flower and sword and france

Chapter Twelve: Brother and Sister Night Talk

"She put her hand gently into the flowers, and then pinched a bright red rose, which was a gift from the Duke of Choisel after his return from Holland.

The tiny thorns on the stem of the rose pierced into her hands, and she didn't notice it.

After breaking the stalk, she picked up the bright red rose. The thin blood droplets fell from the flower stem drop by drop, as if oozing from the flower, giving the earth a bright red moisture.

The rose was gently brought to the fresh red lips, and for a while, it was impossible to tell whether it was the flower or the redder lips. Savoring the fragrance of the morning dew, she recalled those blurry and intoxicating images.

Unhappy childhood, entering the court at the age of nineteen, the king's favor, the court's banquets, the splendid ceremony, the scenes flashed in front of her like a revolving lantern, and then disappeared into the boundless void, wanting to forget What I want to remember, every scene disappears into the endless void. What is the end point in that void? Is the Almighty Father waiting for him there?

The memories gradually dissipated, she looked at the rising sun, the red glow and the bright red roses intertwined in front of her eyes, gradually becoming inseparable.

Is it the last time? She thought to herself.

The end is coming, yes, no one can escape this end, everything will be lost here.

A smile gradually emerged on this slightly withered face due to illness, but the return of light caused patches of red clouds to appear on the pale face.

She picked up her last thoughts, looked up at the blue sky, and then...

Everything is in nothingness. "

[The Duke of Choiseul was a famous minister in the era of Louis XV. He entered the political world with the help of the Marquise de Pompadour, Louis XV's favorite, and was finally canonized as a duke due to his merits. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Navy, Minister of War, in power during the reign of Louis XV. 】

Xia Er was writing quickly, preparing to finish writing the ending of the book tonight. Blue Stockings had already urged her several times.

In order to give this book a beautiful ending, Ciel has been thinking hard several times recently, but he has never come up with a good enough ending. He is still not satisfied with what he wrote today.

Recently, readers' tastes are getting more and more cunning. If you only use a foolish plot to end it hastily, I am afraid it will be difficult to make money from them in the future, so you have to end it with a beautiful ending.

Should it be more literary, or should we focus on sensationalism? The more he thought about it, the more he felt a headache.

Charles looked up at the wall clock in the study, it was almost twelve o'clock.

Forget it, think about it tomorrow, it's so late... He yawned lightly.

Just as he stood up to turn off the lights and leave, there was a soft knock on the door of the study.

"Who is it?" Ciel asked softly, then got up and opened the door.

Fran walked in in her pajamas with a cup of coffee.

"Fran, why are you still not sleeping?" Ciel asked softly.

"I see that you are still here at this time. You must be a little tired, right?" The younger sister looked at her brother, "So I made you a cup of coffee to refresh yourself."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Charles took the hot coffee cup and put it beside the desk.

His nose suddenly turned sour.

How long has this girl been so considerate?

Did it start two years ago or a year ago? Can't remember.

"Thank you, but you should hurry up and go to sleep." Charles looked at his sister affectionately.

Fran's reaction was a bit unusual. Her eyes floated a little, cruising around her brother, with a rare hesitation and coyness on her face.

"Thank you..." The red-faced girl suddenly said.

"Huh?" Ciel was a little surprised, but relieved after a while. "Miss Leoran is back today?"

"Yes." Fran nodded slightly. "She came back to class today, but she kept thanking me. I told her that you helped her..."

"I think she knows." Charles replied lightly. "Okay, it's all in the past, there's nothing to talk about. How is she now?"

The 300,000 transaction, Ciel didn't tell Fran.

"She rents a house outside now and lives alone. After all, she doesn't want to live with those family members anymore..." Fran's eyes were still a little wandering. "Hey, how did the family become like this? It's all the money's fault!"

"My dear, how can money be at fault?" Charles straightened his face. "It is people who make mistakes, and it is people's greed. After people have done something despicable, they blame money for their sins. Isn't that even more despicable? ?"

"Okay," Fran lowered her head.

"However, since I have the opportunity today, I just happen to have something to tell you." Ciel remembered something.

"what?"

"Your friend is not as pure and flawless as you think." Charles stared at his sister closely, "On the contrary, this is an extremely smart lady, from the first glance at the letter. I just knew she wrote that to elicit your sympathy and then entice you to help her."

Fran continued to bow her head.

"It's a good thing that you are kind-hearted, and I'm not blaming you. But if you assume everyone is kind-hearted because of this, it's a big foolishness, and it will cost you a lot." Charles She told her sister softly, then took a sip of coffee. "But fortunately, you still have a brother. He will try his best to help you and help you avoid those reefs."

Fran still lowered her head.

Ciel felt a little regretful, why did he tell her this? Watching secretly, can't you just take action when you see a problem?

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not..."

"I know." Fran, who had kept her head down, suddenly whispered. "I've always known that."

"Um?"

"I know..." Fran raised her head and smiled at her brother, "Mary wrote this letter and said she was so pitiful because she wanted to arouse my sympathy and let me save her. …”

"From the actual situation, it seems that her purpose has been achieved." Ciel replied calmly.

"Yes, maybe I was moved by her words and took advantage of it, and I fulfilled her goal with all my heart..." Fran's smile added an unknown meaning, "But, if I ignored it at the time, I would have How...she was in such an environment, she could still think of me, she believed that I would help her...Sir, how could I ignore it at that time?"

"That's true," Ciel nodded. "This lady doesn't bring much money, and the number of times she can bribe people is quite limited, so it's very important to choose the recipient. She can think of you at the first time... It's a bit of a vision. Bar."

"You said she would play tricks, but at her level, what's the sin of playing tricks! What can she do if fate plays tricks on her like this? If her brother can help her, why should she work so hard on herself? ?" Fran raised her head, arguing for her friend, "Fate forced us to do this."

Ciel looked at his slightly excited sister, and suddenly realized that what she said made sense. He nodded, "You're right, not every girl has a responsible brother." Then he took another sip of coffee.

His boast made Fran a little pissed off.

"Not every elder brother tells his younger sister some boring big truths every day." She puffed out her cheeks.

"Haha... well..." Charles laughed, "Well, let's not talk about such boring things, your brother is really dizzy now..."

"Ah..." Fran suddenly sneezed.

"What's the matter?" Ciel was taken aback, then took a closer look at his sister, who was only wearing thin cashmere pajamas. "Don't stay out for a long time if you wear so thin, go back to sleep quickly!"

"Okay." Fran agreed to her brother's request, then turned around and left.

After his sister left, Ciel continued to sit at the desk and continue to think. After a while, he still felt that his mind was in a mess, and he couldn't come up with inspiration.

Hey, let's go to bed earlier. In the end, Ciel, who was exhausted, chose to give up.

He drank the last remaining coffee, then turned off the lights and paced back to his bedroom.

Perhaps it was because of the overuse of his brain today, perhaps because of that cup of coffee, after lying down on the bed, Ciel was still unable to sleep, and his mind kept thinking about the ending.

Words tumbled in my head, constantly combining and breaking, and line after line flashed through my mind.

Suddenly, a flash of light flashed in my mind, and a few lines that were finally combined flashed before my eyes. if so……

right! right! that's it!

Regardless of his physical exhaustion, Ciel quickly got up and got out of bed to go to the study, ready to record the ending of his new idea.

In order not to disturb others, he picked up the candlestick, then walked down the stairs gently and walked towards the study.

However, when Ciel gently opened the door of the study, he saw a scene that he might never forget in his life.

His younger sister, Fran, was sitting in his chair, concentratingly reading the manuscript he had just written, her face flushed as if blood was about to drip, her blue pupils were shrouded in mist, and there seemed to be tears in the corners of her eyes. traces of the past.

This! how so!

Charles roared in his heart.

As a great and glorious transmigrator, it turned out that it was something that Xia Er was deeply ashamed of to write about such women selling money to Gong Douwen, so he kept his sister and others secret and never mentioned it. And my sister didn't seem to care about what she was writing at ordinary times. No, she didn't ask once.

He never imagined that he would see such a scene today.

"Uh..." The huge impact made Ciel exclaimed.

After a while, his consciousness returned, and then he stopped exclaiming.

But it's too late.

Hearing the sound, Fran looked up and found that her brother was opening his eyes wide, looking at him in disbelief.

She was stunned, and the red cloud on her face faded instantly, leaving only a pale jade-like paleness.

"Uh..." Ciel didn't know what to say, looking at his sister awkwardly.

It took a moment for him to say a word. "good evening……"

At a speed hundreds of times faster than the disappearance, the red cloud once again enveloped her sister's face, and the tears seemed to gather in her eyes again.

"Sorry...sorry...I didn't know you were there...in fact, I..." Charles didn't know what he was talking about, he just kept saying, "If...if I...but..."

"Now are you satisfied!" The younger sister stood up, her tone was so fierce and severe that Ciel felt as if he had never heard it before.

"This..." Ciel still didn't know what to say, but finally he finally thought of it, "Go to bed early, don't get cold... well..."

"Now you're satisfied!" The look of looking at a dirty canvas returned to Fran's eyes. The blue flame seemed to be able to burn everything.

Suddenly, she rushed out of the door at such a fast speed that even Ciel couldn't dodge and was hit on the shoulder. "I'm going to bed! Don't bother me!"

Charles stared blankly at the messy desk, his mind went blank.

After a while, he suddenly remembered the purpose of coming to the study again.

Damn, I forgot what I was thinking before!

His brain hurt again.

Forget it, let's go back to sleep.