Flowers, Swords and France

“For the first time in her life, she walked into the labyrinth of Versailles and felt as familiar as if she had lived in it for decades.

This palace is both beautiful and elegant. It can do whatever it wants, and it can be admired by others with its exquisite gardens as it did in the past, and at the same time it can present some indescribable majesty in its magnificent palace. It is a symbol of France, but it is better than France; it can represent France, but it has its own rules of life.

She was among a large number of jeweled people, but she did not appear to be happy at all. She lowered her eyes slightly, her snow-white forehead as cold as ice, and tried hard to imitate the posture of the Virgin in the church; she deliberately remained silent, just to let herself wait for someone else. When the opportunity arises to speak, it can sound as beautiful as singing.

'My dear friend, what are you thinking about? Seems absent-minded. ’ The friend next to him looked at the fan in his hand carefully and asked in a voice as soft as a mosquito, for fear of attracting any curious gaze.

‘My dearest friend, I’m thinking, what a beautiful place this is, the closest to heaven is right here! I have to get this place, and if it's not all mine, I'm going to burn this place to the ground. ’”

After temporarily completing the scheduled work, Ciel finally had a short period of free time. So he picked up the manuscript that had not been touched recently, stayed in the study room, biting the pen and continued to write the novel he had been conceived for a long time.

Although the literary young woman Miss Periette has written to urge her many times, this is not the main reason for Charles to restart, because recently Charles has found that his financial fortune is much better than before.

The Duke of Treville returned the 300,000 francs that Charles had originally obtained from the Marquis de Leolan as a reward, and Charles suddenly found that he had made a windfall.

Therefore, in fact, the Marquis de Treville's family has no financial worries for the time being. The reason why Charles started working again is just to lighten his mood amidst the intense work.

After writing for a while, Charles put down his pen and planned to take a rest. He picked up the cup next to him and drank the nearly cooled coffee inside.

"Sir, can I come in?" Fran's voice suddenly sounded outside the door.

"Of course." Charles replied immediately.

Ever since Fran was beaten by Ciel for eavesdropping that day, her temper seemed to have calmed down a lot, and she had gradually become more polite to her brother, which made Ciel feel really happy. She didn't have to go to class today, so it was normal for her to come over to play with her brother. Ciel felt that he had nothing to do now anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to spend more time with his sister.

Fran walked in immediately.

Today, Fran is wearing her usual plain white skirt, which looks particularly delicate and charming against the floral decoration around her neck. The two slender eyelashes are like a pair of silk tassels. A trace of silky and smooth blond hair, like layers of scattered golden waves. Under the thin white skin, light blue blood vessels are looming. This is the natural beauty of a girl due to her youth, and the beauty that women can modify are completely different things.

Due to her young age, her shoulders are a little thin, and her chest does not have a particularly obvious bulge - but in the eyes of some people, this can be regarded as a different kind of beauty.

This is my sister! Charles couldn't help but sigh in his heart, it's so beautiful, isn't it?

"What's wrong, Fran? What do you want from me?" In this mood of being immersed in beauty, Ciel's tone was much softer than he expected.

"It's nothing," my sister smiled. This smile was simply dazzling. "I just wanted to come and see you..."

Charles was a little confused at first, but soon he understood and then spread his hands.

"Oh, that doesn't matter, you can read whatever you want, I didn't write much anyway..."

Maybe it was his smile that reminded Fran of some "bad memories". The younger sister's face suddenly turned red. She lowered her head and avoided her brother's sight. Then she walked to his side and said something. He muttered something under his breath.

Soon, she ignored her brother, picked up the manuscript on the table, and began to study it slowly.

"If everything here can't be mine, I will burn this place to the ground..." It seemed that the last sentence particularly attracted her attention. She couldn't help but read it out, and then sighed softly, "What a passionate and passionate poem." Mrs. Badu... look at this courage and determination!”

"But it's also very dangerous." Ciel replied softly, "Destroy it if you don't get it. This is undoubtedly not a very healthy idea."

"Then why do you still write like this?" Fran complained.

"It's necessary to create characters." Charles replied confidently, "Today's readers just like the protagonist to be more bold, and I think this can make the protagonist's character more distinctive."

"You are really..." Fran couldn't help but glance at her brother, and then changed the subject, "Why did you only write so little? I remember that the publisher sent letters several times."

"I've been very busy recently, and I haven't had much creativity, so..." Charles sighed, "So I have to leave it there..."

"Even if you are busy, you should take care of your own business!" Fran still complained a little, "Otherwise our family will lose a lot of income..."

Silly sister, do you know what your brother’s real business is? Charles sighed secretly in his heart again, of course he would definitely not be able to say anything else.

"Okay, okay, I understand. If I have time recently, I will put in some effort to write." He said perfunctorily with a smile, and then wiped his sister's head as usual.

"That's good." My sister seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Then, she seemed to think of something again.

"By the way, the teacher's art exhibition will be held in two days, and he has chosen many of my paintings..."

It seems that this is the reason why Fran came to find him today... Ciel understood. She was really afraid that she would forget.

"Okay, I will definitely go and see it when the time comes." He promised his sister again, and then wiped her head again, "I will definitely witness my sister's battle to become famous, don't worry!"

Fran was beaming with joy, smiling so much that she even narrowed her eyes.

"So I have another request today."

"What request?" Charles was a little strange.

Read the original article in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Please come to my room later. I want to draw another portrait for you." As if she saw her brother's expression, she immediately explained, "Don't worry, I don't want to take your portrait to an exhibition. It's just that I have been practicing recently." Just practicing..."

Ciel's initial nervousness was quickly dispelled, and he nodded in agreement without much thought. After all, when Fran first started learning painting a few years ago, he often used his brother as a model for portraits. In the past two years, he rarely did this. To be honest, he still felt a little bit disappointed in his heart.

"I hope I won't disappoint you." He joked with a smile.

"How could it be possible..." Fran shook her head, "Brother will not disappoint people. You are different from those people."

"Those people?" Charles was a little surprised, "Who are they?"

"My classmates' brothers, or other young people I have met," Fran said matter-of-factly, "They all seem to have been drained of all their energy by pleasure. They usually have tired faces, and there is no tranquility on their faces. , even the facial features are crowded together, and some even have wrinkles! Their appearance has no individual surname, or in other words, they all have the same surname. The young aristocrats of France have almost become the same! The resolute and proud spirit I saw in the portraits of our ancestors is now the same. It’s almost invisible. Brother, they are all different from you, none of them can compare to you!”

"Hey, how can you, a girl, talk like this? Don't say this to others easily!" Charles was shocked.

"But you taught me those things since I was a child. If a man doesn't have that kind of ambition, he's just a scrap!" Fran raised her head and looked at her brother confidently, "What position do you have to accuse me now?"

"Uh..." Charles was at a loss for words.

Since the Marquis of Treville has been idle for many years, and the "restoration cause" the old Marquis has devoted himself to for many years has also consumed a lot of money, so although they have been careful to deal with expenses, the Marquis' family is still living a tight life. Not only has the mansion not been repaired for many years; And rarely bought any new furniture, and even the servants at home were reduced to a minimum. Fortunately, the few servants at home were basically veterans who had been brought by my grandfather in the army and then retired. They were relatively loyal to the old Marquis and were kind-hearted. You are diligent, so you can save a lot of money in this area.

As for Fran, she did not hire a tutor to teach her like other ladies from wealthy families. Instead, her brother was responsible for her childhood enlightenment - of course, this last point is actually due to his brother's little thought. of.

When he thought of the scene where he taught her how to read and read as a child, Charles couldn't help but want to laugh. Of course, he quickly resisted the urge and kept a straight face again.

"My dear sister, now that you have reached this age, you can completely understand. For us, a girl with elegant tastes, a girl who can be a fish in water in the upper class in the future, not only knows what to say , and also know what not to say.”

"You always have so many reasons." Fran looked away, looking unhappy.

"Anyway, there are a lot of things you have to say, just keep them in your heart," Charles sighed. "If you can't hold it in anymore, just tell me and don't tell others outside. It's too easy to offend someone in the social world. All you need to do is One or two words will make others hate you for half your life! You are not young anymore, and one day you will enter the social world, and then you will understand the disadvantages of always telling the truth... Too many words lead to mistakes, in which era? , this is all truth.”

"I understand... I will only tell you these words..." Fran replied softly, "Thank you, brother."

Seeing that his sister was so obedient, Ciel breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, Charles was actually very happy to be praised like this by his sister.

"Well, I'm still free now anyway," he stood up with a smile and wiped her brilliant blond hair again, "let's go over now, and you can practice your skills first."