flower and sword and france

Chapter 2: House of the Marquis of Treville

When Charles-de-Tréville came out of the secret passage, it was almost dark, and the sound of gunfire from a distance still continued. He looked around carefully, then crept slowly along the shadow of the building, until he turned into an alley and saw his light two-wheeled carriage still parked securely there. He breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"Jacques?" he called softly.

Hearing his call, the gray-haired coachman who had been sitting in the driving position hurriedly looked in the direction of the sound, his wrinkled face forming a surprised expression. "Sir! Are you all right!"

The sound of gunfire still kept coming, and the exchange of fire had been going on for a long time.

"I'm fine," Ciel replied casually. "What happened on your side? Are the police around the robbers? Or is there another riot there? It's almost like the Avenue de Transnonade?"

[In 1834, the Republicans launched a riot in Paris, and the government sent three brigades into the town to suppress them. 】

"I have been waiting here as you ordered, and then there was a gunshot over there just now..." He turned his head to the direction of the exchange of fire, "I was worried about you just now..."

It seemed he didn't know anything.

"Okay, let's go, let's go." Ciel, who had a ghost in his heart, didn't dare to stay here for a long time, and urged the other party to start quickly.

"Okay, you are seated!" Jacques was in the same urgency as he, and hurriedly whipped the whip to drive the horses.

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Charles, sitting in the carriage, closed his eyes slightly and seemed to be resting, but his thoughts drifted into the distance.

He is a traveler, a time traveler from China in the 21st century to France in the 19th century.

In the original time and space, he was an orphan. He grew up slowly with the care of the government and relatives. Finally, he finished university and found a job, living like an ordinary young man.

He couldn't tell exactly how he came across. It was as if he had woken up from sleep, and one day he suddenly found himself born into this world as a baby, restarting a new life.

At the beginning, Ciel was still a little uncomfortable, unable to accept the reality.

But as the years passed, Ciel gradually accepted his new identity, accepted his new family, and started his new journey with a new identity.

Now, except for a few unknown aspects, he is fully integrated into the era. He faced the new life with a positive attitude that he could not imagine in his previous life.

Because, here, he has his own family and everything he has to fight for.

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The meeting place of these conspirators was in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, on the Rue Batinogris, and the carriage drove into the adjacent Rue de Clichy at great speed until it crossed the Place de Clichy and entered the eighth arrondissement. After feeling that it had entered the safety zone, the carriage slowed down.

Immediately afterwards, the carriage rushed left and right through the rows of streets and alleys, and came to the Place de la Concorde—that is, the Louis XV Square in the old dynasty era, which is also the Revolution Square in the era of the Great Revolution.

Louis XVI and his queen, as well as the revolutionary leader Robespierre and other famous figures, were guillotined here amid the cheers of the crowd. Of course, among the victims was the "ancestor" of Charles, the former Duke of Treville.

The carriage continued on from the edge of the square, passed the Pont Concorde - which took some time due to the high volume of vehicles to cross - and crossed the Seine to the left bank.

The carriage then entered the edge of Paris' sixth arrondissement, often referred to as Saint-Germain. After the collapse of the Bourbon Dynasty and the relocation of the political center of France from the Palace of Versailles to the city of Paris, French dignitaries also gradually concentrated in Paris.

Due to the prosperous population and numerous merchants in the downtown area, no matter what dynasty or era, nobles and wealthy families who always try to imitate the aristocracy will always try their best to build their mansions away from densely populated areas. Therefore, these nobles also built their mansions on the left bank of the Seine, which was not so prosperous at that time, and slowly the Saint-Germain district became a gathering place for the French dignitaries.

The carriage carefully passed through the various exquisite or splendid mansions, and finally stopped in front of a small mansion on the edge of it. After the doorman opened the door, it drove directly in and stopped under the glass canopy in front of the steps. Stay, put your foot down.

This is the residence of the old Marquis de Treville.

Charles finally felt relieved, he got off the carriage, then walked up the steps, and walked directly into the mansion through the glass door that had been opened.

This is his home, where he was born and raised.

The layout of the first type of living room is typical of the Empire era, which was once brilliant in the old days, but like the Napoleonic Empire, it has slowly faded under the erosion of time.

The red silk curtains have turned purple from the sun, and the crepe is about to wear out; there are gold-painted railings on the stairs from the first floor to the second floor, but a large piece of paint has peeled off a little, revealing the original white wood background. The living room is covered with a red carpet, but the color of the carpet has almost faded, and it has become an indescribable pink; the gold paint on the furniture has also peeled off, and the silk face shows a little warp and weft:

To sum it up in one sentence: This mansion was brilliant thirty years ago, and then it only stayed thirty years ago.

The reason for this is to start with the experience of the owner of this mansion, the old Marquis de Treville.

The Treville family was once prosperous in the old dynastic era, and the Duke of Treville in the previous generation has always been a favorite in Versailles. In 1789, the storm of the Great Revolution began to sweep the whole of France, and in the general atmosphere of reckoning against the nobility, the Duke of Treville also fell to the guillotine.

He had two sons, both of whom fled to Germany and became exiled nobles in France. The eldest son, Philip, inherited the title of duke and continued to serve the Bourbon royal family, becoming a confidant of the Count of Provence (later King Louis XVIII).

And his second son, Victor.

In 1802, Napoleon, who was still the first ruling at the time, issued an edict, announcing the pardon of nobles who had been in exile for various reasons. After the official coronation of the Supreme on December 2, 1804, such edicts were issued repeatedly. Victor, the second son of the former Duke of Treville, returned to France in 1805 after many years in exile.

It is well known that Emperor Napoleon has always been quite magnanimous towards the old nobles who have returned from foreign countries and have served him respectfully - especially those of famous families. He treated Victor generously and granted Victor's wish to join the army.

Due to the problem of time, Victor did not have time to catch up with the Battle of Austerlitz, which made Napoleon's peak at the end of 1805, and could not see the embarrassment of the Russian tsar and the Austrian emperor seeking peace, but in 1806 Jena and Orstadt In the special battle, Victor, as a cavalry officer, rushed to kill, and led his subordinates to smash the Prussian army on the North German Plain, all the way to Berlin, and won the commendation and promotion of His Majesty the Emperor. This is famous in the empire. In the subsequent wars of the empire in Austria and Russia, Victor also made many achievements, and was finally promoted by the emperor as a general.

The emperor usually does not hesitate to reward his meritorious servants. He re-appointed Victor as the marquis of the empire, and gave various other honors and a lot of financial support-this mansion was purchased by Victor with the emperor's reward. Yes, in the era of the old empire, the marquis often entertained guests here, and it became a famous social place for the upper class of the empire. There are even rumors that the Grand Duchess of Tuscany (namely, Napoleon's eldest sister Elisa) was lucky enough to drive here.

However, after the fall of the empire in 1815, the splendor never reappeared.

After the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty, Victor was different from the other returning nobles who had reconciled and bowed to His Majesty the King again. He refused to bow his head to King Louis to beg for forgiveness, but continued to show his nostalgia for the old empire and the emperor. Therefore, he was rightfully given the cold shoulder and became a member of the half-paid officers.

[After the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, the officers of the Napoleonic era were basically expelled, and they could only receive half salary. 】

If the salary cut was considered a threat to the Treville family’s fortune, then the vacancy was a fatal blow to the Marquis’s family – the subsequent French government, whether it was Bourbon France or the July Dynasty, whether it was Spain. Either sending troops to North Africa did not give the Marquis any chance, so he could not subsidize his family by earning extra money (Bourbon France sent troops to intervene in the turmoil on the Spanish throne in 1823, and then occupied Madrid. The colonization of North Africa has been for decades. The French government has always been the same policy), so the decline of the Marquis has become a matter of course.

However, whether it is prosperity or decline, glory or decline, this is still the home of Ciel, and this will never change.

The Marquis, who has been old and frail recently, has always gone to bed early. In order not to disturb the old man's sleep, Ciel eased his steps and planned to go back to his room on the second floor to rest.

However……

"Aha, our hero Ciel is finally back!"

The sudden loud shout made Ciel stunned for a moment, and then he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard who the speaker was.

The Marquis came out of his room and walked through the corridor to the stairs on the second floor, looking kindly at his grandson under the steps.

"Grandpa, how are you..." Charles looked up at his grandfather.

The Marquis, who is over sixty years old, has long gray hair, but it is still delicately combed and separated; although there are many folds on his face, the edges and corners are still quite straight, and there are traces of a handsome man in his youth. The most impressive thing was those eyes full of energy and enthusiasm, and Charles had always believed that the passion in these eyes was no less than that of a young man.

And at this moment, those eyes were staring at him with love.

"Once a person reaches this age, it's not easy to fall asleep. You made such a big noise when you came back, and you woke me up a long time ago." Although the tone seemed to complain, it was full of the affection of the elderly for their children and grandchildren. But soon, his eyes became serious again, "How is it, where are you? Is everything going well?"

"Well..." Ciel hesitated for a moment before answering, "It's going well."

"What's wrong? What happened?" The Marquis keenly sensed Charles' momentary hesitation, and hurriedly asked.

Charles originally didn't want to tell the old man about this kind of detail, adding unnecessary worry to him, but since the Marquis has already asked, he still decided to tell the whole story. "The meeting went well and nothing unexpected happened. However, there was a shootout near where we were meeting..."

The old marquis raised his eyebrows.

"The thing is..." Ciel was about to explain when the old man suddenly interrupted him.

"You just came back, first take a drink, eat something, take a rest, and then come to my room to talk about today's affairs in detail!" He dropped his instructions, and then slowly walked back down the corridor. own bedroom.

"Okay." Charles nodded, grateful for a while.

After a meal, Charles knocked on the door of the Marquis' bedroom with the spirit and spirit of a schoolboy who went to see the teacher to hand in his homework.