Joseph looked at his parents, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "So, just so you could travel around Brittany for a long time, you..."
He had wanted to say, "You turned all of Paris upside down," but seeing his mother looking like a child who had done something wrong, he helplessly replaced the latter half with a long sigh.
"If you wanted to go traveling, I could find you an excuse anytime. There was no need to make things so complicated. For example, we could hold a diplomatic conference in Brittany attended by monarchs from various countries."
Queen Mary blinked. "That really is a good idea. How did I not think of it... But, ah, wouldn't it be troublesome to get so many kings to Brittany?"
Joseph thought that even getting the Pope to preside over the conference would not be a problem.
"Now we do not need to worry about that either." He sighed again. "Forget it. Actually, it would be good for your health to travel around. But you cannot stay in Brittany forever, can you?
"I mean, there will always come a day when you miss the balls at Versailles Palace and the Royal Theater."
Queen Mary had just told him of the follow-up plan Duke of Levis had devised for her—publicly announce that Louis XVI had developed severe aftereffects, suffered intermittent hearing loss, and had become terribly forgetful, allowing him to remain in Brittany to "receive treatment."
Queen Mary immediately became conflicted.
That truly was a problem. If they returned to Versailles Palace, her husband would have to pretend to be ill, which was clearly too tormenting.
But never attending balls or watching plays again seemed hard to accept as well.
"Then... what should we do?"
Louis XVI, however, scratched at his chest unconcernedly. "It