The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 941: Chapter 35 Young Italy_2

”Are you a knight?”

Arthur nodded slightly, fearing a misunderstanding, he added a line: ”That’s right, not from Ireland, nor England, Scotland or Great Britain, but a knight of the United Kingdom.”

The young lady seemed quite interested in this, she asked: ”Is there any difference between them?”

It was a topic concerning heraldry, although Arthur’s knowledge of heraldry was not deep, based on his historical literacy, he could respond quite easily.

Moreover, judging by this lady’s ignorance on the distinction between titles, it was likely she was not of noble birth either, perhaps a banker or a merchant’s daughter?

Arthur began to explain: ”If we are to judge by the current situation, there is no difference between them, as the titles of kings, whether of Scotland, Ireland or England, belong to the same person. However, should they ever split, according to the vows made by the knights, the Scottish knights would follow the Scottish King, the English knights the English King, and so on. As a knight of the United Kingdom, I would pledge allegiance to the one holding the title of King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.”

”Ah! You must swear an oath?” The lady looked a bit surprised and asked: ”Does that mean you hold a seat in the British House of Lords? If not, surely your father does? You will undoubtedly inherit his seat in the foreseeable future.”

Arthur did not know why the lady was so fixated on noble identity, but since she wore very pleasant perfume, he patiently explained: ”I do not hold a seat in the House of Lords, and as for my father, I haven’t even seen him. Perhaps he has a seat, but I cannot be sure. What I am sure of is that he definitely has a seat in the church cemetery of our village. I nearly inherited that seat more than half a year ago, but there was a small mishap, so you see, I stand here today with just the title of knight atop my head.”

Upon hearing this, the lady laughed softly: ”You sure like to joke. The British lords I’ve met previously were all solemn and serious, I didn’t expect you to be different, so approachable.”

Arthur removed his hat and playfully remarked: ”Madam, then you’ve probably met a hypocrite. May I be so bold as to ask, which British lord did you encounter before?”

The lady straightforwardly replied without hesitation: ”It was someone named Henry Peter Brougham, but at that time he hadn’t been made a lord yet. I recently heard he’s been granted the title of Baron in Britain and has become the High Chancellor.”

”Cough cough...” Arthur choked on his own saliva upon hearing this name, removed his hat to say farewell: ”Madam, we’ll have to chat another time. I need to find Mr. Victor, he has an urgent case.”

The young lady wished to converse more with Arthur, but seeing his loss of interest, she amicably let him go: ”Then good luck to you.”

Arthur broke away from the lady, leaned on his cane, and went upstairs to the second floor. As soon as he opened the office door, he was drawn to the noise inside.

”Mr. Victor, are you really considering taking this case? Anyone can see it’s a commission from the Austrian government! Or, more accurately, there’s definitely a directive from Metternich involved.”

”Metternich? His hemorrhoids acting up again?”

”Alexander, Heinrich, it’s just an investigation commission, why are you both so agitated? Besides, how did you link this to the Austrian government so quickly?”

Arthur closed the door and saw Heine leisurely drinking coffee on the sofa, and the Great Dumas in a heated argument with Victor, he asked: ”Just half a day without meeting, and the office already has a big job? If it’s really from the Austrian government, the pay must be substantial, right? After all, when the French government attempted to get Alexander back from London, they offered a high price of thirty to forty thousand Francs.”

Victor tossed the file in his hand onto the table: ”That’s what I thought too. But the actual situation is that the price of this job is not particularly high; the client is offering a thousand Francs for us to investigate a few people’s information, barely differing from investigating infidelity.”

Arthur poured himself a cup of coffee: ”A thousand Francs? That price indeed seems low for Austrian dissidents. Alexander, perhaps you’re being overly anxious.”

Heine didn’t take that investigation commission seriously at all and instead turned to ask Arthur: ”Arthur, have you thought through about the piano duel with Liszt? The promotional article I wrote for you has already been published, and I heard Liszt’s supporters are combing the streets looking for you.”

Arthur glanced at Heine: ”Heinrich, this is your mess; you’d better sort it out yourself.”

Seeing Arthur’s disinterest, Heine stood up to persuade: ”Arthur, do you know what you’ll gain if you defeat Liszt in Paris? A theater full of flowers and applause, ladies’ screams and swoons, and social elites vying for your friendship. What Napoleon achieved back in the day with tens of thousands of soldiers, you can now achieve with just a flick of your finger.”