Chapter 1788: A Place of Bitter Contention

Corsica has always been a place of bitter contention during times of war.

Paoli was a national hero on this island, even leading the islanders to independence from the corrupt Genoese regime for a time; however, the defeated Genoese played a trump card, turning around and selling the sovereignty to France.

The great man whom Bonaparte worshipped was thus forced to flee to Britain, and Corsica was forcibly incorporated into the map of France.

Therefore, in the eyes of France, this island has always been associated with poverty and backwardness, and they habitually forget it when mentioning their own country, so Bonaparte's awkward situation here can be imagined.

It was not just a matter of being down-and-out; when he was at the Military Academy, Bonaparte could get into ten fights a day with the troublemakers in his class because of this topic.

"Is that so? I thought men would always be keen to talk at length about war or the national situation..." The young lady chuckled and let out a sigh; it seemed she was quite tormented by those roundabout political topics.

She took a moment to toast her passing friend, then turned her head and smiled sweetly at Bonaparte:

"It is rare to see someone as quiet as you."

"I isolated myself from them," Bonaparte said, unconcerned.

"You are truly humorous."

Sabrina picked up a slice of cut apple from the dining table with her fork and stuffed it into her mouth without any avoidance, just like a squirrel, her cheeks bulging.

Because they were so close, one could even hear the sound of the sweet and sour juice being chewed in her mouth, which led one to imagine the crispness of the apple.

Accompanied by the faint fragrance from the young lady's collar, Bonaparte could not help but feel a bit uncomfortable, struggling not to peek at the moisture of her delicate thin lips; even that small section of her arm exposed by her floral sleeves made his pituitary gland unconsciously secrete some kind of ambiguous pheromone.

"Hmm?"

Sabrina made a cute sound, widening her eyes while tilting her head.

"What is wrong with you?"

After swallowing the fruit in her mouth, she asked leisurely and curiously.

Bonaparte simply put down the annoying steak on his plate; his hands seemed to be disobedient, making an unpleasant scraping sound against the plate. Exit the transcoding page, please download the app to read the latest chapters.

"Nothing. Is it alright for you to be here? I mean your companions; they should have been calling you over just now."

He turned his head helplessly to look at the young lady.

Many people's gazes had noticed this place.

Beauty is a brilliant pearl for a girl; the surroundings of a pearl's radiance either become the background or become an eyesore, and Bonaparte believed he was the eyesore.

He did not want to add any more trouble, especially on such an occasion, attracting inexplicable jealousy.

Sabrina pretended not to see the look her friend had just given her, and holding her fork, she stabbed another piece of small cake.

"Let Triss and the others play by themselves. I am really very hungry. You know, this kind of banquet is not meant for people to actually eat, yet it is somehow regarded as dinner..."

Sabrina did not hide her gluttony at all, sweeping through the desserts on the table.

From the fact that she had been eating continuously since she sat down, one could tell... she really did not want to deal with those terrible topics and was starving, so she came to steal food.

"Gentlemen should occasionally be considerate of a girl's willfulness. Ladies are also very tired every day; I do not want to go to sleep on an empty stomach."

Her innocent and lively remark made Bonaparte freeze for two seconds, and he could only say helplessly: "Alright, you are truly cute; I have to admit that what you said makes a lot of sense."

In fact, Bonaparte and Sabrina had the same idea: they only wanted to focus on dealing with these things that were exquisite but not filling, so as not to still be hungry after leaving the banquet, which would truly be a wasted trip.

He could not help but think of those banquets in French history; those were proper feasts where nobles would eat and vomit and eat again in the palace, and when they couldn't hold any more, they would stick their fingers down their throats to vomit all over the floor, then go back to eat again... well, that was a bit disgusting.

Mainly because the war was tight now, and there were shortages in manpower, raw materials, and finance, so the food for this social occasion was not arranged as well as it could have been.

"Hehe, sorry, I suddenly remembered, I have heard of your deeds at school; only you dared to oppose the instructor in public. You are truly bold." Exit the transcoding page, please download the app to read the latest chapters.

Having finished another piece of cake, Sabrina took a small sip of red wine to help it go down, wiped her little mouth, and her eyes were full of curiosity.

Perhaps because she had been drinking, the young lady's pink-white cheeks were slightly flushed, and with the tilting of her head, her blonde hair also swayed cutely in front of her shoulders, her pretty face full of thirst for knowledge.

Bonaparte was slightly stunned; that was not a decent experience, and he reckoned that what the young lady had heard would not be anything good.

"I just did what I felt was right."

Sabrina folded her hands and shrugged her shoulders, a shy dimple appearing at the corner of her mouth:

"Sorry, I was a bit too curious."

"Curious?"

He looked at the innocent and lively young lady; she indeed had an air of being unacquainted with the ways of the world.

Sabrina asked embarrassedly: "It is said that you come from Corsica? What kind of place is that?"

It was the first time someone had asked him about the customs of his homeland; although it was despised as a poor and remote place, it was indeed not wrong.

"Hmm..."

Bonaparte pondered for a while, recalling his hometown.

"There is a surging sea there."

"The sea? What is it like?"

There is no ocean in the north-central part of France; although there is the world-famous Seine River, it lacks the grandeur of the ocean. Sabrina could not help but straighten her posture, her question full of surprise.

Bonaparte could not help but smile:

"It is an endless blue, a boiling blue. The waves will jump up several meters high on their own, like a roaring beast, and like a symphony; the soft spray can shatter rocks, containing immense power."

In the end, Bonaparte, who was used to the sea, did not have that many sentiments and memories; the salty wind that hit one's face by the sea was not a good taste, but the taste of boiled barnacles was actually quite good. Exit the transcoding page, please download the app to read the latest chapters.

"There are many rocks by the sea in Corsica, and they are all strange in shape, and some form caves, all eroded by the seawater. Some can accommodate several people. When I was a child, I often used a rock cave as a place to play, listening to the roar of the sea breeze while reading inside..."

"Uh, sorry, I told you something boring."

Bonaparte could not help but laugh at himself; a rock cave? This canary probably found it hard to imagine his experiences.

Sabrina shook her head silently, her eyes revealing a longing for the romantic coastline.

"That is so nice, I really want to see it too..."

"It is not as good as you imagine."

The most common things on Corsica are rolling hills, and even the traditional buildings are stone houses. Moreover, the development in various areas of the coastal plains is very uneven; only the east coast is a populated area with active human presence, while other sections are almost uninhabited. And since the French occupation, the internal strife has never ceased.

Bonaparte sighed secretly; he still felt bitter about the surrender to France to this day.