Flowers, Swords and France

The next morning, since it was a Sunday without school, Matilda came to visit the Marquis of Treville as she had agreed yesterday.

Fran had been waiting for a long time. After hearing the announcement, she immediately ran out to greet her friend. She was still dressed the same as yesterday, with her golden hair tied into a bun on each side, tied with a pink ribbon, and then draped over her shoulders.

"Matilda, you are finally here. I have been waiting for you for a long time!" Fran greeted happily.

"I am honored." Matilda was much calmer and just smiled slightly.

"Let's go!" After greeting, Fran took Matilda to her home.

"I haven't seen you for many days. Mary and I missed you..." Fran said softly.

"I miss you too." Matilda replied, and then she looked at Fran carefully. "Your recently changed hairstyle is quite good-looking. I noticed it yesterday..."

"Really?" Fran was very happy to hear the compliment. "This is the hairstyle I often used when I was a child. I just got tired of the old hairstyle recently, so I picked up the old one again. When I was a child, my brother liked to comb my hair like this..."

"You are only fifteen years old, what do you mean by 'when I was a child'..." Matilda laughed and teased, "As expected, children like to act like adults."

Fran blushed.

"You are only two years older than me, why are you pretending to be an adult?"

"You are old enough..." Perhaps because she had just regained her freedom, Matilda looked very happy now, and was more humorous than before.

Fran lowered her voice. "Well...how is it? Your father...?"

Matilda's eyes behind the glasses suddenly flickered. "Well...Is it okay..."

"Well?" Fran was puzzled by her reaction. "What's wrong?"

Matilda shook her head gently, avoiding the answer and asking a question instead. "Is your brother at home today?"

"Yes." Fran replied immediately, "but he is still in that small room fiddling with chess pieces as before..."

"That's good, come over to me, I just need to find him for something." Matilda suddenly asked.

"Okay, follow me." Fran was not particularly surprised and nodded immediately.

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As Fran said, at this moment, Charles was just like he usually had free time, fiddling with chess pieces according to the chess manual and thinking about problems.

There were a few slightly messy footsteps in his ears, but Charles, who had already put all his mind into it, didn't care.

It was not until the door was gently opened that Charles asked without raising his head.

"What's the matter?"

"You are really free today... sir." Charles heard a greeting.

He was about to answer when he suddenly realized that this voice didn't seem to be Fran's, nor did it sound like the voice of anyone else in the mansion, and it seemed a little familiar.

He looked up.

"Miss Dillion?" Although he was indeed very surprised, Charles was accustomed to being calm in everything because of the old marquis's strict education and his own experience in the past few years, so he didn't seem particularly moved.

He just nodded and saluted, then gestured for a seat.

Matilda walked in with a smile, and then sat opposite the chessboard. Fran followed closely behind and sat next to her.

After sitting down, Matilda stretched out her left hand, and then adjusted her glasses with her middle finger, with the same warm smile on her face.

"You didn't expect me to come out so soon, Mr. Treville."

"Yes, I didn't expect it." Charles nodded. "Although I was sure that you would be able to convince your father with your talent, your speed and efficiency still surprised me. I thought you would stay for at least one or two months."

"This is not just my credit." Matilda's answer seemed to have some meaning.

"So what's going on now? What are your family's plans?" Charles moved his eyes from the chess piece to the girl opposite.

Matilda lowered her eyes slightly, looking very complicated, and answered after a moment.

"Father finally compromised in the face of the fait accompli and decided to recognize my sister's marriage conditionally..."

"Great!" Fran cheered. The girl always had no resistance to such things.

But Charles noticed other aspects. "Conditionally?"

"Yes, conditionally." Matilda's expression became a little solemn, and she sighed softly. "He meant to let my sister and Mr. Leflair come back first, and give my sister a sum of money as a dowry, but not to make this public for the time being... still claiming that Julie is recuperating in the south because of illness."

"Oh?" Charles frowned slightly. "What does this mean? Is your father still unwilling to acknowledge this marriage?"

"Not for this reason." Matilda shook her head to deny, then became a little hesitant and glanced at Fran.

Fran felt Matilda's gaze and was very surprised. "Huh? You can't tell me, right?"

"Fran, I'm sorry, it's not that I don't believe you..." Matilda's tone was a little apologetic, "There are really some things in it, I can only tell Charles who participated..."

Fran smiled and shook her head, "It doesn't matter, you have your own considerations..." Then she turned to look at her brother, "I'll go out first, you must help Matilda more!"

"Okay, I know." Charles responded softly, then reached out and patted his sister's head.

Fran's face flashed with anger after being attacked, glared at her brother and went out, and carefully closed the door when she left.

Charles sat quietly, staring at the chess pieces on the chessboard, and only asked after he heard his sister's footsteps had gone far away.

"Then you can tell me now, Miss Dillion, what's going on?"

Matilda did not answer, but took out a small piece of paper from her arms and handed it to Charles. "This is the thirty thousand francs I borrowed from you before, and now I'm returning it to you... This is a promissory note issued by the Carthal Bank. This bank has a lot of dealings with my family and has an excellent reputation. There will definitely be no problem with payment."

Charles took the promissory note, but found it a little strange - it was not invalid, but too valid. The signature on it was the signature of the current Minister of the Seal, Count Dillion. He raised his head again and looked at Matilda, his eyes full of questions.

Matilda was still smiling.

"Charles, tell me the address of my sister and the others, I want to bring them back." Matilda, "She has been away for so long, and in a remote countryside. It's hard for my sister. She must have suffered a lot... I have to bring her back as soon as possible. I have to persuade her in person..."

"That's no problem." Charles agreed, "Come with me."

The original text is in the six # 9 @book/bar!

Then he stood up and walked out the door, and Matilda followed behind him.

After Charles came to his study, he found the letter Albert had sent from his mailbox. Then he handed it to the other party.

"The address is inside the letter."

Matilda took the letter, read it carefully, folded it and put it in her arms. She seemed relieved. "It seems that they are living a leisurely life..."

"Yes, hunting and dining all day long."

"But I have to bring my sister back before she gets tired of that kind of life." Matilda said calmly.

"It's up to you. But I'm very surprised, Miss Dillion." Charles said suddenly.

"What's strange?"

"Your grandfather and father intend to call Julie back, but they don't intend to directly recognize her marriage... Excuse me, I really don't understand what this means?"

This question seemed to touch something, and Matilda suddenly fell silent. After a long time, she spoke again. "Times are stronger than people, Mr. Treville."

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of the court today? I know your grandfather is a former imperial general, but you should be able to look at it objectively." Matilda asked in a low voice. "In your opinion, do you think that this dynasty has reached a particularly critical juncture? There are famines and dissatisfied people everywhere, as well as conspiracies to overthrow the dynasty..."

Charles' heart suddenly moved.

"France recently does not look very peaceful." He answered vaguely.

Matilda sighed. "To tell you the truth, our family does not have much confidence in whether this dynasty can survive for a few more years."

Charles opened his eyes wide and did not speak.

"So, in order not to repeat the terrible experience 60 years ago, my grandfather would naturally think of making some plans for the family early," Matilda seemed not to see Charles' reaction and continued to talk to herself. "People like Mr. Leflair may be a bit annoying in the dynasty era, but if history repeats itself, he may be the kind of person France needs..."

"Well, it's possible." Charles nodded gently.

"However, in order to preserve his value, we cannot publicly announce that 'Leflair has become the son-in-law of an old noble'. This may destroy his prestige in the future, and then destroy our hopes... So, it's not that grandpa is unwilling to admit it, but that he can't do it for the time being."

Charles understood it completely.

"It's a very reasonable idea." His tone was very stable, and there seemed to be no fluctuations.

But his heart was not calm at all at this moment.

This dynasty has been so messed up that even the chancellor has no confidence! It can be seen how much hope there is to defeat it!

But why did she tell me so much and so much detail? Could it be...

Charles thought of something again and looked up at Matilda.

The girl with glasses still had that unchanging smile. "Mr. Treville, I have said so much. If you were a rebel who had different intentions from the court, you would be very interested in the attitude and plan of the Dillion family, and then you would find an opportunity to negotiate and cooperate with us. Alas... What a pity, you must not be. You are just my friend's brother..."

Charles couldn't help laughing.

"Yes, what a pity I am not. If I were the kind of revolutionary who wanted to overthrow this dynasty, and had the hope of getting the help and cooperation of the Dillion family, I would be very happy and look forward to it."

He emphasized it again. "Definitely."

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Asking for recommendation, collection, and dissemination as usual...o(n_n)o~~~~

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