Abyss

A gaunt old man, wearing a thin Flax coat, pulled a sallow-faced, emaciated child of about ten years old, and struggled to squeeze in front of the Grain Warehouse Officials. Head bowed, he patted his chest and said:

"Sir, kind sir! Bread in town is selling for 22 sous a pound! We simply can't afford it... Please have mercy and give us some food! Otherwise, we really won't survive!"

Typically, a loaf of bread in Nice costs no more than 10 sous per pound. For the citizens who are scrimping and saving every sous to make ends meet, this means they will go more than half a month without money to buy food.

Pleading voices immediately rose from the surrounding area:

"Please distribute grain at a fair price! His Majesty the King mentioned this in the proclamation..."

"My child has only eaten one meal in the past two days, please!"

"Sir, many bakeries in town are out of Flour War; everyone is relying on the grain reserves..."

"For God's sake, have pity on us..."

The grain depot officials could only offer perfunctory words in a helpless manner.

In the crowd, a man with Three Moles on his face sneered and nodded to the twenty or so people beside him. The man at the head, a scarred man on his face, immediately strode towards the granary guards, shouting:

"We can't starve! Let's go get our own food!"

His accomplices immediately joined in the shouting:

"We have the right to bread!"

"That's right, it's just getting some food for our family and children, God will forgive us!"

"Everyone, get to work!"

Upon hearing this, the starving people outside the granary were somewhat afraid and dared not approach.

Scarface had already smashed open the gate of the grain depot wall, and a guard pointed a gun at him and shouted:

"Go back!"

Someone nearby waved and shouted to the crowd:

"Look! These brutal guards are about to open fire!"

Taking advantage of the guard's momentary hesitation, Scarface snatched the gun from him. The other guards, caught off guard, hesitated for a moment before being surrounded by Scarface's twenty-odd accomplices.

Some of the bolder starving people saw that Scarface had already rushed into the granary and immediately followed him in, which then spurred even more people to join in.

Just over ten minutes later, nearly a thousand starving people flooded into the granary like a tidal wave. The official in charge saw that the guards had been beaten black and blue, and he hid in his office and dared not come out.

Soon, the starving people in the granary took out bags to fill with Wheat, and those who didn't bring bags ignored the cold and took off their coats to hold the grain.

An hour later, the more than 20,000 pounds of Wheat in the granary were all gone.

Most of the starving people left their "payment" for the Wheat they took, at a "People's Tax" price of 2.6 Denier per pound.

The so-called "People's Tax" is a France "tradition." People believe that as long as they pay what they consider a reasonable price, it can only be considered a sale, not robbery.

After the starving people had all left, the officials in charge of the granary looked at the empty Warehouse as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

This place was originally meant to supply Nice City with food for a week, but now it's all gone. This means that soon all the food shops and bakeries in the city will have to close down...

The following day, in a wooden cabin on the outskirts of Nice, a man with Three Moles on his face counted out more than 80 Silver Coin to Scarface.

The latter immediately bowed and flattered him, then distributed the money to his underlings. He was the leader of the "Howell" gang, the largest gang in Nice.

"Three Moles" was a Spy kept by the Duke of Orléans. Following the Duke of Orléans's instructions, he arrived in Nice a month ago and hired members of the "Howell" gang at an exorbitant price of 4 Livre per person per day to incite riots with him.

After much planning, their operation yesterday was a great success.

After distributing the "wages," "Three Moles" immediately led his gang members to the Grain Reserve to wait.

As he expected, soon some citizens who had heard about the grain rush yesterday came to try their luck, but without exception, they found that the grain depot had already been emptied.

The Scarface man would then step forward and tell them that they were going to "take" the grain from the grain store and bakery in town that afternoon.

By 3 p. m., Nice City was filled with the atmosphere of an impending storm.

As Scarface led the charge into the city's largest bakery, the entire city descended into madness—people who had been starving for a long time, and who were anxious about the food supply, smashed open the doors of grain stores and bakeries, taking as much food as they could.

At first, people followed the rules and left behind "People's Tax," but in the latter half, it turned into pure robbery.

By dusk, the city's normal bread supply had completely collapsed.

Those who failed to secure food supplies were destined to be unable to buy even a crumb of bread the next morning. And this group comprised the majority of the citizens.

The next day, the area outside the ravaged "Markman" bakery was crowded with desperate citizens—the owner and cook had long since fled, and the shop was empty. People knew this, but they still lingered there as usual.

Just as they were sinking into despair, Scarface led over a thousand men through the street corner, shouts erupting from the crowd:

"Viscount Slierte's Household has plenty of grain; let's go ask them for some food."

"Those who don't want to starve to death, hurry up and come!"

"There's no food left in the city, don't hesitate!"

The people in front of the bakery hesitated for a moment, then immediately joined the procession heading to Viscount Slierte's Household.

Although some people felt that the Viscount Slierte family were decent people, at times like this, people were like a panicked flock of sheep, blindly following the leader and completely losing their ability to think.

Before noon, Viscount Slierte's Villa had been completely looted. Scarface, following his "employer's" instructions, led a large group of starving people toward Baron Abella's Household.

Meanwhile, in the Montpellier City, Spy sent by the Duke of Orléans, also led by dozens of gang members, robbed food from a large number of citizens.

Just as the gang leader was urging the starving people to rob the house of a Nobility in the south of the city, one of the starving people loudly suggested:

"Why don't we go to Earl of Serulier's Household? His Manor is so big, there must be plenty of food..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was kicked in the dark, and two gang members casually pushed him to the ground.

Earl of Serulier, an ally of the Duke of Orléans, would certainly want to avoid the fire spreading to him. In fact, the Marquis of Marquis of Saint-Viran's Montcalm Legion, numbering over 17,000, was currently stationed at his Manor, and even if the starving people went there, they would certainly be kept out.

The minor incident quickly passed, and the crowd began shouting as they surged towards the south of the city.

In just a few days, a mob of starving people had swept through most of Montpellier, while the Marquis of Saint-Viran, responsible for maintaining order there, simply stood by and watched the riots spread...

Due to the malicious and reckless transfer of strategic grain reserves, Grain Reserve throughout the Southern Provinces of France have run out of stock.

After Nice and Montpellier, food shortages began to appear in other regions, and the Spy sent by the Duke of Orléans started to stir.

However, due to the poor information transmission capabilities of this era, the news has not yet reached Versailles Palace.

Paris.

As the two guards lowered their heads to light cigarettes, Soleil slipped behind them and slipped into the west corridor on the second floor of the Royal Palace.

She leaned her back against a statue, took a deep breath, and looked at the door of the Archives not far away, secretly rejoicing: she had finally sneaked in!

After the "prison break" that day, she and her Brotherhood Companions divided the work, with each person responsible for investigating a Duke who was a suspect. She, however, focused her attention on the Duke of Orléans.

She had heard that the Duke of Orléans had recently gone on a trip to the South, and thought this was a golden opportunity to easily find some useful evidence. However, the security at the Royal Palace was unusually tight, even more so than at the Bastille!

She had come several times, but could only wander around the perimeter each time. Today, she finally managed to find a gap in the guards' vigilance and managed to sneak into the Archives.

After a patrol of guards passed by, she quietly approached the Archives door, took out a receiver and listened for a moment to make sure there was no movement inside, then skillfully pried open the lock with Iron Wire.

She muttered to herself, "This is much easier to open than the locks on the Bastille," as she carefully pushed the door open and then turned back to gently close it.

However, when she looked at the rows of bookshelves, she froze in place—there was nothing on them!

Previously, these bookshelves were filled with files, neatly arranged by time and type.

She cautiously drew her Rapier, circled the room to make sure there were no ambushes, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Soleil left the Archives with a puzzled look on her face, and after much effort, she managed to sneak into the Duke of Orléans ' Study. She found that although the furnishings were the same as before, there was not a single piece of paper left, and even the door of the safe was open and empty.

She then searched the Duke of Orléans ' Bedroom, Meeting Room, and other places, but found no documents or files.

She was greatly surprised. The Duke of Orléans went on vacation without any guards, yet he took all the documents with him?

Suddenly, her pupils contracted, and a thought flashed through her mind: the Duke of Orléans had fled to escape punishment! The Duke the Maletdu Brothers were referring to was very likely him!

The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that her guess was absolutely correct, so she immediately slipped out of the Royal Palace and rushed to the Crown Prince's office that very night.

On the second floor of the Tuileries Palace, a sleepy-eyed Eman glanced at the clock on the table—12:10 AM.

He had intended to send this girl, who had no sense of time, away and tell her to come back tomorrow, but then he suddenly remembered the last time His Crown Prince had summoned her directly into his office.

He glanced again at Soleil's shapely waist and long, slender legs, dressed in black night clothes, and suddenly understood something. No wonder she came so late; it was probably the agreed time.

Joseph was awakened from his sleep, looked at Eman with displeasure, and frowned:

"Soleil? What time is it?"

However, since he was already awake, he groggily waved his hand:

"Since she says it's urgent... well, let's ask her to go to the Reception Room."

After a moment, Joseph, wearing a bathrobe, gestured for Soleil to sit down opposite him on the sofa, yawned, and said:

"What urgent matter could have brought you here so late?"

Soleil nodded vigorously and said earnestly:

"Your Highness, I have found the mastermind behind the Maletdu Brothers!"

"Oh?" Joseph immediately perked up. "Please tell me in detail."

Soleil then recounted how the Brotherhood gone to the Bastille to extract Testimony from the members, and how the Maletdu Brothers had inadvertently revealed that their leader was a Duke.

"The Duke?" Joseph was now wide awake. Pointing at Soleil, he said in a deep voice, "You've got some nerve, daring to break someone out of prison. Aren't you afraid I'll lock you up too?"

"This is all for justice..." Soleil puffed out her chest, then glanced at Joseph's dark face, swallowed hard, and whispered, "Your Highness, you won't really have me arrested, will you?"

Joseph waved his hand. "Tell me your discovery first."

"Oh, okay," Soleil quickly continued, "I searched the Duke of Orléans' house, and I discovered that all the documents in the Royal Palace were missing..."

After she finished speaking, Joseph's face was ashen.

At this time of year, Nobility do indeed enjoy traveling the South to escape the cold, and no one would have paid much attention when the Duke of Orléans said he was going. But the fact that he took all the important documents with him meant it was definitely not just a simple trip.

However, he didn't think the Duke of Orléans was "fleeing from justice"—he had only burned Lesser Nobility to death, and it wasn't even his own doing. Given his status, he wouldn't care at all.

Something big is definitely happening here!

Soon, Fouche was dragged out of bed and rushed to the Bastille with His Crown Prince to interrogate the Maletdu Brothers.

After receiving the crucial lead of the Duke of Orléans, the experienced interrogators from the Police Intelligence Division easily extracted Testimony from the two brothers.

Joseph listened to Fouche's report on the case with a frown, his brow furrowing even more.

"But why would the Duke of Orléans go to such lengths to scheme against Mono?"

He gazed at the flickering candlelight on the wall and pondered:

"If the Duke of Orléans is plotting something, and Mono is an indispensable part of it, then it all makes sense..."

He suddenly turned to Fouche and said:

"Quickly! Send someone to Mono's house!"

However, by the time the Police Intelligence Division arrived at Mono's residence in the Versailles Palace, he had already disappeared.

According to Mono's Servant, he took his son the South to "sunbathe" on the day of the Soleil prison break.

"Another trip to the South?" Joseph ordered Fouche coldly, "Immediately find out who else has gone on vacation recently."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Joseph analyzed what the Duke of Orléans was going to do, but he couldn't figure it out, so he had no choice but to start with the existing breakthrough.

He had all the key officials in the Interior Administration System woke up and asked them to compile all the orders Mono had recently issued.

Fortunately, Dadu the Nobility lived in the Versailles Palace, and these officials were mostly Nobility, so getting them all together was quite easy.

As the first rays of sunlight streamed into the Versailles Palace, a thick stack of documents had already been prepared and piled up in front of Joseph.

"Get to the main points," Joseph said, looking at the Assistant to the Minister of the Interior had dark circles under his eyes.

The latter hesitated and said, "Your Highness, Count Monod hasn't done anything particularly important in the past two months, except... he seems to be very concerned about the mobilization of grain."

The transportation and allocation of grain is a task of the Interior Administration System, but these are usually done by lower-level officials. It is somewhat strange that the Minister of the Interior is personally involved in these trivial matters.

Joseph narrowed his eyes and ordered him to find all the allocation documents issued by Mono.

But when Joseph saw the dozens of chaotic and disorganized transfer orders, anger surged instantly.

That bastard Orleans is going to plunge all of France into the Abyss!