Granville's estate

"You should know that hypocritical flattery is worthless except to satisfy vanity, and the last thing I like as a person is to do meaningless things."

When he said these words, Callister walked towards Louis. For a moment, Louis wanted to escape from this room immediately—even when he sent a letter to the Durand Bank, he once thought that as long as he could save him Friends, he is willing to pay any price, but when he really wants to face this reality, the religious education and moral education that have been deeply rooted in his bones still make him terrified; It was impossible for Alred to get rid of the two vampires, Bernard and Clement, and Louis's footsteps suddenly seemed to be tied with a thousand catty burden, so heavy that he couldn't move his steps at all.

When Louis first came to Paris, he met Callister by chance when he visited the Viscountess de Bourgogne in the box of the Opera Comique, the other party once said almost the same thing to him: "The so-called thank you is meaningless to me. , is of no value at all." Now it seems that this gentleman is indeed a thorough pragmatist.

Just when Louis couldn't help thinking wildly because of excessive tension, Callister had already crossed the small distance between them and came to him. The distance between them was so close that Louis could distinguish the viscount The branches and vines on the rosemary pattern embroidered with gold and green silk thread on the clothes.

And when Louis stared at the complicated and detailed shirt pattern in front of him, and didn't dare to look up at all, Callister spoke. He seemed a little surprised that Louis really stood in front of him obediently: "I'm surprised that you I will stay here honestly, the last time you were at the Viscount de Bourgogne's mansion, you treated me as the second Mama Moreau, and you moved out all the reasons."

"This has nothing to do with Mama Moreau, sir." Louis whispered. He didn't know why, and he felt a little aggrieved-Callister's implication was clear: whether it was strict religious teachings or secular moral teachings In the end, they still have to be defeated in front of the power of money-Louis has always been educated so that he could not really agree with this concept, but the reality is that he really had to give in and use the power of the Durand Bank to let him The evil wolf who was spying on his friend's property status walked away angrily: "I admit that I really thought so last time, but this time, I, I..."

He really wanted to say to the viscount, "This time you saved my friend, as promised, I will obey all your arrangements", and it is best to show that he will fulfill his promise like a man, but that A short sentence choked in my heart like a stone, and I couldn't say it.

Callister just sneered at what Louis said.

"Sophistry." The Viscount said, he stretched out his hand unhurriedly, and took the hat from Louis' hand: "I know what you are thinking, those good babies who take the priest's words as God's will, but say Honestly, I don't care, even if you think I'm no different from that woman from years ago."

"Instead of being treated as a savior and getting only useless thanks, I prefer to get what I deserve directly." Callister said, staring at Louis' eyes, and he reached out with his other hand to hold Louis' right hand , as if he didn't notice the subconscious resistance, he guided him with an unquestionable force: "Your complexion doesn't look good, is it because you're too tired? There are chairs here, sit down first."

In the viscount's office, there is a soft velvet cushioned armchair for guests to rest on. Louis was led by Callisto stumbling to the chair—just like a prey stared at by a lion will be frightened. , unable to resist, his thinking ability has also been sluggish, and he just stood there blankly; finally, the Viscount pushed him lightly, and Louis fell into the mahogany armchair, and then he was stunned. Looking up at Callister.

"Tsk, why are you still acting like a child?"

While Louis was staring blankly at Callister, the other party was also looking at him. After finding that Louis had no expression at all, the Viscount gave such a harsh evaluation, and then threw the hat in his hand aside: "I said, don't you still know nothing? Didn't your mistress teach you?"

"I don't have a mistress." Louis answered with difficulty. From his perspective, Callister's figure was very tall, and it seemed that his shadow could cover his whole body. To some extent, this It’s an ironic cycle of fate—Louis faced the same situation when he was at the boarding school in Saint-Etienne, and it was Callis who saved him from the shadow of Mama Moreau at the time. But eight years later, Callister, who is now the Viscount de Durand, became the role of Mother Moreau, which undoubtedly made Louis feel an indescribable despair.

For a male aristocrat living in luxurious and romantic Paris, it is obviously a rarity for a young man of his right age to have no mistress-generally, such a young man is either too poor to support him. either someone too unattractive to commit himself to, but Callister obviously knew about Louie's situation: "Even if you don't have a mistress to teach you, that friend of yours never Haven't discussed it with you?"

"Sir, I have already said that Al is just my friend." Louis said, under an indescribable mood, he almost blurted out something that he would never say before: "This I don't need anyone else to teach me, sir, do what you want, yes, you saved my friend, as long as Al and his family can keep their property and reputation, I will fulfill my promise. You can dispose of me as you wish, this is your right."

When it came to the end, Louis' voice trembled.

Callister obviously didn't expect that with Louis' personality, he would say such almost self-defeating words. After hearing what Louis meant, he frowned unhappily.

"So you value your friend more than yourself."

"But such trifles don't matter to you, do they?"

Just thinking that he was about to violate the teachings he had always believed in, Louis had almost no energy to argue with Callister. He turned his head away, unwilling to face the Viscount's gaze: "Sir, you can do whatever you want with me. Dispose of it, but I don't want my friend to be suspicious, if you can give me a little time today so that I can go back to my friend, I will always be grateful to you."

"It's a truly touching friendship."

After quite a long period of silence, Calliste said this lightly. He stood in front of Louis with folded arms and looked down at him condescendingly: "I'm very curious about what Mr. de Granville is doing for you. What did you do to get you to value him so much—I still remember that when I was driven away from Saint-Etienne, you didn't show anything, but now you are willing to do this for that gentleman. It's really curious."

Callister's words were a bit strange, and Louis, who was in a state of confusion, froze for a while before he realized what the Viscount meant. At that moment, he suddenly felt that he seemed to have caught something. The tail of ideas.

"I, I wanted to deliver bread to you when I knew you were locked up in a confinement room."

Louis raised his eyes slightly and looked at the person standing in front of him. Although the events of many years ago were a little blurred in his memory, he still remembered some details at that time: "But when I wanted to sneak out of the dormitory that night, I was taken as Mr. When he found out, he lost his temper and fined me to copy the Bible for several days in the small prayer room. When I came out of the prayer room, I heard the news that you had been picked up by your family.”

Copying scriptures in the little prayer room was a common method used by the headmasters at the boarding school of Saint-Etienne to deal with students who they thought needed punishment but could not be locked up in the dark and cold solitary cells.Of course, for some lively and active students, they would rather be locked up in a confinement room to drink cold water, eat unbearable rye bread, and sleep on rough log pillows than to burn cigarettes. In Xiang's narrow small prayer room, he would copy with a sad face before the statues of the Virgin and Child—sometimes, the proctors even asked them to kneel down to do all this from beginning to end, which was simply torture!

As a student of Saint-Etienne, Callister naturally knows the method of punishment of the proctors - by the way, because he will not be obedient and stay in the small prayer room to copy books, and take advantage of the time Because the burning incense was thrown out of the window when escaping, the supervisors all agreed that this kind of milder punishment was a waste of effort for this hopelessly bad student, so he was still put in confinement There are many—but he is obviously not very satisfied with Louis's statement: "Even so, you didn't inquire about me later, and you didn't even send me a letter, did you?"

"But you didn't leave your address to others when you left Saint-Etienne, and you even had a fake surname." Louis said that Callister's accusation made him quite aggrieved: "Mr. Nathan has not allowed any When someone mentioned your matter, if he heard you talking about you, no matter who he was, he would be beaten in the palm of his hand, and Al was beaten for helping me find out!"

This explanation undoubtedly pleased Callister. After staring at Louis for a long time, the viscount suddenly stretched out his hand, and when Louis thought he wanted to exercise his power, he closed his eyes in fright. At the same time, Calliste snatched from his coat pocket the beautiful franc box with the coat of arms of the Farentin family - and the one tied with the franc box by a gold chain, bearing the seal of the Granville family Breguet silver pocket watch.

"I changed my mind."

Callister played with the two beautiful gadgets carelessly, and stared at Louis with those wolf-like green eyes: "Since you are not very happy to fulfill your promise now, I can allow you to give up the previous promise, But in contrast, you must promise me a few conditions."