Flowers, Swords and France

"No! No!"

"Be good, be obedient, Fran." Charles called softly, "Brother, this is for your own good..."

"No! No!" The volume became louder and louder.

"Okay, it might feel a little uncomfortable at first, but bear with it and you'll feel better after a while."

"Just don't! Let me die! Let me die!" Fran still resisted loudly.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Charles raised his voice, "Listen to brother!"

"Don't listen! Never listen!"

Ciel's patience was gradually worn out.

"You should take medicine when you are sick, right?" Charles said in a slightly reprimanding tone, "Also, don't talk to your brother while you are covered with a quilt, that is not good for your health!"

"Just keep the quilt covered, but don't take medicine!" The quilt was getting tighter and tighter, and it was still shaking slightly, showing how excited the owner was now. "I don't want to see you, get out!"

Since she had been wandering outside for so long in her thin pajamas last night and experienced such ups and downs of emotional stimulation, Fran naturally caught a cold the next day, and it seemed to be quite serious, so Charles sent someone directly I went to the studio and asked for leave, so that my sister could recuperate at home.

"Okay, don't be angry, Fran." Charles sighed softly, "Let's just pretend that nothing happened last night."

"As expected, you still remember it!" Fran's reaction became even more intense, and she even faintly cried, "Are you satisfied now? I just often avoid reading the manuscripts you wrote, now you can be proud Wow! Wow..."

"Uh..." Charles didn't know what to say, so he finally said reluctantly, "Actually, if you want to see it, I'll let you see it. There's no need for this..."

"That's what I want!"

"Anyway, since I already know everything, let's move forward..." Charles sat on the edge of the bed and gently patted the bulging head under the quilt with his hand, "Don't be angry and take the medicine quickly. ,have a good rest."

Under Ciel's rhythmic tapping, the shaking of the quilt gradually stopped, and finally calmed down. "Really?"

"Really, from now on, you can watch whatever you want. If you want to watch openly, you can do it. If you want to watch secretly, I can pretend that I don't know. Is that okay?" Charles replied softly.

After waiting for a while, the sound came from the quilt again. "From now on, you must pretend not to know, and you are not allowed to break in again when I am staying in the study!"

Even if I pretend not to know, I actually don’t know yet. Are we all deceiving ourselves? What on earth is this girl thinking? Charles had some doubts in his heart. He found that he understood his sister less and less.

Yes, as his sister grew older, she became more and more a standard and unpredictable French female surname. Charles felt this reality painfully.

God, what did I do wrong to deserve this punishment? Do you have to watch your sister transform into another creature bit by bit? He sighed inwardly.

"Well, I don't know anything." Because of the loss, his tone was extremely lonely and desolate, "Nothing happened."

"Don't talk without keeping your word!" His answer made Fran give up her resistance, and the quilt fell away little by little, revealing her beautiful face that was slightly haggard due to illness, but even more pitiful because of it.

The timid look in the girl's eyes made Ciel forget his dissatisfaction with her for a moment.

This is my sister!

He reached out his hand and gently touched Fran's white forehead.

Then, he picked up the medicine bottle on the dressing table next to him and gently brought it to his sister's lips.

Different from the future era of advanced medicine, what doctors in this era can do is quite limited, and the equipment can only be described as rudimentary. They use various potions to treat diseases, and God knows how effective they can be. However, Fran only had a common cold this time, so Charles asked the pharmacist for the most commonly used one, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Fran opened her lips and drank the potion handed over by her brother obediently. Her tongue was slightly white due to illness, which made Charles feel a little distressed.

"You should have a good rest first. I'll come and see you in the evening." After finally completing the task, Charles breathed a sigh of relief and turned around and walked out of his sister's bedroom.

Since it was almost lunch time, Charles walked directly to the restaurant, and when he got there he found that his grandfather was already waiting for his meal.

The Marquis Victor de Treville was wearing a simple black flannel tuxedo with a starched white shirt underneath, sitting upright in his seat. He held the nearest newspaper in his hand and kept flipping through it. Although he never glanced at Charles, his calm and self-righteous aura still made Charles a little awe-inspiring. His neatly trimmed gray beard added to that serious look.

Ciel walked gently to the dining table, sat down quietly, and prepared to eat.

"Looking at the recent newspapers, there are more and more criticisms of the government. Here and there." After Charles had just sat down, the Marquis suddenly spoke. “Some criticized the government for being incompetent, some criticized the government for its inability to respond to famines in various places, and some criticized the government for being too subservient to foreign countries..."

"This shows that there are more and more complaints from all walks of life, doesn't it? This shows that the control of today's political ax is increasingly declining, and even the power to guide and intimidate public opinion is about to be lost."

"No, Charles, you have to see through the phenomena to see the essence." The Marquis replied coldly.

"Um?"

"Our family subscribes to several newspapers, some are conservative, some support current political axes, and some have radical republican views. Yes, newspapers or any other media have their own positions - although each of them says I am neutral and objective. If you read it alone, you will get nothing but brainwashing. But if you combine these things together and compare them with a calm attitude, you will find a lot of interesting things. "

"For example?"

"Didn't you notice? In those newspapers that hold an opposing position, recent criticism of the government has become more and more vague. It does not accuse a specific incident or the misdeeds of a specific person, but refers to the existence of the current government itself. Legal surname to question...and their sales have not decreased?”

"This shows that years of incitement are gradually having an effect. People are no longer disappointed and disgusted with a certain part or person of the current dynasty, but rather with the existence of this dynasty itself?"

"Yes." The old Marquis agreed with Charles's inference this time. "People are born with the need to criticize the government anyway. The key is where this criticism is concentrated. If everyone in France more than ten years ago was questioning the current political system, There is a reasonable existence, but now they are debating whether the authorities have done something well or whether a certain person has done something bad. This actually shows that the current government is safe. "

"What you said makes sense." Charles acknowledged the Marquis's view.

"Thanks to Mr. Tod Bourbon-Orléans, France has now become a mediocre country and no longer has the glory of the past. Our mission is to restore her glory."

[Since Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans, a young member of the Bourbon royal family, ascended the throne of France, he changed his surname to Bourbon-Orleans]

Hearing this taunt, Ciel couldn't help laughing.

In his speech to the French Parliament in 1831, the current king Louis-Philippe said, "This government is taking a moderate line," which means that his government intends to take a middle line that is neither radical nor conservative. Since the king was not liked by both Bourbon orthodox and republican factions, his political opponents often quoted this sentence and extended it to mock the king who could not be respected.

"Well, we will definitely restore the glory of France." Charles repeated his thoughts, then raised the glass and gestured to his grandfather, and the two took a sip of wine together.

Then the two of them began to eat and were speechless for a while.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

The Marquis, who ate very little because of his age, finished his meal quickly. Then he continued to read the newspaper, while Charles continued to eat the rest of the food.

"Have you coaxed Fran?" the Marquis suddenly asked without raising his head.

"Well, I finally coaxed her. She has finished drinking the medicine now." Charles nodded and confirmed, "However, because she has a cold, she has no appetite now, but she will come for lunch. I will bring some food later. Go up..."

"Hey, it's okay..." The Marquis breathed a sigh of relief, "Children today are all very fragile. They catch colds every three days, and they don't take care of their bodies..."

Although the words seemed to be devoted to reprimanding his granddaughter, the Marquis' concern and love for his granddaughter were still evident.

"Yes," Charles agreed with his grandfather's statement, "Fran's body is a bit weak, so she needs to take good care of her."

"You kids are so troublesome!" The Marquis suddenly sighed, then raised his head from the newspaper and looked at his grandson carefully. "However, finally, everyone has grown up... I am already old and don't have much energy to take care of you. Charles, you are the elder brother and you are an adult. You should pay more attention to taking care of your sister. She is too young and doesn’t know much about the world.”

Ciel looked back at his grandfather and answered in a sincere tone.

"I will work hard for this my whole life."

"Very good." The Marquis nodded in approval. "Charle, remember this man's promise! I'm already old, and I'm afraid I won't have many more years to live. If one day I'm no longer here, you two must support each other, and don't let time dilute the family relationship, you know ”

"Your health is still very good, how can you say such things!" Charles was anxious.

"Come on," the Marquis curled his lips and smiled self-deprecatingly, "I am already 70 years old. Even if my health is not bad now, what more can I expect?"

Ciel was speechless for a moment.

"Don't worry, each of us will have such a day eventually." Seeing that his grandson was a little sad, the Marquis smiled and comforted him, "The important thing is to live well now! If I don't see my grandchildren living a good life, Old Victor won’t close his eyes!”

"Definitely." Charles replied.

"You should pay attention to what I told you that day." The Marquis mentioned the previous matter again and continued to give instructions. "Find a rich and talented woman as soon as possible to continue the Treville bloodline - although France is in short supply of such women, it can still find a few..."

Cough, Charles lowered his head and continued eating, not daring to answer.

"And Fran, she is not very young now. We should think about her future as soon as possible - don't forget that your grandma was only 16 years old when she married me. I was still in Dusseldorf at that time. My husband is repairing someone's shoes..."

[Düsseldorf is a city on the Rhine River in western Germany. During the French Revolution, many French nobles fled to this city and were forced to engage in many "lowly jobs" that they despised in the past due to their livelihood. ]

Charles did not respond on the surface, but he was a little confused in his heart. He knew in his heart that what his grandfather said was actually reasonable, and there was no problem in this era, but deep in his heart, it seemed that someone kept asking himself.

Can a sister who is married still be considered a sister?

After a moment, he was surprised by his own reaction. How could he have such a weird idea? Of course, Fran will always be his sister? No matter what happens, she will always be.

But... if she really married someone else...

Just when he was in a strange tangle, the servant's message saved him.

"Two of the lady's classmates came to visit her?" Charles asked.

"Well, one of them said that he wanted to come and thank you specially." The servant replied.

Charles vaguely understood what was going on.

"Then let them in, I'll go meet them." Feeling relieved, Charles fled the restaurant and also escaped from the entanglement in his heart.