Flowers, Swords and France

After visiting the old painter Durenberg, the three Charles brothers and Mary took the carriage back to their home. Fran invited her friends to have dinner at home, and the Marquis happily agreed to her invitation. .

Under the clear sky in early spring, the scenery along the way in Paris was very beautiful, but Fran seemed to have encountered something with the painter. She lowered her head and remained silent, completely ignoring the window. Under her influence, the other two people also had their own concerns, so the carriage returned to the Marquis of Treville's house in a silent atmosphere.

As soon as he returned to the living room of the mansion, Ciel smiled and made a request to his sister.

"Miss Treville, could you go and get us a cup of tea?"

After hearing this instruction from Ciel, Fran's eyes flashed with panic. She looked at her friend anxiously and found that the other person's eyes were also panicked. She understood the true meaning of Ciel's words.

She moved her mouth, wanting to say something more, but under her brother's smile, she couldn't say anything.

"Okay..." She nodded reluctantly, and then slowly left the living room.

So, as Charles wished, there were only two people left in the living room.

Their moods are very different now, one is calm and relaxed, the other is on pins and needles.

Charles remained silent. Under this helpless silence, Miss Marquis's face slowly turned pale. She glanced at Charles uneasily, as if she was hesitant to speak.

Although it does look a little pitiful, there are some things that have to be said.

Charles sat in his seat and looked at the Marquis opposite him leisurely.

"Miss Leolan, you once again took advantage of my sister's friendship for you and cleverly avoided a new crisis. Should I congratulate you?"

"Mr. Treville, you misunderstood me..." After hearing Charles's sarcastic words, the Marquis quickly defended herself, "The situation is not exactly what you thought..."

"Maybe not entirely, but the basic situation is clear, right?" There was still a hint of sarcasm hidden in Charles's tone, "You encountered difficulties, you came to my house to find my sister, you pretended to be weak, and finally you roughly Isn’t it true that the crisis was averted?”

Under Charles' questioning, Mary's face became even paler, and she was speechless for a moment.

Ciel pursued the victory without mercy.

"I don't want to accuse you. Everyone has the right to fight to defend their property. In fact, I must admit that you did a good job... However, I want to tell you that my sister and I are not born to help. Yours, even if we don't get thanks, we should still be respected, and I am not being fooled by you as a fool. I have fulfilled Fran's wish. I don't want the same thing to happen a third time, otherwise you will know the consequences - no matter how hard my sister protects you. , I also have countless ways to make you bankrupt, do you believe it or not?”

"Sir, I didn't mean to fool you!" Mary replied tremblingly.

After hearing these words from Charles, she knew in her heart that things had reached the worst situation. If she didn't explain something, she might never be able to enter the Treville house again.

"Really?" Charles asked mockingly.

"It's true..." Mary looked at Charles, trying her best to convey the sincerity in her heart to his eyes. Tears seemed to come out of the corners of her eyes, "You and Fran have helped me so much, how could I... How can I be so ungrateful to you?"

"It's impossible to tell." Charles was unmoved by her tears, and his words became more and more harsh. "Isn't the most common thing we see in social circles ungrateful? After all, sixteen or seventeen years ago It’s time to learn everything our fathers have taught us. In the face of money, I have seen a lot of shamelessness. To be fair, you are doing pretty well, so I said, I am not particularly angry with you. "

"Please believe me, sir!" Tears suddenly fell from the corners of Mary's eyes, and her expression was very anxious. "Okay, I admit, at first, I did plan to ask you for help, but I didn't plan to trick you into helping me!"

After hearing her answer, Charles thought about it carefully. Her words made sense. How could she have expected that Charles would have spare money to help her solve the problem?

However, there was no wavering on his face.

"Maybe your tears are from the bottom of your heart, maybe not, it doesn't matter, just pretend that you are from the bottom of your heart. Yes, you are quite beautiful, and you also know how to induce sympathy from others. ..." Although he felt in his heart that he was a little too harsh, Charles still did not show this compassion on his face, and remained expressionless as before, "However, if you think this can be done in Tre It would be too naive to do whatever you want in front of the Weir family."

When it is time to be harsh, people must be harsh. This is a truth that he has long learned in the social field.

"If you want to ask for help, there are many ways. You can even just say it. Instead of trying to make my sister feel pathetic like you are now, right?"

"But...but..." Miss Marquis continued to have tears on her face, and she couldn't even speak clearly under the sobs.

"But you're worried that my sister and I won't help you if you don't act pitiful, right?" Charles finished the rest of her words for her.

Mary lowered her head for a long time, and finally nodded sadly. In this way, she admitted the calculation she had hidden deep in her heart, and the fact that she had taken advantage of her friend, and she no longer defended herself.

He will despise me for this.

She closed her eyes slightly, slumped and waited for her fate to be judged.

"You think too much, really. Do you really think Fran can't see your thoughts? Even so, she hopes to help you... I hope you can understand her painstaking efforts and don't do this again in the future. Face her with false friendliness, okay?" Charles's voice suddenly became much softer. "I know that this layer of pitiful protective color is really important to you. You need to pretend to be without edges or brains in front of the world... But at least don't do it in front of my sister, otherwise you will be in trouble. Blaspheme her friendship for you. Please remember my words today!”

Later... later? And later!

Mary opened her eyes and raised her head suddenly, surprise and surprise intertwined in her eyes.

"You mean...I can still interact with your family in the future?"

"Yes, but please be careful not to pretend to be yourself in front of us... Miss Leolan, to be honest, I think you are many times better than the person you have always shown to us... "

"Don't you hate me for this?" She seemed not to pay attention to what Charles said, but instead focused on something strange.

"Of course I don't hate it, at least for now." Charles replied matter-of-factly, "You are just trying your best to protect yourself. This is just human nature. What is there to blame?"

She just wanted to protect herself, at least she didn't want to harm anyone, so Ciel really didn't hate her that much - at least morally, Ciel felt that he was not qualified to look down on anyone.

A smile suddenly bloomed on that delicate face that was still stained with tears, and she was radiant for a moment.

"Thank you, Mr. Treville, I will definitely remember your lesson."

This smile was reserved and calm, as if it had completely shed its original "pitiful" disguise.

"Am I teaching you something?" Charles still had a straight face, but his tone was much gentler. "This is just a reminder. Since you still want to interact with us, you should naturally listen to our advice."

"Thank you, teacher!" Mary was still smiling, seemingly ignoring his deliberate coldness.

…………

She still remembered this.

Ciel ignored her and turned his head towards the door.

"Okay, I've finished talking now, come in! How long do you have to stand here?"

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

Under Ciel's scolding, the door reopened, and Fran slowly walked in carrying a tray.

She also followed her brother's example, with no expression on her face. When putting the tea on the table, she glanced at Ciel lightly, as if in protest. "You were too rude just now, sir!"

Ciel just shrugged indifferently.

Sometimes, it's a good thing to talk things out early.

"Don't be so sad, Mary, cheer up, my brother is just being merciless..." After serving tea, Fran comforted Miss Marquis in a low voice.

"Flan, I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, it's okay." Fran was still smiling.

…………

Soon, it was time for dinner at the Marquis de Treville's house.

The old Marquis was not feeling well today, so the servants served him directly in his bedroom. There were only three young people sitting on both sides of the dining table.

Fran and her friend were talking and laughing, while Charles was reading the newspaper intently.

However, Fran's question interrupted his thoughts.

"Brother, did you say before that you wanted to find a female companion for you?"

Charles took away the newspaper and nodded slightly doubtfully. He remembered that he said "find a maid" before, but the meaning was similar anyway.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you have anyone chosen now?" Fran asked in a low voice. "If not..."

Charles immediately understood what she meant, and then turned to look at Miss Marquis.

"Mr. Treville, I want to be your sister's companion..." Mary looked at Charles and begged in a low voice, "I beg you to agree to my request."

"This can at least save some money, right? And Mary can usually help you with some chores. She must be very reliable!" Fran continued her persuasion work.

In this era, it is very common for low-ranking or poor nobles to work for rich nobles as secretaries, tutors or female companions, just like the small lords who went to the homes of large nobles in the Middle Ages. Act like a vassal.

However, Miss Marquis Leoland will never be reduced to this situation.

Charles looked at Miss Marquis and was silent for a long time.

What was she thinking about?

Maybe it's true that they are friends, and that's not important.

but……

"Help me? What do you think she can help me with?" Charles asked Fran with a smile.

"Please don't underestimate me, Mr. Treville." Mary answered directly.

"Oh? Really? Well then... prove it to me." Charles agreed casually, then looked at the girl opposite him rather sharply, "I want to buy those deposit certificates at a low price now, the more the better... Can you find a way to help me get a large sum? As long as you can do it. As long as you can prove yourself useful, I certainly don't mind you being my assistant..."

"Huh?"

The two girls exclaimed at the same time. (To be continued.)