The Shadow of Great Britain

The raindrops fell densely on the cobblestones, making a slight sound.

In dark coats, tall top hats, each holding a black umbrella, Arthur and Louis were like two wild mushrooms growing on the streets of Paris.

The pipe in their hands emitted a faint scent of tobacco, intertwining with the fresh air in the rain. They walked and chatted, occasionally stopping to avoid the splashes from passing carriages.

Louis glanced at Arthur, who was wearing a trench coat, and the cold air after the rain made him breathe out a light puff of white air: "Arthur, you never told me you had connections with the Royalists."

Arthur showed no intention of apologizing; on the contrary, he responded quite candidly to Louis's doubt, removing his pipe and looking at the ripples blooming at the toes of passersby on the roadside: "Is it strange? I always thought you should understand what exactly I'm doing now: spying on secrets, creating conspiracies, inciting revolutions, and then profiting from them."

"I do understand."

Louis had no intention of blaming him either; he was merely curious about how much of what Arthur had just said was true and how much was false: "So what you just said is your true thought?"

Arthur glanced sideways at Louis: "Yes, and no."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's simple."

Arthur said: "Louis, you need to know that people change. Most people don't know what they really want, and what everyone needs at different stages is different. Just like Mr. Dubris we just met, although he always emphasizes that he needs a fair social environment. But to me, such a thing is too intangible; I don't understand what fairness is, nor what social environment is. But I do understand the subtext of Mr. Dubris; he just wants to return to work at the Paris High Court, not as a Prosecutor in the Twelfth District Civil Court, but hoping to become a judge at the Paris High Court. To him, that is called a fair social environment."

Louis felt somewhat uncomfortable upon hearing this: "Arthur, a slogan originally noble suddenly becomes vile in your mouth. Mr. Dubris is a responsible judge; in my opinion, he should indeed work as a judge at the High Court. Having him work as a Prosecutor in the Twelfth District Civil Court is indeed unfair."

"Is that so?"

Arthur slightly calculated with his gloved fingers and said: "For a country like France, to handle the lawsuits of so many people properly, France needs at least six thousand prosecutors. And among these six thousand people, are you sure there is no one more deserving than Mr. Dubris to become a High Court judge?"

"This... "

Louis hesitated for a moment.

And it was this hesitation that made him understand the answer in his heart.

Yes, he could not be sure if there was anyone who could do better than Mr. Dubris.

There are many outstanding figures in this world; even in the most chaotic and corrupt countries, some officials of clear and good conscience will always emerge.

No matter how small the base of these people is, even if only one among a hundred, put on top of France's vast population, it's enough to add up to hundreds of thousands of people.

Hundreds of thousands of people!

Perhaps, for those accustomed to statistics, this number is nothing, but as a military school student, Louis knew very well that hundreds of thousands of people were enough for his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte to organize several large corps, leading them to rebuild the Napoleonic Empire in Paris.

In that battle, which decided the fate of Europe, the Battle of Waterloo, the combined forces of France's first, second, sixth armies, the Imperial Guard, the third cavalry army, and the fourth cavalry army only amounted to 70,156 people.

And under the command of the Duke of Wellington, the Anti-France Alliance troops, with the British Lobsters, the King's German Legion, Hanoverians, Brunswick cavalry, and the Netherlands-Belgium cavalry division piled together, totaled 68,424 people.

Only by adding the 56,412 people under Marshal Bruegel's command of the Prussia's first, second, and fourth armies could the combined forces barely break past the 200,000 mark.

Hundreds of thousands of people, when Louis thought that there might be so many people in France with such devoted and honest minds as Mr. Dubris, he felt that France's future was still bright.

But before he could enjoy this happiness for long, Arthur turned and poured cold water over him.

"As I said earlier, every country has no shortage of outstanding figures like Mr. Dubris. But relying on them to achieve something is unattainable. If the Orleans Party hadn't pushed him too hard, I can hardly imagine a cautious person like him would get involved in a plot to assassinate the King. So, it's still the old saying that every country's opposition is crafted by its government. However, these guys bring, at most, some trouble to the July Monarchy Government; they can't even create difficulties."

Louis raised his eyebrows in surprise at Arthur: "Even the assassination of the King doesn't count as a difficulty?"

Arthur stopped, playfully retorting with a question: "If they were a difficulty, why hasn't the Great Paris Police Hall closed the case yet? Thiers, the Home Secretary, has long known who is behind the Kaidao Sai Mansion bombing case, yet he remains inactive, and recently, the Orleans Party newspapers in Paris have been spreading news that the case might be linked to the republicans."