Flowers, Swords and France

"What do you think of my outfit tonight, Mr. Treville?" Charlotte asked with a smile, as if she was sticking to Charles.

The faint fragrance kept entering his nose, but Charles was far from being in a good mood.

"Very good." He replied casually.

In fact, it was really good. The delicate white silk dress and pearl necklace made Charlotte, who had a fair complexion, more radiant. She tied her hair into a bun in a fashionable style, leaving a few strands hanging down from both sides. The fine and messy hair also frequently moved in front of his chest, giving him a different touch.

Well, this is actually very comfortable, but this is not the point at all.

"When did you actually get in touch with Mr. Guizot?" Charles couldn't help asking in the end.

Tonight, the wife of the current foreign minister held a dinner in her mansion, and the Duke of Treville's family also received an invitation. Charlotte pulled her cousin over, and the two of them came directly in Charlotte's carriage.

"Just recently. Grandpa said he could help him, but he listed a bunch of conditions..." Charlotte smiled and answered, "He seems to be in a hurry now. He didn't have time to verify whether we were sincere or not, and he agreed to everything."

Unlike his brother who had already broken with the current regime, Duke Treville used his relationship as a senior official to keep certain connections and influence in the political world. He still kept in touch with many politicians and hid his true political inclinations more deeply.

"It's really convenient for you to rebel like this." Charles said, not knowing whether he was teasing or jealous.

In fact, he was quite disdainful in his heart.

This is why the royal party's rebellion has failed for twenty years and will never succeed. All they want is to restore the old days. They take the high-end route and parasitize the old system too deeply, so that they can't draw strength from outside the system.

But it doesn't matter. The more flaws the enemy has, the better it is for you.

"Envy?" Charlotte didn't seem to hear the deep meaning implied in Charles' tone, and smiled and squeezed Charles' hand.

"Not bad."

The carriage stopped.

Then, after the concierge confirmed that it was the carriage of the Duke of Treville's palace, he quickly opened the door and let the carriage with the coat of arms on the body drive in directly.

The two siblings got off the carriage together and walked forward side by side.

"You seem a little nervous?" Charlotte asked softly in her ear.

"It's because you've been holding my hand, isn't it?" Charles replied.

"Does holding your hand make you nervous?" Charlotte said mischievously.

"It doesn't make me nervous, but it makes me inconvenient to move."

"At this point, what are you still hiding?" Charlotte held Charles' hand tightly.

"What do I need to hide?" Charles was not moved at all.

………………

While the two people were bickering in a low voice, they walked into the mansion under the guidance of the servants.

Compared with the luxurious and high-profile of the Duke of Treville's mansion, the furnishings of the Foreign Minister's living room are much simpler. The white marble floor is covered with thick wool carpets, the ceiling is hung with crystal chandeliers, and there are velvet-covered sofas, red velvet benches and coffee tables in the corners.

Several guests have already arrived, and they are chatting in groups of three or four. The two siblings lowered their steps.

An old man with short hair and a dry and thin look came towards them. He had a gentle expression, but there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.

"Miss Treville, I am very glad that you can come tonight, but why hasn't the Duke come tonight?" He asked. Although his words were very polite, there were some sharp questions hidden in them. It seemed as if he was asking "Is the Duke of Treville afraid? Don't you dare to come?"

On the surface, the old man was a little depressed, but his eyes were full of shrewdness and cunning. Obviously, he was not an easy person to deal with.

Charles glanced at his cousin, and Charlotte seemed to sense this gaze and nodded slightly.

As expected, this person is the second-in-command of the current government, Foreign Minister Guizot.

Perhaps, if nothing unexpected happens, he will be the future Prime Minister of France.

Once again meeting a famous figure in history, but this time Charles did not have the same excitement as when he first met Joseph Bonaparte.

Was it because he had already vented his emotions the first time, or was it because the 60-year-old man in front of him was not enough to make him excited?

Charles himself could not tell. He just saluted the other party silently.

And Charlotte still smiled in response.

"Please rest assured that our Treville family will always be loyal to our promise." She looked at the other party seriously, as if it was true. "Since Grandpa has already promised to help you, he will naturally not back down. He is just feeling a little unwell tonight and it is not convenient for him to attend. You know, as his personal secretary, I can completely participate in your banquet on his behalf and convey your opinions to him without reservation. And... this is my younger brother." Charlotte smiled and pointed at Charles. She deliberately left Charles' identity vague. "He is very young and ignorant. Grandpa asked him to come with us to learn from experience. I hope you can help him if you have the chance in the future..."

Guizot turned his head and looked at Charles who was silent, then nodded. "Of course, the Duke of Treville is a rare and outstanding statesman in France. I learned a lot of theories and strategies of governing the country from him. His retirement is really a great loss to the country! But since Treville has a successor, I should help him if I have the chance."

He probably regarded Charles as a family member that the Duke of Treville intended to cultivate, so he said a polite word. And although there were some polite words on his lips, his slightly frowned brows still betrayed the host's displeasure, and he was just short of saying "What's the matter with this Duke of Treville? Why did he send two little kids here? Is he confused?" This sentence.

The two siblings who were looked down upon smiled at each other, and did not say anything, but directly found a seat and sat down.

Charles took the opportunity to scan the room and carefully observed the appearance of the guests. Anyone who is qualified to be invited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to hold such a conspiracy meeting must be rich or noble. It will definitely not hurt to take the opportunity to remember it now.

The original text can be read in the Six # 9 @Book/Bar!

Charles soon discovered that in the center of the living room, there was a middle-aged man who looked the most calm and composed, and the most people talked to him.

"That's Baron de Bovan, a famous banker. His personal assets are about 18 million, and his bank and those companies he controls have a total asset of about 300 million francs." Charlotte still had a smile on her face, but her voice was very low and a little sarcastic. "Charles, in this era, after all, we are just descendants of the Duke, but he is the son of God..."

"Humph, the son of God." Charles also followed with a sarcasm. Looking at this big capitalist, there was also a hint of heat in his eyes.

Would I say that I will be the son of the plane?

As if sensing the sight of the two siblings, the baron looked over at them, then nodded in a friendly way as a greeting, without showing any surprise at their age.

This "son of God" obviously looked very different from a god, with a round and fat face, and his manners were not very elegant, and he did not lack the temperament of a banker who was very niggardly - that is, the temperament of a "nouveau riche" that was ridiculed by the nobles.

Unfortunately, now is the era of nouveau riche, so the two "nobles" also smiled and nodded at each other.

However, Charlotte's eyes unexpectedly had a hint of coldness, and only Charles, who had been with him for many years, could see it.

"What's wrong with you?" Charles asked softly.

Charlotte had a smile on her face, but the answer she gave was like a biting cold wind.

"Charles, the situation is pressing, so I am not afraid to bow to a new Jacques-Coeur or Ouffrald, but this is only for the opportunity to chop off his head in the future. He will pay the price for his disrespect to us today."

Charles sighed secretly.

No matter how gentle and docile Charlotte is on the surface, she is still an extremely arrogant old aristocrat who regards herself as a royal family. Like other people of the same kind, she cannot tolerate a commoner - even a former commoner - being disrespectful and arrogant to the nobles in the new era, no matter how rich the other party is. This is the common characteristic of orthodox nobles.

【Jacques-Coeur was a wealthy businessman in France during the Hundred Years' War, with a business network throughout Europe. At that time, France was defeated in the war and the situation was critical. King Charles VII, who had just ascended the throne, was forced by the situation and appointed him as the Director of Finance in 1439. He used his talents and wealth to save the crisis and later made him a noble. But after the throne and the situation were stabilized, the king did not spare the businessman, but imprisoned him for blasphemy, deprived him of all his property and confiscated it.

Ouffral was a wealthy man and financier in France. During the Great Revolution, he speculated repeatedly and took advantage of the situation to acquire the property of many exiled nobles at low prices, making a fortune. He was appointed as the general supply officer of naval food and ammunition during the Empire, and became even more famous. But after the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, he was soon thrown into prison, and finally went bankrupt and died in 1846. 】

But Charles himself did not have such a rigid view, which was also the essential political difference between the Bonapartists and the orthodox: the Bonapartists believed that if the bourgeoisie was useful, it was a good bourgeoisie, and if the Bourbon dynasty understood and used this, it would never have fled France twice in disgrace. Its untimely, unfounded and useless arrogance became the final noose to strangle the dynasty.

Of course, there is no need to say such words.

"I want to see what he will say later." Charles answered calmly.

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Haha, I finally fulfilled my promise this time o(n_n)o~

Too bad tomorrow is the damn Monday again…………