Lord Duke

Chapter 38 Wealth

Slant put away his lazy expression and showed Payne a report in his hand.

Payne raised his eyebrows when he saw the most obvious large sum of money.He was not sensitive to these changing figures under the account, so he simply sat back and listened to Slant's explanation.

At this time, the two had returned to Water Manor.It took three days.

three days ago.

On the first day, they were still stationed on the front line to wait and see what happened.

I don't know whether it is reasonable or unexpected, Keshiya really retreated and returned to the Sassi country.Slant had a clear expression on his face. He took out a piece of information to Payne and shrugged casually: "The spies in the army are not elite enough. I sent some of my men to investigate." Payne glanced at ten lines Sweeping through it, it can be regarded as understanding the general regulations.

Information roughly speaking:

Kashya had a younger brother, Kashmir, who intercepted the letter sent back by Kashya. It was a letter asking the king to increase his troops. When the king saw this letter, the news of Kashya’s defeat also spread. , The king did not want to increase his troops.

Maybe there are some considerations of his own. In short, after all the weighing, Keshiya withdrew his troops very quickly.

In the next two days, the two led the army back and spent time on the road.

Things suddenly increased.

Slante threw away the report in his hand, sat next to Payne, and lay on his lap half lazily and half casually.He narrowed his eyes slightly, and reached out to scratch Payne's chin playfully.Payne moved helplessly, making him half-lying more comfortably.

The smile in Slant's eyes became wider, and he simply sat up again, and his tone became a little more serious: "Huh? Duke Payne, do you think you have made money? So much money..." He stretched out his hands A large space, the light in the eyes flickered, and the smile on the corner of the mouth deepened a little: "It's all yours."

Payne then smiled and teased him, and seemed to stroke his blond hair quite smoothly, but of course he was touched back the next moment: "Why is it all mine?"

Slant then tilted his head, and said expressionlessly: "What's mine is yours, and you are mine." He straightened up, straightened Payne's somewhat messy neckline, looked at the corner of his eyes, and smiled. meaning slightly.But he quickly turned his gaze away: "Don't want to hear how I did it?"

Payne then laughed: "It's an honor."

When Slanter talked about the field he was good at, his eyes were extremely bright, like midnight starlight, which was even brighter in the dark; like the scorching sun at noon, or—— there was a flame in his eyes, dancing.

This is how he looks like the Western Duke Slant, who has a precise vision, wins every profit, and does not let others take advantage of him.Instead of the playful and slapstick Slant in front of him.But although it is different, it is not unfamiliar.

Payne looked at him seriously and listened to his narration. Seeing Slanter's serious expression, he couldn't help thinking about it, thinking of the time when they first met——

In the palace lounge, the two tentatively talked.At that time, he had the idea of ​​'this duke's ability to manage property and accumulate wealth is very outstanding, he should try his best to learn a little bit' in his mind.It's all right now, it's no use for him to learn, the other party's entire body is his.

He scratched his heart like a feather, looked at the other party's serious expression, took a breath to suppress the momentary delusion, and continued to listen carefully.The trance was only for a moment, and only then did Slanter start to talk about the topic.

"At first," Slant pointed to his clothes, his long eyelashes trembling slightly like a fan, "I was inspired by seeing this."

He glanced over with a half-smile, and said leisurely: "It's also thanks to Lord Duke's iron smelting, which costs a lot of money."

Payne: "...cough cough."

Now that Slante is in the state, it really makes people wonder what to say. He was about to say something casually, and when he looked at him again, Slante's expression was not half a smile, it was obvious that there was a narrowness in the smile.

Slanter continued: "I remembered that the Principality of Eton actually has a lot of places where cotton is grown. And because of serfdom, labor is not as scarce as in other countries. Therefore, most of the extra cotton will be sold to other countries. Of course, it also includes countries such as the Saxi country and the Kelin country.”

"Cotton and linen textiles are actually not valued very much in the Principality of Eton. Nowadays, most of the clothes of noble ladies are silk or cotton fabrics from other countries, but most of the patterns are monotonous. Common people wear sackcloth clothes, and of course the middle class will wear cotton fabrics .”

He darkened his eyes, and showed a sly smile: "I spent some thought, cut off several ways to import cotton cloth, and took the opportunity to spread the cotton cloth from my previous factories in this country. Due to the war, Saxi and Kelin countries don't pay much attention to my actions, and they lose part of their interests without knowing it, which may be insignificant for a country. But..." He stopped short, and the two left unfinished. But I know it well.

"Of course, due to the war period, I can't get much benefit in my country. But because I sent people to develop a new printing technology..."

Payne sighed slightly in his heart, secretly speechless.He probably had a vague guess in his mind, but he just listened more carefully.

Slante didn't say anything, he pointed to his cheeks, raised his eyebrows, his eyebrows were full, the waves in his eyes were like water, and the peaks of his eyebrows were like mountains.The two looked at each other for a while, but Slant was defeated, but before he could lose, there was a warm touch on his lips.

He raised his hand to touch his lips, and raised a very bright smile.Then he continued: "Speaking of it, there is also a bit of luck. The improvement of technology has made the production of cotton fabrics more convenient and faster. Moreover, the printing and dyeing technology that has not made progress before has made a breakthrough at this time. Therefore, the cotton patterns that can be produced are more complicated. It is exquisite, and the colors tend to be diversified." He hooked the corners of his lips, "The most important thing is that its price is not too expensive."

"I exported these cotton fabrics and raised the price. This kind of technology is not mastered by other countries, so my cotton fabrics are of course more advantageous in terms of quality and price. Of course, I will not ask for trouble, so in the way of transportation, It took a lot of work on the source."

"........."

When he finally talked about rising, he used several professional terms in a row. After he came back to his senses, he saw that Payne had been listening carefully, and he simply concluded: "It doesn't matter if you don't understand, there is me." Slanter's eyes slightly curved into a smile, But it was a little more gentle and pampering out of nothing.

Payne nodded with a smile, then shook his head again.He said, "Well, there is you. But I also want to know what you like."

＊＊＊＊＊＊

The morning star appeared, and the sky was already bright.

A new day has come.

A letter made its way through several central battle lines, and eventually made its way to Duke Payne's desk.Well, it is now the desk shared by Slant and Payne, and the original wooden desk has been replaced with a larger and longer striped ebony desk.This letter is an ordinary letter with green stripes and a white background. What is unusual is that it is signed by the name of Slant.

Slant got up earlier. He rubbed his chin and felt that he didn't move much during the day yesterday, and spent most of his time in the manor.Originally, things were complicated and the situation was ever-changing, and it was rare for the two of them to have free time, but he could always find the time to take a break from his busy schedule.

inside the room.early in the morning.

Slant threw away a bunch of various letters in his hand, and lay back on the bed lazily, not wanting to move.Lying on the bed with his head in his hands, he called to Payne to get him some books to read.He smiled and said to Payne: "I will watch whatever you are looking at. Because I want to discuss with you the topics you are interested in." He threw the pillow inside to make an empty seat. , patted the position, and signaled Payne to come and sit with his eyes.

Payne was sitting at a small table not far away, and was seriously reviewing the documents. Seeing his actions, he simply put down the documents, got up and told the servants to get the books.Originally, these documents should be in the study, but now... don't mention them.A little helpless, but not troubled.

Payne listened to Slant's request and thought about it for a while, so he explained a few words to the servant in a low voice, and the servant went down. Slant looked at him with a tilted head and a smile not far away.After the explanation, Payne came back and sat next to Slant, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, the book is brought for you."

Slant raised his eyebrows and smiled, "I want to read these." He casually mentioned the titles of several books, all of which were Paine's favorites.Payne shook his head with a smile, just smiled without saying a word.The servant quickly brought the book and knocked lightly on the door.Payne took it and handed it to Slant, with a smile mixed in his voice, "Look."

Slant couldn't help raising his eyebrows in surprise. The cover has an extremely exquisite and mysterious pattern, but it doesn't have the name of the book.So he turned it over, with a look of surprise on his face. "This is the hardcover version of "Water Journey" that I like?" He was a little excited, but he coughed lightly as if remembering something soon, pretended to calm down, and looked at Payne: "How do you know what I like? of?"

Payne smiled casually, but it was a little sly.This smile made his already handsome face look like it was glowing, and Slanter felt himself being shaken.He sank his fluctuating mood, and wanted to say something, but before he could say it, Payne spoke first.

He also imitated Slant and said with a smile: "You want to understand me, but I also want to understand you."

"I know you don't like eggplants, because you avoided eggplants when we ate together before, not once or twice."

"I know you are interested in those business activities. Well, I also bought some books and learned to look through them."

"I know you like to read travel notes, although you are really interested in my books. Because you mentioned that you like travel notes in your letter."

Slante just looked at him with a smile, all the light seemed to gather in his eyes, and the light became brighter a little bit, he nodded, "What else?"

Payne glanced at Slanter, and continued to laugh and said, "I know you like a wide-brimmed top hat, you don't like to carry a cane when you travel, and you prefer soft and dull colors for your clothes."

Payne thought about it and said, "I know a lot."

Slant smiled and rolled his eyes, he said: "Then I know a lot." So he also listed some things.

The two looked at each other for the last time and laughed in unison.They seemed to read the same meaning from each other's eyes:

——I will subconsciously pay attention to your emotions, whether you like it or not, because I have put you in my heart.

My heart is very warm.

They leaned together, Payne looked at Slante, delusions were growing in his heart, he gently pushed back the blond hair on Slante's forehead, Slante felt a little itchy, and wanted to laugh, he subconsciously half-closed his eyes, Then there was an extremely gentle touch on his forehead.

Payne kissed his forehead.As soon as he opened his eyes, he could look into Payne's eyes, see the turbulent emotions in his eyes, and see the affection that could hardly be hidden in his eyes.

A seemingly satisfied sigh seemed to contain many emotions, but it quickly dissipated in the air, leaving only the lingering sound hooking Slant's heart: "... Be good."

So Slante collected himself, and slowly cleaned up his wrinkled sleeves. The corners of his lips rose into a perfect arc at some point, three parts romantic, three parts casual, three parts affectionate, and one part elegant.He leaned forward and kissed Payne's lips. The warm breath of the other party fell on his face, and he could clearly see all the subtle expressions of the other party.

It was a very peaceful, gentle, and lustless kiss.Although Slant showed a very experienced look, after the end, he turned his head a little embarrassed, coughed lightly, and said in a low voice and quickly: "I love you very much." Can't hear it.

When I didn't fall in love with you, I thought I would love you sooner or later. It was nothing more than the difference between loving you a little more and loving you a little more.And now—

Just let you know.

Just let you know clearly.

It's not that I have thought about it ten times and a hundred times in my heart, and I have read it a hundred times and a thousand times.

I love you.

Slant turned around suddenly again, with a calm expression, but he felt his heart speed up again, and felt that he was like a calm sea on the surface, with the most restless waves underneath, and he spoke slowly: " I love you. I love you very much." He said every word solemnly, as if it took a lot of effort.

Payne's expression was extremely calm, if his red ears were ignored.

Seeing Payne's expression, Slant smiled lightly, elongated his tone as if trying to arouse the other party's interest, and then slowly continued: "...But—" His eyelids slightly lifted, but this action did not appear to be frivolous. Under the eyelids are a pair of bright, smiling green eyes.

There is a world in his eyes.

It seems that a spring breeze has blown the fields in his eyes green, as if the spring returns to the earth in his eyes, and everything revives.

He looks at you intently, and the world in his eyes wakes up.

Payne was almost addicted to this look, so he also smiled and said, "I love you too. But, what do you want to say?" He said it casually, but the seriousness in his eyes is beyond doubt.He looked extremely composed, if you ignore his clenched hands.Slant just looked at him with a smile, then sat comfortably on the edge of the bed, leaned back, and leaned against the pillow.

Then he continued in a soft voice: "However, every day I will love you a little more." There was the most undisguised affection in his voice, as if he was making the most important promise.

Payne then adjusted his posture, and lay back on the pillow leaning against the headboard of the bed, side by side with Slant.With his hands resting behind his head, he was in a more relaxed posture. Payne looked at the ceiling, smiled leisurely, and took the words: "Then I will love you a little more than you love me."

Slant turned to look at Payne, he shook his head, his expression was serious, but he couldn't help laughing when he heard Payne's words: "I can't let you, I love me a little more than you. "

After playing around for a while, both of them walked to the study tacitly and started to deal with things.

The steward directed the servants to do things, the knights outside the manor were training soldiers, and the pigeons flew in the sky, and more information was sent.

The tulips are blooming right outside the window, and the fountain is spraying water.

Everything here seems to have been unaffected by the war.However, who can tell what will happen in the future?

Slant walked to the table, glanced at it, and then slowly picked up the letter with a green stripe and a white background addressed to him and opened it.Slant glanced roughly at the sender and the first few paragraphs, weighed the letter in his hand, and couldn't help but bend the corners of his mouth.He stroked his chin with a meaningful expression.

The warm sunshine outside the window fell in, and the leaves were rustled by the wind.

Payne took some documents from the table and thought carefully.Or when encountering something really important, put it aside and wait to discuss it with Slant.

When he turned to a certain piece of information, he paused for a moment with a gloomy expression on his face.It happened that Slant came over, and he also saw the message: "The king is dead. The queen is dead."

Slant's brows and eyes moved slightly, and he was a little confused about what to say for a while.I don't know how he feels, but I know that Duke Payne really has no relatives in the world now.He stood behind Payne without speaking.After thinking about it, he shook the teapot lightly, tipped the teapot and poured green tea into the cup.

The fragrance of tea is dense.Moisture diffuses.

Slant gently pushed the tea to Payne.

Payne looked at the teacup, and it turned out to be the double lotus pattern he often used. He picked up the teacup and stroked it. After a while, he said in a low voice: "There is no need to stop Chabu's army from attacking the king's city. It's just a matter of changing the kingdom's system, serfs." The abolition of the system is inevitable. In addition, the 78 laws of the kingdom will also be abolished.

And the guy was kind of smart, but he didn't know what he wanted.

Kling's army will not take the west, it's time for those old foxes to appear.

Bishop North...

The Army of Priest Orville...

............"

He rambled on a lot at once, but stopped abruptly.

In the morning light, his brows and eyes were sharp, as if nothing in this world could arouse his emotions except for that person.

The author has something to say:

I don't want to go through the plot~

I almost forgot how to write the plot...

Finally, I don’t have to write about war anymore, I’m incapable of writing (>﹏<)