The Shadow of Great Britain

"Then I will await your news." Arthur humorously took out a business card from his pocket, but quickly put it back: "You know where I live, no need for a card, after all, you are the Home Secretary."

Thiers winked at Arthur: "I don't know everything either, the Paris police are different from those in London, sometimes they do things privately and hide them from me, and no one knows except the King. Of course, sometimes even the King might not know. After all, the Great Paris Police Hall used to be under Fouche's supervision; you know what kind of person Fouche is, even Napoleon couldn't fully control him, and the Paris Police have inherited many bad habits from this old commander, showing no sign of improvement to this day."

Arthur took out a pocket watch and glanced at the time, then politely took his leave from Thiers: "It's about time, I have an appointment with Louis afterwards, so I'll be heading off."

Thiers sipped his wine while watching Arthur and Louis stand up. He pondered for a moment and suddenly spoke: "Is it an appointment with some friends from Great Britain?"

Arthur stiffened briefly, then met Thiers' eyes with a playful gaze.

Indeed, this guy doesn't know everything.

But Arthur hadn't expected the guy to know to this extent.

He tentatively replied: "Britain is just a few islands, and can't be considered great. Our scale is actually quite small."

"Well, little Britain. But I generally don't like to say that because it somewhat insults friends and allies."

Thiers kept his head down and cut the lamb chop with a knife and fork: "However, Britons in Paris better not be too active, because even with allies, there's a limit to what we can tolerate. I hope you understand, although we are very good friends, as Home Secretary, this is my duty."

"It seems you've put quite a lot of thought into our matters."

"Not much thought, but if I find out, then I must manage." Thiers suddenly changed his tone: "However, if I don't find out, it has nothing to do with me. You know, Arthur, sometimes, turning a blind eye is an art. But the prerequisite for this art form is that you don't deliberately pry open my eyelids."

Arthur's mouth slightly curved upwards. With Thiers' assurance as France's highest internal affairs chief, he finally felt reassured.

"So, Adolphe, has someone recently pried open your eyelids?"

"Not at all." Thiers jested while sitting in the chair: "What they did before, they've all attributed to the former Home Secretary, it has nothing to do with me. So, I even faintly appreciate your activities."

"You all?" Arthur shook his finger: "Adolphe, there's no you all, it's individual actions."

"Individual actions?" Thiers looked quite surprised, as if he had missed something: "Nothing to do with your Foreign Office?"

"How could it be related? Weren't our people there that night too?"

Arthur joked: "Moreover, even if it were related, the Foreign Office wouldn't admit it."

"Indeed." Thiers stood up to see Arthur off: "My friend, take care, I know, getting here hasn't been easy for you, so be careful, be extra careful, don't let a little thing ruin your prospects."

"Thank you for the reminder, Adolphe." Arthur's gaze drifted outside the window, lifting his head towards the carriages following Louis: "So… what do you think about these people?"

Thiers glanced outside the window: "This isn't my responsibility, but if you give me assurance that there won't be any individual actions prying open my eyes again, then I'll sit here slowly finishing my meal, waiting for you to return, and then we'll go back together. Although I'm quite concerned about publishing, you should understand, getting to my current position wasn't easy either; if you can help me cover up this part, in the future when you publish 'Red and Black' in Paris, I'll turn a blind eye."

Louis glanced at Thiers, then turned to look at Arthur.

Although he stood beside them, he only vaguely heard what they said.

Judging from the current situation, it seemed that they reached some sort of deal, and it also related to the Kaidao Sai Mansion explosion incident.

Although Louis, born in Versailles, couldn't grasp how these two suddenly reached an agreement, it seemed things were developing well?

Arthur was quite satisfied with the conditions Thiers proposed, and he had no intention of defying the request, as he originally didn't want the Breton farmers to be killed for nothing, for continued terror attacks benefit no one. More importantly, he wanted this group of farmers to be left to Mr. Louis Bonaparte beside him.

Arthur smiled and shook Thiers' extended hand: "It's a deal."