Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 1583: Chapter 1489: The Flames of Vengeful Fury

Bergman immediately agreed: "That’s right, we can easily gather tens of thousands of people filled with hatred for the tyrant and corrupt officials."

Hilt hurriedly stopped the two most radical individuals in the organization: "We should try to avoid violence, as long as the Emperor agrees to convene Congress..."

"Congress? He will never agree, he won’t even let us speak! Uprising is the only choice!"

Hilt looked at Lucas and whispered, "Can you say something too..."

Lucas, relying on his excellent oratory skills and the covert help of the French Security Bureau, is currently one of the five most influential people in the Stilz Society.

Lucas seemed not to hear their argument, only pacing restlessly in the room: "If nothing else, we’ll go to the Hofburg and rescue her."

He turned and grabbed Hilt: "Where can I get guns? And a map of Hofburg."

"What do you plan to do?" the latter exclaimed, "Even with an army, you couldn’t break into the Hofburg."

Sitting by the fireplace, a middle-aged man with glasses who had been silent raised his hand to signal Lucas to calm down: "Don’t be anxious. Miss Gloria is a noble; she has the right to a public trial, and the Secret Police can’t stop that. We don’t need to risk going to the Hofburg."

Lucas suddenly brightened: "Right, her father is Count Urfelt; there must be a way to save her. I’ll go find him right away."

"Don’t go!" Jaggen reached out to stop him, "Those shameless nobles will hand you over to the Secret Police."

"I can’t let Gloria stay in the Secret Police’s prison, not for a moment. And this is the only method I can think of."

When Lucas rushed from the suburbs to Count Urfelt’s villa, it was already the next noon.

"Please come here to pick me up before four in the afternoon."

He slipped a banknote to the coachman, jumped off the carriage, and involuntarily froze as he looked at the mansion across the road.

The windows of the villa were all covered with black velvet curtains, black flags hung on the main entrance, and the family’s crest was half-covered with black cloth.

As he walked closer, he could faintly hear the sound of a choir chanting a requiem.

"Who are they holding a funeral for?"

He frowned, thinking that if the deceased was an elder of the Urfelt family, Count Urfelt surely couldn’t spare the time to deal with Gloria’s affairs.

He glanced around, bowed slightly to a passing woman, and then pointed to the Urfelt estate, asking: "Madam, do you know who has passed away to Heaven?"

The woman sighed: "I’ve heard it’s the Count’s daughter."

Lucas was shocked and quickly asked: "Which daughter? Dina or Greta?"

Count Urfelt has three daughters.

"The second daughter, Miss Gloria."

Lucas heard a roaring sound in his head, and his whole body swayed slightly.

He grabbed the woman’s arm tightly and shouted: "Impossible! How could she... No, you’re talking nonsense!"

The woman was startled, struggled to shake off the rude young man, and turned to flee, mumbling, "She was taken by the Secret Police, and soon after she came back, she died. Everyone around here knows."

Lucas’s eyes reddened, and disregarding the risk of exposing his identity, he grabbed servants and guests at the door, repeatedly seeking verification, only to receive almost the same answer as the woman gave.

"Gloria!" He was about to rush into the villa like a madman when someone forcefully held him back and dragged him onto a street carriage.

The person was Hilt. His family was of high nobility and originally wanted to help Lucas make contact with Count Urfelt, so he hurried along, only to witness this scene.

Lucas didn’t say a word all the way, just gritted his teeth hard.

Until twilight, when Hilt dragged him back to the Stilz Society’s stronghold, did he finally speak, his voice low and hoarse, to the people in front of him, enunciating each word: "I want revenge for her. I want the tyrant and his minions to pay the price they deserve!"

In fact, he really wronged the Vienna Secret Police.

Gloria was beaten to death by her father. In a fit of rage, Count Urfelt struck her temple with his cane, which caused her to be unconscious for several hours, and she died before the doctor could arrive.

Count Urfelt did not disclose the truth to the public, only saying she had a sudden illness.

And this timing happened to be the same evening Gloria returned from the Secret Police. The servants, unaware of what transpired in the Count’s study, began spreading rumors that it was the brutal interrogation by the Secret Police that killed her.

Originally, the top structure of the Stilz Society comprised two radicals, two moderate reformists, and one neutral. It now turned into an absolute majority for the radicals, leaving only Hilt among the moderates.

Moreover, Lucas was now more radical than the other two radicals combined.

The sky was barely lit.

In the woods on the west side of Vienna University, a dozen students were excitedly surrounding Lucas, "That’s right, we need to organize our own army!"

"In our academy alone, at least five or sixty people are willing to join. They are all determined reformers."

"I believe that most of our classmates would be willing to stand against the army for the sake of human rights and freedom."

Lucas looked around at everyone with bloodshot eyes—he had only been sleeping three or four hours a day for the past month—and nodded: "Please remember, the most important thing is confidentiality. The Secret Police are almost everywhere."

Organizing a student army was something the "Vienna Student Group" had long wanted to do. With strong support from the Stilz Society, they could finally implement it.

Lucas continued: "Also, training is very important. Passion and belief alone cannot repel the tyrant’s army, as I have personally experienced before."

A university student immediately chimed in: "We can use hunting as an excuse to train on my father’s hunting ground. He hardly ever goes there."

Another young teacher worriedly said: "But where can we get weapons? And the flags and drums needed for training?"

Lucas said: "I’ll find a way for these."

He had already contacted friends in France who could sell him a large amount of "army surplus" at a very low price.

Yes, that friend worked in the French Security Bureau.

A young man with curly hair in front of him said: "I encountered many army members who support reform; my brother is one of them. We could try to persuade them to join us."

"That’s great," Lucas nodded, "but we must always remain vigilant about confidentiality.

"Actually, we shouldn’t just focus on the military; we should spread the ideas of freedom and equality to anyone we can reach, whether workers or farmers, but especially those who are knowledgeable and idealistic.

"We will one day also transform Austria into a country as wonderful as France!"