Granville's estate

"Long time no see, little guy."

Calliste de Durand stood by the sofa with his arms folded, looking down at Louis, perhaps because he had spent a long time with His Royal Highness, who valued dignity, even if he didn't deliberately, his tone All of them naturally brought a kind of arrogance from the superior to the inferior.

"I'm not a child anymore, sir, and you shouldn't call me a little one anymore."

Although the disparity between their status and status can no longer be measured by the simple relationship between classmates at the boarding school in Saint-Etienne, Calliste's ungentlemanly actions immediately reminded Louis of the gentleman who He retorted almost subconsciously when he was "famous" at the boarding school in Saint-Etienne.

As soon as these words came out, both of them froze for a moment. Callister probably didn't expect that Louis would dare to refute him, and Louis finally remembered another matter that he seemed to be more concerned about.

"Mr. Viscount de Durand, why are you here? Did the attendants outside guide you to the wrong lounge?"

Louis originally thought that someone with malicious intentions slipped in while the servants of the Viscount de Bourgogne's mansion were not paying attention, but he didn't expect that it was his old classmate who came in. After the initial shock, he finally remembered that whether it was the face For former classmates or other people who broke in by mistake, it is not polite to lie on the sofa and talk to others, so I sat up from the sofa and opened the woolen blanket covering my knees. side.

"Why can't I be here?" Callister didn't answer his question, but asked him instead: "Who do you think will come in? Your lover?"

"Love... lover? What lover?"

Louis originally thought that the reason why this gentleman appeared here was because there were too many guests. The servants of the Viscount de Bourgogne's mansion confused the lounges with guests and those without guests in a hurry, so that Viscount de Durand Wrong place.He didn't expect that Callister would ask him about his "lover", and he was a little confused for a moment: "Sir, I don't know what you are talking about."

When did he have a lover that he didn't even know about?Did this gentleman believe some strange gossip at the ball?

Callister let out a mocking sneer through his nose.

"It's very boring to say that, Farentin. Why, isn't the Comte de Granville your lover?"

Only then did Louis realize that he was talking about Alred, which made him feel both ridiculous and dumbfounded—even if the Viscount said that his beloved Baroness Claudia de Portanduel was Louis It is more reliable than saying that Alrede is Louis' lover! In the "Bible", it is clearly stated that "you must not abandon the cisgender use of women and take the reverse use of men, otherwise sin and disaster will surely fall on them", although the French court once had a The person who flaunts that he likes masculinity and is keen to dress himself as a woman makes people wonder whether he should be called the prince or the queen's younger brother, but that is just a special case under the protection of the royal power. If what the viscount just said was heard and taken seriously Now, Louis and Alred are probably going to be in big trouble!

"Sir, I'm surprised that you still remember my and Al's names." Louis felt that Viscount Durand should have drunk too much punch during the break of the dance just before he said such rebellious words against religion and morals—although He felt that the punch served by the entourage could only be called "alcohol-flavored fruit drink", but he couldn't think of any other reason for Callister's strange behavior. : "But you are mistaken, Al is neither the earl nor my lover, we are just ordinary friends. You are probably drunk, I will ask the waiter to take you to another lounge for a rest."

As Louis spoke, he wanted to stand up from the sofa, but Callister took a step forward and stood in front of him. The distance between the two was so close that if Louis got up from the sofa, they would definitely bump into each other. .

Seeing that Callister had no intention of getting out of the way at all, Louis had no choice but to move to the side of the sofa, but Callister also moved a step, making it clear that he did not intend to let him leave the sofa.

"Sir," Louis reminded him a little helplessly, "I'm going to get up and look for someone, please get out of the way."

Callister squinted his eyes and looked at Louis thoughtfully. The two of them remained in a stalemate for a while. Just when Louis thought he might be awake, Callister made a move that Louis could not have imagined at all. .

——He stretched out his hand to lift Louis' chin, and then touched Louis' face smoothly.

"...!"

Louis didn't expect him to do such a molesting thing at all, he looked up at Callister blankly, and was stunned for a while.

"Tsk, I'm still the same as when I was a child."

Callister said with a bit of disgust, even though he said so, he didn't let go of Louis, but let his thumb rub against Louis's pursed lips with a kind of intimacy.

If his previous behavior could be explained by "playing around with classmates who haven't seen for a long time", this time this kind of caressing with intimacy can't be called normal behavior, Louis finally responded Coming over, he suddenly leaned back, with such force that he almost rolled over to the other side of the sofa.

"Monsieur Calliste de Durand, what are you doing?!"

"What am I doing? Isn't this already a very clear thing?"

Although he is now a nobleman, Mr. Viscount looks like the Calliste Duvas who caused headaches for the teachers when he was in the boarding school in Saint-Etienne: "Your good friend 'Hasn't he done the same thing to you? Or, you just have to accept that he did it to you?"

"What nonsense is this! Al wouldn't treat me like this, I've said it all, he and I are just friends!"

Louis grabbed the armrest of the sofa, shrank to the corner farthest from Callister, and watched vigilantly every move of the person opposite him, lest he do anything incredible: "Sir, I think you are real!" You can only say such absurd things when you are drunk."

"Huh, friend?"

Callister completely ignored Louie's excuses for his actions, and his tone was mocking that it didn't take anyone too sensitive to hear it.

"I haven't seen a few friends like you who are tired of being together all day long, and even sleep on the same bed." Callister said, slightly tilting his head: "Ah, I almost forgot , you still have his family’s pocket watch, and he also has your family’s franc box, is this also part of your friendship? If so, it is really a touching friendship.”

"Exchanging gifts between us is our own business, what does this have to do with you?"

Louis looked at him vigilantly, and soon, he thought of another thing: "How do you know I have Al's pocket watch? You sent someone to spy on us?"

The pocket watch that Allred gave to Louis was given as a gift when they were about to graduate from Saint-Etienne. At that time, Callister had already left Saint-Etienne. How did he know that Louis had this pocket watch? Even the details like the Granville family logo on it?

Louis thought of the almost pervasive lovers' houses he met when he first arrived in Paris, who hadn't appeared since he deliberately made things difficult for them at the tailor's shop in Bisson with a price of [-] francs, He thought the patrons behind them had given up, but now...

An idea gradually emerged from Louis's mind, but the idea was so absurd no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't believe it.

"Just to deal with you, there is no need to use surveillance."

Callister said lazily. He reached out and pulled out the gold watch chain with the silver pocket watch from Louis's coat pocket on the side of the sofa. Because the pocket watch and the franc box were tied at both ends of the same chain, Louis The very precious franc box with the Farentin family crest on it was also taken by him in this way.

"Actually, you should pay attention to those low-class people around you, as long as you give them a few sous, they can sell everything-but then again, it's useless even if you pay attention." Callister played with him carelessly. The Breguet silver pocket watch in his hand, the intertwined hollow pattern of G and H on the pocket watch was shining brightly under the reflection of the fire, he opened the cover of the pocket watch, fiddled with the hands, and then looked at Louis: " After all, as you said, souls can be sold for a marked price if you have enough money, don't you?"