The Era of Free Trade

At Vienna Palace, Franz looked over the contents laid out in the newspapers and knew that the Grandmother of Europe would cease to exist—or rather, that it would no longer be Queen Victoria.

For quite some time to come, the British Royal Family would likely be too busy minding its own affairs. A political crisis might not erupt, but arranging political marriages would become difficult.

To make the news published by the French newspapers seem more like an accidental discovery, Franz naturally could not explain how the "royal disease" was transmitted.

The "royal disease" had only been spreading for a short time. Based on the cases that had appeared so far, all that could be proven was that the patients shared Queen Victoria's bloodline.

Quite a few European royal houses struggled to produce heirs. To be safe, they would naturally keep their distance from Queen Victoria's descendants. Even marrying beneath themselves was better than dying out without issue.

After taking a moment to gloat, Franz stopped paying attention. At a time like this, the more one did, the easier it was to leave traces behind. Franz had never dared underestimate the power of a nation.

At Buckingham Palace, Queen Victoria had not lost her composure like this in many years. Even after several defeats in foreign wars, she had managed to keep her emotions under control.

Now, though, her restraint had finally shattered. In a society steeped in religious sentiment, the destructive power of a "curse" was immense. Once burdened with such a label, no one could remain calm.

The mainstream newspapers still showed some restraint and did not publish much inflammatory material. Thanks to the London Government's public relations efforts, many papers even ran reports of medical experts debunking the rumors.

The street tabloids were different. Whatever drew