The question of carrying on the family line

At the welcoming ball that evening, Clementine displayed her true social skills, joking and laughing with the Nobility of the Versailles Palace, quickly becoming the center of attention. 🎈🐧 ☺💛

Queen Mary looked at her niece with satisfaction, nodding repeatedly, thinking to herself how wonderful it would be if she were her daughter-in-law.

The Nobility ladies who dared to approach the Crown Prince at the Versailles Palace were all driven away by his little cousin's "fierce" glare, allowing Joseph to enjoy a rare, relaxed ball.

As night deepened, Joseph and Louis XVI emerged from the ball side by side.

The father and son chatted for a while about training Percussion Cap Gun Craftsman. Suddenly, the King gestured for his attendants to leave, then pulled his son aside and whispered, "Grand Duchess Clementine is very healthy and lively, but Princess Maria seems even more intelligent. To be honest, they're both quite good."

"Yes, it's pretty good."

So what are your thoughts?

Joseph turned his head in confusion. "What... what idea?"

Louis XVI smiled knowingly and patted his son on the shoulder, "Tell me the truth, which one of them do you actually like? Ah, don't worry about your mother's opinions, marrying the one you love is the most important thing."

"Marriage?!" Joseph suddenly realized, "Wow! So these two girls are here to get married?!"

It's not fair to blame him for being slow-witted; subconsciously, he simply couldn't connect such a young girl with a fiancée, thus overlooking such an obvious problem.

Joseph was speechless for a moment— Maria was alright, although she was a bit young, at least she had some breasts... cough, she looked somewhat like a woman.

Clementine is clearly underdeveloped; she's practically a little kid! This is downright criminal!

Not to mention she's my own cousin. Have you ever considered the dangers of consanguineous marriage? I certainly don't want to have a bunch of children with intellectual disabilities...

Joseph for a moment, then said softly, "Dear Father, what if I don't like either of them?"

"Huh?" Louis XVI frowned. "Dear Joseph, as far as I know, you only seem to have that female doctor by your side, and you shouldn't have... you know... with her, right?"

"You need to tell me the truth, are you from there...?"

He glanced at his son's groin area and asked with concern, "Is it very tight, even a little painful? If so, believe me, a simple surgery from the doctor can fix it. Don't let it drag on like it did for me back then..."

Joseph paused, then realized that his father was referring to the issue of his penis being too long—it was precisely because of this that his marriage had been troubled. Was his father projecting his own experience onto his son, suspecting he might have the same problem?

Joseph quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, thank you for your concern, I'm perfectly fine."

Unexpectedly, Louis XVI's expression grew even more serious. "Joseph, if you prefer... a man, you must still fulfill the duties of a Crown Prince..."

"Don't get the wrong idea!" Joseph was completely dumbfounded. No, he was only 14 years old; wasn't it perfectly normal not to have a lover? Why was his father making such assumptions?

Oh, right. He frowned inwardly. In this era, Nobility were indeed expected to start indulging in romantic affairs at 14... Did he have to find a lover to prove that his body and orientation were alright?

He could only earnestly say to the King, "Father, I really just haven't met the right person yet. You don't need to worry. As for the two princesses... my current focus is on making France stronger. We can talk about the rest in a few years."

Louis XVI immediately said earnestly, "My child, I know you have lofty ambitions and will certainly be an outstanding King in the future, but you can also take care of your women..."

The father and son walked and talked, and before they knew it, the night had deepened.

Joseph was already having a headache from being lectured by his father about the "belief" of carrying on the family line. Just as he was thinking about how to get out of the situation, a white shadow suddenly darted past him and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

"Watch out!" The Swiss Guard responsible for the escort immediately formed a circle, protecting the King and the Crown Prince in the middle.

Then a petite figure rushed over with a group of people, asking in broken French, "Have you seen Mr. Mustache?"

"Clementine?" Joseph was quite surprised. "Beard... what happened to your cat?"

"It ran away!" The little girl's face turned red with anxiety. "It's usually very obedient, but for some reason today, it desperately tried to run away, and I couldn't stop it..."

Joseph, recalling the white shadow from earlier, quickly pointed to the corridor behind him. "It must have run that way."

"Thank you, cousin." Clementine gestured to the two maids behind her, "Let's hurry and chase after them!"

Joseph quickly pulled her back. "You've never been to the Versailles Palace before, you'll easily get lost if you wander around like this."

"What should we do?" The little girl was on the verge of tears.

Joseph gestured to Kexer, "Could you please take some men and look for the cat?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Meanwhile, Louis XVI also ordered the Swiss Guard to join the search for the cat. In an instant, dozens of Guard laid down their Musket and swords, lightly armed themselves, and became cat hunters.

Joseph, also wanting to take this opportunity to escape his father's nagging about carrying on the family line, invited Clementine to join him on a cat-hunting adventure.

Before long, chaos erupted in the Versailles Palace.

As the Guard knocked on door after door, they would usually find a man and a woman, hurriedly throwing on their clothes and looking flustered. Well, not a married couple.

Of course, this is a very normal phenomenon in France nowadays; if someone doesn't have a few lovers, it just means they lack charm.

On Joseph's side, Clementine was even more efficient. She knocked on doors, offered a pitiful apology, and went inside to find the cat. At the ball that day, she had become acquainted with most of the Nobility, and with her sweet talk, not a single person was angry with her for interrupting their fun.

Until she knocked on the door of a room on the second floor of the South Hall, an angry shout from inside came from a man, "Don't you know what time it is? What are you doing?!"

Joseph blinked. The voice sounded familiar... it sounded like... Minister of the Interior Mono?

The little girl pleaded in a sweet, innocent voice, "I'm so sorry to bother you, but my beloved cat has run away. I hope I can find it here. May God bless you, kind gentleman."

There are no cats here!

"It's very good at hiding. It can squeeze through the vent in your door. Please! I'll just look for it for a minute."

Silence fell in the room.

The little girl was very patient, pleading desperately and knocking on the door every now and then.

Finally, the people inside couldn't take it anymore; it sounded like a man and woman were arguing in hushed tones. Then, the door opened, and a disheveled, casually dressed Noblewoman with her head down walked out quickly, disappearing around the corner down the stairs.

Joseph was stunned. Wasn't that the Marquis of Marquis of Saint-Priest's wife?

"Thank you!" Clementine, completely unaware of the chaos she had caused, rushed into the house cheerfully and directed the maid to look for the cat.

Joseph and Mono, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, exchanged a knowing smile.

(End of this chapter)