Flowers, Swords and France

While Fran was still enjoying the opera with her grandfather, her brother was staying in the bedroom of his fiancée Charlotte, staying with the person she hated the most.

He came here specifically to visit tonight, bringing what he had just received and passing it on to Charlotte as a gift.

"Char, these pearls are so beautiful!"

After taking off her gloves, Charlotte happily took out the black pearls from the small box and carefully played with them one by one. Under the bright candlelight, these black pearls reflected the dim light. It seems to be dyed with a silver surface.

These pearls were obtained by her distant relative in Marseille, Mr. Henri de Lagache Treville, as promised, and by his friends in the navy passing through the South Pacific, as a gift for her and Charles. A thank you gift for helping yourself.

Charlotte carefully admired these pearls brought from far away places, and the more she looked at them, the more she couldn't put them down.

"How beautiful! I will definitely make them into necklaces. It will definitely make everyone's eyes shine! Do you think so? Ciel?"

However, after waiting for a while, she found that Charles still didn't answer. She turned her head and looked over, and found that Charles was frowning and thinking, as if he was lost in thought. "Char?" She couldn't help but ask again.

"Oh," Charles came back to his senses and quickly covered up his embarrassment with a smile, "It's very beautiful, very beautiful..."

"Charle, what's wrong with you? It's so strange today..." Charlotte looked at Charles in surprise, "Did something happen?"

Ciel did not answer directly. He just patted her face gently with his hand. "I'm fine. It's just that I've been too busy with work recently, so I'm a little... can't concentrate."

"Hey. My poor friend!" After hearing Ciel's explanation, Charlotte couldn't help but sigh for Ciel, and then leaned into Ciel's arms, "Don't be too involved and tire yourself out. It’s broken.”

Ciel didn't speak any more, just gently caressed Charlotte's face.

Hey, Charlotte. I'm so sorry. He sighed inwardly.

He was so absent-minded just now. In fact, he was not thinking about anything at work, but suddenly thought of Matilda - when he was free. This was not the first time that I suddenly thought of Matilda.

Ciel himself felt a little secretly frightened by this strange state.

What frightened him was not just the guilt he felt towards Charlotte (although there was definitely a bit of it deep down), but what made him feel incredible. He felt as if he had developed a real crush on Matilda. No. This is absolutely not possible. he told himself again.

Maybe some people like the state of falling in love, but Ciel is completely different - he doesn't like the situation where he can't completely control himself, and he also hates the feeling of "falling into someone else's network". In order to add a different kind of fun to life, he is willing to find some excitement for himself, but if he is addicted to it and cannot extricate himself - that is absolutely not possible.

Moreover, no matter what, Matilda is not entirely his appendage, she will also have other thoughts and pursuits of her own. If you fall into complete infatuation, what should you do if two people or two families really have a conflict?

It is precisely because of this. It was unacceptable to Charles that he often thought of Matilda unconsciously.

"Charle, are you feeling better now? Do you want to drink some wine?" Seeing that Charles was still a little distracted, Charlotte was still a little worried. "If it doesn't work, just rest here. I'll let you They are all waiting..."...

"No, thank you for your concern." Charles shook his head, and then gently stroked Charlotte's face.

Because of her young age and careful maintenance, Charlotte's skin is very smooth and tender, as if she was a child - God knows how much the princess has spent on this!

"Don't be like this!" This kind of intimate gesture made Charlotte feel a little embarrassed, and her face became a little hot. She wanted to push away Ciel's hand, but she didn't use much strength.

Her attitude of resisting and welcoming made Charles suddenly feel excited. He couldn't help but hold Charlotte in his arms, bent down and kissed Charlotte's cherry-red lips.

If you want to treat "Matilda's disease", it seems that there are no special medicines around, and it is legal... During the long kiss between the two, Charles thought to himself.

After a long time, the lips of the two people slowly separated.

Only then did Charlotte open her eyes, and while she was hastily tidying up her messy dress, she looked at Charles unhappily, "You are really fooling around, everyone is waiting! "

"Then let them wait." Ciel shrugged casually.

"What are you talking about! We are all our elders, how can we be so disrespectful? Let's go, let's go!" Charlotte glanced at Charles, then reached out and pulled his sleeves, as if she just said, 'If you don't If you feel comfortable, just let them wait.' People are not the same as me.

Then, Charlotte carefully placed the gift that Charles had just given to her in the drawer of the dressing table, and then took him out of her bedroom.

………………

When Charles and Charlotte came to the living room of the Duke of Treville's house, his cousin—or perhaps his future father-in-law—the young Duke of Treville was already sitting there.

"Oh, we have been waiting for so long, and we are finally done, your majesties?" As soon as he saw the two young men appearing, as if to vent his dissatisfaction after waiting for a while, the little duke shouted exaggeratedly, his tone Very exaggerated.

"If Charlotte hadn't kept urging me, I wouldn't have been willing to come so soon!" Charles responded to his teasing indifferently.

"Dad, please stop saying weird things, okay? You're already this old and you're still like this..." Charlotte also looked at her father with a dissatisfied look on her face, "I didn't remember how long you waited just now? "

"What? Do you want to contradict your father now that your patron is here? You haven't married yet, so..." The little Duke looked sad.

"You don't have to worry about it." Charlotte looked at the other party fiercely.

Because the people present were all relatives, Charlotte and her daughter all dropped their usual gentle airs and started quarreling without saying a word.

Charles did not participate in this quarrel. He knew that the father and daughter only used this way to express their care and love for each other.

He looked to the side and immediately discovered that the person sitting next to the little duke was his cousin Philip—that is, this cousin almost became his brother-in-law. Perhaps because of the same bloodline, he and Ciel have very similar facial contours - they both have short blond hair and regular facial features. However, his edges and corners were deeper, and perhaps because of his years of fun, his face was much paler than Ciel's.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Char, good evening." After catching Charles's gaze, Philip greeted him.

"Good evening, Philip." Charles responded quickly.

After saying hello, Phillip suddenly and secretly gave him a "I have something to talk to you about later" gesture, and then looked away. Charles nodded understandingly, and then looked at the little boy again. Duke of Treville.

"Charles, do you have anything to ask me for today? You came here suddenly." After mocking each other with his daughter for a while, the little Duke also looked at Charles, "I've never seen you so attentive usually. ah."

"Well, there is indeed something." Ciel nodded, "Some very important things."

"Before that, let me tell you some good news..." The little Duke's smile suddenly became a little mysterious. "I'm sure you'll be very happy after hearing this. You'll be as happy as we are."

"Well, please tell me." Ciel made a gesture.

After clearing his throat pretentiously, the little Duke spoke in a lively tone.

"According to the news we just received from the United Kingdom, our Majesty Louis-Philippe de Orleans is now in a critical condition. According to the inferences of many doctors who went to treat him, this poor king is now incurable. It's curable, and I'm afraid he won't survive this summer... Haha, after letting him lose his throne and go into exile, God seems to finally be planning to give him the final blow, great! "

As the father laughed, his son and daughter couldn't help but laugh together, barely able to conceal the joy in their hearts.

How deep the hatred towards Louis-Philippe was among those orthodox nobles!

However, Ciel seemed much calmer.

"Oh, this is normal. At his age, it's not strange to die anytime."

This result was not surprising to him. According to history, King Louis-Philippe died on August 26, 1850 after going into exile in England. He indeed could not survive the summer.

"Had he not lost power, he probably would have lived a few more years. Didn't Sixter also live a few more years after becoming pope? God bless us, we drove him away, and then let him die alone in England!" Charlotte said coldly, "Char, this is the retribution he deserves! I only regret that I couldn't see this old dog die with my own eyes!"

[Referring to Sixtus V (1520-1590), Pope of Rome. It is said that before he was elected pope, the bishop was old and frail and could not walk without a cane. However, after being elected pope at the age of sixty-five, he suddenly became very energetic and walked as fast as flying. 】

Charles said nothing more and allowed the Duke and his family to greet the good news with laughter.

It was not until they had laughed enough that he spoke to the little duke again.

"I came here today just to talk to you about the National Guard."