.
Joseph, remembering his plan that led to an assault causing undue harm to Princess Maria, had been planning to make it up to her. When he saw her interest in the cosmetics, he immediately ordered the staff to bring a Gold Card and gave it to Princess Maria.
She held the golden card worth a thousand livres, her heart bubbling with happiness—Crown Prince’s heart must indeed have a place for me, giving such a valuable gift on our first “date”! God, I am truly grateful!
Afterwards, Joseph helped her choose a whole lot of cosmetics, including the youthful version of “Noblewoman’s Joy”—”Young Miss’s Health” liquid supplement, a whole big package, and instructed the staff to deliver it directly to Maria’s room at the Palace of Versailles.
Stepping out of the store, Maria looked at Joseph with eyes brimming with smiles and asked softly, “Crown Prince, where shall we go next?”
Joseph recalled his original plan to check the preparations for Fashion Week and thought it would be perfect to give the princess a preview experience; perhaps she would even have some valuable feedback for improvements.
“Let’s visit the Tuileries Palace. You may have heard that Paris Fashion Week is about to be held there. The venue is now almost fully set up.”
“Hmm, I’ll take your advice.”
As the carriage left the Paris Angel Exclusive Store, Joseph had not expected that journalists were already writing articles about the “Crown Prince’s visit to the store with the two Sicilian princesses, presenting Gold Cards as a token of his sentiments.”
Outside the Tuileries Palace.
Princess Maria’s gaze passed over a large area of villas currently under construction and immediately landed on the tall circular structure to the north side of the Tuileries Garden. She pointed curiously and asked, “Your Highness, what is that used for?”
Joseph followed her pointing finger and glanced at it, replying, “Oh, that is called a Ferris wheel; it’s an amusement park ride. You can sit on it and be taken up high to get a panoramic view of Paris.
“By the way, around the Ferris wheel is an amusement park with many fun things to do. If you’re willing, please allow me to take you for a visit.”
“I’d be delighted, thank you, Your Highness.”
Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the world’s first dedicated amusement park—the “Eden Amusement Park.”
Through the white fences, one could see steam engine-powered carousels, Ferris wheels, pirate ships, houses of horrors, coffee cups, and other rides inside, along with some traditional amusement projects like slides and swings on the side.
Of course, limited by technological factors, most of the facilities were nowhere near as large as those in later amusement parks. For example, the Ferris wheel was just over ten meters high.
Its main structure was modified from a water wheel, which was nothing compared to the hundred-meter-tall behemoths of later times, but for the people of the eighteenth century, this was already a very novel and shocking thing.
As Maria stepped through the entrance of the amusement park, she excitedly looked around, not much different from the little girls of later times visiting amusement parks.
However, what first caught her attention was the carousel, which looked full of fairy tale colors. She turned her head and asked Joseph carefully, “Your Highness, may I play on this?”
“Of course, you can give it a try,” Joseph said with a smile and nodded, then signaled the amusement park’s operator to start the ride.
The carousel was powered by a 12-horsepower steam engine. Naturally, the steam engine was a product of the Watt Company. France’s own steam engine manufacturing plant was still in the planning stages.
After waiting for more than twenty minutes, white smoke started to billow out of a small cabin next to the carousel, where the steam engine that powered it was located.
Subsequently, the huge wooden base began to turn slowly. Under the action of the levers, the lifelike carved wooden horses, deer, elephants, and other animals began to bob up and down and rotate with the disc.
Maria stepped back two steps, slightly overwhelmed. Joseph chuckled, took her hand, and leaped onto the wooden platform, gesturing around, “Which one would you like to ride?”
Maria pointed carefully to a white carved wooden swan, “May I ride this one?”
“Of course. Let me help you up.” Continue reading at m|v-l’e -NovelFull.net
Joseph, the gentleman, helped the young girl onto the seat on the swan’s back. The princess sat sideways, nervously, her hands tightly clutching the wooden pole, beginning to rise and fall to the music playing beside her.
Although the carousel moved slowly like a snail because of the steam engine’s low horsepower and the crude connections of the mechanical device, the princess, who had never experienced anything like this, still giggled excitedly non-stop. She felt as if she was soaring through the air on a swan in the world of fairy tales.