Catherine and the Black Emperor

017. French Secret Base

"Hey, it's so cold, why aren't we going back inside? Shouldn't we be doing something that makes everyone happy?"

Inside the carriage, Agafia stretched out her fair and slender hand and stroked Sergei's chest, slowly moving downwards.

Sergei grabbed the other person's hand.

"We have important things to do now!"

Agafia withdrew her hand: "The important thing is to make me feel good and to make you happy. That's what really matters."

As she spoke, she knelt down between Sergei's legs, tilted her bright face up, and gently licked her soft lips with her red tongue.

"What a vixen!"

Sergei grabbed Agafia, pushed her to the opposite seat, and hoisted her long legs onto his shoulders.

"skirt!"

"Don't speak!"

The carriage, under the cover of night, stopped opposite a tavern, the very place where Hofmal had previously begged—the Cittadella Market.

Agafia, still immersed in the afterglow, watched as Sergei's face was almost pressed against the car window.

"What are you looking at? Is there anything more beautiful than me?"

"Your father wasn't much to look at, yet he managed to give birth to such a beautiful fairy like you," Sergei said without turning his head.

Agafia gave a charming smile: "That's probably why he took a liking to my mother, but he also killed her with his own hands, and then he wanted to make amends through me, but all he could make up for was his own guilt."

Sergei turned and glanced at her: "Your smile is even more captivating now."

"Stop pretending, you only like my body, Duke!"

"And your authenticity at this moment." Sergei didn't dwell on the topic. "How about you do me a favor? Go inside and find someone wearing a mink cloak. Don't disturb him, and see what he's doing."

"You mean Lestoker?"

Agafia's words surprised Sergei. He turned to look at her, but Agafia didn't seem to care.

"The carriage you had the driver follow belongs to Lestoc. He's an advisor and used to have a good relationship with my father, but I heard they've recently fallen out."

After a long silence, Sergei finally spoke: "I underestimated you."

Agafia, having put on her warm mink coat, winked at him: "Don't forget, I'm the Prime Minister's daughter. Even if I'm not very smart, I can still learn something. But our relationship is the closest. I like your body; it's very strong."

Before Sergei could speak, she pushed open the car door and got out.

Sergei watched as Agafia walked into the tavern.

The other party had no idea that he had just escaped death for a moment. If Sergei hadn't calmed down, the prime minister's illegitimate daughter would have been strangled to death by him.

It wasn't that she was afraid of Besdov, but rather that Agafia got off the train on her own initiative.

This means that the other person's words came from the heart, and their relationship was closer than that of a father and daughter.

"Just a fairy, Sergei. Aren't fairies the ones you're best at dealing with?" he muttered to himself.

Previously, Sergei thought of Agafia as a woman with a serpentine body, a fairy-like face, and a sharp mind, so he wasn't very wary or cautious. But now that he knew, he knew that with his methods, controlling her would be a piece of cake.

"It's just lust, the easiest thing to satisfy."

Not long after, Agafia came out of the tavern, followed by two rough men carrying bottles, who were undoubtedly alcoholics.

However, the two men weren't drunk, and when they saw Agafia heading towards a carriage whose owner was clearly wealthy and powerful, they abandoned their wicked thoughts.

"You'll be disappointed. I am, after all, an illegitimate child, a symbol of failure. I didn't find Lestoker inside, so he must have gone to his room, or, in court parlance, to plot a conspiracy." Agafia got into the carriage.

"You were right not to find him. Now it seems that this tavern is clearly a secret French stronghold."

Agafia's eyes lit up, and she looked at him with a smile: "So, how are you going to reward me?"

Sergei patted his thigh, and the other woman giggled as she sat down in his lap.

When Agafia was being escorted down, she was satisfied once again, and the way she looked at Sergei was so tender it was almost brimming with affection.

Sergei was so energetic that on the way back to the mansion in the carriage, he had already devised a plan to uncover the French conspiracy.

He recalled a key piece of information from a conversation he had with Ulyana.

Of the two maids assigned to serve Sophia, one became very close to Lestoker, and the servants whispered among themselves that she had seduced him. The maid's name was...

"Gema," Sergei whispered the name.

The following day at noon, Elizabeth hosted a fruit banquet where courtiers and nobles socialized, but in essence, it was to create an environment for Peter and Sophia to have a date.

Sergei and Naryshkin arrived at Peter's room, with the former urging him to hurry up.

"Your Highness, it's not good to be late for a first date; women don't like that."

"Do you really understand women?" Sergei said casually.

"I, I, I..."

Naryshkin was speechless: "I, I, I..."

"You're something else, Sergei! That's right, you have to treat women like you treat politics, you can't be weak! Sergei is strong and assertive with every woman!" Peter couldn't help but laugh.

Naryshkin firmly believes: "Sergei is too much of a womanizer; what he said is wrong."

Peter put down his knife and fork with a cold expression.

"Women are born to be playthings in men's hands! King Frederick could make all of Europe kneel at his feet and lick his boots with a single gesture! Women should be treated the same way, only then will they fall in love with you!"

Sergei objected, "But Your Grace, you cannot do that to Elizabeth. You will pay an unimaginable price for it."

Peter's tone softened instantly: "That's different, Sergei. She's not an ordinary person; she's the Empress."

"If Princess Frederica does well, she will one day become empress." Naryshkin suddenly felt that Sergei was on his side.

Peter shook his head: "The Prussian princess will never be like my aunt, unless, of course—she gets fat! Hahaha! Hahaha..."

Peter, having finished laughing, stood up from the table.

"I'm done eating. Let's go to that damned fruit feast. Naryshkin, go and call the princess. Don't let her be late for her first date!"

"Let Sergei handle it. He's much better at dealing with women than I am," Naryshkin said, quickly catching up with Peter.

Sergei watched Naryshkin's retreating figure and thought to himself that the guy was a really good person.

Meanwhile, Sofia, dressed in a navy blue dress, was urging her mother to fix her makeup.

The two argued about the status of men and women. Johanna believed that "in Russia, men are always right," while Sofia insisted that "the people in power in Russia now are women."

Unbeknownst to the two, in the outer room of their suite, there was a hole in an oil painting, drilled through the wall, and on the other side of the hole was a completely different scene.

Table, candle, quill pen...

There was also a secret police officer responsible for eavesdropping and recording.