aristocratic engagement

Anne regained her senses, removed her eyes from Darcy's face, and planned to follow Lady Catherine and Georgiana to get out of the carriage, but her elbow was suddenly pulled on the window.

"Don't you want to ride?" Darcy asked.

"Ride! But I have to get off first, right?" Annie was speechless.

She made a gesture to get up again, but her arm was pulled again.

"Why... ah!"

The huge pulling force pulled her upper body out of the window, she was dazed, and the whole person was already sitting sideways on the horse, enveloped by a familiar yet unfamiliar atmosphere, his chin rested on the top of her head.

"Hold on to the reins." Darcy's voice sounded in his ears.

Before Annie could react, she dazedly took the rope he put in her hand.The horse kicked a little restlessly, Annie quickly pulled the rein, and the horse was stopped by the people behind him.

Suddenly, the warmth disappeared, and Darcy got off his horse.

He snapped his fingers, and the horse followed him toward the lake.Darcy whistled again, and the servant immediately unloaded a horse and led it to the master.

After Darcy confirmed that Anne was riding steadily, he also climbed on another steed.

Annie was speechless, angry, and amused to be teased.Without waiting for Darcy to sit still, she quickly turned over and changed into a straddling posture, raised her whip amidst Lady Catherine's screams and anger, and ran away along the lake.

Darcy quickly chased after him on horseback.

Between the lake and the water, although the evening wind is icy cold, the heat of excitement rushes to the face, which makes the wind look refreshing.The sound of chasing horseshoes sounded behind her, and Annie ran towards the direction of the setting sun, twitching her whip with increasing force.

Annie couldn't help laughing, and the sadness of parting disappeared immediately.

Suddenly, the scene of Earl Fitzwilliam teasing her once appeared in her mind. Before Anne could react, she pulled down the rein forcefully, braked suddenly, the horse neighed, and the front hoof suddenly lifted, Steadily stopped.

The silhouette of the chasing knight passed by him unexpectedly.

Annie burst out laughing, threw away her whip, rolled over and slid off the horse.At this time, Fenrir also ran over in the distance, his black fur gleaming in the sunlight.

Darcy quickly realized that he had been teased.Without being angry at all, he turned the horse's head, took the rein, and controlled the horse to pace slowly.

Annie watched his silhouette slowly approaching dangling in the setting sun, her laughter gradually weakened, and finally it was only contained in her throat.

To be honest, at this moment, Anne had an impulse—it seemed that accepting Lady Catherine's arrangement was not a terrible thing.

However, such a thought just passed by in a flash, and she denied it again.

Was it because of Alan's stimulation that she had such an idea?

Annie shook her head, trying to get rid of those weird thoughts that came up.

Darcy tightened the rein and got off the horse in front of Annie. He threw down the whip and let the horse lower its head to graze on its own, but it rolled its eyes and rubbed against another horse, hooking Hooked up.

"What major event in life are you thinking about? With a serious face." Darcy asked.

Annie shook her head quickly: "Nothing, nothing." It's really a major event in life...

Seeing her faltering, Darcy didn't ask her further.He walked slowly along the lake in the direction he came from.Annie followed suit.

After the two walked in silence for a while, Darcy suddenly took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to her.Annie pulled out the letter paper without knowing why, and immediately stuffed it back after seeing the words on it.

"Lawrence, please, make sure you accept this."

"I don't want to accept... Darcy, do you know what's going on?" Anne asked, "Even though it used to be the place where Sir Louis lived, it has been the residence of the Fitzwilliam family for more than [-] years A place that, by any definition, is their home, not mine."

"Why do you think so much? Just treat it as a gift from the earl. He treats you like his own daughter, and leaving you a house may sound unbelievable, but since Lawrence, as his heir, does not object, then there is nothing wrong with it." hesitantly."

"But—what about Lance?" Anne still couldn't accept it. "As the youngest son, Lance has no inheritance rights. Instead, let me, an outsider...take away the place where he lived for more than [-] years. Darcy, I I don't want to be enemies with him."

"He will not regard you as an enemy, and the count will not fail to think of this."

"No, no! Darcy, as the eldest son and only son, you will not understand his pain as the second son." Anne shook her head.

"It sounds like you can understand his thoughts very well?"

"I don't know what Lance thinks, but I know how Alan... Egerton struggled in such a relationship. He has come to this point and accumulated a lot of his own property, which is extremely It's not easy. He can't inherit the title of duke and all the wealth, but he has to be restricted by blood."

Darcy didn't speak, but turned his face sideways, watching the girl in front of him count another man's past with a correct gaze.

"Alan Egerton was running around in the business, for the business of the shipyard and the businessmen called brothers and exchanged cups. I saw him tired for several days without closing his eyes, just for a thousand pounds! This is very important to the old man. For gentlemen and ladies, it is even just a few clothes or a set of jewelry... But he was despised by the nobles, and he was excluded from decent social balls early-ha! Surviving by his own means is actually a deserving one. Things that are ridiculed!"

Darcy said lightly: "It sounds like you have a high opinion of him, and you also feel sorry for him?"

"If I really look down on him, why have I worked with him for so long?" Thinking of this, Annie couldn't help showing a wry smile, "But this relationship was broken by him... Or, from the very beginning, I have been Pushed it into a deformed position." She knew Alan's feelings for her, but turned a blind eye.

"But it's his own choice, my dear." Darcy shook his head, "He can choose to obey the family's arrangement like the youngest son of any family, and marry a rich merchant's daughter at the right time. And he can continue to maintain his rich and luxurious life."

"...Your words are really cruel." Annie couldn't help but judge.

"Cruel? But this is the best choice." Darcy was very calm, unmoved by her criticism, "Why has almost every family adopted this method over the years? Because it is the safest Choice, whether it is for the family or for him personally."

Anne turned her face sideways and looked up, only to see Darcy's gray-blue eyes staring intently at herself. Under the warm yellow light of the setting sun, the gray-blue indifference melted.He spoke the most truthful and cruel words, but there was no contempt or criticism at all, which made Annie feel a little better.

"I can't say whether his choice of Miss Campbell is a compromise, but I also think that this is his best choice at the moment." Darcy continued, "Miss Campbell is the only descendant of the Viscount, although there are almost only An empty shell, but what Alan Edgerton wants is not riches - as you say, he has already gained a certain amount of accumulation by his own strength - if he wants to go further and make a deal with a bigger person , Improving one's status is the top priority."

Annie suddenly felt a little cold. She was in the middle of it, and she ignored this point—is his confession today sincere?

"Maybe he really loves you, otherwise he wouldn't have gone crazy like this today." Darcy seemed to see through Anne's doubts, "However, if you are compared with Miss Campbell, for someone like him who cares about fame and fortune She is a more suitable and manipulable candidate for someone who is more hungry for power and status."

Having said that, Darcy stopped in his tracks.

His gaze gradually moved down from Annie's eyes to his neck. The bruised and purple finger marks made his mood fluctuate, and the unspeakable anger made him a little dizzy.

Darcy bent down and held out his hand.

Fingertips gently touched and slid across the cold neck.

Annie couldn't help shivering, and subconsciously took a step back.She stared at him in disbelief, but she didn't see any discomfort from his cold and rigid face.

"When you get to Pemberley Manor, I still need to find a doctor to take a closer look at you."

That night, a mighty group of people booked an entire hotel in a small town on the edge of Derbyshire.Early the next morning, before everyone woke up, the owner of the hotel was awakened by a knock on the door.

He opened the door cursingly, only to find a young man with a delicate face standing in front of him, with a charming smile on his face.

——If the woman at home saw it, she would faint!

The owner of the hotel thought unhappily, but when he looked at the clothes of the man in front of him, he was attracted by the badge on his belt... It was exactly the same as the badges on the carriages of the distinguished guests in the hotel at this time!

"Do you want to stay? But the small shop has been contracted today, and there are no spare rooms." The hotel owner asked knowingly and pretending to be confused.

"No, no, you misunderstood. I'm here to find someone." The young man showed his white teeth, "Miss Darcy and Mr. Darcy of Pemberley Manor are staying here?"

"who are you?"

"My name is Wickham, George Wickham, and I come from Pemberley Park, and I grew up with the Darcys as friends."

"Oh..." The hotel owner raised his eyebrows, it turned out to be this person, "They are still resting, please come in." After the hotel owner finished speaking, he suddenly reminded: "Be quiet, Mr. Wickham, They're still resting."

Wickham immediately nodded in agreement.

After Anne woke up, she changed her clothes under Du Li's service, and when she opened the door to go to the next door to wake Georgiana up, she was startled by a young man standing at her door.

"Mr. Wickham? You actually live in this hotel too?" Anne raised her eyebrows, raised Lady Catherine's airs after a long absence, and nodded slightly at him.

"I just arrived, Miss de Bourgh." Wickham immediately performed a standard gentleman's salute, and said respectfully, "I heard from Mrs. Reynolds that you will arrive at Pemberley Manor today, and then I thought about coming to the neighborhood earlier to pick you up and go back together."

"Oh! That's it." Then, Annie stopped talking, but raised her chin and squinted at him.

There was a drop of cold sweat on Wickham's forehead. For some reason, every time he faced this lady who was obviously younger than him, he always felt that he seemed to see everything in her eyes—just like when he was facing Darcy. Same.

Suddenly, the door of Georgiana's room was opened.The "Anne" that Georgiana blurted out choked her lips. She looked at the young man in front of her in surprise, and hugged him with a low scream.There was a cheerful and soft laugh on Wickham's lips, which seemed to contain endless doting and surprises.

Annie's face became colder and colder.

A door behind him opened, and a cold and deep voice sounded above Anne's head: "Wickham, long time no see."

Wickham immediately let go of his hand and saluted Darcy.

"I remember that you are supposed to be studying law at the university at this moment. Have you just come back? When you get to Pemberley, come to my study. I want to test your homework."

"me……"

"He's just come from Pemberley, Cousin Darcy." Anne sneered. "Mr. Wickham is kind enough to come to fetch us!"

The author has something to say: Desire Darcy

I like this kind of ambiguity and provocation too much.

Let’s send out 20 red envelopes in the comment section of this chapter, what do you guys expect from the next plot~