The fervor of pilgrimage could not be held back. After spending a day in Venice, everyone was fully revived, and the next day they set out on a new journey.
Because he got seasick, Franz did not like traveling about, and as a result, the Austrian imperial family did not even have a dedicated yacht. For this trip, they had directly borrowed a luxury passenger liner from the royal shipping company.
Even though it was a luxury passenger liner, with such a large family aboard, it still seemed somewhat shabby.
There was no helping it; there had been too little time. The coronation date had been set early, leaving only three or four months in total. Even if the shipyard could have finished the job, Franz would not have dared board a vessel rushed to meet a deadline.
The core members of the House of Habsburg were all aboard. If an accident occurred, they would all be wiped out in one stroke. That was a risk he absolutely could not take.
At first, Franz had planned to travel on a warship—safe, convenient, and imposing. Unfortunately, plans could not keep up with change. The elderly, the weak, women, and children had all insisted on coming along, so comfort had to be taken into consideration.
Though it looked like an ordinary trip, the Austrian Mediterranean Fleet had deployed in full force. More than a hundred warships of all sizes were scattered along the route on patrol, while over a dozen capital ships sailed alongside as escorts.
Such a grand display was, in fact, also a show of force.
The entire route through the Eastern Mediterranean was lined with Austrian ports. Franz and his party traveled by ship during the day and rested on land at night. They only needed to spend one