CHAPTER 360: CHAPTER 355: CANDIDATES FOR THE CENTRAL SUPERVISORY BODY

After the antics of Jerome Bonaparte and Jean Dulles, time swiftly moved to December.

Carrying a sense of loss, Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta, after inspecting several important provinces, returned to Paris.

Upon their return, Jerome Bonaparte seemed like a changed man, locking himself in his study all day, issuing orders that no one was allowed to approach during this time.

When hungry, he asked Vilnius to prepare some food for him, and when tired, he simply lay down and slept on the table.

If there were urgent documents that needed handling, the secretariat could hand them over to Vilnius directly.

Forgot to mention, Vilnius is still serving as the dedicated secretary to Jerome Bonaparte, while also acting as the lady-in-waiting to Empress Augusta.

Having grown up in the Royal Palace, Augusta naturally understood the relationship between Jerome Bonaparte and Vilnius. Augusta knew that the Emperor could not entirely invest his time and energy only in her.

Instead of letting him secretly act recklessly, it was better to take the initiative and maintain everything within a controllable scope.

Sagaciously, she chose to turn Vilnius into an ally.

Firstly, Vilnius was only 14 years old. During her days with Jerome Bonaparte, Augusta noticed that Jerome Bonaparte did not have a preference for girls who were too young, so Vilnius still needed a few more years to develop.

Secondly, considering the external threats from Marchioness Aile and Eugenie, compared to Vilnius, these two were evidently more threatening.

Under these two reasons, Augusta maintained a tacit agreement for all of Vilnius’s actions.

This situation lasted for several days. Neither Vilnius nor Augusta could understand why the Emperor became melancholic after returning to Paris. They informed Mathilde Bonaparte, who had left Paris, about Jerome Bonaparte’s situation.

Upon receiving the message from her brother in the Outer Province, Mathilde immediately took a train and hurried back to the Tuileries Palace.

"Where is the Emperor now?" Mathilde, rushing into the Tuileries Palace, quickly inquired about Jerome Bonaparte’s whereabouts.

Augusta led Mathilde to the study door, pointing into the room and whispered to Mathilde, "Your Majesty, during this time, no one except Vilnius is allowed to enter the study!"

"Really worrying!" Mathilde gently knocked on the door of the study.

"Didn’t I tell you all! Don’t bother me!" An annoyed voice from Jerome Bonaparte came from inside the room.

Without a word, Mathilde directly opened the door and entered the study.

Upon entering the study, Mathilde turned her head and saw the Emperor, who was lazily lying on the sofa, constantly yawning.

Mathilde’s arrival prompted Jerome Bonaparte to quickly place his feet back on the ground, and his body involuntarily straightened.

"Sister? Why are you here?" Jerome Bonaparte glanced at Mathilde in puzzlement, then turned to look at Augusta beside her, immediately understanding: "Did Augusta call you here!"

"Your Majesty, what on earth has agitated you!" Mathilde continued to taunt Jerome Bonaparte mockingly: "Or are you looking to completely isolate yourself from the world!"

"I..." Jerome Bonaparte paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It’s nothing!"

"Then why do you lock yourself in the room?" Mathilde asked back.

"Well... I’m thinking!" Jerome Bonaparte spread his hands in explanation.

"Thinking? Thinking about what?" Mathilde Bonaparte inquired again.

"Thinking about what method can be employed to ensure that administrative directives are accurately conveyed, rather than being distorted like agricultural policies!"

The grassroots investigation in November served as a wake-up call for Jerome Bonaparte. Even though he repeatedly raised the bar to increase the cost of bureaucratic distortions, he still could not prevent the actions of local bureaucrats.

Without a suitable supervisory tool, merely hoping for the self-initiative of the bureaucratic class and social morality was evidently unreliable.

"Why worry so much! As long as the policies can be implemented, it should be fine!" Clearly, Mathilde did not have the same sense of crisis as Jerome Bonaparte. In her view, didn’t the Bourbon and Orléans Dynasties also get by day by day?

Why do so many issues arise with them?

"If any policy is distorted, it would deplete our prestige and our standing in the hearts of the Parisians! I don’t want to establish an Empire with only a brief lifespan!" Jerome Bonaparte said to Augusta: "I suppose you wouldn’t want to see our children unable to inherit the throne, right!"

"Then what are you going to do?" Augusta asked Jerome Bonaparte.

"An adequate supervisory body!" Jerome Bonaparte replied to Augusta.

"An adequate supervisory body?" Augusta and Mathilde echoed in unison.

"Indeed! We must ensure an adequate supervisory body that can oversee the situations of various provinces! No one is more suitable for this position than the Republican Faction!" Jerome Bonaparte’s mouth curled into a smile as he said to Mathilde.

"The Republican Faction? No way! They will overthrow us!" Augusta somewhat disagreed with Jerome Bonaparte’s idea.

It sounds quite absurd for a monarch to appoint a guy from the Republican Faction to oversee things.

"Augusta, France is no longer the traditional autocratic monarchy; it’s a monarchy under a republican system! Autocracy is bound to give way to the republic, this is the trend of history!" Jerome Bonaparte said with an uncompromising tone.

In the 21st century, apart from some monarchies in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the vast majority of monarchies have fully transitioned to constitutional monarchies. This is the trend of history, and it leaves no room for change.

Even Jerome Bonaparte would not attempt to obstruct this trend. He could only try to strengthen the French people’s recognition of the Bonaparte Clan, gradually transitioning into a constitutional state.

Then, Jerome Bonaparte shifted the topic and continued, "However, our next generation will still have some monarchical rights. As for the generation after, it will have to be left to God!"

"Since you believe this would help consolidate the House of Bonaparte’s rule over France, then go ahead and do it!" Mathilde said to Jerome Bonaparte, choosing to trust her brother.

Immediately, Augusta also chose to support Jerome Bonaparte’s actions. Although she didn’t like the Republican Faction, she was merely doing her duty as a wife.

"Staying in the study for so many days! My body is almost rusting!" Jerome Bonaparte got up from the sofa, yawning and stretching his arms.

"Alright! I should leave now!" Seeing that the matter was resolved, Mathilde turned to leave. Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta escorted Mathilde out of the Tuileries Palace and watched her depart.

After Mathilde’s carriage slowly left the Tuileries Palace, Jerome Bonaparte turned to Augusta and said, "I’m really sorry! Due to my reasons recently, I’ve made you worry!"

"It’s nothing!" Augusta said with a gentle smile, as she tightly grasped Jerome Bonaparte’s left hand with her right, "If you’re ever unhappy, could you discuss it with me? Don’t make me worry so much!"

"Hmm!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded.

The two exchanged smiles and stood for a long time under the setting sun.

...

On the morning of December 8, a thick fog completely enveloped Paris, turning the whole world into a vast whiteness.

Along with the fog came blasts of cold air, forcing Parisians to huddle and carefully walk along the streets close to the walls of Paris, attentively listening for the sound of horse hooves in the fog.

It was in such extremely harsh weather conditions that a black carriage set out from the Tuileries Palace.

The carriage traveled along Champs-Élysées Avenue to the banks of the Seine River before changing direction to continue along both banks of the Seine.

After about ten minutes of travel, the carriage finally arrived in front of a shared residential building.

The carriage door slowly opened, and Jerome Bonaparte, dressed in a brown wool coat with a black apron around his neck, stepped out.

Augusta also followed suit and got out.

Looking at the somewhat shabby street-side building in front of her, Augusta asked in confusion, "The person you’re looking for is here?"

"That’s right!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded confidently.

Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta came to the entrance of the apartment, where he gently shook the doorbell.

After a while, an elderly woman with a somewhat plump figure opened the door with an impatient expression, asking, "Who is it?"

"I’m here to see Mr. Alfred Dariemon," Jerome Bonaparte said with a smile on his face.

Perhaps due to the black apron, the landlady did not realize that the man in front of her was the Emperor of the Empire.

She maintained a look of annoyance, murmured softly, "Oh, alright! Come in!"

Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta entered the apartment and were led by the landlady to a room on the fourth floor, where she knocked on the door forcefully and said, "Open up! You have visitors! Hurry and open the door!"

After a moment, a slightly haggard-looking middle-aged man opened the door. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be in his thirties, and at the moment his eyes were bloodshot, suggesting he hadn’t slept, looking particularly listless.

"Who is it?" The middle-aged man also showed an expression of impatience.

When he saw the two people behind the landlady, he quickly woke up.

"You... You..." Alfred Dariemon exclaimed with a trembling voice.

"Mr. Dariemon, we meet again!" Jerome Bonaparte said with a kind smile, "I wonder if you would allow me and my wife to enter your room for a chat! We have some catching up to do!"

"Please... please come in!"

Seeing this, Dariemon hurriedly invited Jerome Bonaparte and Augusta into the room.

Once again, the door to the room closed, leaving only the landlady at the stairwell, reminiscing about the looks of the two people. She felt she had seen them somewhere before.