Flowers, Swords and France

It was not until the afternoon that Charles left the country house in a simple and shabby carriage.

After a period of driving, the carriage returned to Paris, and then Charles changed another carriage in a secret place and rushed to his home.

When the carriage finally stopped, Charles was almost unable to get up due to the fatigue after the long journey and the "hard battle". After a moment of adjustment, he got off the carriage.

The carriage soon left again and drove towards the stable, leaving Charles alone in the wide courtyard.

There were only a few paths through the wide lawn, dotted with a few green trees, swaying in the cold wind of midwinter, and the sight followed these paths all the way, and you could see a few marble steps, and up the steps, there was a magnificent mansion. The house is divided into three floors, with a large door on the front, which seems to lead directly to the living room on the ground floor, and there are large windows on both sides of the door, decorated with stained glass.

It was already evening, and the winter night was about to cover the entire earth, so candles were lit in the rooms of the mansion, and the front facing Charles was brightly lit.

This is the Duke of Kerson's mansion, which is Charles' home.

Charles did not stop, but slowly walked along the path towards the mansion. Servants kept greeting him along the way, but he ignored them and just walked forward step by step.

The Duke walked up the steps step by step, and the servants lined up on both sides to greet him. Just before he walked up the last step, the door slowly opened inward. So the Duke did not need to slow down and walked in directly.

Following the carpet at the door. Charles walked forward step by step, until a moment later, he finally walked to the center of the long hall.

And there, at this time, there was a person standing.

"Charles, you are finally back." Charlotte, Duchess of Kerson, welcomed her husband's return with a smile from the heart. "We have been waiting for you for a long time."

She was wearing a court-style long skirt. The skirt was fluffy, looking graceful and elegant. Her long golden hair was tied up in a bun on both sides according to the fashionable style, and a flower decoration was hung behind her head, which looked noble and charming. The light of the pearl necklace on her neck made her face and neck look even whiter.

However. All this was not as good as that smile in Charles' eyes.

Under the candlelight as bright as day, Charlotte's smile added a lot of warmth to Charles' heart, and the concern contained in her blue eyes made him feel full of home warmth.

Although his wife no longer had the youth of the past, she had a bit more calm and luxurious.

"Well, I'm back. Sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time." He nodded and apologized to his wife.

"It doesn't matter. Charles, after all, there are a lot of things to do now." Charlotte chuckled and shook her head, "Anyway, the guests haven't arrived yet."

"Is the evening banquet ready?"

"Yes. Ready." Charlotte nodded, "Anyway, there are not many guests invited today."

"Although there are not many, but each of them is not easy to deal with, so we have to be careful. Besides, we shouldn't make too much noise to prevent His Majesty the Emperor from worrying."

Hearing Charles mention the emperor. Charlotte's face suddenly became gloomy.

"Charles, don't mention him in front of me." Charlotte's tone suddenly became cold. "On such a good day, we should think more about those pleasant things."

Then, Charlotte slowly moved to Charles' side and said in a voice that only Charles could hear, "Charles, I will never forgive any Bonaparte, they dared to do this to us..."

"Me too." Charles replied with a smile, and then took his wife in his arms. "But we are not angry, we are just taking revenge."

"Yes, we must take revenge, I will never forgive them." Charlotte's face was pressed against Charles' chest, whispering softly, "As long as we are together, we don't have to be afraid of anyone."

"Yeah, that's it." Charles patted Charlotte's back gently, "Thank you for your hard work during this period, Charlotte, you must be very busy..."

"Of course I am very busy, there are so many things to do." Charlotte whispered, "I will go to Vienna with you, and the children and the family affairs have to be rearranged..."

"Charlotte, actually...actually you You can stay in Paris, there's no need to suffer with me."

"What are you talking about? I'm your wife, of course I have to share the good and bad times with you, even if you go to the ends of the earth, I'll go with you. Besides, Vienna isn't a bad place, I won't suffer anything..." Charlotte answered softly, then her lips curled up slightly, and her smile suddenly became a little cold, "Also, if I don't watch you, God knows what wild woman you'll hook up with there, you bastard!"

As if she still couldn't get rid of the anger after saying it, Charlotte suddenly stretched out her right hand, grabbed Charles' ear, and rubbed it hard.

"Ah!" Charles cried out in pain unexpectedly, then quickly reached out to grab Charlotte's hand, but Charlotte held it tightly, as if she wanted to take this opportunity to vent her anger. "Charlotte, don't do this... don't do this!"

The two of them were cuddling together like they were teenagers, and from the corner of his eye, Charles noticed that the servants in the distance all had strange expressions on their faces, as if they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

Although the Duke and Duchess are over thirty years old, they often behave in a childish manner in front of everyone, which really makes these servants feel speechless.

Fortunately, the clock suddenly rang at this time, finally saving Ciel from the pain and embarrassment. because……

"The children are coming soon," Charlotte retracted her hand and regained her previous dignity and elegance. As if nothing happened, "Tell them something."

"Yeah, okay." Ciel nodded.

Just when the two of them were muttering. The door on the side of the hall opened, and three children - two boys and one girl - walked in quickly under the guidance of the servant.

They are not very old, the oldest is only five or six years old, and the youngest girl is only two or three years old, and she seems to be unsteady when walking.

Under the watchful eyes of the Duke and Duchess. Children in costumes walked up to them and stood respectfully. Waiting for the blessings of parents.

Among the three children, the eldest and the youngest are both blond and blue-eyed. However, the boy in the middle is a little strange. His hair is dark brown. What's even more surprising is that his pupils showed a faint purple color. Compared with the ignorance of his brother and sister, this child seems to have understood a lot of things. There is not much childishness on his face anymore, and he just looks at his parents calmly with his strange-colored eyes.

This look, both inquiring and judgmental, made Ciel forget to speak for a moment.

Next to her, Charlotte quickly tugged on Ciel's sleeve secretly.

"Oh, Merry Christmas. Children." Ciel finally reacted and greeted his children.

"Merry Christmas, Dad." The three children also greeted him at the same time.

"Well. This is good, very good." In front of his children, Charles seemed to not know what to say, and just kept smiling, "You can get a gift tonight, and you will get it after you fall asleep. You can get it. I hope you have a good dream..."

In this era, the legend of Santa Claus dressed in Christmas clothes climbing chimneys to deliver gifts to children had not yet spread. But it is true that there is a tradition of parents giving gifts to their children.

"Thank you, Dad." The eldest son and daughter thanked their father at the same time, but the second son just nodded lightly.

Charles didn't pay too much attention to his second son's indifferent attitude, but instead focused his attention on his daughter. The blond girl was looking at her father with admiration, making a milky voice and thanking her, just like a little doll. of.

Because the more he looked at it, the more he fell in love with it, so Ciel reached out and hugged his daughter, then kissed her forehead, and then let her ride on his neck. The little girl giggled at her father, making everyone in the hall laugh. .

After playing for a while, Charles put his daughter down, and then looked at his two sons quite seriously.

"You all listen, dad and mom are going on a long trip recently, and it may take a long time before they come back. You must be obedient and don't cause trouble when you stay at home. Do you understand?"

Under Ciel's gaze, the two sons nodded quickly and agreed to their father's order.

Then, because there was still business to do next, Ciel made a gesture and asked the servants to take away the three children.

"Clovis and Lelouch don't have a good relationship. They often fight. If we were gone, they wouldn't have a falling out during this time, right? It's really worrying..." Charlotte whispered in Charles's ear. "Also, you dote on your daughter too much, don't you? You don't usually smile at your son...especially Lelouch, you have always been very strict with him, don't be like this, Ciel! Do you still believe anything?" Will the purple pupil bring about the absurd legend of disaster? No matter what, he is still our child!"

"How could it be? You are overthinking." Charles quickly replied with a smile, "Isn't it right to be strict with your son and tolerant to your daughter? Boys have to fight hard, how can they be cultivated in gentleness? As for Lelouch, I Of course I won’t believe any ghost legends. I just feel that this child is usually indifferent. He is always a little careless when studying, and he can’t help but be more strict when he is disciplined..."

"You're right. Lelouch seems to be a little indifferent... We really need to urge him to learn more. Now that he still has our help, what will he do in the future? Charles, I must keep more Give him the property." Charlotte sighed softly, obviously worried about her younger son's future. "However, you can't completely belittle him like this. From my point of view, Lelouch is still very smart. If you are willing to study hard, you can learn it.”

"It's too early to think about so many things, Charlotte."

"Of course a mother has to consider these things. How can anyone be as ruthless as a father." Charlotte replied with some displeasure. "If we don't care about our children, who will?"

"In that case..." Ciel shrugged. Then he lowered his voice rather narrowly, "How about we try harder recently and have another one? Of course it would be better to be a daughter..."

"I'm talking to you about business. Are you kidding me!" A blush flashed across Charlotte's face, as if she wanted to reach out and twist his ears again.

At this moment, a servant's roll came from outside the door into the hall.

The Duke and Duchess regained their usual attitude in an instant, with perfect smiles on their faces.

Indeed, here comes the business.

………………

As time passed, each guest arrived at Duke Curzon's house and was taken to the restaurant by the servants.

Just like the usual banquets at Duke Curzon's palace. The dinner tonight was attended by celebrities, from soldiers to politicians. From businessmen to officials, it can almost be regarded as a small upper class society.

However, unlike ordinary social banquets, this group of people sitting around the dining table. Their expressions were very serious, even a little solemn.

The luxuriously decorated restaurant is splendid under the shadow of gold-plated candlesticks. The gold tableware is also perfect. The delicacies constantly delivered by the servants are enough to make any picky gourmet sigh.

However, the people sitting around the table were silent, without any chatter or laughter, not many people even exchanged glances, and the entire restaurant fell into a strange silence.

Duke and Duchess of Curzon sat at the head seats of the long dining table. On the wall behind them hangs a huge portrait of the late Marshal Victor de Treville, Duke of Curzon. The marshal in military uniform was looking at everyone at the table with firm and stern eyes. It makes people feel solemn.

After everyone had almost arrived, Ciel gently raised his glass.

"Cheers everyone."

"Cheers!" After the silence was finally broken, others also agreed, then raised their own glasses, took the first sip of wine, and then started to eat.

"I think. Everyone already knows that His Majesty the Emperor has decided to appoint me as ambassador to Austria." Amidst the clinking of tableware. The Duke said seemingly casually.

"Your Majesty is really powerful..." His friend, the wealthy businessman Albert de Foa Grail said with a joking expression, "Isn't this a waste of money? Let the pro-Austrian faction clean up the mess. Enjoy the benefits yourself.”

Although this mocking tone was very disrespectful to His Majesty, no one here was surprised by Albert's performance.

"I'm afraid His Majesty's consideration is more than just this." Government official Clement Lechinsky intervened, "He is not only dissatisfied with His Excellency the Duke. After transferring His Excellency the Duke, the following I’m afraid there will be a lot of unlucky people coming down.”

"Who says it's not the case! Haha, Charles hasn't left yet, and he has already started. There are a lot of personnel changes in the Army... I see, His Majesty is really planning to make a complete change this time. "The person who spoke was Marshal Canrobert. Although he was nearly sixty years old, he still looked energetic and ambitious. But his expression now seems to be a little depressed, "Hey, from my perspective, I'm afraid I won't be able to escape by then."

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

Then, consciously or unconsciously, he glanced at General Lucien de Leflair next to him. "After this war, His Majesty promoted a large number of people. Now I'm afraid many of us have to step aside. Who doesn't know that Duke Magenta is the future pillar of the empire? Hey!"

The Duke of Magenta refers to Marshal Patrice Maurice de MacMahon. During the Franco-Austrian War, as a military commander, he became a key figure in enabling France to win the Battle of Magenta because of his bravery in combat. One of them, he also became His Majesty the Emperor's new favorite in the army. Since the end of the battle, the Emperor directly named him Marshal and Duke of the Empire. He also became a newly rising star in the Army. The Emperor also used these new loves. Will, slowly crowd out the old ones. Marshal Canrobert was of course among them.

De Leflair was a little disturbed by the Marshal's slightly suspicious gaze. He was about to say something when Charles spoke directly.

"Although Lucien has been promoted recently because of his military exploits, I believe that Lucien will not take refuge in those with evil intentions. He has always been one of his own, Marshal, you don't have to worry about him."

Lucien gave Charles a grateful look.

Without waiting for others to speak, Ciel glanced at everyone again. "Now, everyone must have figured out that His Majesty the Emperor pushed me away not just because he and I had different opinions on the Austrian issue. It was because of a deeper consideration. Let me put it more bluntly, that is We...our group has aroused His Majesty's suspicion, and now everyone has begun to be excluded. "

Although there was some commotion at the beginning, everyone quickly regained their composure and obviously agreed with the Duke's judgment. Then, everyone looked at the Duke, as if waiting for him to come up with an idea.

"That's right. We are all our own people, and now we are being suppressed. Then we should stick together. Only in this way can we get out of the storm." Charles said calmly, "Although our situation is unfavorable now, After all, we are all people who have contributed to the empire, and we cannot be thrown away all at once, I am confident in this."

"So, what should we do?" the marshal asked in a low voice.

"We should keep a low profile now and stop attracting His Majesty's attention. As long as we remain calm, His Majesty will have to shift his attention to some forces that worry him more. Of course, being calm does not mean that we do nothing..."

Ciel deliberately lengthened his voice. "According to my judgment, the international and domestic situation will not be very good in the next few years. I will let people shrink their operations first and save the money. I'm afraid it can be put to great use by then. Lucien, you and Fox They should try their best to find some like-minded people in the army, but don't rush to promote them. As for the political issues, although I went to Vienna, I still have telegrams, so it won't be something you can't handle in the future. Try to have as little contact as possible and wait for the opportunity.”

"What kind of opportunity are we waiting for?" Lucien asked.

"Waiting for the opportunity for me to come back again." Charles replied coldly. "Do you really think that the empire can easily abandon me? No. It's impossible. I created so many things in this empire. No one can run this machine better than me, not even His Majesty the Emperor. He now thinks that he can leave me far away, but time will soon prove how wrong this idea is. According to me, it will not be long before the market panics and crises, and the Ministry of Finance has Clément and others... ...Hmph, they can't solve it anyway, and when the time comes... they'll still have to ask me to come back and clean up the mess."

Charles half-truthed his thoughts. Of course he would not reveal his counterfeit money plan on such an occasion, but his words were still convincing enough.

"It would be great if that were the case!" Everyone present seemed to have been given a shot in the arm, and they were all smiling for a moment.

"And this time..." Ciel's expression was serious and indifferent, "I will not entrust our fate to the king's whims."

The restaurant fell into silence again, and everyone looked at Ciel, as if thinking about the meaning of these words. They will all understand.

"Cheers!" Without saying anything else, Ciel raised his glass again.

"cheers!"

"Charle, you go and take a rest first, I will take care of the rest." After drinking a few drinks, Charlotte seemed to notice Charles's fatigue, and whispered in Charles's ear.

"Thank you, Charlotte." Charles did not refuse his wife's kindness, but stood up directly and apologized to the others.

Because they understood Ciel's current situation, of course the others would not hold back any more and wished him well. Ciel returned the favor one by one, and then slowly walked out of the restaurant.

"Have you all been waiting for a long time?" After taking out a few small notebooks from the dining table, Charlotte looked at the people next to her with a smile, and she suddenly looked like a queen. "Because there have been too many changes recently, we postponed the dividend payment until today. I hope this Christmas gift can make everyone happy..."

This huge interest group was formed using kinship and old relationships as the root system and money as the link. As for the black ledger that records these secrets, apart from Ciel, only Charlotte and one other person can know the full story.

Regardless of the commotion behind him, Charles walked out of his grand mansion through the side door, and then walked to the garden of the Duke's mansion. After gently pushing the glass door open, he entered the greenhouse in the garden and felt a spring-like warmth.

This greenhouse occupies a very large area, almost wider than an ordinary courtyard. Although it is the middle of winter and it is still snowing outside, the garden is full of flowers, including roses, dahlias, etc., which are the most beautiful and beautiful flowers in the greenhouse. Rare breed. This luxurious greenhouse in Duke Kirson's residence has always been famous among the upper class of the empire.

I don’t know since when, the Duke and Duchess have taken careful care of the exotic flowers and plants as a great pleasure, and they often take care of them here; and their children also often play here, treating it as an extremely interesting place. place.

Being in the colorful greenhouse, Ciel's originally solemn and tense mood suddenly became relaxed. He breathed deeply, feeling the rare fragrance in winter.

Then he walked to the edge of the greenhouse. Due to the large temperature difference between inside and outside, patches of water mist are now attached to the glass of the greenhouse, making it difficult to see outside.

Charles took out a handkerchief from his pocket, then stretched out his hand to wipe the glass. Then, he looked at the night scene outside through the barely transparent glass.

The brightly lit Duke's Palace was bustling with people, but in the greenhouse it sounded like a world away. At this time, a little bit of white was slowly floating down from the sky.

It's snowing.

Suddenly there was the sound of gentle footsteps behind him. But Charles looked into the distance quietly, motionless.

The footsteps got closer and closer, and finally stopped.

Then, Ciel suddenly felt a weight on his back.

The sudden person hugged him tightly and pressed his face against his back.

Looking at the increasingly heavy snow outside, Ciel suddenly smiled.

"Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, sir." His voice seemed to be crying.

"After Charlotte and I leave, everything here will be left to you. I'm sorry...I can't rest assured about the others, so I can only rely on you."

"Then let me go to Austria with you and keep Charlotte!" The voice behind seemed to have some inexplicable emotions, "Isn't she the queen of society? Then let her stay. , the prosperity here is suitable for her.”

"This is not possible." Charles smiled bitterly, "How can an ambassador take office without bringing his own wife but bringing someone else with him? Listen to me and look after this place for me. I will be back soon."

Ciel felt as if his back was a little wet.

"Okay, okay, I will." As if she felt that Charles had made up his mind, she no longer insisted, but her tone became colder and colder. "He... he dared to do this to you, I must kill him, I must kill him!"

"Don't make it so serious, he is just doing it for himself." Charles sighed and changed the subject, "The children are also entrusted to you, don't let anything happen to them."

"Okay, I will never let them encounter any danger. You also have to promise me to come back quickly."

"Well, I will as soon as possible." Charles nodded.

Then he turned around and looked at the woman in front of him.

Even though he had seen it countless times, this beautiful face still made his heart beat.

He slowly lowered his head and kissed her.

The snow outside was getting heavier and heavier, and the blurred water vapor in the greenhouse slowly covered the glass windows again, and among the blooming flowers, the two people kissed passionately in ecstasy, as if the temperature rose a few degrees.

After an unknown period of time, their lips finally parted.

"I love you..." She closed her eyes and muttered to herself. (To be continued)

ps: If anyone is dissatisfied with the content of the previous article, I am sorry.

But since this is something that has been set in advance, I have no intention of changing it (because I don’t think it is malicious content), so this is the only way.

If you can accept it and continue reading it, I am very grateful; if you can’t accept it, then I won’t blame you even if you abandon the book.

But, no matter what, please don’t come to the book review area or other places to attack the author, okay? The author is a sensitive and fragile person, and can’t stand too much blows, thank you.

!!