Granville's estate

Louis du Farentin, born on August 1798, 8, is an Orthodox Christian who has received systematic school education and religious education. A provincial gentleman whose good-nature was praised by all who met him, was now confronted with one of the most absurd and unthinkable things in the world.This matter involves the most basic religious beliefs and the most extensive moral benchmarks. Even the most daring writer dare not let his protagonist have such an experience, lest it will attract religious scrutiny and moral charges.

When he was in the tailor shop of Bisson, in order to get rid of the entanglement of the lingering lover's house, Louis asked the person behind Mrs. Tihasson's portrait gallery for a A high figure of [-] francs.After raising this price, Louis never met the people sent by Mrs. Tihasson's Portrait Gallery again. He thought that the people behind them had given up that absurd idea. It was even more absurd to imagine-the customer behind the lover's house under the guise of a portrait gallery was not the noble lady he thought, but this old classmate of his from the St. Etienne boarding school-a man!

Even the most naive person would never think that a man who let the notorious lover's house deliver a letter to another man is willing to pay thousands of francs just to catch up with old classmates in a normal way. The Viscount Calliste de Durand obviously asked the people from the lover's house to find him, but when he saw them, he looked as if nothing had happened, and his behavior just now, Louis' cold sweat was about to break out.

"Mr. De Durand," Louis said with some difficulty, he felt that his voice was a little erratic: "I don't quite understand, what do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, little guy." Callister said, slowly opening and closing, closing and opening the cover of his silver pocket watch: "When I asked them to find you, you proposed your I think the price is right, and I think the price is right, so that should seal the deal, shouldn't it?"

"Is it really you who asked Mrs. Tihasson's Portrait Gallery to find me?"

"Why not? They're pretty neat, but your Mr. de Granville is so incomprehensible that he actually drove their people away. Because of this, Madam asked me twice s price."

An unspeakable anger surged up all of a sudden, sweeping Louis' whole body like a tsunami.For the first time in his life, Louis even hated himself for being too gentle, so much so that when he wanted to scold the person in front of him, he found that he couldn't find the words to swear.

"Monsieur Calliste de Durand, if this is a prank you have come up with, I can only say that it is not funny at all," said Louis, startled even by his own voice, I had to quickly lower my voice to avoid being heard by people outside: "Haven't you thought about the consequences of this matter? If such a bad thing is spread by people in those places, you, me, and Al will all be in big trouble !"

"Who said this was a joke?"

Callister ruthlessly smashed the last bit of fluke psychology of Louis: "I said, I think the price you proposed is suitable, and I am happy to reach this deal. What, do you want to go back on your word? Or do you want to Want a higher price?"

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen! If you weren't standing in front of me right now, I would definitely think you were crazy!"

Hearing Calliste's answer, Louis was stunned: "When did you have such unreasonable hobbies? Didn't you already have that beautiful Baroness Claudia de Portanduel?" Is your lover already?" That is a beauty with extremely rare purple eyes!

"I don't care what you think. No matter what, people with power are entitled to satisfy their most capricious ideas. This is a common rule no matter where you are." Callister snapped the cover of the silver pocket watch in his hand to close automatically. On the way, Louis almost jumped up in surprise from that clear voice: "As long as the money given is enough, any problem can be solved--you rejected the person I sent at the beginning because two thousand francs was too little, Isn't it?"

"You may have forgotten one thing, not everything can be solved with money, sir." Louis took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and reminded him unbearably: "Don't you realize that money can Secondly, and most importantly, is this kind of thing completely against our religious teachings and moral principles?"

Anyone who has received the most basic religious education will know that the Catholic Church they believe in has no tolerance for homosexuality. If a homosexual lover is found in a parish, they will all face ruin and may even be banned. Banished to wild and desolate Africa; even the Duke of Orleans, the younger brother of the Sun King who loved to dress himself as a doll under the absolute protection of the king in the era of the Sun King-this Duke has never concealed his orientation, but he has fulfilled his mission. The obligation of the royal family has allowed his wife to give birth to several children - all of which will inevitably suffer criticism and accusations from the church. Even if the noble brother is like this, Louis can't figure out how Callister can take such a serious matter. To say so is an understatement.

"Religious teaching? Moral code?"

Callister sneered, as if lamenting Louis's innocence.

"As long as there is no big mistake in face, no one will care whether other people's beliefs are pious or false. Only the most old-fashioned people will still abide by the so-called religious teachings." Callister said, "If there must be If you have a belief, then I would rather believe in the power of money, after all, there will be no angels to rescue you when you encounter unsolvable things, but as long as you have money, you can do almost everything."

"As for your so-called morality, it is even more ridiculous. I knew it as early as in Saint-Etienne. If you have enough gold, everyone will praise you as a virtuous person; but if you are unfortunate If you don’t have a penny, even if they lose a feather, they will say that you are the one who stole it.”

When Viscount Calliste de Durand was studying at the boarding school in Saint-Etienne under the pseudonym Calliste Duis, Louis once heard a rumor about his family-it is said that the Duis family Because of the famous grape failure in [-], it failed to manage and went bankrupt.This rumor is widely circulated, just look at what Louis said to Alred when he learned Callister's true identity, "I thought he was the son of an ordinary businessman, but he was unlucky when his family went bankrupt." ’ but there’s no denying that the Callister family was definitely in a bit of trouble at the time and they couldn’t care less about the heir being sent to boarding school.It seems that it was at that time that Callister Duvas gradually changed from a mischievous but helpful student to "the fighting Callister in the next class" in Allred's mouth. Became a frequent visitor to the confinement room.

"I know what you're talking about, but that's definitely not the reason you want to do such a thing, and I'm not a person with that kind of unreasonable hobby." Thinking of the things in Saint-Etienne before, Louis tried his best to let I calmed down from my anger, but my attitude was very firm: "I don't understand why you have such crazy ideas, sir, this is wrong. I will not accuse and report you, but I will never make any violations." My religious beliefs and the moral education I received, even if you pay a hundred times the price."

Callister looked at him, because his back was facing the candlelight, his blue and greenish eyes looked like a wolf, looking a bit hazy.

"So, you have decided to go back on your word." He said, "In this case, why did you propose the so-called price of selling your soul?"

"I didn't intend to agree," Louis said. He felt that Callister's mood seemed not right, so he slowly backed away, preparing to find a chance to leave from the other side of the sofa: "I originally thought that Tiha The people from the Portrait Gallery of Mrs. Pine went to find me a lady from Paris, that’s why they said that to the gallery’s people. The so-called [-] francs price is just a nonsense figure I just made up. The purpose is just to make her give up. M. de Durand, I think you'd better forget about it, and let us all pretend that nothing happened, and that would be the best for us both."

"And what if I'm not happy to pretend it didn't happen?"

Callister asked very softly, he suddenly stepped forward, stepped over to Louis' side in two steps, and grabbed Louis' shoulder at once: "Little guy, you have to know that if the person who made the contract wants to tear up the contract , that must pay some price.”

This time Luigi's cold sweat was really about to flow down. He tried to break free from Callister's shackles, but found that he couldn't break free at all.

"Sir, let me remind you that this is the residence of the Viscount de Bourgogne, the attendants are outside, and all the nobles in Paris and His Royal Highness the Count Artois are not far from us." Louis grabbed Callister's hand vigorously and looked up at him: "If I call outsiders in, we will all have to pay a terrible price—you should know that for a man, you will destroy your own future And status is an unwise thing to do, isn't it?"

Callister lowered his head, fixedly looked at the fragile neck exposed from Louis' shirt, and suddenly smiled.

"Of course I know you are a real man," he said with a sideways glance at Louis, in a very arrogant tone: "after all, if you were a lady of any family, you would neither appear in Saint-Étienne nor Not being harassed by those 50-year-old women, is it?"

Upon hearing these words, Louis' face suddenly turned pale, and most of his original courage and resistance dissipated almost instantly like bubbles punctured by the tip of a needle.

"After I was driven away by Saint-Etienne, did you continue to be dragged into their houses by those women?" Callister asked in a curious tone as if he didn't see his pale expression. , without needing Louis to answer, he answered his own question: "I think they have no chance, after all, you and that Mr. de Granville are like twins, inseparable all day long-is it right? It's because of that old woman that you are so close to him?"