The Happy Life of a Duchess

After the Easter ball, Adele's life was a little busier than before.

The public ball is a very useful symbol to express oneself outwardly, because she performed quite well at the ball, and Adele received a lot more posts for her and invitations to her family.

The Duke didn't decide everything for her, but let her and Mrs. Lude choose some private parties that she was interested in and could go to, and then there were some balls and new parties that she had planned to attend. Invitations to the prom.

Calculating the time, basically it will be busy from April to the end of May before the pace of frequent dances will start to slow down.

In summer, basically every family has to escape from the summer heat, and there will be much fewer public dances, but there are still some private parties and activities that each family invites acquaintances to participate in.

Adele took a break for a few days, and spent her daily life in the schedule of reading, writing letters, playing music, illustrations, and painting.

She and Leo maintained a close friendship, which quickly surpassed any of the previous ones. The two had a lot to say, not only when they went to the ball to talk together, Adele or Even Leo would invite each other to his home.

Correspondence ranges from the initial politeness of half a sheet of letter paper to the communication of several sheets of letter paper, from entertainment to science, almost everything is talked about, and the most talked about is literature. Leo often mentions that at home or Young writers who visited Father Hugo elsewhere spoke of similar salon events.

Adele would also invite Marianne, Morgana, or Dana Desi to her home for afternoon tea. Mrs. Castellana and Mrs. Dressel also invited her elders, and several others were with her. The lady of a family with a close relationship or a family with a good relationship with her father.

She will share some of the latest books she has read or the latest fashion. As women, they also have a lot to say, sometimes it is all ages, and sometimes it is a gathering of young single ladies.

Even playing the piano and dancing together, you can spend an afternoon happily, which is more than enough to pass the time.

For those who are not so familiar, Adele will basically leave the ones that are not close according to the contact situation with the family. friend.

Occasionally, she would also receive greeting letters from Margaret, and the other party would reply to every letter sent by Adele, but perhaps to avoid suspicion, she would not say much unless Adele was cryptic. Asked, otherwise she would rarely mention herself.

Adele asked if it was not enough, or if she lived a happy life alone. Margaret's answer was that everything was fine, but she did not hide her confusion about life——

After Adele restrainedly reminded her that she should pay attention to expenses and not live too extravagantly, she seemed to be immersed in new thoughts.

In her letter, she mentioned that she had once again rejected the "invitation" of Count Garcia and others. She heard the miserable evening scene of an unfortunate courtesan from her neighbor's female companion Prudence, and she became more and more confused.

She also said that she seemed to have met a very interesting young man, whom she called a "silly boy". She said that she could see that he had an unreal love for her, but she couldn't believe it, and said that she still longed for a a love...

Margaret said frankly that she regards Adele as a "kind-hearted noble lady", and she is also a person who can understand her difficulties unexpectedly. Although they are not destined to be sisters, just as Adele said, they Since they are so similar in appearance, and they know each other because of the Duke, it is indeed a wonderful fate.

She knew that the way Adele used the fable was to hope that she could save a little. The money provided by the Duke's Mansion was enough for her daily expenses. Don't worry about when to pay back the money for the time being.

She thanked Adele for not telling the Duke about it and letting him down on her.

She would also like to try, to live in a different way—

Adele saw a new flame within her, a longing for love.

This longing made her wake up from her muddled life again, and she realized that as a courtesan, she would never be able to obtain happiness and ideal love no matter what.

She also wants to try to see if she can reap this precious relationship in the way of ordinary people. Although there are too many temptations outside, she herself is very confused, and she is very uncertain whether she can persist.

When Adele saw it, she was slightly relieved.

She didn't know whether the love that Marguerite said came from the hero "Armand", but if she could have a hope, it would be better than dawdling around and consuming her body.

She always has sympathy for the heroine Margaret, and she is unwilling to see her die so miserable and lonely.

If possible, she also hopes that the other party can reap happiness, and it is not in vain for her to contribute privately to help her pay off the debt of several thousand francs, so that she can take a breather in a short period of time without worrying, and specially asked people to hint to Prue When silk.

Prudence is easy to talk about after receiving the money, and Adele doesn't expect anything else, just let Prudence and Marguerite talk about thrift so that they can save more property for their old age, this pair of courtesans It is a very normal thing to say, just as the most sensible thing to do as a king's mistress is to ask for more jewelry, in order to save enough property after being rejected by the king in the future.

As a former courtesan who has not done it herself and is already middle-aged and old and fading, Prudence is actually somewhat disapproving. She does not believe that Margaret, the La Traviata who is famous for her extravagance, can do this. , but after receiving the money, she still does her job well, and she is very full of persuasion every day.

Surprisingly, under multiple persuasion by Prudence, Adele, and Margaret's own expectations for love, Margot, who is not firm but kind and will not reject others' good intentions Ritter finally accepted.

Although she just agreed to try, she has persisted for several months after all, so maybe the future will be better.

With more such afternoon tea events or small gatherings, Adele has gained a lot of experience sharing, and has become more calm, and has more confidence in being able to hold a dinner party.

It has to be said that the affirmation and praise of the guests gave her a lot of confidence to a large extent.

The few friends she cared about all provided very pertinent suggestions, such as the color matching of tableware and tablecloths, such as how to deal with the complete arrangement, the arrangement and order of seating time, and the consideration and selection of dishes.

"Miss, it's ready." Jenny came over to remind her.

"Okay, okay, here I come."

Adele has eaten almost the same content for several days in a row. In order to ensure that the first dinner party is not wrong, she asked the kitchen to prepare different types of dishes that exceeded twice the share.

Then add three meals at noon and night every day, try these dishes there every day, and choose dishes that can be used for the next dinner party.

Even if the chef said there was no problem with the food she hadn't eaten, and the housekeeper said it was a common practice, Adele would not dare to present it to the guests casually.

She must be familiar with those routines. Just in case, she needs to know more about this dish. It doesn't matter if she doesn't do it. Since she wants to do it, she must do her best.

"So, isn't it really the specification for a feast?"

Adele looked at the long table of food that had been prepared in front of her, and couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Maybe she had eaten too many times, and then tried to improve and try a dish repeatedly. I'm already full.

During this period of time, the food was so good that she felt that she had gained weight.

Maybe the waistband of the dress has to be enlarged a bit.

"Of course it's not up to the specifications of a court feast... Louis XIV has been so gorgeous since then, and the rulers of the subsequent Bourbon dynasty are very extravagant, but our king doesn't seem to be at that level..." The old butler said in Said next to him, out of taboo, he didn't talk much about their King of Orleans, "The complete set of gilded tableware is ready."

Adele looked at the silver tableware and some porcelain plates in front of her, and nodded, indicating that she understood.

In order to give her enough momentum, the Duke scrapped all the old gilded tableware at home and rebuilt a complete set of tableware with hundreds of objects. The gilded tableware has the family logo and the pattern is Adele. I like laurel and Haibo, a set of things with a very Greek flavor.

The first dish of the first course is soup, which is used first before the meal.

At present, six kinds have been prepared, and three kinds will actually be presented at the dinner that day. Adele is now making this choice.

There are many common soups, such as bouillon soup or bread soup. As the name suggests, one contains vegetables and meat, and it is paired with carefully prepared meat fillings. The soup usually also contains mushrooms, onions, or some seafood. .Bread soup sounds simple, but it is not enough to just sprinkle some bread crumbs in the soup. It is also made of high soup, and the other ingredients are similar to bouillon.

"Give me another bun."

Adele drank two sips of pigeon soup, and another sip of shrimp soup in sauce, and felt that she couldn't stand it anymore.

It seemed that her stomach was already full of soup, and she had to eat some bread to go with it, but she decided to try the dishes herself.

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Adele: Life has suddenly become a bit bitter(?)