She changed Europe

Page 12

Why don't you touch it? She had a feeling this might be some kind of primitive retrieval tool for this world.

Gisela approached the pedestal, placed her hands on it, and then closed her eyes.

Sure enough, a familiar feeling came over her, and magical energy once again poured into Gisela's body, just like that day. However, this time there was no strange feeling as before. Instead, she felt an enhancement of her senses and a strengthening of her mental power.

"This time it's actually shining," Gisela said softly, looking at the scene before her.

Although she doesn't value magical abilities much and is often jokingly called "Louise of Zero" by her classmates, she is very clear about her true situation. The fact that she is a magical user is undeniable, and what she needs to consider is how to develop her power and become a true magical user.

"Focus, focus!" Gisela snapped out of her brief moment of joy and focused her attention on the pedestal.

"Could this device actually have a voice control function?" After all, I remember that when we did the test that day, we needed to do some guided chanting.

“Listen!” Gisela murmured in German at first, but after looking around, she found no reaction.

“Albm!” This time it was Latin again. Gisela’s language talent came from the original owner and could be said to be innate. After all, there are many ethnic groups in the empire, and it is normal for members of the royal family to master multiple languages.

As a result, a variety of languages ​​came to mind for Gisela. In a sense, Gisela was enjoying the feeling of being a language master. She experimented with a number of languages, but still received no response.

“A roster, a roster, is that alright?” This time it was Chinese, and it was a language that Gisela herself had truly mastered.

As she spoke, the base slowly began to rotate, and then a beam of light shone down from the dome, illuminating the bookshelf area containing the school roster.

"Wow! This is cutting-edge technology." Gisela looked up and observed the dome of the warehouse, noticing the countless mirrors that refracted light.

It seems that the angle of the mirrors placed in the room is adjusted by guiding the flow of magical energy, and the area is indicated by sunlight. From this perspective, magical energy is really convenient.

“Let me see who the students who enrolled in March 1868 are.” Gisela quickly arrived at the area indicated by the sunlight and began to look up the information.

"There are 879 new students, including 76 from Italy, 53 of whom are nobles and 23 of whom are commoners." Gisela took out her notebook and began copying down the data.

"Oh, right." Out of curiosity, she looked for her own name on the list, but she didn't seem to see a name called Louise Vanessa Hurence. She looked for her real name, but still found nothing.

“I’m now an unregistered resident.” Gisela frowned slightly. Thinking about it this way, she probably wasn’t even a student at this school, let alone expelled, which was out of the question.

"That shouldn't be the case. There should be some information and data about me on this, even if it's a fake identity." Gisela didn't think that Dean Selena, who was decisive and efficient, would make a mistake on such a small matter. After all, if she had infiltrated the school, it wouldn't make sense not to have a set of matching fake documents.

Gisela casually flipped through the document, lost in endless thought. Her unintentional action drew her attention to a torn piece of paper.

“This is…” Although it had been deliberately concealed, Gisela still noticed this detail.

"If we arrange the first letters of the name in alphabetical order, it should be L here. My current name is Loise, so the torn-out documents must have been Gisela's own." This was indeed a disgusting fact for Qi Liujiu and Yi Ba Liu.

If it was those people who did it, then my situation at this school is very precarious, since they already have the information. But that doesn't make sense either; they already sent assassins to kill me before, so there's no reason for them to tear up this piece of paper. Or perhaps the assassins who were lurking around me before did it unintentionally, using this torn-up document to confirm that Gisela and Louise are the same person? That would certainly explain their motives.

Gisela recalled her conversation with the real Gisela that day, in which she said she had been murdered. Could there be another possibility? Could the person Rita killed that day not be the same person who attacked Gisela, but another force, and such a force might still be among her.

"Tsk! I don't want to think about such troublesome things at all." Gisela shook her head, and then, taking advantage of the fact that no one was in the warehouse, she briefly took off her hat and let her two fox ears out to breathe.

"Let's take it one step at a time. First, let's solve the mystery of the storage box. Then, let's inform Dean Selena about this." Gisela put her thoughts back on, put her hat back on, and walked towards the door. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of blue eyes were secretly watching her every move.

PS1: Double is too tiring, maybe I should just turn back into a single-watch beast.

Chapter 42 Princess Starting from Zero: Capter 41 The Painting of the Realm (Seeking votes and collections)

"Louise, did you find what you were looking for?" Lania, who had been leaning against the wall outside in a daze, came over when she saw Gisela appear. To Gisela, this scene was like a husky that had found its owner, its eyes shining with intelligence.

After all, having to stay outside with the professor was torture in itself, not to mention that everyone knew that this professor was notoriously strict.

“Professor, thank you for your support. I have found what the dean asked me to find. Thank you for the convenience.” Gisela bowed slightly to the professor in front of her to express her gratitude.

"It's alright, everyone has their own mission," the two laughed it off skillfully, and then left the archives with their silly senior.

Only after the two had walked far enough away to be out of the professor's sight did Gisela suddenly raise her arms and pin the red-haired girl, who was even taller than her, against the wall. Then, with a serious expression, she stared at the red-haired girl with wide blue eyes and said:

"No one has entered the archives room during this time, right?" Gisela lowered her voice, her chest leaning forward slightly. Perhaps because of the size, she could clearly feel the shaking of the other's breasts as they bumped against her.

"No, I didn't even put a single fly in there, I guarantee it!" Although she was a little embarrassed, Rania still looked directly at the princess in front of her to prove that her words were not a lie.

“That’s the best,” Gisela replied softly, pursing her lips.

"Why do you care so much about this? Do you suspect that someone is spying on us?" Although Rania has the potential to be a pushover in front of Gisela, she is still quite perceptive when she gets serious. After all, she is the heir of the Brno family. If she can't even understand this, how could the old marquis trust her to manage the vast family business?

"I didn't realize you reacted so quickly. Not all the nutrients are stored here." As he said this, Lin Wei raised his delicate hand and patted the girl's chest.

Although Rania was somewhat used to Gisela's quirky sense of humor, she still couldn't help but blush.

“I have no evidence, but it never hurts to be careful.” Gisela seemed to be answering Rania’s question, but it was more like a reminder to herself.

To Rania, however, these words sounded like someone younger than her trying to reason with her in a mature tone. Even though what she said made perfect sense, the situation was still strangely awkward, leaving Rania feeling somewhat bewildered.

Gisela released her hands, ending the wall slam. Rania, now free, flexed her wrists and asked, "So, where do we go next?"

“Let’s meet up with Rita. If she borrowed the painting from Belvedere Palace, she should have been waiting at the library for a long time by now.” Gisela habitually raised her wrist, only to realize that she didn’t seem to have a watch.

"Not convenient at all," Gisela muttered to herself. It was a pity that mechanical watches had begun to appear in this era, but they were mostly in the form of large clocks. Wristwatches that made it easy for people to tell time had not yet been invented, and the only ones available were pocket watches, which were preferred by gentlemen.

However, as "ladies," they couldn't dress like men and easily pull out a pocket watch from their bosom or waist. Even if they did, it would be considered very inelegant, and what is inelegant is the enemy of His Highness. Therefore, Rita would naturally do her duty to eliminate the enemy. So Gisela didn't even have a pocket watch to tell time.

You still don't understand the huge business opportunities and potential of the watch market...

It is worth mentioning that the world's first wristwatch was also created at the end of 1868, which is "this year". It was made by the famous Swiss Patek Philippe for a countess in Hungary. However, the design did not really become popular at the time, and wristwatches did not become widely accepted by the public until after 1911.

Watches are luxury items; design is one aspect, but the key issue is the lack of necessary promotion. Speaking of promotion, one must mention Gisela's mother, Empress Elisabeth. Not only was she the most beautiful woman in Europe, but she was also a fashion icon, a true trendsetter. Whatever she wore became a hit; clothing and jewelers of that era considered it an honor to design and jewel clothes for Princess Sissi.

If we were to discuss who the biggest star of European royalty was in this era, then my mother would certainly be considered one of the best.

If you want your watch to be popular and make a fortune, why not recommend it to your cheap mother? After all, who says a queen can't sell products?

"Let's go, why worry about time. Gisela snapped out of her thoughts and led Rania toward the library."

————Walking dividing line

"You're not kidding me, are you?! You brought seventy-three paintings!" Gisela exclaimed upon seeing the stack of Caravaggio paintings Rita had placed on the table. Even without frames, seventy-three paintings were still a breathtaking sight.

"Miss, this is just a selection. If you include the others, it must be several hundred more," Rita said to Gisela in a serious tone, explaining the paintings to her.

Can you please stop being so prolific, Mr. Caravaggio? Aren't you supposed to be an art hooligan? Aren't you a professional thug and a part-time painter? Why are you putting so much effort into your hobby? Just like a certain artist, Gisela really got a bit timid. There are a total of seventy-three paintings; you couldn't finish looking at them all in a day.

"By the way, Rita, did you bring that painting of the Assumption of Mary?"

“Of course, Miss, if you include this one, that makes seventy-four.” Rita smiled and placed the “Assumption of the Virgin” on the stack of paintings. For some reason, Gisela felt that Rita’s actions were full of malice, as if she were being targeted.

"Never mind, let's look at it first, let's not waste time," Gisela muttered to herself.

"Is there anything special about what these words say?" Rania, who was standing to the side, was still confused as Gisela and Rita dragged her into doing hard labor without telling her anything.

"Shh! Talk less and observe more." Gisela raised her right hand, extended her index finger, and put it to Rania's lips to signal her to stop talking nonsense.

“Yes.” Rita picked up a painting and began to look at it.

—A dozen minutes later

“Completely clueless.” Gisela scratched her hat instead of her hair and sighed.

"Louise, how about we do a selection process?" The speaker was Rania.

"Screening, how do you want to screen them?" Gisela was still a little curious about Rania's suggestion.

“I don’t know what you’re looking for, and I’m not very familiar with this painter’s work either. But you all seem to be using this painting of the Assumption of Mary as a clue to guide you. Why don’t you try to narrow down your search? Since this painting is a religious work, why don’t you list all of this painter’s religious works separately?”

“Yes, that makes sense. This idea is undoubtedly feasible. If she were Mr. Caravaggio, she would have chosen to do the same.” Gisela nodded in agreement, then began to direct the two to classify the paintings, while she continued to observe the painting.

PS1: Tomorrow is Wednesday 0v0!

Chapter 43: Clues Unraveled by the Princess Starting from Zero

If my reasoning that day was correct, this painting was a gift from Caravaggio to his beloved. Based on this information, I can deduce that the painting was created between 1599 and 1610, which would further narrow down the scope of the painting to those created during that period.

“Rita has compiled all the paintings from 1599 to 1610 for me to look up, according to the yearbook list sent to you by Belvedere Palace.”

"Yes, Your Highness... Miss."

A moment later, Rita and the other two members of the "Artist's Spirit Bar" had already completed the selection process.

"It seems these are all you have, Your Highness." Rita placed the remaining paintings in front of Gisela, allowing her to examine them.

First, the "Crucifixion of St. Peter" is a typical religious painting, completed in 1601. The person depicted is none other than the famous St. Peter, and the scene chosen is the moment when the executioners are about to raise the cross after St. Peter has been nailed to it. (Example on the last page)

Apart from the protagonist Saint Peter, the three executioners are not depicted directly, so the viewer naturally cannot see their eyes.

Their body language seemed to suggest that they had exhausted all their strength, but lifting such an old man's body was an unbearable burden. The executioner on the far right, in particular, though struggling to pull the rope, looked like a sinner carrying a cross, trudging along. Gisela was unaware of its artistic value; her perception was largely based on her direct experience of the scene.

"St. Augustine in the Making" was completed in 1603, "St. Stephen the Preacher" in 1609, and "Rupert and the Archangel" in 1610.

"There are only four paintings left." Gisela looked at her selection results with great satisfaction, choosing four paintings from 74. In any case, this method was better than the previous method of blindly searching like a headless fly.

Returning to the present, there should be no doubt as to why Mr. Caravaggio would entrust the trunk to that woman. Just as Gisela speculated, it makes perfect sense for him to choose to give the trunk to his beloved. However, why the woman left the trunk at her Vienna mansion after Caravaggio's mysterious death, instead of taking it back to Italy, is a very puzzling matter.

“Unless the secret in the box can only be unlocked in Vienna.” Gisela stood up and slapped the table. Rania and Rita almost simultaneously looked up at the lovely blonde girl before them.

"Rita, do you have a map of Vienna?" Gisela had a suspicion in her mind, and what she needed most right now was to verify it.

"I'll find it for you right away." With that, Rita walked quickly over and searched for a map of Vienna on a bookshelf in the distance. As a city with a long history, Vienna has always been a place where people have been surveying and updating its appearance.

"Senior, please prepare a few pens. We may need to draw something in a while."

"No problem, Louise."

Soon enough, a map of Vienna was placed in front of Gisela. Although the map was very rough and could not be compared with the satellite maps of Google Earth in later generations, it was still passable. The landmark buildings on it were well marked, and both Schönbrunn Palace and Hofburg Palace could be found on the map.

"Just as I thought." Gisela quickly found St. Stephen's Cathedral, the symbol of Vienna, the "golden apple" that the Ottoman sultans had once dreamed of.

Secondly, there is St. Peter's Cathedral in Vienna, which is also the residence of the Catholic Archbishop of Vienna. It is also called St. Peter's Cathedral, sharing the same name as the Pope's cathedral. Although it is not as grand as the Pope's cathedral, it is still an important Catholic holy site.

Then there is St. Rupert's Cathedral, the oldest church in Vienna, which is said to have been built in the 8th century by the then Archbishop of Salzburg, Tver.

Finally, there is the St. Augustine's Cathedral, now Gisela's family's "private" court chapel. Because important members of the Habsburg family throughout history have married here, this church, whose construction began in 1327, witnessed the wedding of Empress Theresa and Duke Franz of Lorraine, which established the Lorraine-Habsburg dynasty. Napoleon I, Gisela's great-grandmother Marie Louise, and her own parents were also married here.

And of course, the hearts of 54 Habsburg emperors throughout history are kept here. (In this world, Napoleon I was a woman, so what happened between her and Gisela's great-grandmother?)

“The painting titles and place names all match up, it seems we’ve found the right place.” Just as she expected, Gisela’s lips curled into a very calm smile.

"You mean, the secret in this painting is related to these four churches?" Rita looked at the princess's discovery with a hint of surprise. She hadn't expected the clues to come together so quickly. "Truly, Princess Gisela is worthy of this," she thought. She certainly couldn't have imagined this in a short time…

"Hmph, I knew it, my idea was right." Rania raised her head and puffed out her chest with pride, as if she felt that if she wanted it, she could naturally get it.

This seemingly unintentional action, however, hinted at a competitive spirit, as she happened to be standing very close to Gisela. Although not as intelligent, Rania certainly stands much taller and more majestic than Gisela in terms of the altitude of the Alps, and Rania is, after all, a 14-year-old "big girl".

"Please don't worry about it, Miss. You won't lose to her when you grow up." Rita keenly noticed Rania's actions and, out of a sense of duty, chose to protect her mistress's pride.

"Huh? Rita, what do you mean by that?" Gisela, being a former male, obviously didn't immediately grasp the meaning behind Rita's words. Weren't we talking about the church? How did it suddenly escalate to me?

“Miss, please don’t worry. Playing to one’s strengths and avoiding one’s weaknesses is also an essential lesson for a mature lady.” Rita prepared a way out for Gisela without thinking. As a maid, she believed she had done her best.

"Never mind, where was I?"

“Four churches,” Rania added softly. Perhaps the maid had seen through her, but the maid didn’t blame her, which made her feel extremely guilty.

"That's right, it's these four churches. I'm going to go and investigate them in person."

“These four churches aren’t too far apart, and they’re all in Vienna’s old town. Which one do you plan to start with?” With the help of the map and her own experience, Rita quickly came up with information about the four churches in her mind.

Chapter 44 Princess Starting from Zero

In fact, Mozart had a famous encounter with Gisela's great-grandmother, Marie Antoinette: when he was six years old, during a court performance, he had just finished playing and was walking down the corridor when he accidentally fell. He was noticed by the youngest daughter of Empress Theresa, who was passing by, and the noble and kind-hearted princess took the initiative to help Mozart up.

This seemingly insignificant incident led Mozart to fall in love with the beautiful princess. Later, after Mozart performed his best pieces for the royal family again, the empress asked him what reward he wanted. He told her that he wanted to marry Princess Marie, the most beautiful princess in Vienna, and give her his kiss.

Of course, the Queen wouldn't really take these words seriously, because children speak without thinking. Marie Antoinette would never have married the lowly Mozart; her husband would have been King Louis XVI of France. If a normal child understood these as innocent remarks, there wouldn't be any problem. But could Mozart, who started learning the piano at four, be considered an ordinary child? No. Mozart was sincere, but no one understood. Lonely, he never loved another, dedicating his life entirely to music, ultimately dying young in his thirties. Poor Princess Marie Antoinette was eventually sent to the guillotine by her own people.

History is sometimes more moving than drama because it is real yet unpredictable. But it is precisely this realism that makes us want to interpret it from our own perspective and seek empathy. This is why Shakespeare said, "There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes," because both lead to the same conclusion.

This is what Gisela was thinking, and it's what we want to tell everyone.

"Your Highness, we have arrived at the Church of St. Augustine."

Gisela looked up at the white-spired building in front of her. This was the so-called Church of St. Augustine. The church was not large, but it held an extraordinary status in the empire. Its extraordinary status was not due to its religious significance, but rather its political significance. This church, which was right next to the Hofburg Palace, was a place that only high-ranking officials and nobles could enter and exit.

At noon, the square outside the church was only bustling with people passing by. The kind of crowds of tourists taking photos that we see in later generations was impossible to witness. After all, this was a country with a strict hierarchy, and Vienna had never truly experienced an unprecedented revolution.

Although soldiers were not allowed to be stationed around the church, there was a low guard post on a street corner not far from the Church of St. Augustine. Occasionally, some patrolling soldiers would come out from there. The soldiers wore black hats with feathers and yellow clothes with double-headed eagles printed on them. They carried a halberd instead of a rifle, which was commonly used by the Austrian army.

"This is the royal guard that many European royal families like to have as a mascot." Putting aside their actual combat capabilities, they are undoubtedly qualified in terms of showing off. The soldiers are tall, and Gisela can estimate from a distance that their average height is over 1.8 meters.

Gisela inherited her parents' excellent genes and was already 162cm tall at only 12 years old. Of course, her height was not as tall as her personal maid Rita or her senior Rania, but she was already considered quite tall among girls her age.

It's worth mentioning that when Gisela was still called Lin Wei, he was quite a tall, muscular man, standing at 1.8 meters. Initially, this change in height was a bit difficult for her to adjust to, but as time went by, she got used to it. Indeed, people always change...

“Rita, bring me ‘Saint Augustine in Creation’ first,” Gisela said, looking around before raising her hand to Rita beside her.

“Okay, here you go.” Rita took off the leather backpack from her back and took out the copy of the painting that Gisela wanted.

“Let’s go in then.” Gisela picked up the painting, held her head high, and walked briskly toward the church. She could clearly feel the gazes of the people in the square. Whether they were guards or passersby, they were all observing the three girls with very different styles but outstanding appearances who were walking toward the church with great curiosity.

Those who can enter such a church are among the most noble ladies in the country.

"Hmph! See? Although I know I'm beautiful, Rita is very charming, and Rania has a great figure, it's a pity they're not your girlfriends!" Beauty is only for the strong. Gisela was enjoying the admiring gazes of others. She couldn't understand this feeling, after all, they were all men.