Chapter 1130: Chapter 1119: Agreeing to the Meeting
Upon learning from the telegram that Cavour wanted to visit her, Princess Mathilde immediately understood Cavour’s true intention.
The reason Cavour wanted to visit her as soon as he arrived in Paris was simply to re-establish contact with the Emperor of the French Empire through her.
Ever since Jerome Bonaparte had annexed Savoy and Nice with a firm attitude, Cavour seemed like a kite cut off from its string, losing all his connections in Paris.
According to some rumors from Sardinia, Cavour had completely chosen to withdraw.
Because of this, Princess Mathilde felt a bit lost for a while.
After all, Cavour was one of Princess Mathilde’s few foreign friends, and she greatly admired his knowledge and eloquence.
Mathilde had thought that there would be no opportunity for further contact with Cavour, but unexpectedly, about a year later, Cavour reached out to her again.
This made Princess Mathilde suspicious, wondering if Cavour’s desire to see the Emperor of France again was related to the upcoming military exercises of the French Mediterranean Navy.
After careful consideration, Princess Mathilde decided to visit Fontainebleau Palace once more to inform Jerome Bonaparte of Cavour’s wish to see him.
Without delay, Princess Mathilde called her servant to her and instructed him to prepare a carriage for her to go to Fontainebleau Palace.
The servant, upon receiving Mathilde’s order, showed a perplexed expression; he clearly remembered that Princess Mathilde had just returned from Fontainebleau, so why did she need to go there again?
However, as a servant, he hesitated only for a moment before immediately following Princess Mathilde’s orders.
Soon, a carriage appeared at the entrance of the inn, and Princess Mathilde, assisted by the servant, entered the carriage.
Due to the snow on the road, the carriage could not travel at normal speed and had to proceed slowly.
Even so, the speed of the carriage was still much faster than walking.
After traveling on the snow-covered road for about ten minutes, the carriage finally reached the gates of Fontainebleau Palace.
The guards at the palace looked bewildered when they saw the carriage stop at the gates because they had not received any notification of a visitor.
Under the vigilant gaze of the guards, Princess Mathilde alighted from the carriage.
Recognizing Princess Mathilde from a prior encounter, the guards relaxed their guard and watched her step by step ascend the steps.
When Mathilde reached the guards, they quickly saluted her and then considerately opened the gates of Fontainebleau Palace for her.
Upon entering the palace, Mathilde immediately encountered Angelo von Beichu who was hurrying to the entrance.
"Mr. Beichu, hello!" Mathilde greeted Beichu kindly.
Beichu also noticed Mathilde entering the palace. A look of surprise quickly flashed across his face before he regained his composure and greeted her, "Your Highness, hello!"
"Where is the Emperor now? I have urgent matters to discuss with him. Can you take me to see him now?" Mathilde, with no hesitation, immediately expressed her intention.
"His Majesty is currently in the study dealing with some documents," Beichu replied to Princess Mathilde.
Under Beichu’s guidance, Princess Mathilde entered the study and saw the Emperor focused on his work.
At that moment, Jerome Bonaparte was intently reading a document titled "On How to Sustain France’s High Economic Growth from 1849–1857," authored by the French industrial banker Isaac Pereire.
Since the document’s economic content was quite abstruse (based on classical economics tradition), Jerome Bonaparte had to concentrate fully to truly understand it. Thus, Mathilde’s entry was unnoticed by him, as he assumed Beichu had returned to the room.
"Your Majesty, Her Highness Mathilde has arrived!"
Hearing Beichu’s voice in his ear, Jerome Bonaparte finally lifted his head to look in front.
Princess Mathilde stood unwaveringly opposite Jerome Bonaparte.
"Alright! I see!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded in response to Beichu.
Beichu left the study, considerately closing the door for Jerome Bonaparte.
Only Jerome Bonaparte and Mathilde were left in the room. Jerome Bonaparte first put down the document in his hand, extended his hand, and invited Princess Mathilde to sit across from him.
After Princess Mathilde took her seat, Jerome Bonaparte then inquired about her visit, "Sister, why have you come again?"
"What? You don’t need to come to Fontainebleau Palace if there’s nothing? Are you tired of your sister?" Princess Mathilde half-jokingly asked Jerome Bonaparte.
"Of course not!" Jerome Bonaparte flatly denied, "Whether it’s Fontainebleau Palace or Tuileries Palace, we welcome you!
However, I think your visit this time isn’t purely meant to entertain me!"
"Of course!"
Princess Mathilde also knew when to stop, and she immediately informed Jerome Bonaparte of Cavour’s desire to visit her.
Upon hearing the news of Cavour’s arrival in Paris, Jerome Bonaparte couldn’t help but smile.
Unexpectedly, Cavour couldn’t hold his nerve. The Mediterranean military exercises of France had just been announced a short while ago, and he rushed from London to Paris.
(Jerome Bonaparte didn’t know that Cavour’s original plan was to visit Paris after London to discuss the Italian Peninsula issues,
but due to continuous heavy snow in London, Cavour’s journey to Paris was repeatedly delayed.
It wasn’t until the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly announced the French Navy’s military exercise plan that Cavour hurried to Paris.)
"Do you think I should meet Cavour?" Mathilde immediately asked Jerome Bonaparte his opinion.
Jerome Bonaparte pondered for a moment before responding to Mathilde, "Sister, directly tell Mr. Cavour to come to Fontainebleau Palace as soon as he arrives in Fontainebleau Town!
I will meet him at Fontainebleau Palace!"
Upon hearing Jerome Bonaparte’s response, Princess Mathilde showed a surprised expression and couldn’t help asking, "Directly meeting him won’t affect the French Empire, will it?"
"No!" Jerome Bonaparte shook his head in response to Princess Mathilde, then added with a teasing tone: "Our Mr. Cavour is quite capable! In London, I fear he might have reached some agreement with certain people there (Jerome Bonaparte did not directly name Prince Albert and Palmerston).
This time he’s here in France simply to confirm whether France will obstruct them!"
"What does Cavour want to do?" Mathilde couldn’t help but ask.
"What else could he do?" Jerome Bonaparte shrugged, displaying an indifferent attitude, "He merely wants to unify Italy. Last time, they wanted to use France to achieve their dream of unification, but unfortunately, I thwarted them, causing them to lose Savoy and Nice.
This time, they’ve allied with the Kingdom of Britain, hoping to use them for unification!"
"The Kingdom of Britain is willing to use force to help the Sardinian Kingdom unify Italy?" Princess Mathilde displayed a disbelieving expression; in her impression, the Kingdom of Britain seemed not to be a selfless ’great philanthropist.’
"The Kingdom of Britain probably won’t directly use force to help the Sardinian Kingdom unify!" Jerome Bonaparte was equally skeptical that Cavour could use his eloquence to persuade the Britons to fight for them, "They (Britain) always like to help when success is assured; hoping for their assistance in times of need is impossible!
I think Cavour could at most receive the assurance from the Kingdom of Britain that the Sardinian Kingdom wouldn’t be infringed upon by the Austrian Empire.
If Cavour truly received Britain’s military aid, he wouldn’t have come to France."
"So... what are you planning to do?" Mathilde curiously asked Jerome Bonaparte.
Jerome Bonaparte showed a cold smile, and his tone also became sarcastic, "Since Mr. Cavour is confident in his plan to unify Italy, I want to see how far Mr. Cavour can go!"
"Aren’t you afraid the situation in Italy will spiral out of control?" Mathilde worriedly asked.
"Out of control?" Jerome Bonaparte dragged out his words, also showing a mocking expression, "If the situation truly teeters on the brink of chaos, I believe the Holy Father residing in Rome will certainly ask France for assistance!
At that time, we can intervene in Italy under the banner of the Church!
Rest assured, the situation in Italy won’t fall into chaos!
We might even seize some unexpected benefits by leveraging Cavour’s attempts to stir up Italy!"
Watching the confident Jerome Bonaparte, Mathilde swallowed all her worries.
Since the Emperor had made up his mind, Mathilde knew that any further words wouldn’t change the outcome.
"Alright! I will pass on your message to Cavour!" Mathilde responded to Jerome Bonaparte.
"By the way!" Jerome Bonaparte spoke again to Princess Mathilde, "Tell Cavour to make sure he arrives at Fontainebleau Palace without alerting anyone else!"
