Paoli's Dead End

Judging from the few towns where votes have already been counted, Oscar Pauli's influence in Corsica remains enormous.

After all, his father was the founder of the Corsican Restorationist Faction, who built an army, drove out the rulers of Genoa, and even briefly established Corsica's independence. After France bought Corsica, Paoli led his own army against the France, and although he was defeated, his reputation had spread throughout Corsica.

Therefore, the Paoli Faction lawmakers firmly secured 35% of the vote.

The Pro-France Faction also emerged as a dark horse this time. Due to Earl Buttafuoco's unexpected decision to set aside his prejudices and join forces with the Liberals, they won nearly 30% of the vote.

Although the Anti-Paoli Faction spared no effort in publicizing Paoli's embezzlement of organizational funds and his collusion with the French Army, it seemed that not many people believed it. As a result, even with Chamos's large financial sponsorship, they only managed to garner 15% of the vote.

The remaining nearly 20% of the votes were won by the centrists Restorationist Centrist Faction.

It should be noted that if the Restoration Faction remain as united as before, they could very well win more than 70% of the Parliament seats, thus meeting the seat requirements for legislation.

But right now, they're tearing each other apart. And nobody's even paying attention to the Pro-France Faction anymore.

Southwest Corsica.

On the hillside outside Nonza Village, two burly men were observing the village nestled in the valley through Telescope.

The dark-skinned man on the left kept nodding:

"Agosta did a good job; the ignition point was very well concealed."

He put down his Telescope and said to the young man beside him:

"Alright, Filippo, let's head back to town. We'll officially take action tomorrow night. Oh, you've probably heard the news; the election results weren't very good."

The latter nodded. "It seems that those loyal to Mr. Paoli only received slightly more than a third of the votes. Those traitors deserve to go to hell!"

"Yes, so we must complete this mission. That way, at least we can get Eliok and the others back under Mr. Paoli's command."

"Yes, sir." Filippo gritted his teeth and nodded with difficulty. "I will certainly not let you down."

Nonza Village is a well-known base for members of the restoration movement—more than 30 soldiers in the National Guard came from Nonza, so it was very difficult to find someone willing to come here to start a fire.

It was only after repeated persuasion that Paoli's nephew Cesari, managed to get his three Guard to reluctantly accept the task.

Filippo was the one responsible for lighting the fire.

When the arsonists returned to the nearby Quarlei Town, they had just entered the inn when they heard two merchants with the South Italy accents chuckling lewdly and whispering amongst themselves:

"That's right, when the Police went in, Paoli was still naked and just stood there dumbfounded. A dozen or so people nearby saw him, haha."

"I never imagined that the Corsica revered him like a god, when in reality he was just a lecherous old man."

"And he's a lecherous bastard. He wouldn't even bother pursuing that lady; he just resorted to force. And the most unfortunate one is her poor aunt, who, just because she cared about her niece, also fell victim to Paoli's 'poisonous hand'..."

The two chuckled lewdly again, "To be honest, his tastes are really unusual. It's said that... ah, Miss Isabella's aunt is about to become a grandmother, and he still went for it."

"Haha, Corsica might just have this hobby..."

Filippo didn't hear very clearly, but he could make out words like "Paoli," "old lecher," and "force," and seeing the extremely lewd expressions on the two men's faces, he was instantly filled with rage. He rushed over, grabbed one of them by the collar, and roared:

"How dare you insult Paoli?!"

Agosta also gave another merchant a hard shove:

You will pay the price for what you just said!

The two merchants were startled and hurriedly explained:

"What are you doing? I didn't make this up. Oh, it's in the 《The London Gazette》."

"Yes, Paoli has been arrested for rape. Miss Isabella's father was so angry he almost killed him."

"No, impossible!" Filippo, a lifelong fan of Paoli, immediately roared, ready to punch them, "You are not allowed to slander Mr. Paoli!"

"Wait!" The older businessman clutched his head, gesturing to his Trunk. "There's a copy of The 《The Times》 there; I remember it also reprinted this story. You can see for yourselves..."

Filippo was taken aback, left him aside, turned around, opened his Trunk, and quickly pulled out a copy of The 《The Times》.

That was last week's newspaper, and sure enough, page two featured a huge headline. "Corsica political leader arrested for rape."

He looked down, trembling, and saw in the news that Paoli had lured a Nobility named Isabella to a cottage in the suburbs and assaulted her. Isabella's aunt, who had suspected Paoli of wrongdoing from the beginning, had secretly followed them. When she heard a commotion after her niece entered the house, she went to knock on the door, only to be dragged inside by Paoli as well...

The article was followed by a great deal of detailed description, Filippo could no longer bear to read. He threw the newspaper aside and stared at the two businessmen, saying:

You're lying to me! This isn't true!

"Stubborn fellow," the merchant said mockingly as he gathered his Trunk. "There were over a dozen eyewitnesses, and now all of the United Kingdom knows about it. Who is he to you? I suggest you keep a close eye on your women."

Filippo slumped into a chair in the hotel, feeling as if his head was about to split open. He couldn't believe that Mr. Paoli, whom he had admired for so long, could have done such a beastly thing...

Of course, these were all traps set by the French Intelligence Bureau.

The only thing that dissatisfied Fouche was that he couldn't find a man who, when dressed in a skirt, would be able to seduce Paoli —if Déon de Beaumont were still young, he should be able to do the job [Note 1].

So he had to settle for second best and asked Isabella to seduce Paoli. However, based on the principle of "if the quality is not good enough, make up for it with quantity", he also arranged for Paoli to be a victimized aunt.

As a result, Paoli became a hit in the United Kingdom.

The next day, a distraught Filippo saw the newspaper delivered by Ajaccio, which had reprinted the news from the United Kingdom, and the content was even more detailed. Bartorio and the Anti-Paoli Faction MPs naturally wouldn't let such a good opportunity pass by, and did their best to publicize the matter, even sending reporters to London to follow up and report.

Filippo, carrying a copy of the 《Corsica Morning Post》, had been walking for an unknown amount of time when he suddenly looked up and saw the Nonza Village in front of him.

[Note 1] Dion de Beaumont (1728-1810) was a legendary France Spy who was skilled at cross-dressing and was incredibly beautiful when dressed as a woman, attracting many Nobility who pursued "her" madly. Beaumont also used his "beauty" to obtain a lot of intelligence from his "sycophants" and was repeatedly commended by Louis XV.