The Fox of France

After visiting the University of Naples, the journey in Italy came to an end. During the journey, Joseph and his companions were warmly welcomed in every city or country they visited. Each city or country bestowed upon Joseph various medals representing the highest honors. Even the Papal States, busy with the death of the pope and the coronation of the new pope, presented Joseph with a precious golden rose.

The golden rose is the highest gift bestowed by the Vatican specifically for royal families who adhere to the Catholic faith. Each golden rose is made of pure gold and usually adorned with precious jewels. More importantly, each golden rose contains fragments of the True Cross within a reliquary.

The Vatican often presents this gift to royal families who support the Catholic Church, to acknowledge their patronage and service to the Church. Now that Napoleon is the Emperor of Rome and Joseph is the Vice-Prince of the Roman Empire, it is appropriate to award them such an item.

In theory, the fragments of the True Cross in the golden rose are limited in number and of great significance, so those who receive it should be reverent. However, in reality, it may not always be the case. For example, King Henry VIII of England once demanded a divorce from his Spanish princess wife. The request for divorce was rejected by the Pope at the time, but to appease Henry VIII, the Pope sent him a golden rose. As a result, Henry VIII founded the Anglican Church after receiving the golden rose.

Although Joseph wouldn't go as far as founding a church (to be honest, the French Church is much more detestable than the Anglican Church), he also didn't hold the Vatican's so-called highest honors in high regard. He stuffed the golden rose and various other medals into a small box, then gave it to little Alice as a toy.

It is said that later, a friend of Joseph came to his house and found little Alice playing with the golden rose from the Vatican as a toy. He asked in surprise, "Don't you know how honorable it is to receive a golden rose bestowed by the Vatican? How could you let a child play with it?" Joseph replied indifferently, "I want the child to know that honor is like a toy, only for playing with, not for holding onto forever, or else it will lead to nothing."

Of course, whether this story is reliable is uncertain. There is no record of it in Napoleon's memoirs or the memoirs of Joseph's students. But this story still circulates widely.

After resting in Naples for a few days, Joseph and his entourage boarded a French steamship and, escorted by a steam-powered cruiser of the French Navy, returned to Marseille.

Arriving in Marseille, Joseph noticed that little Alice seemed a bit tired after the sea voyage, so they rested for another day in Marseille before collectively boarding the train back to Paris.

Napoleon, accompanied by Lucien and other nobles of the Roman Empire, went to the train station to meet Joseph's party. However, neither Napoleon nor Joseph made any speeches at this time. It was only when Joseph approached Napoleon that he whispered, "You, and Lucien, come to me tonight."

Napoleon's movements paused slightly, but he quickly regained his composure—this was part of the plan after all—and whispered back, "Okay."

That evening, Napoleon arrived at Joseph's house with Lucien.

"Ah, Napoleon, Lucien, Joseph is in the study," Fanny said to them. Her abdomen was noticeably swollen.

"Sister-in-law, where's Joseph..." Lucien hurriedly asked.

"Joseph is pretending to be very angry, but in fact, he's not that angry," Fanny chuckled.

Upon hearing this, Napoleon quickly thanked Fanny.

Fanny smiled faintly and said, "Well, hurry up, Joseph is trying hard to find the feeling of anger. You two go early, maybe he hasn't found it yet."

Fanny knew that Joseph wasn't really that angry, but for the sake of appearances, he was trying hard to look angry. Honestly, the brotherly relationship among the Bonaparte siblings often amused Fanny.

Napoleon stopped talking and, with Lucien, walked to the study with the determination and majesty of Caesar crossing the Rubicon.

Napoleon gently knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Joseph's voice came from inside. His tone was already quite calm, which made Napoleon's heart sink: trouble, Joseph is already prepared.

Nevertheless, no matter what, they had to face it head-on. So Napoleon pushed open the door with a firm resolve, and with Lucien, entered the study.

Joseph was sitting behind the desk chair, a document placed in front of him on the desk. He was flipping through the document under the light of the desk lamp.

Upon hearing the sound of the door opening, he looked up and glanced at his two brothers, then said, "Take a seat."

Napoleon and Lucien sat down in their respective chairs.

"Napoleon, if this paper is indeed written by you, then you should indeed be awarded a position as an academician," Joseph said. "This paper on complex functions is indeed worthy of the evaluations of 'extreme importance' and 'a few generalizations.'"

Napoleon smiled awkwardly and remained silent. The main part of this paper was completed by Laplace, with some assistance from Mr. Montgolfier and Mr. Lagrange. They had spent a lot of effort helping Napoleon understand all the thoughts and derivations in this paper in preparation for Joseph's inquiries. Napoleon originally thought that with such ample preparation, he could confidently claim that he wrote this paper. But now, when Joseph directly questioned whether this was written by him or a ghostwriter, he hesitated.

"If there is such a paper, and your name is added to the list of academicians, it is not entirely impossible. However, this paper should have been written by several people assisting you, and it must be made to appear as if you wrote it yourself. So although the argument of this paper is flawless, some parts of the logic are not coherent enough, and the methods used are a bit cumbersome and lack elegance," Joseph continued. "I have some suggestions for this paper. Take a look and make some revisions yourself. Don't go looking for those flatterers from the Paris high school anymore. I've already set the stage for you. You can finish it yourself. Besides, there's nothing urgent at the moment. Is that okay?"

"No problem, no problem," Napoleon quickly responded. Since Joseph was willing to give him this opportunity, he naturally had to seize it. Moreover, he had already studied this paper extensively. With Joseph's outline for revision, Napoleon believed that with his somewhat passable mathematical ability, he should be able to complete the task.