Reincarnated as Napoleon II-Chapter 59: Promise to the People

The time of Napoleon II’s coronation was four in the afternoon, and the streets and boulevards of Paris were filled to the brim.

Napoleon II, now standing on top of the Arc de Triomphe could see the jubilant faces of the crowd. They were waving the tri-color flag of France and the coat of arms of the Bonaparte Dynasty.

Each boulevard was really packed with people and he couldn’t help but feel emotional when the people you are ruling were looking up to you not forcefully, but willingly.

"You see those faces son?" Napoleon I, who was standing beside him, said and continued. "Remember it. They are looking up to their future, don’t let them down or else you’ll face the wrath of every Frenchman whenever they fail to govern properly."

"Father," Napoleon II chuckled. "That is why I studied history, so we don’t repeat the same mistake again. I swear father, just like I have sworn to you before, I will make France the greatest empire in this world. Even greater than any empire that had existed in history."

"I am confident that you can do it," Napoleon I simply said and patted him in the back. "Now, go, speak to your people."

Napoleon II nodded and stepped towards the podium with a microphone. It was invented prior to his coronation. He had thought of speaking to the people after his coronation and to effectively reach more audiences, he came up building it.

After all, it’s a simple technology. Alongside speakers that were already set up in intervals along the twelve avenues. There are avenues that won’t be able to see him talking, and introducing speakers was the only way to connect him to those people.

Now, looking down at the people again, there were thunderous cheers.

"Test...testing," Napoleon II said to the microphone and suddenly, the whole crowd around the Arc de Triomphe went silent, wondering where the sound came from.

This was their first time experiencing the wonders of speaker and a microphone, and they already saw the culprit. It was erected on a pole.

People leaned forward without realizing it. Those farther down the avenues stopped shouting and turned their heads, trying to understand why the sound had reached them so clearly.

Napoleon II adjusted the microphone slightly.

"It works," he said, more to himself than to anyone else.

Napoleon II placed both hands on the edge of the podium and looked out across Paris.

"My people of France," he said and continued. "Today, you did not witness a man receiving a crown," he continued. "You witnessed the Empire confirming its future."

Some in the crowd began to cheer, but the sound tapered off as he raised one hand.

"I stand here not above you, but because of you," Napoleon II said. "An Emperor does not exist without a nation willing to stand with him. And today, I see that willingness clearly."

He glanced down one of the twelve avenues, then another, watching how the sound reached them all.

"You have given France your labor, your patience, and your belief," he said. "In return, I give you my word. France will not stagnate. France will not be ruled by fear, nor by indulgence. We will be ruled by order, by progress, and by responsibility."

The crowd began to respond again, louder this time. Hats were raised. Flags waved hard enough to blur.

Napoleon II didn’t rush.

"We will build," he continued. "We will secure our borders, strengthen our economy, and ensure that every reform serves not a few, but the whole of France."

He paused, letting the words settle.

"And when history looks back on this day," he said, voice firm, "it will not remember the crown. It will remember what followed."

For a second, there was quiet.

Then Paris answered.

The sound surged outward, carried by voices, by stone, by the strange new devices that had turned one man’s words into a city’s shared moment. Napoleon II stepped back from the microphone as the cheers rose again.

He turned to his wife, Elisabeth, who was clapping her hands softly with a proud smile.

"Your turn now," Napoleon II said. "The people must know the mother of the Empire."

Elisabeth stepped forward without hesitation.

The applause softened on its own as she approached the podium. It wasn’t silence yet, but it thinned, people realizing she was about to speak. She placed one hand lightly on the edge of the stand, the other resting at her side. The wind caught the edge of her cloak and tugged at it once before settling.

She looked out over the avenues.

For a moment, she didn’t speak.

She scanned faces instead. Workers in rough coats. Soldiers still in formation. Women holding children who stared up at the Arc as if it were unreal. People who had traveled for hours just to stand where they were now.

"People of France," Elisabeth said.

The words reached farther than she could see. She felt it in the way the crowd shifted, how the noise faded into attention.

"I did not grow up here," she continued. "I was not born French. I did not walk these streets as a child, nor learn your songs at home."

A murmur moved through the crowd, not resistance, just acknowledgment.

"But today," she said, "I stand before you by choice."

She turned her head slightly, glancing at Napoleon II, then back to the city.

"I chose this nation. I chose its burdens. And I chose its future."

Her grip on the podium tightened briefly, then relaxed.

"I know what you expect from an Empress," Elisabeth said. "You expect dignity. You expect restraint. And you expect loyalty—to France above all else."

She lifted her chin.

"You will have it."

The crowd began to respond, but she continued, her voice steady.

"I will not hide behind ceremony. I will not treat this position as ornament or distance. I will learn this country as it is, not as it is described to me. And when the Empire is tested, I will stand where I am needed, not where it is comfortable."

Somewhere down one of the avenues, someone shouted her name. Others followed.

Elisabeth waited until it settled.

"My role is not to rule," she said. "It is to endure. To steady. And to remind this Empire that strength without discipline does not last."

She paused, letting that land.

"I swear this before you," Elisabeth said. "As Empress. As wife. And as guardian of what comes next."

She stepped back from the podium, and a cheer resounded again.