HP's Platinum Temptation

West Sussex, located in the southwest of London, is not very far from London.More than half of the land in this county is the countryside protected by the Muggle government policy, with a favorable climate, beautiful scenery and rich vegetation.The Lambert Manor, located in Arundel, a famous nature reserve in the county, is therefore rarely discovered by wizards.

The date of the original construction of Lambert's old house is unknown. Judging from the obvious Baroque architectural style now, the last large-scale renovation will not be earlier than the 17th century.It can be seen that the economic strength of the Lambert family was quite good at that time.

This is a building full of enthusiasm and romance.The off-white walls are exquisitely carved, and the marble statues are well-arranged.The dark gray-blue vault gives people a lively but atmospheric feeling.Without the rigorous symmetry of the Gothic style, it has a feeling of freedom for the occupants.The violet family crest carved in blue and black is printed on the highest wall of the building, showing the identity of the owner of the manor.

When the owner of the manor spends a lot of effort to repair and decorate, almost every corner can become a moving beauty.The front yard of the manor is covered with shrubs and flowers of various colors of blooming violets. In the center of the flowers is a fountain where the goddess Venus holds a bottle.

The Duke of Rezlan and his three sons greeted the arriving guests at the door.

On Christmas Eve, the Duke of Rezlan opened his mansion to the public for the first time and held a banquet, inviting all the families that had joined the business alliance to come here.

When Jeffrey followed the old Mr. Lister to the front of the manor through Apparition, he was instantly conquered by the beautiful courtyard and buildings.

"I dare say that the Medici's manor is definitely far inferior to yours." After Jeffrey stood still, Old Rister greeted the Duke of Rezlan who came forward, and he did not hesitate to praise him : "If I hadn't come here in person, I really didn't expect the Lambert Manor, which has been silent for many years, to be so magnificent. Lambert, you never mentioned it to me. Are you worried that our silly boy will come to play?" ?" Old Rist smiled heartily, not forgetting to tease the Duke of Rezlan with his son's dumbfounded reaction.

"Haha, how could it be? The Lister family is always our most welcome guest. Gretchen spent a month arranging for today's banquet. If Jeffrey likes it, he can stay for a few more days." The Duke of Rezlan was very enthusiastic about the loyal ally of the Lister family: "I still have to wait for other guests at the door, let Clarence accompany you inside to see Gretchen's achievements!"

"Very well, then please trouble Mr. Lambert." The old Mr. List nodded to the Duke of Rezland knowingly, and followed Clarence into the manor with Jeffrey.

In fact, the Duke of Rezlan didn't need to bring Theodore and Clarence out to meet the guests.However, in order to make it logical for Clarence to lead Rist, the Duke of Rezlan seemed to have a particularly formal way of welcoming guests.

"Tonight's dinner will be held in the garden on the right side of the manor. Mom thinks that the wide lawn by the small lake will bring the most pleasant enjoyment to the guests, so the dinner will be a buffet style, and it will be convenient for the guests to chat freely. But now the time It's still early, we can go in from the corridor on the left, and finally go to the place of the dinner." Clarence introduced politely, and returned a bright smile to Jeffrey who was winking at him next to him: "If Jeffrey If you decide to stay for one night tonight, Mom should be very happy."

"It's not urgent, there will be opportunities in the future. I don't think it's particularly appropriate to stay overnight during the first visit. Jeffrey still has this patience, doesn't he?" Old Rist looked at the expectant Jeff with a bright smile. Foley, when the latter became a little disappointed when he heard the words, he added: "But if it's convenient for the Duchess, after Christmas, let Jeffrey come over to disturb you for a few days, and then join Mr. Lambert Jr. Going back to school might be a good option."

"Of course, mom will never refuse."

Afterwards, Old Lister and Clarence didn't have much conversation. The former seemed to be admiring the gorgeous ceiling murals and gold-painted solid wood decoration inside the building very seriously. From time to time, he would stop for a short time and send out a few heartfelt greetings. admiration.

Jeffrey couldn't help but kept making eye contact with Clarence happily, but with his father by his side, he still resisted the urge to chat.Obviously, before going out, the old Mr. Lister had confessed that Jeffrey did not dare to relax too much.

All the way to the garden entrance of the circular vault, with the soothing dinner music, the voice of people talking gradually became clearer.

"It seems that there are a lot of guests tonight, it's really lively." Old Lister said: "The dinner probably won't end early, right?"

"The dinner party lasted until eleven o'clock, but before that, my mother thought that my father might want to invite the male guests to the auditorium to talk about some topics that men like. During that time, she and my sister-in-law would accompany the other guests in the garden. .”

"Oh, good arrangement. I hope that I will have the opportunity to express my thanks to the Duchess in person later. Every detail of the dinner was very considerate." Old Rist nodded with a smile: "You and us together Into the garden?"

"No, I think father would like to see me at the door again." Clarence said goodbye politely.

"Then, see you later."

When the Duke of Rezlan came to the garden accompanied by the last agreed guest, the dinner officially began.

Jeffrey had made up his mind to follow Clarence all the time so as not to get bored.However, many of the guests attending the banquet tonight brought their wives and children. Not long after Jeffrey and Clarence met, the two were dragged away by different young guests.Although Mr. Lister doesn't particularly like this kind of social occasions.

No one would eat too much at this kind of open dinner. Apparently, many of the guests today had some doubts and concerns. Halfway through the dinner, the number of people in the garden decreased significantly.When Jeffrey managed to get away from the social life of his peers, he found to his dismay that he couldn't find Clarence.

In fact, most of the guests attending tonight's dinner party did not have the relaxed mood of old Mr. Lister.Before the agreed meeting time, the men came to the auditorium one after another to take their seats.The number of seats prepared by the Duke of Rezlan was obviously more than most people expected, and the guests who were full of doubts and thoughts basically just nodded to each other.

There was not much conversation among the guests in the auditorium until the Duke of Razlan and the old Mr. Lister and a man who did not appear at the dinner finally took their seats.

"It's a great honor to invite you to the party tonight. Just as you have guessed in your heart, the people present tonight are all members of our business alliance." The Duke of Rezlan waited for everyone to sit down, and he did not pause much. He opened his mouth: "First of all, I only represent the business alliance. Welcome everyone."

As the voice fell, in the silent hall, the guests couldn't help but start to shake their eyes, looking at most of the unfamiliar faces around them.There are even a very small number of members wearing silver masks, obviously not wanting to reveal their identities.

"I believe that everyone has many doubts in their hearts, and they will be answered tonight. Before the agenda of the first plenary meeting of our business alliance officially begins, please allow me to introduce someone to you." The Duke of Rezlan then turned his hand to the one on his left. Brown law man: "This is Mr. Winter, who is the best candidate we invited from Germany to be our business alliance consultant."

Sensing the gazes cast by everyone, the brown law man smiled very calmly and nodded, but did not speak.

"I think that many of you are very unfamiliar with other people here. Since our respective families are still relatively weak, we have not disclosed our alliance cooperation before. Most of the contacts with you are It is conducted and maintained by Mr. Lister, Mr. Collins and I. In fact, the three of us have been in contact with you on behalf of the business alliance.” Duke Rezlan paused slightly, looked around, and continued: “ Our original plan was to keep the alliance a secret until each family accumulated a certain amount of funds. Unfortunately, a month ago, during the investigation of the Rist and Lambert families, the Medici family discovered that The existence of our alliance has resulted in the inability of our alliance to remain completely secret. In order to cope with this change, we have today's gathering. There are two main topics for our meeting, one of which is to let Everyone gathered here to clarify the specific situation of our alliance to everyone, so that everyone can have a bottom line. As you can see, the reason why some members wore masks to attend is because we are not planning to make public plans in the next step , revealing their existence."

"How can we ensure that we will not reveal their identities during the contact? Moreover, why do we need to make it public, and we need to reserve it?" A middle-aged man sitting in the middle of the long conference table immediately threw out a question.Since the meeting just now, he has been in a state of restlessness.

"Yes, this question is very good, because it involves our second topic, so please allow me to introduce the topic before answering your doubts." Duke Rezlan replied seriously: "This meeting will be During the recent period, it was the only meeting that all our members attended. We will arrange a new development cooperation plan according to the changes. As for what kind of plan it is and what everyone should do, as mentioned just now, members The issue of the list, we finally adopted the most reliable way to solve it. The entire list of the business alliance and our plan will become a secret through the spell of loyalty, and the keeper of this secret is the person next to me. A Mister Winter."

In an instant, eyes that were several times hotter than before were glued to the brown-haired man who kept smiling gently.

"Then, since the following content involves confidential information, I will introduce it to you." Mr. Winter, that is, Clarence stood up slowly after the disguise, calm and calm.