Of course, the French had never intended to kill off the House of Savoy. After all, they were more useful alive.
At least, that was what Duke of Morny thought. Just as Napoleon III learned the news and before he had time to fly into a rage, official dispatches from Britain, Russia, and Austria arrived.
They condemned France's undeclared war and demanded that France immediately release the members of the Sardinian royal family.
The Austrian Empire's response was cold, but its stance was exceedingly firm.
If France refused to hand over the Sardinian royal family, the Austrian Empire might take every possible measure, including organizing another Anti-French Alliance to rescue them.
Russia's attitude was one of undisguised contempt. Ever since Saint Petersburg had been connected by telegraph lines, Nicholas I had clearly become far more active than before.
In this campaign, France had once again become the vanguard. Within a single day, Nicholas I sent out more than a dozen telegrams notifying all of Europe.
Nicholas I was the first to declare his willingness to join the Anti-French Alliance, even claiming that every member of the House of Bonaparte should be sent to Siberia for reform, lest they poison France again.
Britain's wording was rather gentler. Prime Minister Palmerston even claimed that this had to be a misunderstanding, and that everything would be fine once it was cleared up.
Yet Palmerston was, in truth, the most shocked of them all.
"The French bastards have gone mad? They are destroying the Vienna System with their own hands—that is the final barrier protecting them.
"Waging war without declaration is a challenge to the entire order of Europe."
It was not that the French truly wanted to wage an undeclared war. Rather, the mountain roads along the French-Sardinian border were rugged and difficult