flower and sword and france

Chapter 9: Brother and Sister's Resolution

It was a clear and bright Sunday morning, and Charles de Treville was sitting in the small drawing room of the Marquis de Treville mansion, staring intently at the chess board in front of him. enough light.

"White horse d2--e4,"

Ciel fiddled with the pieces of the chessboard while reading the chess manual.

"Black car g1--g4"

With the evolution of the chess game, the battle became more and more intense, and Ciel also slowly threw himself into the role of the fighter, savoring the fun of intellectual confrontation.

With all his attention, he didn't notice that the door of the small reception room was quietly opened.

"White elephant d4*f6 eats pawns"

Ciel demonstrated according to the chess manual, ready to pick up the white elephant and move.

However, he found that there was a force competing with him for the piece. He glanced aside reflexively, and saw a slender white hand.

Moving his eyes up along with his hands, Ciel found his sister Fran standing beside him watching him. Fran on Sunday, no need to go to the studio to study.

"Sir, you seem to be relaxed?"

"Oh, it's okay." Ciel replied casually, then took the chess piece and walked on according to the chess sheet.

"You won't forget what you promised me before, right?" Fran looked at her brother angrily, her blue eyes shining with anxiety and anxiety.

[There are two ways of saying the second person in French, one is you (tu) and the other is you (vous). Fran uses you here to express a sense of resentment. 】

Charles finally turned his face away from the chessboard.

"Of course I haven't forgotten."

"But the way you helped me was to sit in the room and play chess?" Fran added some sternness to her words, but unfortunately, the soft and melodious voice completely eliminated this sternness.

Charles took another pawn and took a step.

"Dear miss, you can't do anything by being anxious, and just because I'm not anxious doesn't mean I'm not doing my best for you."

"Then where have you done it now?" Fran immediately asked, "Mary suffers there every day, and I can't sleep well every night when I think about it."

"It will be soon." Charles replied casually.

At this moment, the servant knocked gently on the door of the reception room, and Charles called him in, and then took the letter handed over by the other party.

It's finally here.

Charles unhurriedly opened the envelope and opened the letter.

"My dear friend, according to the information you sent before, I checked it for you, and now I have some results:

The Marquis Leoran had an older sister, who returned from exile in 1815. Later, she married a diplomat from the previous dynasty. The diplomat earned a lot of money and left her an inheritance after her death. Coupled with the compensation given by the government later, this lady has a large amount of property.

Not long ago, the lady passed away due to illness. After the notary's liquidation and inventory, the total wealth was about 1.7 million francs... What is more noteworthy is that this lady also left behind a a will - and a valid will, written before her death, with the confirmation of a notary's consciousness, which identified her niece, Mademoiselle Marie-de-Leoran, as the sole heir to her wealth - on the grounds that It was because Mary was the only relative who had seen the woman during her serious illness.

In other words, Miss Marie-de-Leoran is fully qualified to inherit the estate and become one of the youngest millionaires in France. And, according to my investigation, the day after the aunt died, Miss Leoran was sent to the convent by her parents.

In addition, regarding the marriage issue you mentioned, since both parties are very secretive, I can't investigate too many details. However, there is one thing that makes people concerned, and that is that your cousin, Philip, the son of the Duke of Treville, is moving around, intending to let the Civil Court of Paris take over the management and ownership of the property because Mademoiselle Marie entered the abbey to serve God. To her brother, his son-in-law, your future cousin, M. Count Leoran.

So, I believe you can guess the general situation of the incident with your mind, right?

I wish you a smooth solution to this matter, and remember to finish writing it early!

Your friend

Caterina de Perriette"

Ciel read the letter slowly, and constructed the last piece of the puzzle in his mind. The outline of the event had already been roughly formed in his mind.

"What's the matter?" Fran asked her brother softly, perhaps with a foreboding.

Ciel raised his head and looked at his sister carefully. Due to his slender body, Ciel was not much lower than her even when sitting.

The girl looked at him expectantly with her blue eyes. Her thin but fresh red lips adorn her fair face, like a person in a painting.

Ciel stretched out his hand and touched his sister's silky blond hair. "Your friend, you will be back soon."

"Really?" The girl was surprised.

"It's only a few steps away," Ciel replied firmly. "And, I'm afraid you'll get a surprise."

"surprise?"

"If you're lucky, your friend will probably be one of the richest girls in France..." Charles replied slowly, taking the opportunity to continue stroking his sister's head (Franz became more and more disgusted at this age The older brother made this act of pretending that he was a child).

"Huh?" Fran fell into surprise, forgetting that her brother took the opportunity to touch her head again.

Ciel told Fran about the information he had recently discovered.

After learning of these circumstances, Fran's eyes were covered with a layer of white mist.

"They...they..." Fran repeated several times. "How can this be? Mary is their family! And...and Mary is so cute and kind!"

"In today's world, cuteness and kindness are not worth 1.7 million, my dear young lady." Charles teased softly, and then he immediately added after seeing his sister's rather unkind eyes. "But Mary had a lot of luck and made a good friend. I can't even buy ten 1.7 million..."

After hearing the compliments from her brother, Fran's expression finally relaxed a little.

"Then what are you going to do now?"

"I plan to visit our cousin next, and ask him, for the sake of the merciful God, to give Miss Leoran a way out." Charles said with a look of course.

Fran stared at Ciel with the look of a dirty canvas.

"Well, if he doesn't listen, I'll threaten him that I'll inform the newspaper about it, I know a lot of people in the publishing world. And it's a big scandal, and the press will definitely be following it , and then of course the two families will be disgraced, and the court will not be able to deprive Miss Leoran of her legitimate rights under the pressure of public opinion at that time, right?"

Charles explained his next plan.

Fran was finally relieved, but she still seemed a little worried. "Will the Duke of Treville and the Leorans stop this?"

"It shouldn't be a problem, once this kind of thing breaks out, the family's reputation will be ugly." Ciel replied firmly.

"Okay." After thinking for a while, Fran nodded, accepting her brother's opinion. "Then I'll thank you for Mary, sir."

"Oh, no thanks, that's what I should do."

"Then..." Fran regained her look at a dirty canvas. "Don't take your hand away!"

Ciel smiled awkwardly, then picked up the black queen and took the next step of the chess book. "General!"

============================================

After returning to her room, Fran sat in front of the desk, put her hands on her cheeks, and thought about things for a while.

Then she picked up the pen.

"Dear Matilda, please forgive me for using that title, which I thought I could call you since that day's conversation.

I still remember your promise and once again want to thank you for Mary. And, now is the time to put your commitment to the test - your chance to save Mary from doom.

My brother really lived up to our expectations and found out the whole story: Mary's aunt passed away a while ago, and because only Mary took care of her before her death, she made a will to pass all her inheritance to Mary .

What a touching affection this is! How many people in our time can still do such a good deed? God will reward those who do good in the end.

However, we all know that there is evil under the sun. In order to swallow up the inheritance, Mary's parents sent Mary to the monastery! They are now stepping up their efforts to seize the property, and for this reason, they are married to my cousin's family. How despicable it is!

Fortunately, God Almighty will not forgive such evil, and then he will use the hand of us mortals to restore justice. My brother is doing his best to stop this, but I'm not very relieved to rely on my brother alone. So here I ask you to lend a hand to save the poor girl.

Your grandfather is in a high position and speaks a lot. He must not be fooled by some judges and magistrates who have benefited from it. If your grandfather is willing to say something about this, then Mary's unjust case will definitely be resolved. rehabilitate.

Of course, my cousin had a lot of friends, so maybe your grandfather wouldn't be willing to say a word. However, I heard that your grandfather, because of his old age, often read letters aloud to him, and then recorded his approval (please forgive me, I said it when I was chatting with my classmates), so it must be for you , Shouldn't it be difficult to write a 'Grandpa's Letter'?

But, of course, this is just our last resort, if my brother is useful enough, we don't have to go this far - I really hope that my brother can come in handy!

You said before that the new era has given us our minds and allowed us to not be at the mercy of fate. Now is the opportunity to put your words into practice. You will definitely not back down, right?

From my brother's novel (he thinks I've never read it! I can introduce you to read it when I have time...), I came to the conclusion that we women must not be like Du Barry and the Queen in our own way and each other. attack. As long as we are united, there is nothing in France that we cannot do, is there? God, if they had our brains then, how could France be in trouble later?

your daring friend

Fran-de-Tréville"

[Countess Du Barry was born in a commoner, and later entered the court of Versailles to gain the favor of the king, and was the last mistress of Louis XV. She had a bad relationship with Louis XV's granddaughter-in-law, the future Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette, and the two sides had a fierce court battle. After the death of Louis XV, she fell out of favor at the court and was exiled from the court by Louis XVI, who ascended the throne. In October 1793, the queen was guillotined. In December, she was also sent to the guillotine. Died within a month. 】