Flowers, Swords and France

Hearing the greeting, Fran and Marie looked to the side at the same time.

"Ms. Bovan?" Both of them shouted unexpectedly at the same time.

After seeing who the person was, Marie and Fran looked at each other secretly, and saw a trace of worry in each other's eyes.

Roland de Bovan, her father, Baron Bovan, was one of the richest bankers in France. In 1830, he donated millions of francs to the Orleans Party in exchange for countless benefits from the government. The title of nobility and the seat in the French House of Lords were only a minor part of it.

Except for her appearance, this lady is almost the same as her father - this sentence is not a mockery, but a compliment.

Because of her mother, her face is very delicate and beautiful, and she looks like a delicate doll in a black silk dress embroidered with gold thread. Her lake blue eyes reveal silent arrogance, and her brown hair is tied up in a bun in the most fashionable way. She is domineering like the incarnation of francs - for perhaps the richest heiress in France, this sentence is also not a mockery.

She was ambitious and wanted to have the same status as her father in the classroom, and she longed to be respected and obeyed by every classmate - just like her father in the House of Lords and the Stock Exchange.

So far, she has done well, or half of it has succeeded. She has become the leader of the Bank Party and the benchmark of fashion in the studio. However, because of this, she can no longer get the respect of the other half.

That half of the people "whispered" every day at a volume that she could just hear, mocking her arrogance and excessive show-off - just as she and her party members whispered every day at a volume that the other party could hear, mocking those people's stiff expressions and pretentious manners. Naturally, she and Matilda and others' aristocratic party are mortal enemies.

In fact, the old painter also understood that his students had been at loggerheads, but on the surface he pretended not to know and did not restrain the fight between the two parties at all - God, how could he solve the problem that even the great King and his prime minister could not solve?

He had only one requirement for his students: to paint well and live up to his teachings, that's all.

Which of the children who caught his eye and became his students lacked intelligence and wisdom? In addition to meeting the teacher's requirements, they all had plenty of extra energy to use in the endless fighting and attacking each other, and they never tired of it. In this studio, the "class politics" of a group of girls is no simpler than that of the French House of Representatives, and the struggle of their parents is preserved intact in the girls' world.

Many of the lifelong friends and enemies of French upper-class women were established during this period.

Of course, there are also students who did not participate in this implicit and fierce struggle for various reasons-for example, Fran and Mary are both neutrals.

However, recently, due to the suppression and solicitation of the two factions, the original neutrals have chosen their own camps, and there are fewer and fewer impartial bystanders like them-this is also easy to understand. Before the decisive battle, the two forces will generally expand their forces to the maximum extent, divide the territory, and identify the enemies.

Today, Roland came over to greet them in person, and the two of them felt that it was a bad omen.

But no matter what, etiquette must be observed.

"Thank you for your concern, Miss Bowen." Fran replied with a smile. "My painting skills have declined recently, and the teacher is a little worried, so he called me over to talk about it. It's not too serious, so you don't have to worry too much..."

"Oh, that's good." Although she said so, Roland's face did not show any relief. "I was worried about you just now..."

Fran only felt that several eyes were projected on her from all over the place, and this feeling of being spied on made her feel a little uncomfortable. However, she still managed to maintain a smile with difficulty.

"Thank you so much..."

Looking at Fran who was obviously a little nervous, Roland couldn't help but smile, and this smile finally made the doll reveal some girlishness. "You seem to be a little uncomfortable?"

"Well, I am a little uncomfortable..." Fran admitted, hoping that this would end the conversation as soon as possible.

"Can I talk to you alone?"

Although it was a question, her tone was full of unquestionable certainty.

Fran hesitated for a moment.

"Of course."

"Fran..." Mary gently pulled Fran's hand.

Fran smiled back, telling her not to worry. Mary had to walk away with worry.

Laura spoke again after seeing that Mary had walked away.

"I've always been curious about what Miss Dillion talked to you about last time?"

Sure enough, she asked this! Fran's heart tightened.

"Nothing, she just asked me some personal things at that time..."

Looking at Fran, who was hesitant and blushing, Laura couldn't help but smile again. This is the feeling that the students here often have for this outstanding student who has both outstanding beauty and talent - vague jealousy and half-clear admiration.

"Recently, I received news that Miss Dillion has been confined by her father. The so-called 'sick leave' is just an excuse. Do you know anything about this? As far as I know, she was confined not long after she found you and talked to you..."

"I'm not particularly sure about this..." Fran replied simply.

Because it is too clear, I can only pretend not to be clear.

"Is it really unclear?" Laura asked. "Then let me say one more thing. Not long after she talked to you, Miss Leolan, who was sent to the convent, came back...and then she was grounded again. Is there some causal relationship between this? Is it possible? Yes, you begged her to help save Mary, and then she actually did it—by some means, and then was grounded from home because of it?”

Fran opened her eyes slightly, feeling a little shocked at the other party's inference which was extremely close to the truth.

She may be arrogant, she may be arrogant, she may be domineering, but she is by no means stupid. How could someone who could compete with Matilda for so long without ever falling behind be stupid? Her pride and arrogance is not reflected in "not recognizing the excellence of others" - that is real stupidity; her pride and arrogance is reflected in "thinking that excellent people can be used by her" - This is exactly what her father preached and taught on a daily basis.

"You are overthinking..." Fran shook her head slightly.

"Did I think too much?" Laura looked at Fran's face carefully.

"Anyway, I don't know what the connection is between these two things." Fran denied again without changing her expression.

"Is that so?" Laura nodded slightly. "Okay, that's okay. Anyway, for me, Matilda being grounded is a good thing in itself, and there is no need to find out the root cause..."

"That's right, you've been doing everything right here lately." Fran complimented casually.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Invincible? Well, it's true that no one can stop me recently..." Laura couldn't help but smile again, "But without defeating the opponent with her own hands, she couldn't see Matilda sincerely surrender to me. "Look down, this kind of 'victory' always feels a lot eclipsed..." Then she looked at Fran again, "Not to mention, without your heartfelt congratulations..."

"Is this important?" Fran felt a little strange.

"Of course it's important. You are very good. Everyone here is jealous and loves you. Maybe the love is a little deeper because you never consider yourself superior to others because you are more beautiful and talented than others - maybe you really did, but at least you never showed Come. Even the teacher values ​​you the most and always regards you as a role model. If you can make friends with me sincerely, then who will doubt my victory over Matilda, I believe? Tilda thought so too, so she came to find you first."

"I never knew I was so important..." Fran was deeply shocked by Laura's words.

"You are indeed worthy of being Mr. Durenberg's most admired student..."

"You are the most beautiful among us, and this is enough for some people to hate you for fifty years..."

She suddenly remembered what Matilda said when she came to find her before.

"Of course. And no matter how you look at it..." Laura continued to persuade. "You should all support me. Don't forget, we all know that your grandfather is incompatible with those people's ancestors because of his own position. Because of this, those people almost never talk to you, But we, we never judge a person by his origin, What's the big deal about supporting Bonaparte? As long as you still recognize the franc. I remember what my father and even my ancestors were. Because of this, I know more about our strength-my father was able to come from nothing. The point is, why can’t I?”

Fran listened to Laura's persuasion quietly, her eyes flickering a little.

"Matilda will definitely come back, I firmly believe so. But after all, she won't be as confidant to you as I am, right? Only then can I speak frankly about my appreciation and praise for you."

No, she will.

Fran retorted again in her mind.

"Maybe it's hard for you to accept what I've told you today. But you can think about it. As long as you think what I said makes sense, you can come to me. I will never let you regret it... Please I believe that although I don’t have extremely pure blood, at least I have extremely pure gold francs, fashion, banquets, dances and even your famous paintings. What do these mean to me? Praise...well, I'll go back first."

After saying that, Laura turned around and prepared to leave.

"You...why do you have to fight with me in such a small studio?"

"Huh?" Laura turned her head.

"You are all so smart and talented, but you are so fiercely fighting just for the attention of more than 20 girls. Why is this necessary?" Fran looked at Laura, "It's meaningless, right?"

Laura was stunned for a moment, and then smiled again.

"It's a practice...and a lot of fun."

Then she turned away again.

"As long as we are united, there is nothing we can't do in France, right? Why do we have to get entangled in this meaningless fight?" Fran whispered to herself at a volume that she could not hear.

She also said this in a letter to Matilda.

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