After a moment of tender intimacy inside the carriage, Jerome Bonaparte and Vilnius found themselves arriving at a small garden outside the Tuileries Palace without realizing it.

Spotting a fleeting silhouette outside through the glass window, Jerome Bonaparte hurriedly ordered the coachman to stop the carriage.

"What's wrong?" Vilnius, who had been resting her head on Jerome Bonaparte's lap, looked up at him with a puzzled expression after the carriage came to a halt.

"Let's get off!" Jerome Bonaparte said without further ado, gently patting Vilnius on the forehead.

"Oh!" Vilnius lifted her head from Jerome Bonaparte's lap, and they got out of the carriage one after the other.

"You can head back now!" Jerome Bonaparte ordered the coachman from the driver's seat.

After being dismissed, the coachman left. Standing on the cement path, Vilnius continued to look at Jerome Bonaparte with a confused gaze.

"Look over there!" Jerome Bonaparte pointed towards the lawn.

Following Jerome Bonaparte's finger, Vilnius saw two ladies in black and white dresses sitting and chatting on a bench beside a cobblestone path, their backs facing Jerome Bonaparte and Vilnius.

"Who is that?" Vilnius examined the lady in the white dress, "That's Her Majesty!"

Indeed, the lady in the white dress was none other than Jerome Bonaparte's legitimate wife, Empress Augusta. The lady next to Empress Augusta, wearing a black dress and a wide-brimmed black sun hat, was probably the Marchioness Aile.

"How did they end up together?" Jerome Bonaparte muttered softly as he watched the two familiar backs.

"Your Majesty, who is the other person?" Vilnius inquired curiously of Jerome Bonaparte.

Vilnius, who hadn't met Marchioness Aile, naturally couldn't recognize her by her back like Jerome Bonaparte could.

Of course, this was also thanks to the close relationship between Jerome Bonaparte and Marchioness Aile.

"Marchioness Aile!" Jerome Bonaparte told Vilnius.

"I remember now! She's the one whose husband you sent to the Far East!" Vilnius instinctively said, then cheekily covered her mouth and stuck out her tongue at Jerome Bonaparte: "Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

"You!" Jerome Bonaparte playfully pressed his index finger against her forehead as punishment, then said to himself: "But, why are Vilnius and Augusta here?"

"Your Majesty, is it because your secret is out in the open?" Vilnius suggested mischievously to Jerome Bonaparte.

"What secret, you silly?!" Jerome Bonaparte lightly tapped Vilnius's forehead twice more.

"Then tell me, they are your mistress and your wife! Why are they together?" Vilnius argued assertively to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Little girl, it seems you haven't been spanked!" Jerome Bonaparte said, feigning anger at Vilnius.

Familiar with Jerome Bonaparte's temperament, Vilnius wasn't afraid at all of him speaking this way to her.

"I was wrong!" Vilnius immediately admitted her mistake to the Emperor.

"Oh well! Let's go over and see!" Jerome Bonaparte suggested to Vilnius.

The two of them quietly approached Empress Augusta and Marchioness Aile.

As Jerome Bonaparte and Vilnius neared, they heard soft sobbing, which seemed to be Marchioness Aile.

Jerome Bonaparte gave a puzzled look to Vilnius, who shook her head to indicate her ignorance of the situation as well.

When Jerome Bonaparte and Vilnius were less than three meters away from Marchioness Aile, he finally heard the conversation between Empress Augusta and Marchioness Aile.

"What do you plan to do? Give birth, or…" Empress Augusta asked Marchioness Aile in a gentle tone.

"Your Majesty the Empress, I don't know…" Marchioness Aile replied to Empress Augusta with a sob.

Give birth?

A sense of foreboding overwhelmed Jerome Bonaparte's heart. Could it be that after Augusta (who became pregnant in late February), Marchioness Aile was also pregnant!

Standing beside Jerome Bonaparte, Vilnius mischievously poked him with her finger, and Jerome Bonaparte gave a playful smack on the back of Vilnius's hand.

"Ah!" Vilnius instinctively cried out after being suddenly "hit" by Jerome Bonaparte.

This outcry alerted the two on the bench to the presence of someone behind them.

"Who is so bold!" Empress Augusta chided the eavesdropper as she stood and turned around to look behind her.

Marchioness Aile also turned to see who was behind them.

Now caught in the act of eavesdropping, Jerome Bonaparte sheepishly scratched his head.

Seeing this, Vilnius jumped behind Empress Augusta to distance herself from Jerome Bonaparte.

Traitor!

Jerome Bonaparte glared fiercely at Vilnius, who crouched behind Augusta, avoiding his gaze.

"Your Majesty!" Marchioness Aile curtsied hastily upon seeing Jerome Bonaparte.

"No! No!" Jerome Bonaparte lightly raised his hand and said to Empress Augusta.

"Your Majesty, since you've heard it all, please make a holy judgment!" Augusta spoke with a hint of resentment toward Jerome Bonaparte.

"Judgment? What judgment?" Jerome Bonaparte feigned ignorance and asked Augusta, "I just got here!"

"Vilnius, tell me honestly, did His Majesty really just arrive?" Augusta asked Vilnius in a serious tone.

"That's right! His Majesty and I just got off the carriage!" Vilnius truthfully told Augusta.

With a suspicious expression, Augusta glanced at Vilnius and then at Jerome Bonaparte.

Seeing no clear indications on their faces, Augusta said, "Perhaps I should say it!"

Empress Augusta revealed to Jerome Bonaparte the news of Marchioness Aile's pregnancy.

"Whose?" Jerome Bonaparte blurted out instinctively.

"What do you think?" Empress Augusta laughed in anger and said to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Really?" Jerome Bonaparte looked at Marchioness Aile, wanting a definitive answer from her.

"Yes!" Marchioness Aile replied in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"So, tell me, our Emperor, what do you plan to do?" Empress Augusta continued to mock Jerome Bonaparte.

No woman could remain indifferent after her husband puts a green hat on her.

Even though she had long known about Jerome Bonaparte's affairs with Marchioness Aile and Eugenie, that didn't mean she had to accept them.

As for Vilnius, Augusta merely regarded him as a gift, and everything Vilnius did was implicitly sanctioned by Augusta.

"How about..." Jerome Bonaparte cautiously tested the waters, "let's keep it!"

"Your Majesty, you really know how to gift the Aile family children!" Empress Augusta continued to mock Jerome Bonaparte.

Standing beside Augusta, Marchioness Aile felt a bit ashamed and quietly said, "Maybe, I should still get rid of it!"

"Why should you!" Augusta firmly grasped Marchioness Aile's hand and said to her, "Why should you bear the consequence of His Majesty's mistake!"

"That's why I say keep it!" Jerome Bonaparte seized the opportunity and said.

Augusta glared fiercely at Jerome Bonaparte once more, pulling Marchioness Aile's hand to lead her away from Jerome Bonaparte.

Vilnius also followed Empress Augusta, leaving Jerome Bonaparte alone and disheveled in the garden, muttering to himself, "What is all this about!"

After speaking, he too slowly walked back toward the Tuileries Palace.

In the following days, Marchioness Aile was placed to live in the Tuileries Palace by Augusta.

However, Marchioness Aile seemed embarrassed to meet Jerome Bonaparte, so even though they were both in the Tuileries Palace, they hadn't crossed paths.

Moreover, it seemed even Augusta and Vilnius were consciously avoiding Jerome Bonaparte repeatedly.

Jerome Bonaparte suddenly felt as if he had been isolated. Embracing a shameless spirit, he quietly snuck into Empress Augusta's large bedroom in the middle of the night.

Moonlight shone through the curtains onto Augusta's bed, and Jerome Bonaparte vaguely saw that there was more than one person lying on the bed beside Augusta.

Who could it be!

A sense of indescribable humiliation surged in Jerome Bonaparte's heart as he never imagined he would become a character in such a story.

Damn Mokar, how is he managing the Tuileries Palace, and why wasn't I informed about this!

With these thoughts, Jerome Bonaparte quickly approached Empress Augusta's bedside and ripped off the quilt covering Augusta and that despicable "lover," leaving them utterly humiliated.

When Jerome Bonaparte pulled off the quilt, two graceful figures appeared before him.

The "lover" lying beside Empress Augusta was none other than Marchioness Aile.

Crap!

Jerome Bonaparte secretly regretted his impulsive actions just now.

As Jerome Bonaparte was feeling remorseful over his rash actions, Empress Augusta and Marchioness Aile both opened their eyes on the bed.

Seeing the tall figure standing by the bed, Marchioness Aile unconsciously let out a scream, "Ah!"

"Don't scream! Don't scream! It's me!" Jerome Bonaparte quickly shouted to Marchioness Aile.

Upon hearing Jerome Bonaparte's voice, Marchioness Aile stopped screaming and looked at him with puzzlement.

"Your Majesty, it's so late! Why are you not staying in your chamber and running over here!" Augusta asked Jerome Bonaparte coldly.

"I just wanted to strengthen our marital bond! How was I to know you would..." Jerome Bonaparte gestured towards Marchioness Aile beside Empress Augusta but fell silent.

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