For a Mother, There Was Only One Important Thing in the World

Queen Mary looked at her son in surprise, the Belgium pastry covered in sugar strands and Cocoa powder still untouched in her hand. "You mean, Archbishop Talleyrand's expression of support for Russia's occupation of Sweden was at your behest?"

"Ah, you could call it my foreign policy advice to him," Joseph said, choosing a more tactful way of putting it so his mother wouldn't think the Minister of Foreign Affairs was ignoring her. "And he happens to agree with it."

"But why are you condoning the Russia?"

"It's to make them temporarily forget about Poland. You know, Poland will suffer once the Russia army is idle."

Queen Mary blinked. "In that case, we should negotiate directly with Russia, rather than sacrificing Sweden."

"This..." Joseph secretly squeezed the armrest of his chair, and patiently explained, "Sweden was capable of resisting Russia invasion."

"But I don't think Sweden is that much stronger Poland."

"Sweden will receive aid from the United Kingdom and Prussia."

How can you be so sure?

"Is that so..."

An hour and a half later, Queen Mary had completely forgotten about dessert, and her eyes were filled with shock as she looked at the Crown Prince: "So, your strategy is to first stabilize the situation around Tunisia, and then send the Marquis de Lafayette to India to cause trouble for the United Kingdom?"

"Ah, I merely offered the Minister of War some advice. The Marquis de Lafayette was dispatched to the Far East on orders from the Duke of Broglie."

Joseph had to try to salvage the situation for his Cabinet Minister: "According to the Intelligence Bureau's investigation, Algiers and Tripoli are both supported by the United Kingdom. If India needs a significant investment of the United Kingdom resources, then our pressure in North Africa will be relieved."

"You see, after Mysore declared war on the United Kingdom East India Company, the United Kingdom Minister of Foreign Affairs came to Paris immediately. If I'm not mistaken, he came to ask us not to interfere in the India situation."

"Of course, we can't agree so easily. Besides, we recently defeated Hanover Army. We must wait until he offers enough benefits before considering it..."

Queen Mary didn't really listen to what her son said next; her heart was churning with excitement and pride. Her son had grown up, and was so outstanding. He spoke eloquently about these international affairs, something even Archbishop Brienne had never done before.

At the same time, she felt a little melancholy. If things continued at this pace, her son would soon no longer need her protection; he would spread his wings and fly away from the little nest she had built for him, like a bird with fully grown wings.

She suddenly paused, then shook her head vigorously.

What am I thinking? My son is almost 16, he's a grown man! He's Child of Divine Grace!

I can't always hold him in my arms like I did when he was a child. He should be soaring through the vast skies of France.

And it's clear that he's capable of doing a very good job.

With this thought in mind, Queen Mary had only one thing on her mind. "Joseph, you will be 16 in a few months. I know you have great ambitions and want to devote all your energy to making the country strong, but you also need to think about your marriage."

"You can choose not to get married yet, but that won't stop you from choosing a fiancée. For God's sake, consider it a way to put your father and me at ease."

She lowered her voice again. "To be honest, you don't like men, do you? Oh, your father mentioned this to me before."

Joseph was immediately at a loss for words. How could you suddenly veer off to this topic when we were talking about national affairs?

"Of course not," he quickly shook his head. "Don't worry, I will definitely choose a girl I like to marry."

Queen Mary immediately seized the opportunity and said, "So, you see, Clementine..."

"Ah, Mother, my cousin is very good, but she's definitely not my ideal wife."

"So it's the Princess of Sicily? Isn't it? What about the Princess of Savoy? No, that won't work either? The Spanish Princess..."

Joseph was both amused and exasperated. Although his mother had listed almost every princess from the surrounding countries, thanks to the terrible custom among Europe Royal House —that they basically only intermarried between a few major Royal House and never introduced fresh DNA—all the girls she mentioned were close relatives of him!

The most distant relatives are collateral relatives within three generations; as for closer relatives like Clementine, needless to say, how could someone like that get married?

Seeing that Queen Mary had begun to seriously extend her search for candidates to the United Kingdom, Joseph could no longer resist.

"Well, dear Mother, my request is actually very simple," he said through gritted teeth, "It's just that I hope to marry a girl who is not related to me by blood."

"Huh? Why is that?"

Joseph was immediately at a loss. If he directly said that consanguineous marriage was more likely to result in children with intellectual disabilities, it would seem like he was insulting his own parents. After all, both his grandparents and maternal grandparents were related by blood...

Moreover, as someone who has been influenced by 21st-century ideas, he cannot ethically accept having a wife who is a close relative.

"This," he said cautiously, "Is about genetics. That Mendel... oh, no, he didn't..."

Queen Mary looked at her son, who had a constipated expression, and suddenly smiled kindly. She took his hand and said, "Okay, okay, I understand. But as the Crown Prince of France, you really can't marry a commoner."

In her view, her son must have made up this reason in order to marry a commoner girl.

"Huh?" Joseph said instinctively, "I didn't say I wanted to marry a commoner."

"Oh? Really?"

"I'll marry a princess, I really will marry a princess," Joseph said, utterly exhausted. "As long as she's not a close relative."

Just then, Brienne arrived with an important document for Her Majesty the Queen sign, interrupting their conversation.

Joseph seized the opportunity to escape the scene of the forced marriage.

After finishing her official duties, Queen Mary strolled to the balcony, gazing at the vibrant vegetables and flowers in the yard, her mind replaying the words her son had just spoken.

"No blood relation allowed," she frowned slightly, "Yet you say you want to marry a princess. Are there any princesses like that in Europe Royal House?"

In fact, even the British Crown has some blood relation to the French Royal Family, albeit a rather thin one. And it wouldn't be practically possible for the Crown Prince to marry a United Kingdom woman...

What is my son really thinking?

Queen Mary pondered for a moment, when suddenly an image of a little girl's gentle, large eyes popped into her mind.

Her eyes lit up immediately. The little girl was indeed not related to the French Royal Family by blood. "So Joseph likes that little girl! Hmm, although she's a bit young, she's really cute, especially her eyes."

"By the way, she's in Paris now. No wonder Joseph suddenly rushed back from the Southern Netherlands."

She recalled Joseph's words about wanting to marry a princess from a powerful country. Although Russia was poor and backward, it was vast and populous, and could definitely be considered a powerful nation.

She suddenly felt a pang of self-reproach; it turned out that her son had mentioned someone he liked long ago, but she hadn't understood.

He really is a shy child. He likes other girls but doesn't say it directly, leaving his parents to guess.

Queen Mary Antoinette was somewhat disappointed by Clementine's "loss," but she quickly cheered up again, at least confirming that her son did not like men.