“Perhaps I should wait a little longer…” the Queen sighed to herself, “The Crown Prince and Clementine are still young; maybe if they spend more time together, he’ll fall in love with his pretty and adorable cousin.”
Just then, the auctioneer below announced in a melodious voice, “The next item up for auction is the exquisite ‘Star’s Wish’ necklace. It was designed by a master designer…”
As the Queen was lost in thought, she saw Clementine suddenly stand up beside her, her blue eyes wide open and unblinking as she stared at the auction item, murmuring excitedly to herself, “It’s the one he wore, no mistake, that’s the one!”
The Queen smiled and shook her head. Little girls often couldn’t resist the allure of beautiful jewelry; she herself had been just as excited when she saw jewelry she liked in her younger days.
However, she failed to notice that the necklace being auctioned was nearly identical to the one the Crown Prince wore in the portrait “Child of Divine Favor”!
As God is my witness, that necklace was definitely not Joseph’s, and he had never even seen that necklace before.
It was all because Lady Lebrun, who had painted the portrait, accepted sponsorship from a jeweler who insisted on including his necklace in the painting. But honestly, this dazzling necklace, with its design of a galaxy fashioned out of numerous diamonds, indeed complemented Joseph’s image perfectly.
After the auctioneer announced the reserve price of eighty thousand livres, Clementine indicated to her maid without hesitation, and the maid immediately raised her right hand.
Before the auctioneer had time to acknowledge the bid, a woman’s voice came from a private box on the east side, “Ninety thousand.”
Clementine immediately puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. Someone dared to compete with her for her cousin’s necklace, and had even raised the bid by ten thousand livres in one go!
She signaled to the maid once more, and the maid raised her hand.
The auctioneer immediately gestured towards her, “The guest over here has bid ninety-one thousand livres.”
It was the same voice again, “One hundred thousand.”
The little girl on this side countered with an even higher bid.
And the woman in the east side private box calmly raised the bid to a round number, “One hundred and ten thousand.”
Clementine became anxious, put her hands on her hips, and shouted indignantly, “One hundred and twenty thousand!”
Humph, thought she wouldn’t raise by ten thousand?
The woman on the east side then confidently bid, “One hundred and forty thousand.”
“You! You raised it again?” The little girl continued to shout, “One hundred and sixty thousand!”
“One hundred and eighty thousand.”
“Two hundred thousand!” Clementine huffed, after stating her bid, she then turned to the maid and said, “Who is that person? Why are they crossing me like this?”
The maid leaned over the balcony railing of the second-floor box, her body half extended out, and finally through the gap in the curtain of the east side box, she saw a woman in a red dress, with long brown hair, and a pair of gentle brown eyes.
She immediately drew back, her hand covering her mouth in shock, and whispered in Clementine’s ear, “Miss, it seems to be the Princess of the Two Sicilies.”
“Ah—” Clementine bit her lip; if it was her, then she couldn’t lose!
“Two hundred and fifty thousand!”
[Note 1]: Riga is a port in Sweden, and also a transit station for British-Russian trade. Riga’s officials collected commissions on the trades between Britain and Russia.
[Note 2]: Since Russia gained control of Crimea, French-Russian trade had been able to pass through the Mediterranean, via the Ottoman-controlled Dardanelles Strait, to the Black Sea, and dock in Crimea to offload goods.
[Note 3]: Because Empress Catherine II really disliked her husband Peter III, who was extremely fond of Prussia (she had overthrown her husband in a coup to ascend to the throne), and she also did not favor her son Paul who resembled her husband.
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Throughout her reign, she had expressed her wish to depose Paul from his position as Crown Prince multiple times, preferring to pass the throne directly to her grandson. There were also ministers who supported the idea of replacing Paul with the illegitimate child Alexei as the Crown Prince.
In any case, right up until the second before Catherine II’s death, Paul remained anxious about his position as heir.