I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 371 For Mother, There is Only One Important Thing in the World

Queen Marie looked at her son in surprise, holding up a piece of Belgian pastry wrapped in sugar and covered in cocoa powder, but she never put it into her mouth. "Are you saying that Archbishop Talleyrand expressed his support to Russia for their occupation of Sweden, and that this was done with your instructions?"

"Ah, it's my foreign policy advice to him." Joseph didn't want his mother to think that the Foreign Minister ignored her, so he had to use a tactful way of saying, "And he happened to agree with it."

"But why do you indulge the Russians?"

"To make them forget about Poland for a while. You know, Poland would suffer if the Russian army were idle."

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

"This..." Joseph secretly pinched the armrest of the chair and explained patiently, "Sweden can resist the invasion of Russia."

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

"Sweden will receive assistance from Britain and Prussia."

"How can you be sure?"

"That's it..."

An hour and a half later, Queen Marie had completely forgotten about dessert. She looked at the Crown Prince with shock in her eyes. "So, your strategy is to stabilize the situation around Tunisia first, and then send Marquis Lafayette to India to cause trouble for the British?"

"Ah, I was only giving some advice to the Minister of War. The Marquis de Lafayette was sent to the Far East by order of the Duke of Broglie."

Joseph had to try his best to make up for the cabinet ministers: "According to the investigation of the Intelligence Bureau, Algiers and Tripoli are both supported by Britain. If India requires Britain to invest a huge force, then our pressure in North Africa will be reduced.

"You see, immediately after Mysore declared war on the British East India Company, the British Foreign Secretary came to Paris. If I am not mistaken, he came to ask us not to interfere in the Indian situation.

"Of course, we can't agree so easily. Moreover, we have recently defeated the Hanoverian army. We must wait until he has paid enough benefits before we consider it..."

Queen Mary didn't really listen to what her son said afterwards. She was filled with excitement and pride. Her son had grown up and was so outstanding. He was very knowledgeable about international affairs. Even Archbishop Brian had never been so thorough in his explanation.

At the same time, she felt a little melancholy. At this pace, her son would soon no longer need her protection, and he would fly away from the nest she had built for him like a fully-fledged bird.

She was suddenly startled, and then shook her head vigorously.

What was I thinking? My son will be 16 soon. He is already an adult! He is the son of God!

I can't always hold him in my arms like I did when he was little. He should spread his wings and fly over the vast sky of France.

And it’s clear that he can do it very well.

Thinking of this, Queen Mary had only one thing left in her mind: "Joseph, you will be 16 years old in a few months. I know that you have great ideals and want to devote all your energy to strengthening the country, but you also have to consider your marriage.

"You don't have to get married yet, but that doesn't affect your choice of a fiancée. For God's sake, just consider it as a way to reassure your father and me."

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

Joseph suddenly felt a headache. How could you suddenly turn the topic to this when we were talking about national affairs?

"Of course not." He shook his head hurriedly, "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 is definitely not my ideal wife." "Then it's the Princess of Sicily? No? What about the Princess of Savoy? Not good either? The Princess of Spain..."

Joseph didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Although his mother had listed almost all the princesses from the surrounding countries, due to the terrible customs among European royal families - basically they only intermarried between a few major royal families and never introduced fresh DNA - all the girls she mentioned were close relatives of himself!
The most distant ones are collateral relatives within three generations, and close ones like Clementine are needless to say. How can such a thing get married?

Seeing that Queen Mary had begun to extend her candidate targets to Britain with a serious expression, Joseph could no longer bear it.

"Well, dear mother, actually my request is very simple." He gritted his teeth and said, "That is, I hope to marry a girl who is not related to me by blood."

"Ah? Why is this?"

Joseph was immediately overwhelmed. If he said directly that close relatives would easily give birth to fools, it would seem like he was scolding his own parents. After all, his grandparents and grandparents-in-law were close relatives...

Moreover, as a person who has been influenced by the ideas of the 21st century, he cannot ethically accept a wife who is a close relative.

"This," he said carefully, "is about genetics. That, Mendel...oh, no, he hasn't..."

Queen Marie looked at her son with 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 opinion, her son must have made up this reason in order to marry a commoner girl.

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

"Oh? Seriously?"

"Marry a princess. I really will marry a princess." Joseph was exhausted, but he said confidently, "As long as she is not a close relative."

At this moment, Brian came with an important document and asked Her Majesty the Queen to sign it, which interrupted their conversation.

Joseph took the opportunity to escape from the forced marriage scene.

After finishing her government affairs, Queen Mary walked to the balcony and looked at the various vegetables and flowers growing vibrantly in the yard, recalling what her son had just said.

"There can't be a blood relationship," she frowned slightly, "but he wants to marry a princess. Is there such a princess in the European royal family?"

If you think about it, even the British royal family is related to the French royal family, although the relationship is already quite thin. And you can't really let the crown prince marry a British woman...

"What on earth is my son thinking?"

Queen Mary pondered, and suddenly the gentle big eyes of a little girl popped up in her mind.

Her eyes suddenly lit up. The little girl really had no blood relationship with the French royal family. "So Joseph likes that little girl! Well, although she is a little young, she is indeed very cute, especially her eyes.

"By the way, she is in Paris now. No wonder Joseph suddenly came back from the Southern Netherlands."

She remembered that Joseph had said that he wanted to marry a princess from a powerful country. Although Russia was poor and backward, it had a vast territory and a large population, and was definitely a powerful country.

She suddenly felt a little guilty, as it turned out that her son had already mentioned the person he liked to her, but she had never understood.

He is really a shy child. He likes other girls but doesn't say it directly, and makes his parents guess all the time.

Although Queen Mary was a little disappointed about Clementine's "failure", she soon became happy again, at least she was sure that her son did not like men.

(End of this chapter)