After hearing the Crown Prince’s question, Talleyrand immediately took on a constipated expression, “Your Highness, I do know a few things, but this kind of matter…”
Joseph smiled, “Rest assured, I have no ill intentions, I merely wish to send out some gifts.”
Talleyrand struggled inwardly for a while, but in the end, the temptation of the Foreign Minister took over, and he picked up a pen and paper and began to write thoughtfully.
After a moment, he handed a paper with more than a dozen names to Joseph, “Your Highness, these are all that I know. You must never say that it was I who told you. As for the kind of gathering you mentioned…”
His expression was somewhat unnatural, “It usually takes place on the second Sunday of every month. The meeting point in Paris is in an estate in Montmartre. The bishops of Valois and Reims often go there.”
“The second Sunday of every month?” Joseph recalled the calendar, “Isn’t that tomorrow? Enjoy more content from empire
“Hmm, lucky, I was actually planning to send someone to invite the bishops from the nearby provinces, this will save time.”
He seemed to remember something and looked at Talleyrand with a taunting smile, “You seem to be quite knowledgeable about these matters.”
“Ah? I’m not, I haven’t, don’t…” Talleyrand almost let out a triple denial before quickly regaining his composure, “Cough, Your Highness, I’ve only heard some rumors. You know, I have a rather good memory.”
Joseph nodded and moved on, thinking, “In that case, there’s no time to go to the police academy. Let’s go, directly to Montmartre. Oh, and we need to purchase some gifts.”
According to his original plan, he had intended to first attend a preparedness mobilization meeting at the police academy.
This time, the matter involved those guys from the military, so it was necessary to have the troops ready in case of the unexpected. Additionally, if there were any isolated riots that had not been quelled, the military would also be relied upon to suppress the disturbances.
The next evening, after six o’clock, in the “White Maple Forest” estate of Montmartre Town at the outskirts of Paris in the Île-de-France, over twenty middle and high-ranking clergy gathered. Included among them were significant figures such as Archbishop Beaumont of the Île-de-France and Archbishop Dafuer of the Valois District.
Next to each of them stood a young “servant”, each one fair of face.
The soothing music played in the background as the priests warmly greeted each other.
A round-faced bishop was chatting with a colleague from the Nemours District about recent amusing stories when he suddenly noticed the gemstone cufflinks on the young man’s sleeves, leaning on his companion.
He pulled up his own “servant’s” arm in surprise, finding identical cufflinks there.
The priest from across the way asked curiously, “Does Axil have one too?”
The round-faced bishop nodded, “Someone sent it to him yesterday. And yours?”
“It was given by a person without a name to Okose.”
The two of them did not make much of it; after all, with their status, many people approached them trying to curry favor and often sent gifts. When they couldn’t reach the clergy directly, they would ingratiate themselves with their “servants.”
As more clergy interacted with each other, they surprisingly discovered that almost all the “servants” of the clergy present had such a cufflink.
The clergy gradually stopped teasing their “servants” and put down their wine glasses, starting to discuss who might have sent them and for what purpose. Even those bishops who had taken their comely “male servants” to the second-floor rooms stopped their “backdoor” entertainment projects upon hearing the news and hastily dressed and came downstairs.
The clergy of Catholicism were strictly celibate, but the middle and high-ranking clergy always found ways to “relax” a bit. Most of them had secret mistresses, but having a male “pet” was a more fashionable choice.
Although such matters were semi-open secrets within the Church circles, if they became public, they would still cause extreme damage to their reputations. Especially a gathering like today’s “care of male servants” must not be known to outsiders.
And the person who sent the cufflinks clearly knew the identity of each of their “male servants”!
The bishops suddenly lost the heart to continue and left the “White Maple Forest” estate quietly.
No sooner had Archbishop Beaumont’s carriage left the neatly trimmed woods of the estate than he saw a well-dressed, blond young man signaling to him from the roadside.
He hastily ordered the carriage to stop, for he recognized the man as a close attendant of the Crown Prince.
Eman approached the Archbishop with courtesy and greeted him with a smile, “Respected Archbishop, the Crown Prince wishes to invite you for a drink.”
Beaumont of course would not refuse. When he followed Eman into the villa in the center of Montmartre Town, he was immediately surprised to find that the Archbishops of Nemours, Reims, and five others were also in the house—all of whom were “party pals” from the earlier gathering.
Talleyrand, who was feeling guilty like a thief, didn’t dare come here, after all, he was the one who leaked the information about the gathering.
Beaumont realized something was amiss, but still made a show of bowing politely to the Crown Prince.
Joseph beckoned the Archbishops to sit down, playing with a cufflink in his hand, he cleared his throat and said, “Cough, I presume you’ve all heard about the uprisings happening in over a dozen provinces to the South, right?”
Beaumont and others, looking at the cufflink that matched their own “male servant’s”, nodded uneasily, “Yes, Your Highness, we have heard.”
“May God quell the ferocity in the hearts of those rioters.”
“May God forgive them…”
Joseph gestured to Eman to pour wine for the Archbishops, “As we all know, the cause of the riots is a shortage of food.”
“And as you all are the spokesmen of God, representing His benevolence, I hope…”
Archbishop Beaumont immediately caught on and interrupted, eagerly saying, “Your Highness, I am willing to donate 10,000 livres for disaster relief!”