Flowers, Swords and France

"Mr. de Treville, what do you want?"

In Charles's office at the Ministry of War, Viscount Alex de Lautrec frowned and looked at Charles coldly. **.

Compared with last night's attire, he had changed out of the gorgeous skirt and put on the military uniform again. Although he was still slim, he didn't look much feminine. At the same time, the arrogance and indifference between his brows remained as before.

Judging from the bloodshot eyes in his eyes, he must have not slept all night last night, but even at this moment, he still did not have a mental breakdown, and ran over immediately after receiving Ciel's summons.

Under the gaze of this sharp gaze, Charles couldn't help but touch the gun placed under the desk - although he knew that the other party would not be stupid enough to attack directly here, and he did not appear to be carrying a weapon, but he Still subconsciously looking for weapons for himself first.

The cold touch in his hands brought him an inexplicable sense of security.

That's right, he doesn't dare here.

After regaining his composure, he put the pistol back into the drawer.

Then he raised his head and looked at each other with a smile.

"I'm just here to discuss it with you."

Then, without waiting for the other party to reply, he stood up, made a gesture, and then led Vicomte Lautrec back to the seat where they sat when they talked that day.

"How about we try tea from other places today?" he asked with a smile.

"Whatever, I don't really care about this issue." Because he knew that Charles was deliberately irritating him, Viscount Lautrec managed to remain calm. "I just want to ask you, what do you want to do?"

"Before that, shouldn't you change your attitude towards me, sir?" Charles sneered. "You actually dare to be so disrespectful to me who holds such an important handle. Do you want to test the bottom line of my patience?"

Viscount Lautrec opened his eyes wide and clenched his fists tightly. It was obvious that he was extremely angry.

However, reason finally defeated his rage after a moment, and he had no choice but to follow Ciel's advice. He sat down opposite Charles, but this time he was no longer in the mood to pour tea from the teapot.

"Okay. I admit that I was accidentally caught by you," he stared at Charles closely. "Then just tell me. What do you want me to do? Work for Louis Bonnard." Bus service?”

"What if I ask for it?" Charles asked.

"I can accept it." Viscount Lautrec said directly. "You should be satisfied with this, right?"

"Oh? You accepted it so easily? It seems that you didn't lose sleep last night." Ciel mocked again with a hint of malice.

Then, without waiting for the other party to get angry, he regained his smile and said, "But now that you have figured it out, it's easy to handle. Yes, I hope you can join our party and contribute to the revival of the empire. Do your part.”

"You don't have to say it so grandly, right? In the end, isn't it for your own glory and wealth?" the Viscount said coldly. "Anyway, we are making a deal now, right? If you don't expose this matter, I will cooperate with you secretly. Right?"

"Correct." Ciel nodded.

"Then, we are comrades now." Viscount Lautrec still frowned, "Since we are comrades and you know that I am valuable, you can't push me too hard. I am just a lowly official. I’m just a low-level official, and I can’t do big things.”

"Of course, we won't force you to do something you can't do." Charles smiled and poured tea into both people's cups. "But, sir, it seems you don't have to be so humble about yourself." Right? Who doesn’t know that you have a bright future?”

"Then what do you want?" the other party asked.

"Well, we don't need you to do anything for the time being. We still have time anyway." Charles nodded, then picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, "But I have a personal request."

"What request?" Viscount Lautrec felt something bad in his heart when he heard it.

"I have several friends who used to hang out with me in the National Guard, but now they are all in the army." Charles put down the tea cup again and looked at the other party calmly, "Now that I finally got here, I always Should I think of some way to take care of them? I think since you are in such a confidential position, you should be able to help them."

Viscount Lautrec's frown deepened, but Charles' smiling gaze told him that he could not refuse this request.

"Okay, give me the list later, and I'll try to help." After a moment, he nodded helplessly.

"Thanks."

"I don't need your thanks. This is an insult." Vicomte Lautrec replied bitterly.

Then he muttered something under his breath. "I hope I won't become a burial object of your ambition."

"What's the meaning?"

"Mr. Treville, let's be honest. Although I hate you very much now, I still think you are a very talented and therefore very ambitious person. As far as I understand, such a person will not You are just a blind follower," Viscount Lautrec looked solemn and annoyed, "In this case, I think you are not only thinking about how to help Bonaparte, what you are really thinking about is yourself! in this way!"

Then, he sighed dejectedly, "But I am tied to such a person, which is simply... disgusting!"

Charles couldn't figure out whether the other party was praising or devaluing him, but he didn't care, he just smiled.

"You are too much to say that, I'm sorry." He drank the tea in the cup, "In fact, I am a very easy-going person, you will know it after getting along with me for a long time."

………………

"Sir, it's your turn to see Mr. Treville now." After waiting in the waiting room for an unknown period of time, Lucien finally waited for a secretary to introduce him, "Please follow me."

"Thank you." With a sense of relief after a heavy burden. Lucien stood up.

After using an excuse to come to the Ministry of War to complete official business, he came to see Charles specifically. However, although he handed over Charles' business card, the secretary told him that the other party was meeting a guest. So he still had to wait outside, and it took a long time before he could see the other party.

Until today, he realized how big the gap was between the usually amiable Charles and himself, and what "rapid success" really meant - only after seeing the difference between a person before and after success, can an observer feel these things.

However, when the secretary brought him into the office, he threw away these distracting thoughts in his mind. He looked seriously at the young man sitting behind the desk opposite and signing a document, and saluted straight.

No matter how approachable the other party was, he was still a high-ranking official who he had to pay respect to. He had understood this.

"Mr. Treville, I'm here."

"Oh, Lucien! Why are you so restrained all of a sudden!" Charles looked at Lucien's serious and regular movements, and couldn't help but laugh. "Did they tell you something? Don't take it to heart. We are friends, how could you do this? It makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Sir, this is a formal occasion, I think I should be more formal." Lucien hesitated, "After all, you are..."

"It doesn't matter what I am, what matters is that I don't want you to do this to me." Charles interrupted him with a smile, and then called Lucien over. "My friend, you look like you should be doing well now. How is Julie now? How about Matilda?"

"Julie is doing well now, thank you for your concern. Matilda..." Although Lucien knew that the other party was referring to his daughter, he couldn't help but suddenly feel a little weird in his heart. "Well, Matilda is also doing well now, very healthy."

The original text is available at Six # 9 @Books/Bar!

"That's great, my friend." Charles nodded, then gestured for Lucien to sit down, "How did you find time to come to my place today?"

"I'm here to handle some official business, and I came to see you by the way." Lucien nodded, and after hesitating for a moment, he added, "Julie also asked me to convey her greetings to you."

"Really? That's great!" Charles was a little overjoyed, "She's not angry with me now?"

"Well..." Lucien hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "She's not angry now, so she asked me to say hello to you."

Charles stared at Lucien, and after a moment, he couldn't help laughing.

"Hahahaha, brother, I'm not saying anything about you, you're really not good at lying! Isn't this obvious at a glance? Sure enough, she's still angry with me, right?" He laughed and drank a sip of water, "But, this is also good, Julie should understand, so she asked you to say this - she knows we like to see honest people..."

Lucien didn't know why Charles was so happy, so he had to let him finish laughing. "Charles, okay, I should tell you the truth. Julie is still a little angry with you. But it's normal, after all, she and Matilda have such a deep relationship?"

"Why, did she even tell you this?" The smile on Charles' face disappeared, and he looked up and stared at Lucien.

This sharp gaze made Lucien feel a little uncomfortable, but he nodded calmly, "Well, yes, she has told me, but it's limited to me. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else."

"That's good." Charles retracted his gaze. Although his expression did not change, Lucien clearly felt that the other party was relieved.

Out of concern for his friend, he couldn't help but give a word of advice.

"Charles, I know you didn't force or deceive Matilda, and I have no right to ask about your affairs, but... but I always feel that this is not particularly good. Think about it, you have your bright future, and a fiancée like that; Matilda also has her own future, why do you put your reputation and future in danger like this? This is too risky... You are such a smart person, how could you make a mistake in such a thing?"

"Because it's fun." Charles answered a little stiffly, and then immediately asked the other party, "Did you come here today just to persuade me to leave Matilda?"

"Uh... No... That's not the case, I just said this by the way." It seems that he understands that Charles is determined and doesn't want to listen to his advice anymore, so Lucien has to stop entangled in this topic.

He could understand the other party's thoughts - although he had never thought of cheating on his wife, it was not uncommon for aristocrats to have affairs in this country, and she was a smart and lovely girl like Matilda.

However, if this is the case, why didn't you propose to Matilda in the first place? Lucien couldn't help but ask in his heart, these people are really incomprehensible.

He composed himself and spoke again. "I came here just to report something to you, something about the army I'm in."

"Oh?" Charles looked at the other party with interest. "What's going on?"

"As you know, I am currently serving in the First Division. Although I don't know many people because it has been less than a year, I have vaguely heard some... well, some not-so-good rumors. ”

Because the matter involved his colleagues, Lucien was hesitant at first, but he soon gave up those distracting thoughts.

"Yes, I just want to say that in some troops, the concept of contempt for the government and lawlessness is growing like wildfire. This is the result of the purposeful guidance of some people. They seem to want to incite everyone to oppose government. Some people even openly advocate that everyone should unite to defeat the president for the sake of the motherland..."

Then, Lucien told Charles everything he had encountered recently.

"In other words, some people in the garrison in Paris - including some officers - are working together to conspire against the president and the government?" After listening, Charles came to the conclusion, his expression already very solemn. .

"Although I don't want to be so serious, there are indeed many such signs that deserve to be taken seriously." Lucien replied.

"Take it seriously! Yes, what we lack now is to take it seriously!" Charles nodded, frowning with disgust, "I knew that General Changarnier was very disrespectful to the president, but I didn't expect that he would be so impatient! Well, sooner or later we have to clean up all his people!"

After roaring for a moment, Charles regained his composure and looked at Lucien with a smile. "Lucien, thank you. The situation you reported to me is very important. I will pass it on to the president. At the same time, I also ask you to continue to pay close attention in the future to see who is reliable and who is unreliable. Sooner or later, we will have to tell them Let’s settle the score!”

"I will, Charles." Lucien nodded, and then looked at Charles sincerely. "Char, you and your grandfather, your Treville family have done so much favor to me, and I will do my best to repay you."

"I knew you were always one of my own." Charles moved to Lucien's side and patted him on the shoulder. (To be continued...)

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