After Empress Dowager Sophie left with grievance, Franz Joseph smiled and extended an invitation to Jerome Bonaparte.
On the way to the ball, Franz Joseph quietly expressed his gratitude to Jerome Bonaparte.
"Why thank me!" Jerome Bonaparte replied with a smile.
"If it weren't for you, Sophie might never have returned to Elizabeth's hands." Franz Joseph gave a bitter smile at the corner of his mouth, then said frankly, "You don't know how strong my mother's desire for control is. She wants everything at Hofburg Palace to move along the established trajectory, even I am not an exception!"
"I understand your dilemma! One is a wife, the other is a mother, both are the closest of people! When two people have a conflict, the one caught in the middle often has to endure great pain!" Jerome Bonaparte let his hand droop on Franz Joseph's shoulder (a hint of an unnatural expression flashed across Franz Joseph's face but was quickly concealed) and said to him.
