The Sensory Animals of Ston Hill

Alan Ston sat on a satin stool, passing the red wine glass to his lips from time to time, moistening his lips, in case people found out that he was not able to drink well.He had been pretending like this for a long time, and the court banquet was still long.

long and boring.

Next to these stylish young people have been chatting loudly.They are all around 25 years old, and when they speak, they show the unique expression of aristocratic youth: it is an eagerness to say clever wisecracks, their voices rise unconsciously, and they can cover the sound of music; There is a kind of laziness that is indifferent to everything, deliberately looking for nothing, making people feel that they have everything.

Alan Stone mingled among them.He also wore a dress and a short wig, and shaved the soft beard on his lips to hide his age and make him look similar to these young people.But he can only sit on the outer edge of the circle.If he wasn't needed for a moment of conversation, he was visibly snubbed.

Fortunately, he himself was not annoyed by this, and there was always an indifferent calm on his face.This kind of expression usually only appears on the faces of noble people, but for a young man with an ordinary surname like him, in such a luxurious banquet, this kind of calm is particularly eye-catching.Especially when he was sipping wine, his fingers were loosely holding the wine glass to his lips. This posture made his fingers very beautiful; while the blue eyes were slightly narrowed, looking around casually, that lazy energy He is more authentic than many nobles.

Several ladies not far away have been secretly admiring the lines of his nose bridge and lips.

Those few noble youths were actively talking about the frontier.They all had military positions and good pensions, but none of them had actually been on the battlefield. They neither knew how many times the enemy's cannon was many times their own, nor did they remember the number of casualties in this battle.They speak so aggressively, just to show their uniqueness, and their skillful rhetoric.

But obviously, their interest is more in the moment, and only when talking about what happened before their eyes, will their tone of voice glow with natural vitality: "Look, Mrs. So-and-so is courting Mrs. So-and-so, it's really asking for fun He looks so ugly when he smiles!" "Mrs. So-and-so walks in, and she's still wearing the same old dress she wore at the last party, and it's a disgrace to her husband!" and so on.

The fathers of these people are all centrists, so they ridicule everyone they see, unless the other party has more than three medals from the Crusades in the family, otherwise no matter whether it is an earl or a marquis, whether the annuity is [-] or [-], they will all fall into their mouths. jokes.

Alan Stone knew very well that given his background, he must have been ridiculed many times.But now they clung to him, refusing to let him leave their small group, because the border conversation would die in his absence.

"...The truce agreement this time is a good proof. As far as I know, this is the first time that the other party has proposed a truce so actively—" The speaker, who was trying to show his quick thinking, aimed at Alan Stone .

"Six months." Alan Stone reminded him with his mouth, and at the same time said to himself in his heart, at this moment, he would rather change with Sisyphus who pushed the stone.

But he can't complain, because he insisted on coming.Without the recommendation of the Earl of Arundel, he asked three noble friends to get an invitation to a palace banquet.So, in fact, he asked for trouble.

What a fool.

There was another lady looking at him, even though it was so far away, he could still feel the tenderness and friendliness in those eyes.He has been used to this kind of favor from women since he was a child, and he considered whether to sit with the wives.In short, you must find some company for yourself, this is the rule of the banquet.

But he still has some concerns.First of all, he didn't know these ladies and didn't understand their political positions.But he thought about it again, the wives should be tolerant in their positions, otherwise they themselves would have to bear the embarrassment that their husbands and lovers belonged to two factions.

So the biggest hesitation lies in the content of the conversation.According to Alan Stone's experience of attending banquets outside the palace, the conversation of the ladies usually revolves around millinery, skirts and shoes.This reminded him of when he was a child, on the tenth of every month, his mother would get the latest fashion prints, and then he would spend a morning with Mrs. Brown discussing the above content, and sometimes asked for his opinion, pointing to a few Looks basically the same lace, and asked him: "Baby, which one do you think looks the best?" At that moment, he would run away, first run to the backyard to call for Grace, and then the two ran to the field outside the villa together.

Now he had to choose between two kinds of boredom.

In the end, Alan Stone chose the boredom of the ladies.Ladies do wear hats and dresses, and at least they know what they're talking about.

Alan Stone took another sip of wine, moistened his mouth, then raised his head, looked at his wife with a friendly smile.After a while, the two ladies walked towards the young group gracefully, holding each other's arms.

The few noble youths immediately fell silent, their faces flushed with excitement: on the one hand, it was the uncontrollable physical reactions of the young men, and on the other hand, it was the nervousness when they were about to face the witticisms of the wives - this is a woman's Advantage, ladies can always think of meaner and more interesting rhetoric.

But the ladies were not prepared to talk to them. "You have monopolized the Knightston for so long, it's time for the captain to tell us about the border." One of the ladies only said this with a smile.

Alan Stone was saved.

His seat was upgraded from a satin stool to a sofa. Some of the wives sat on the sofa and some sat on high-backed chairs, surrounding him and talking to him softly.Alan Stone heard the music again.

In order to repay the tenderness of the ladies, he did not tell the real battlefield.Because the waists of the wives are too thin, it always reminds him of the connection between the chest and abdomen of ants, which looks very weak.What's more, ants are crawling, and humans are rare upright walking animals.Ever since he figured out the working principle of the corset from his classmates, and learned that those plump breasts and buttocks are partly due to the displacement of the abdominal organs, it is difficult for him to feel the beauty when he sees the slender waist of the ladies. On the contrary, I can't help but worry that they will suddenly break in the middle.

Although the truth is not so scary, the wives are indeed prone to fainting, so he just improvised a few battlefield jokes.He easily achieved the achievement that those noble youths most wanted to achieve in their life - making the wives laugh.They also brought him refreshments with their own hands, but he didn't take a sip and put down the wine glass he had been holding.

It wasn't that he was bothered by the perfume, the scent of the perfume on the young men just now had already made his nose malfunction, and now he couldn't smell anything.The main reason lies in the lady closest to him.

The lady's maid must have gone awry when she sprinkled flour on the mistress's wig tonight, and sprinkled too much.When Mrs. Alan Ston nodded frequently or her shoulders trembled when she laughed, flour would fly out of her wig and fill the air, making Alan Ston want to sneeze all the time, but she kept sneezing. not come out.The trouble brought tears to his eyes, blue eyes as beautiful as washed glass.

Such wet eyes aroused real tenderness in the hearts of the wives, and one of them asked him with concern: "Are you tired?"

Alan Stone looked at the clock, it was already eleven o'clock, and he looked at the gate connecting the banquet hall with other halls.The great door stood open, with two court guards at the door, and on the other side were the King and his favorites, and it was from that hall that they heard the music.

Maybe the people over there were dancing, he thought.He'd never seen Grace dance, and couldn't imagine it.

The two guards guarding the gate wore shiny light armor and each held a medieval-style spear. They looked very majestic. It seemed that if someone tried to cross the boundary, the two three-meter-long spears would fall down.But they could also be just decoration, like those antique armors in the lord's palace.

All this is his guess, because so far, he has not seen anyone enter that banquet hall rashly.He could only test it himself. In the middle of the night, when everyone was behaving wildly because of alcohol, he had to try to see if the spear would really fall.

Seeing that he was always looking at that door, a lady thought he was envious of those who were favored by His Majesty, so she couldn't help but said to him: "Excuse me for asking, but I really care about you, knight—— "

Alan Stone knew that she called himself this to express flattery, but in fact he did not have this title, and he preferred to be called "Captain".

"——Knight, is there some misunderstanding between you and the Earl of Arundel?" Madam asked cautiously.

Only then did Alan Stone realize that this lady was really thinking of herself.

In court, it is the greatest disrespect for women to discuss politics.But the ladies looked at him at this time, willing to take risks for him, and whispered to him to resolve the misunderstanding with Earl Arundel as soon as possible.

Another lady also covered her mouth with a fan, and told him in a low voice: "The bishop of St. Francois suddenly fell ill, and his deputy will soon be lucky. Do you know who this lucky priest is?" "

"Who?"

Madam said a surname, and Alan Stone fell silent after hearing this.An old friend, a close friend of Steward Ward's, who had officiated at his mother's second wedding a few months before.

The lady also told him that another of his countrymen, Mr. Odor, had bought a peerage with the help of the Earl of Arundel, and was now an active member of Parliament.

Alan Stone showed a grateful expression.He had to admit that the news in the palace was more well-informed, or in other words, the ladies were very well-informed.Maybe the wigs and huge sleeves just make the heads of the ladies look smaller, but there's a lot more stuff inside than those idiots just now.

He thought that maybe he could get what he wanted to know from the ladies.

He said: "The Marquis of Nacolon was my father's best friend during his lifetime. He just stayed at my house for a while a while ago. But after he moved to the palace, our contact was not so close. I wonder if he is in good health recently?"

The ladies exchanged subtle glances.The lady who knew the most covered her mouth with a fan and chuckled a few times, "Are you trying to inquire about that young and beautiful Miss Nakoren?"

Ever since he entered this banquet hall, Alan Stone has been pretending, and he is indeed pretending to be like that.It's just that when he was asked such a question at this time, his face became uncontrollably hot.

The natural shyness of the young man aroused a slight jealousy in the hearts of the ladies, but they loved him all the more for it, and told him tenderly of the mischief that Miss Nakoren had done at court.

Alan Stone frowned and listened carefully. It took a long time before he realized that the "Miss Nakoren" they were talking about was not the same as what he originally wanted to ask!

The topic got farther and farther, and they even talked about the day His Majesty returned to the palace from the villa, and that Mrs. Durnell and the Queen actually rode in the same carriage, but no one mentioned another "Miss Nakoren".

Alan Stone became impatient.He thought that because of Grace's restless personality, he could hear others talking about her when he came to the banquet.Isn't the court the place where news spreads the fastest?The ladies even remembered the decorations on Mrs. Denell's hat the day they returned to the palace. Why didn't they remember that they brought a girl into the palace during that trip?

He thought to himself, why no one mentioned Grace?Is it because she refuses to admit her false identity?Or was it because she was neglected at court?Does His Majesty dislike her already?

These questions made Alan Stone feel hot and cold for a while.At first, he thought that he was afraid that Grace would be excluded by the noble ladies and noble ladies in the palace, but only now did he realize that maybe his true thoughts were to hope that Grace would suffer some hardships here.Better His Majesty is tired of her - that's quite possible, just a silly country girl who shouldn't be at court.

He had to buy a residence in the city, he thought to himself, just in case, in case that silly girl was kicked out one day and didn't even have a place to stay.That maid is so stingy, and those broken boxes must be carried, so it is best to have a basement for storage.

A lady suddenly asked him: "Why did your brother fight the Earl of Arundel?"

Alan Stone stopped his daydreams and asked, "Is anyone else talking about that?"

The ladies immediately laughed, showing that people were very interested in that duel.

They said that such an exciting duel has not been seen for a long time, and it makes people go back to 20 years ago.The current duels are extremely boring. The direction of the gun and the posture of falling to the ground have been discussed in advance. The most exciting time was a year ago. But the Viscount's marksmanship was too poor, and he accidentally injured the Baron's foot.

"Maybe the Viscount did it on purpose?" A lady said with a smile, "After all, Miss Mathilde would never marry a cripple."

"So, did your brother hit the count's hat on purpose?"

"I heard that the hat was knocked off the earl's head. Did your brother intend to hit the earl's head?"

"Did the Earl of Arundel show any timidity?"

"I heard that their duel was interrupted once?"

In the end, they asked the question again: "So, why did your brother fight the Earl of Arundel? Is it really for that 'Grace Margaret'?"

Grace Margaret.It turned out that they called her like this, using this nondescript name to express their contempt for her.

They also asked him: "Is that rustic girl really the daughter of the Marquis of Nakron? Why does she live in your house? If she grew up with your mother, then she and your brother..."

The ladies realized that they had asked a key question, and their beautiful faces glowed with dazzling brilliance.They couldn't help leaning over to Alan Ston, fanning the small fans in their hands faster and faster, urging him with enthusiastic eyes.

But the young man seemed to be frozen, motionless, without blinking his eyes, staring blankly into the distance, his facial and body muscles tensed together.

The ladies became more and more excited, and the fans in their hands fanned out, staring closely at Alan Stone's face.

Alan Stone's eyes widened, his pupils became more moist, his lips were slightly parted, and his eyebrows were raised, forming a strange expression.

Under the eager gaze of the ladies, the pair of beautiful nostrils suddenly trembled slightly.He hurriedly took out the handkerchief from his left breast pocket, covered his mouth and nose, leaned back, raised his head, his Adam's apple was exposed, his knees were straightened, and even his toes turned up——

"Ah - sneeze!"

He finally let out a sneeze.