Descending On France 1780

Marian Walter trembled all over as she heard the melody of the Hymn of Rome coming from outside. She quickly grasped Earl Fersen, shaking as she asked: "Why is that song playing outside? Has the French Army already broken through? How can the city defenses be so fragile?"

Count Fersen from Sweden also didn't know what was happening outside; after all, he was a Swede, not an Austrian. Even after a year, his understanding of local affairs was very limited.

Just as everyone was at a loss, a guard quickly stepped forward and whispered a few words into Earl Fersen's ear.

Earl Fersen's expression changed, he glanced at Marian and his mouth moved but he did not speak.

Marian asked, "What's wrong? Tell me!"

"It's like this, the citizens of Vienna are gathering at the Palace of Beautiful Fountains, and they are the ones singing this song."

Queen Mary—no, Queen Marian turned pale with fear, but still supported herself on the throne next to her, and decisively commanded: "I will not make the same mistakes as my husband! It was precisely because he did not use rifles and bayonets against those parliamentarians that led us to this situation! I learn from the past!"

Queen Marian waved her hand grandly: "Deploy the Guards to suppress these rioters! Stab them to death with bayonets!"

At this moment, Austrian nobles in the throne room looked at each other in dismay.

Marian: "What are you waiting for? Move out! Grab your bayonets!"

Earl Fersen reminded, "Marian, the people outside also have weapons, they have bayonets too."

"Can they really defeat the army?"

Fersen, surprised by Marian—Queen Marian, carefully spoke, "Whether they can win or not, don't you see from your own homeland?"

"My homeland is Austria!" Queen Marian stated decisively, then burst into joyful laughter, "Now, the long-standing desire of the Habsburg to unite with France will be realized!"

The Austrian nobles stood dumbfounded, several nobles clearly regretted their stance and began to quietly slip toward the main door.

Marian spotted them and shouted angrily: "Where are you going?"

The fleeing nobles immediately responded, "I am going to organize the Guards Cavalry to charge at the rioters in the streets!"

Queen Marian nodded delightedly, then added an order, "Not just with cavalry, but haul the cannons in front of the enemy, load them with grapeshot, and bomb them fiercely!"

The few nobles just wanted to flee; at this point, they agreed hurriedly nodding.

Then they left.

Queen Marian proudly moved to the small balcony of the room's window, clearly wanting to appreciate the scene of the Guards Cavalry charging at the Austrian people.

However, there was no charge from the Guards Cavalry; instead, more and more citizens gathered in the square of the Palace of Beautiful Fountains.

Everyone could see Queen Marian standing behind the balcony window.

Marian: "This is wonderful, look, these citizens all support us!"

Count Fersen from Sweden, after listening to the people's chorus of the Hymn of Rome below, ultimately chose to be silent.

At that moment, the crowd suddenly parted, and a man in civilian clothes with a royal sash appeared.

He parted the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea, and walked straight to the front of the palace, looking up at Queen Mary who was looking down from above.

Mary recognized him and smiled, saying, "My dear nephew, have you come to pledge allegiance to me? I knew you were more capable than your brother..."

"No," Grand Duke Carl's words resounded firmly, "I cannot accept you obtaining the throne under these circumstances. I am here to take it back, and you may continue to reside in the palace as long as you return the Imperial Palace, the crown, and the scepter to our side. This is a residence, not your palace, but rather your prison."

Mary raised her voice: "I knew it! You want to take the throne from me! You want to be king yourself!"

"I don't," Grand Duke Carl replied without hesitation, "I have no interest in the throne, no matter whose it is. I just want to always protect Austria... I guess this must be what Frost calls national spirit."

The moment Frost's name was mentioned, Queen Mary shrieked, "Do not speak the name of that devil! The devil has come! The devil has come to take everything away!"

She covered her face and burst into tears.

Undisturbed, Grand Duke Carl continued, "All men and women, old and young present, are fighting with the same belief. This is the awakening of national consciousness, what Frost was talking about!"

"Do not mention him!" Mary continued to shriek, sounding just like a creature about to vanish before holy magic.

Grand Duke Carl: "Please hand over the crown and the scepter, along with the deeds to this palace! They will serve Austria and its people in a much more reliable way!"

The crowd shouted: "Hand over the crown!"

Mary shook her head repeatedly, "No, no! Frost! That persistent man, how come I have come all this way and he still chases after me!"

While speaking, Mary fell from the second-floor balcony, her head smashing directly onto the newly paved stone road.

This incident quieted everyone present.

Grand Duke Carl looked up again, spotting Fersen, a Swede, peering half his face from the right side of the balcony.

Thus, Grand Duke Carl said, "Resistance is futile now, the French Army outside hasn't attacked, and we all belong to one country, you all are good people's children, it shouldn't be that you die here for such obscure reasons. Austria still needs you!"

The Earl came entirely to the forefront of the balcony, leaning out half his body, "No, I don't want to discuss this at all, the only thing that matters to me now is the Mary lying there, my Mary... Oh, my Mary!"

The Earl covered his face and wept, his tears dripping down onto the stone floor below, mixing with Queen Mary's blood.

**

Despite everything, Louis XVI was unusually at ease, even when the palace guard informed him that his wife, Marie Antoinette, had died, he remained very relaxed.

"I always knew this day would come for her. We are merely lodgers and passers-by on this land; they wouldn't really fight a hard battle with France's military for us. I feel that sooner or later, we will return to Paris, and then be taken to the guillotine by angry mobs screaming 'culprit.'

"Yes, I have become the culprit of this whole affair. But I have experienced the events of 1789, and I know, it was all orchestrated by Frost, the puppeteer behind the scenes! It was Frost who deceitfully snatched the throne using cunning schemes. He hasn't dared to put on the crown yet, but I think it won't be long now."

After noting down these thoughts in his journal, the rioting Viennese populace stormed into his small office.

Louis XVI quickly raised his hands: "Don't shoot! I surrender! Long live the Republic!"