Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1554 - 1460: "I Want to Kill Him!

“I understand.”

Charles pushed the stag mask on his face, gave a slight bow to his dance partner—the Princess of Hesse, Charlotte: “Beautiful Lady Peacock, would you mind if I went to relax with some friends for a moment?”

The two of them had met at the banquet celebrating William III’s birthday, and this ball was also attended by Charles at the Princess of Hesse’s invitation.

Charlotte, wearing a peacock mask, hastily curtsied in return: “Of course, that is your freedom. Oh, when you are about to leave, please do have someone inform me.”

“Rest assured, I will not abandon you alone.”

Charles nodded, casually took a glass of wine from a passing servant, and turned to go upstairs to the second floor.

The door of Room 218 was not locked. He turned the doorknob, entered, and saw not a single person.

“Is it here?” He turned and asked his attendant.

“It’s definitely here, sir.” The latter pointed to the inner room. “Perhaps they’re inside.”

Charles immediately walked into the inner room, only to see an empty card table, still no one there.

Just as he was puzzled, he suddenly heard a woman’s voice faintly coming from the adjoining room.

He knew that voice far too well. Because it appeared in his dreams almost every day.

In Room 219.

Baron Trudeun vaguely heard the sound of a door opening, and at once slipped into character, whispering by Louise’s ear:

“Right now the coal for the Alphonse-Boutin Steel Factory will definitely have to pay a ‘violation deposit’, but I have other channels to provide you with more coal at prices even lower than the market.”

“Really?” She immediately hooked her arms around his neck. “Oh, my dear, you are the only light in my life. This heart of mine, this person, belong to you completely, utterly, without any reservation; in this life the one I adore most madly is you alone!”

“Oh, I love you too.” Trudeun paused, then deliberately raised his voice. “But I’ve heard you have a very young lover. That fills me with jealousy and resentment.”

Louise replied without hesitation: “That’s absolutely not true…”

“Someone has seen the two of you together—Baron Mosten said so himself.”

Louise reacted quickly, immediately letting out a coquettish laugh: “Oh, you mean him. That was only because I needed him to help me deal with some troubles, so I just played along with him for a bit.”

“Truly?” Baron Trudeun coaxed her. “You really have never loved him?”

“Of course, you are the only one I love.”

“You were just using him?”

“I swear, I don’t love him at all. All right, let’s not talk about such mood-spoiling things. Let me give you a proper ‘reward’.”

Baron Trudeun felt that warm, soft patch pressing against his leg. He lowered his head and whispered: “I have another gift of love to give you.”

“What is it?” Louise asked, her mouth occupied, words a bit muffled.

“Steelmaking technology, such as the latest refined wrought iron, and coke blast furnaces and so on. And in return I only want 8% of the shares of Prussia’s top four steelworks.”

“Really?!” Louise raised her head in delight. “Oh, my dear, I truly don’t know how I should thank you!”

Though 8% of the shares of the four major steelworks was a lot, the value of these technologies was even more immeasurable.

One must know that even the British, when offering technology in exchange for Prussia joining the Anti-French Alliance, had at most offered technology from more than twenty years ago.

Yet Trudeun could provide the latest French technology—France was currently the acknowledged technological leader in the steelmaking industry!

If Prussia’s steelworks obtained these technologies, in at most two or three years they would be able to produce steel as good as France’s, thereby rapidly seizing the Germany market. At the same time, the quality of Prussia’s guns, cannons, vehicles, and the like would also rise several levels!

Governor Aisen lifted her up, revealing an “evil” smile, and whispered: “Tell me about that young lover of yours; I very much like listening to such stories at times like this.”

“W-what is there to tell?”

“It seems you don’t love me that much.”

Louise bit her lip. For the sake of Prussia’s steel industry, she had to do her utmost to please this man.

“He… is a Frenchman, ah, of very noble status, ah, and very young as well…”

“Very good, give me some details. Louder.”

“We, ah, met when signing an agreement, mm, and to curry favor with me, mm, he even gave me ironworks shares worth over a million…”

In Room 218.

Charles pressed his ear tightly against the wall, wishing he could sink himself into it, while his fists had turned a dark purplish-black from clenching too hard.

In fact, this was a room specially chosen by the Security Bureau; the wall was just a single thick wooden plank, with an almost nonexistent soundproofing effect, and would even resonate when encountering low sounds.

The young Prince, upon hearing “I needed him to help me deal with some troubles, so I just played along with him for a bit,” kept telling himself,

“She’s talking about someone else, about some former lover of hers… yes, she absolutely isn’t talking about me…”

He had of course recognized that it was Louise’s voice, and another man’s, one clearly in an intimate relationship with her.

But he was still fantasizing that his Louise had merely been deceived by him, that the one she loved was still himself.

Until that woman uttered “he even gave me ironworks shares worth over a million”, Charles finally fell apart.

Throughout the whole of Europe there were only a few ironworks worth over a million francs, and someone who could simply give away over a million in shares at once—besides this idiot, there could be no one else!

Tears burst from his eyes, a sob choking in his throat: “Louise, she is my Louis, no one can take her away…”

As the movement next door grew louder and louder, Charles suddenly straightened up, fiercely wiped away his tears, and drew a revolver from his waist—ever since he had been “tricked” by the Crown Princess during their last fencing match, he too had begun carrying this dueling weapon on him.

With trembling hands he checked the cylinder, then took a deep breath, and rushed out of the room. “Damn it, damn it… I’m going to kill him…”

The attendant who had been waiting at the door saw that the “most crucial moment” had arrived and hurriedly waved to the few people waiting not far away.

The three men wearing rhino, war god, and leopard masks immediately closed in, blocking Charles at the doorway. “You—you, what are you going to do?”

“We just went out for a smoke, and you already…”

“Put the gun down, quickly, it’s too dangerous…”

Earl Bender spoke as he clamped down hard on Charles’s wrist, the one holding the gun.

The other two also tried to seize that revolver.

Bender forced Charles’s hand up, then, pretending to be flustered and inattentive, pulled the trigger hard.

With a loud “bang”.

The entire masquerade ball instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Immediately afterward, the women screamed and fled in all directions, while the men all reached for their weapons.

The Prussian Royal Guard, who had been stationed outside the hall, at once kicked open the main doors and charged in, shouldering their Caplock Guns in formation.