Flowers, Swords and France

When Charles left Baron de Beauvin's study and returned to the hall, the party had already begun, but he did not feel sorry for it, and just walked past a person with his head held high.

While walking, among dozens of pairs of dancing partners, he suddenly found that his sister was among them, and her dancing partner was his good friend Albert. After a moment of astonishment, he nodded in that direction with a friendly smile, and then walked to a corner to rest.

Soon, this round of dancing stopped, the newly formed dancing partners took a break, and Albert and Fran came over at the same time.

"Charles, I brought your sister back safely," Albert said, deliberately pretending to be serious. "Finally, I didn't let her fall into the hands of those terrible people. How should you thank me?"

"I think you are scary enough. Who knows how many girls have fallen into your hands." Charles replied pretending to be serious, and then he looked at Fran, "Ah, beautiful Miss Treville, you just played Are you happy?"

Fran just nodded dully.

"I'm very happy."

Seeing Fran's answer, Charles looked at Albert suspiciously, his eyes seeming to ask, "You didn't really do something, did you?"

Albert just shrugged and did not answer his question.

"It's time for me to find other companions to play with. You guys chat first!" He smiled and said a few words, and then left.

After watching Albert leave, he looked at his sister with concern, "Fran. What's wrong? What happened just now? You seem a little unhappy?"

"It's nothing..." Fran shook her head slightly, but she still looked worried.

"What's the matter? Did Albert say something to you? He has never been serious. It's not like you don't know...if he says something that offends you, just don't take his jokes to heart. ..." Charles continued to enlighten Fran, then stretched out his hand as if to mischievously wipe his sister's head. "Come on, show me your brother a smile!"

"Mr. Treville," Fran suddenly lowered her voice and looked at Charles slightly uneasily. "Just now, that M. de Foa-Gray seriously advised me... advised me not to get involved with this family - she made a gesture to indicate that she was talking about the Baron de Beauvin family. Any relationship. He said this family is too dangerous..."

After hearing these words, Charles was shocked.

"He actually told you this? This guy is serious. Why should he worry so much?"

"So, are these words true?" Fran looked at her brother. Waiting for his answer.

"Yes. It's true." After a moment of silence, Charles gave his answer, "No matter how bad someone says about this Baron, you just believe it... So, he suggested that you and this family Keep your distance, that’s fine. But I don’t think you have any contact with their family.”

"Then why do you want to get close to their family?" Fran asked a little uneasily, "Since he is so dangerous, shouldn't he also stay away?"

After hearing Fran's words, Ciel couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. Of course he didn't intend to explain to Fran why he couldn't break with the big banker.

"This is a need," he said vaguely, "but don't worry, I know the methods and rules of dealing with them, and there won't be any problems..."

After seeing that Charles didn't want to talk about this issue anymore, Fran had no choice but to stop asking. However, she still felt vaguely uneasy in her heart, and this uneasiness made her unable to help but ask about that matter again.

"By the way, I also heard Mademoiselle de Beauvin say," she glanced at her brother secretly, and then continued, "Her brother is pursuing Charlotte now? Brother, he is the only son of a baron, right? She will definitely inherit his property. I heard that many famous ladies are currently courting this heir... I wonder if Charlotte will also..."

After hearing this question, Ciel's face instantly darkened, and he was no longer as relaxed and casual as before.

"Charlotte doesn't like him at all. He's just wishful thinking." Charles immediately interrupted Fran. He replied coldly, completely unaware of how harsh his tone was. "So, this is just a silly joke, you don't need to take it seriously."

His answer made Fran's mood suddenly sink to the bottom.

Is that so? She tensed secretly in her heart, but her face showed no wavering at all.

"That's it! I understand..." She smiled apologetically, "I'm really sorry that I asked so many things..."

"It doesn't matter. You have grown up and you should know some things." After Fran changed the topic, Charles's expression returned to calmness. "Anyway, you will step into the social world sooner or later. You know better." It's also good for you. How about you having a good time today? It's so lively here..."

"If this is the social world, it would be too disappointing." Fran suddenly sighed softly. "It's completely different from what I imagined before."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"According to my current impression, those people are not so much interested in others as they are only interested in their own interests. They all only care about themselves, more than they care about us girls; in fact, they don't do much I thought about trying to hide this. The faces they put on when talking to us changed in a blink of an eye. It was probably lively to our blind eyes, but when there were more people, there was nothing left to do but make noise. What do people remember? This place is like a desert..."

In this way, Fran spoke out what was on her mind in front of her brother, while Ciel kept looking at her with a smile.

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong somewhere?" Fran looked at Ciel hesitantly.

"No, dear lady. What you said is absolutely right. There is nothing wrong with it. It is very profound." Charles nodded slightly. Looking at Fran with encouraging eyes, he didn't know whether his tone was joking or serious. "I didn't expect you to see through it the first time you appeared. This progress is really surprising! Yes, the so-called social world is like this. You can see it through in just a few seconds. It's really amazing. I don't know how many Girls are addicted to this kind of boring vanity! Fran, I dare to say that you can become a star in the social world, because from ancient times to the present, there are only people who really don’t take the social world as a thing. , Only then can you get along well in the social circle..."

"Such a social scene. What's the point of being a so-called star?" Fran was a little surprised.

"Of course it makes sense," Ciel said with a smile on his face. "Although this place is full of rhetoric, pretentiousness, selfishness and emptiness, it is a gathering of elites after all. You can occasionally encounter true insights in this desert. Or Met some interesting people, even..." He told the story Yi La said in a long voice, "Perhaps you can also weigh all the promising young talents in the social circle and find yourself the most suitable person to spend the future with... Well, there is no need to worry, now I I haven’t been able to get a dowry of 100 million for you yet, so you can still be patient and look for a few more years..."

His joke. Fran's face suddenly became extremely ugly.

Her cheeks turned slightly red, then she reached out her hand and pinched her brother's hand hard. The force was so strong that Ciel could not help but scream in pain.

"Are you kidding me!" The angry gaze seemed to be piercing into his body, "Do you hate me so much? Do you want to send me away like this?"

The quarrel between the two people quickly attracted many strange looks from the side. This huge embarrassment made Charles secretly regret it.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He quickly apologized to Fran, "I was just joking... Hahahaha, don't take it seriously."

Fran was also aware of the current atmosphere, so she stopped denounced her brother despite Ciel's continuous apologies, but her eyes full of anger did not diminutive.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

Charles couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, cursing himself that he was really asking for trouble. He apologized profusely, which slowly made Fran calm down.

"Always making jokes like this that are not funny at all!" She finally scolded Charles bitterly and finally exposed the matter.

Although the quarrel finally stopped, the two became cold instantly, and Ciel fell helplessly silent. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.

"Oh, by the way, Fran, since you have reached this age now and understand what is going on in the social world, then... let's do it. Starting from next month, I will give you two thousand francs a month. You can use the pocket money as social expenses, and spend it as you like." He nodded to Fran, "Let yourself enjoy your youth now, girl."

"So much money? Isn't it a waste?" After hearing Charles' decision, Fran was a little surprised and couldn't bear to get angry again. "When did our family have so much money?!"

"That's right, we have money now, so we can spend it as we like. Don't worry, your brother can afford this money, so just go ahead and spend it, dress yourself up and make yourself admired by everyone. !" Charles replied with a little pride, "Besides, this amount of money is not too much. Charlotte can spend it several times a year. Fran, you are also a eldest lady now, don't be afraid..."

The example he inadvertently raised made Fran's face darken again, but this time she did not have an attack and quickly regained her composure.

"Thank you, Mr. Treville..."

Just when Ciel was about to answer, there was a sudden commotion from the direction of the door.

He looked across and saw that Baron Beauvain and Louis Bonaparte were attending the ball together.

This situation caused the originally noisy hall to fall silent almost instantly, and then immediately became even noisier than before.

The Baron and Louis Bonaparte did not pay any attention to the reactions of others and were still talking and laughing in low voices, appearing very cordial and harmonious.

This situation caused many people to make their own calculations in their minds, wondering whether they could benefit from this scene. The celebrities and ministers attending the ball were whispering to each other, wondering whether the two people who appeared in public at the same time had joined forces and what they planned to do - and this was the purpose of Baron Beauvain inviting them here. .

The joint presence of the big banker and the impoverished royal family was the loudest advertisement for their political cooperation. They each got what they needed from this political declaration, and it also caused a new storm in the political world that had just barely restored its calm. Although the financial community's support for Louis Bonaparte's rise to power was belated, it finally arrived as expected, and Louis Bonaparte would definitely not miss this east wind. He would ride the wind to the top and bring his servants to the sky.

The young man at the center of the storm was surprisingly calm about this scene. He quietly watched the two people who slowly walked to the center of the hall, secretly guessing their mood at the moment.

At this moment, the band played the melody of a new round of waltz again.

What a good time! He sighed secretly in his heart.

Then, he turned to look at his sister, and his smile became even stronger.

"Dear Miss Treville, can you dance with your brother?" (To be continued...)

ps: I haven't updated for a day, my hands are a little stiff...

I've been busy with work recently, so I can't update fast, at least recently. In addition, the book is not popular, which really can't give the author too much motivation.

I can't guarantee the update speed in the near future, I can only update according to the situation. If you can bear it, continue to read it, if you can't bear it, just take it off the shelf, sorry, that's it.