“Your Highness, it’s too dangerous outside!
We should return to the hotel!”
By the shores of Lake Geneva, Empress Elisabeth insisted on walking along the lakefront, ignoring the desperate pleas of her sole lady-in-waiting, Irma.
“You’re worrying far too much.
What could happen in Switzerland?
This is a permanently neutral country.”
The Empress was dismissive.
What accident could possibly occur?
Switzerland was not like the Balkans or Vienna, places where radicals might be found; it had been renowned for its neutrality and tranquility since the nineteenth century.
With its political stability and orderly society, she naturally felt at ease.
She had even returned safely from a distant journey to Africa; surely nothing would happen in one of Europe’s safest cities?
However, it was precisely the numbness and recklessness brought about by long-term luck that pushed her step by step toward danger.
Disguised as an ordinary noblewoman, the “Countess of Hohenems,” her movements had already been caught by a tabloid and written into the news.
The news of the Empress’s presence at a high-end hotel near Lake Geneva was now common knowledge.
Of course, the Swiss police were no fools.
They soon learned the identity of this special guest, understanding that if even a minor accident befell the Empress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire within Swiss borders, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Therefore, the authorities in Bern quickly dispatched plainclothes Guards through the local police station, attempting to protect her in secret.
However, the Empress naturally loathed being restricted and monitored.
Finding those unfamiliar Swiss policemen following her to be “annoying and conspicuous,” she dismissed them one by one.
Worse still, because she had been in a bad mood recently, she had also fired the old servants who had followed her for many years.
Now, besides her personal lady-in-waiting Irma, there was almost no one available.
Thus, they were unable to stop the man who was gradually approaching.
“Ah!”
The Empress collided heavily with a man walking quickly toward her and stumbled.
The man didn’t even look back as he hurried away.
“Your Highness, are you alright?!” The lady-in-waiting, Irma, hurriedly supported the Empress.
“I-I’m fine.
Probably just a pickpocket.” The Empress frowned and straightened her dress.
“Really?
Please check quickly to see if anything is missing!”
The Empress quickly checked her handbag and waist.
“No, my wallet and pocket watch are both here.
Nothing is missing.”
“Phew…
you scared me to death.
Honestly, how can someone walk without looking where they’re going?” Irma sighed in relief and complained.
“You’re far too timid, Irma.”
The Empress instead gave a small smile, feeling that her lady-in-waiting was making a mountain out of a molehill.
They took the man for a clumsy pickpocket.
Since he had bumped into someone but stolen nothing, he was naturally an amateur.
Just as they were relaxing with a bit of mockery and preparing to continue on their way—
Several men, dressed plainly but moving swiftly, converged from different directions.
One of them, the leader, said quickly in german language:
“Your Highness, please do not be alarmed.
…
“W-Who are you people!
Let go of me!
What are you doing?!”
In a quiet street corner not far away, the escorting soldiers firmly pinned down Luigi Lucheni, who had just succeeded in his assassination attempt and was trying to blend into the crowd to escape.
The Italian anarchist struggled frantically, but he was no match for the professionally trained royal Guards.
“Handle it quickly, don’t cause a larger commotion.”
Karl’s voice came from behind; he did not step forward personally.
As soon as the soldiers received the order, they efficiently dragged him into a nearby secluded alleyway.
They were indeed the elite chosen to serve as royal Guards; their skills were truly top-notch.
The problem was that they were, after all, within a Swiss city.
The brief struggle and shouting had already attracted the attention of a few nearby passersby.
Everything had to be finished and explained clearly before the Swiss police arrived in force upon hearing the news.
Unfortunately, despite all the precautions, they hadn’t completely prevented the assassin’s approach and that single strike.
Karl’s original plan was to secretly capture the assassin before he had the chance to strike.
But the biggest problem was that the Empress’s movements were unpredictable and she refused protection, making it very difficult to set up a perimeter around her without alerting her.
Dammit, Karl never imagined that a grand Empress of the Empire would actually dare to wander the streets of a foreign city with only one lady-in-waiting, without even a decent guard or attendant!
No wonder she died so “easily” and absurdly in history.
“Mph!
Mmph—let go of me!
I didn’t do anything!”
“Didn’t do anything?
Then what’s that hidden in your coat?
Would someone who did nothing flee so desperately?”
“W-Who sent you?
The police?
The Gendarmerie?”
“You have no need to know.” Karl’s voice was icy.
“Argh—!”
A nearby guard mercilessly kicked him in the shin, and the assassin instantly curled up in pain.
As an anarchist, Luigi Lucheni only wanted to strike at any royal or noble to create a reign of terror.
He just happened to choose the Empress of Austria-Hungary, whose location had been disclosed by the newspapers in Geneva.
To be honest, for radicals seeking national independence or socialist revolutionaries with clear political programs, Karl could somewhat understand the logic behind their demands.
But for an anarchist who destroyed for the sake of destruction, he had no room for understanding.
In his eyes, these were just a group of powerless wastes who only talked of extreme ideals.
Looking at Lucheni’s disheveled and destitute appearance, he most likely just wanted to vent all his dissatisfaction with reality onto some symbolic “great figure” to gain a sense of illusory meaning.
In this turbulent era, assassinations targeting royalty and nobility were indeed not rare.
Nationalists and socialist revolutionaries both had clear enemies.
But what meaning could there be in assassinating an elderly woman, other than provoking an Empire?
If one were to strike, it would be better to target the Emperor or those who held actual power.
Although Karl had no affection for the Empress, he didn’t feel she deserved such a tragic end.
He once wanted to ask what the man was actually thinking, but ultimately gave up on the idea. New chapters come out on g.com first.
What was there to say to someone consumed by extreme ideology and living in his own world?
“Don’t let him die,” Karl instructed the Guards.
“Yes, Your Highness!”
In history, Lucheni was a fellow who, after being arrested for the assassination, begged others to kill him so he could achieve “martyrdom.”
But Switzerland had already abolished the death penalty and would not grant his wish.
Ultimately, Lucheni chose to take his own life in prison.
What would be gained by killing such a person, other than giving him the self-righteous relief of a “martyr”?
On the contrary, letting him live to face a long prison sentence and reality was far more miserable.
However, he was, after all, a criminal who had assassinated royalty.
The Guards Karl brought would likely not make things easy for him; during the interrogation, his limbs would probably be “accidentally” twisted in directions they weren’t meant to go.
“Aaaaaah—!”
A scream like a slaughtered pig echoed from the depths of the alleyway, but Karl ignored it all with an expressionless face and turned to walk quickly toward the Empress.
Fortunately, as a precaution, the two doctors he had hired with a large sum of money were already by the pale Empress’s side, treating her.
The Empress had a small wound below her shoulder, which was seeping blood and staining her light-colored dress.
Her face was pale from pain and shock, but she was conscious, and her overall condition did not seem too bad.
In contrast, the helpless lady-in-waiting Irma beside her was frighteningly pale, almost on the verge of fainting.
“How is the situation?” Karl asked the doctors, his gaze falling on the Empress’s wound.
“Noble sir, it is a puncture wound.
The weapon was very sharp; the wound is small but deep.
There is bleeding, but fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have hit any major blood vessels or bones.
We have applied pressure to stop the bleeding and disinfected and bandaged it.
She needs to return to the hotel as soon as possible for more thorough treatment and close observation for infection.
Based on the current treatment, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”
The doctors didn’t know Karl’s specific identity, but they could see he was the one in charge.
“However, the murder weapon seemed to be rusted, so the risk of tetanus infection is high.
And if it had been any later, it would have been dangerous.”
The hired doctors spoke while breathing sighs of relief.
Luigi Lucheni was destitute and didn’t even have the money to buy a gun or a decent dagger; the weapon was just a crude industrial file that had been secretly sharpened.
In history, the Empress didn’t even realize she was injured at first after being stabbed.
she could still barely walk and board the ferry by the lake, only fainting once on the boat and eventually dying from blood loss and internal bleeding.
Now, due to the timely arrival of the Guards and doctors sent by Karl, the true dangers—excessive blood loss and delayed treatment—were largely controlled.
Karl had originally worried that at 55 years old, the Empress might recover slowly, but fortunately, the situation looked optimistic.
After the brief conversation ended, Empress Elisabeth, who had been enduring the pain in silence, looked up at the boy who had suddenly appeared.
“Who are you?”
Karl looked at her and couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.
This Empress, who had been wandering abroad for many years, indeed no longer recognized most of the younger generation of the royal family, especially a great-grandchild of his age.
“Your Majesty, I am Karl.
Your great-grandson.
Great-Grandmother.”
When the Empress heard the name “Karl,” her face was still blank, looking completely bewildered.
But when she heard the word “Great-Grandmother,” her eyes suddenly widened on her pale face.
Sigh, I really don’t understand; despite having just nearly lost her life, this woman actually cares about such a strange thing.