Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

“Bang! Bang—”

Continuous gunshots echoed overhead the Seine River, prompting every person aboard the “Boloskafi” to instinctively stop what they were doing and turn to look northward.

Captain Bliss and his crew ran up to the deck and saw the “Seven Birds” not far off, the gunshots clearly signaling an alarm from that direction.

A sailor was standing atop the mainmast of the sailing ship, holding up two lanterns and constantly making various gestures.

This was a communication method agreed upon by the sailors who transported goods along the Seine River.

Captain Bliss read the gestures proficiently,

“Man… overboard… starboard…”

His face suddenly tensed, and he turned and bellowed to his third mate,

“Quick! Starboard side, go rescue the man! Henry, drop the anchor!”

At this moment, the people aboard the “Boloskafi” were all of note—after all, not just anyone could sail with the Crown Prince—drowning someone would mean he could forget about sailing in France ever again!

Seven or eight sailors, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, “plunk, plunk” dived into the river; a small boat on the side was also lowered.

Luckily, the setting sun still left a sliver of twilight that faintly illuminated the water’s surface. Soon enough, a sailor pointed toward a trail of tiny bubbles and yelled,

“Look there!”

Half a minute later, the black and white of a maid’s dress emerged followed by golden locks.

Then, closed eyes—those of Miss Camellia.

One of the sailors tied a rope around her waist, and the people on the “Boloskafi” clumsily hauled her onto the deck.

Joseph and the other nobles also hurried over from the dining room, and when he saw Miss Camellia lying motionless on the deck, his heart tightened immediately,

“What happened here?!”

“Your… Your Highness…” the captain’s face was deathly pale as he stammered, “My deepest… apologies…”

The third mate was forcefully pressing on the Maid’s abdomen, then held his fingers to her nose and panickedly looked up at the captain,

“She’s not breathing!”

“What?!” Joseph pulled him aside and was about to perform a rescue when he saw Perna walking over weakly and hurriedly waved her over, “Dr. Lamarck, quick, do CPR on her!”

Such emergency operations were naturally safer in the hands of a professional.

Perna paused briefly but then immediately leaned down to support Camellia’s neck, and from her medical kit, she retrieved a bamboo tube and was about to insert it into the woman’s mouth.

Joseph’s eyes widened, and he put up his hand to stop her,

“What are you doing?”

“Ventilating the lungs,” Perna responded matter-of-factly.

“That’s not it,” Joseph urged anxiously, “Aren’t you performing CPR, artificial respiration?”

“CPR? Artificial respiration?” Perna looked back at the Crown Prince, bewildered like a child at a loss.

Joseph massaged his forehead. It was over, these emergency techniques must not have been invented yet.

He gestured for Perna to step aside and tried to recall the CPR method learned at the start of university, first stacking his hands and placing them on Camellia’s soft chest.

“It’s supposed to be 30 to 2…”

He pressed down on the Maid’s chest 30 times in succession, then pried open her now colorless mouth.

Out of the corner of his eye, Joseph noticed dozens of onlookers staring in shock; after a moment’s hesitation, he took a deep breath, bent down, and covered her lips with his own.

The girl’s lips were soft and icy. Joseph didn’t have time to think about that, blowing air forcefully.

There was an air leak…

He frowned, slapped his forehead, pinched her upturned nose, and once more inhaled deeply, blew, inhaled, blew, then pressed on the chest another 30 times…

That was when Perna realized that the Crown Prince must be carrying out some kind of emergency aid.

“Cardiopulmonary resuscitation? Artificial breathing?” She had never heard of such things and could only clench her fists and watch helplessly from the side.

By the time Joseph had administered the sixth round of artificial breathing, Camellia suddenly coughed violently, spraying water onto his face.

Then, she lay on her side, curled up, coughing and spitting out water continuously for a while before finally taking a difficult breath of air.

People around were clearly stunned for a moment, then burst into excited cheers:

“Thank God! Thank Jesus and the Virgin Mary!”

“The Crown Prince really brought her back to life!”

“Ah, it’s a miracle! She had clearly stopped breathing just a moment ago…”

From the back of the crowd, Miss Legris with the fox-like eyes saw Camellia waking up, and her face immediately darkened; she cursed under her breath but joined in with the people shouting next to her:

“This is truly a miracle from God!”

Perna hurried forward to take over, gave Camellia a brief examination, and then had two of Joseph’s trusted aides place the Maid on a stretcher and carry her into the cabin.

After more than half an hour, Camellia finally fully regained consciousness and began to cry on Perna’s shoulder.

Joseph stepped forward to wipe her tears away and asked softly,

“Do you feel better now?”

Camellia nodded.

“What happened? How did you fall into the water?”

The girl paused for a moment before speaking with difficulty,

“It seemed like someone pushed me…”

Joseph’s eyes turned cold in an instant as he looked toward Kesode:

“Find out who did it.”

“Yes, Your Highness!” Kesode immediately went outside.

Soleil arrived in a small boat from the Seven Birds, and then the crew of Boloskafi pulled her aboard with ropes.

She strode toward the cabin and upon seeing the captain, immediately declared loudly, “The lady that fell into the water just now was pushed. I saw it!”

Then she saw the Crown Prince exiting a cabin and stopped, surprised.

She had been staying on the Seven Birds since yesterday—as a Noble guest, she had enjoyed the luxury dining service—so she had no idea that the Crown Prince was on another ship not far away.

“You saw the perpetrator?” Joseph looked over at her.

Soleil quickly knelt in a curtsy and nodded, “I saw the person wearing…”

Just then, Legris squeezed out from the crowd, bowed to Joseph, and pointing at Herrio, loudly accused, “Your Highness, I must reveal, it was she who pushed Miss Delvaux off the ship.”

Herrio, already shivering in a corner, collapsed on the ground upon hearing this and looked towards her best friend in disbelief, “You… you actually…”

Joseph signaled to Kesode with his eyes, and the latter immediately directed the trusted aide to take Herrio into custody.

Soleil, noticing Herrio’s clothing and figure, nodded emphatically, “Yes, yes, it was her!”

Joseph then looked toward Legris, “Please tell me what happened.”

Visibly nervous, she began, “Your Highness, I heard Herrio cursing at the sight of Miss Camellia’s back this afternoon and saying that it would be good if she were dead.

“I told her she can’t be like this and asked her to stay away from Miss Camellia, but she pushed me away forcefully and menacingly told me to shut up. So I figured it must have been her who plotted against Miss Camellia.”

A Noble lady cautiously stepped half a step forward, curtsied, and said in a low voice, “Your Highness, I did indeed hear someone at the corner of the cabin shouting ‘Shut up.'”

A middle-aged man beside her also joined in, “I heard it too.”

“No, it’s not like that!” Herrio shouted at Legris as if mad, “It was her, it was her who said to avoid the Austrian bitch, and I just…”

Legris, with a pitiful expression, quickly pleaded, “Your Highness, I really didn’t expect Herrio to do such a thing. I should have told you sooner.”

Joseph, with a darkened countenance, waved at Kesode, “Lock her up.”