flower and sword and france

Chapter 10: The Duke

In the afternoon, Charles took a carriage to visit the Duke of Treville.

Compared with the already shabby and dilapidated Marquis Mansion, the expansive mansion of the Duke of Treville is indeed worthy of the seven-character mantra of high-end atmosphere.

There were manicured gardens, splendid mansions, and servants dressed in powder and ties—just like the old days long gone—and coming and going with a pretentious air.

After expressing his intention, Ciel waited for the notification in the concierge.

Although the two brothers lived only a few miles apart, Ciel has been here only a handful of times in his life.

After waiting for a while, the arrogant servant walked over from the mansion. "The Duke declines the reception today."

Are you giving me a face? Charles was stunned.

"Then you go and communicate again. If the Duke refuses to receive guests today, my cousin's marriage will end tomorrow." Charles stared at the servant maliciously.

The servant was taken aback, panic replaced the arrogance just now, without saying anything, he went back to report again.

After a while, the servant returned, this time with a much more humble expression on his face. "The duke is now free to meet guests, and is waiting for you in the study. Please come with me, Mr. Treville."

"Isn't it good to be like this from the beginning?" Charles gently tugged at the servant's tie and laughed.

The servant ignored Ciel's malicious joke and turned to lead the way.

Crossing the path in the small garden, Ciel entered the mansion.

Along the road paved with Persian brocade rugs, Charles followed the servant to the Duke's study. Along the way, Charles had not forgotten to pay homage to the portraits of Treville's ancestors on the walls.

The servant knocked lightly on the door of the room, then opened the door and motioned for Charles to enter.

After Charles entered, the door was closed immediately.

The study room is beautifully furnished but not luxurious. Several bookshelves are stacked on the edge of the room wall, and the Duke's desk is also arranged in the direction facing the door.

And Charles' cousin, Duke Philippe de Treville, was sitting behind his desk, staring gloomily at the visitor standing in front of him.

Philip and his younger brother Victor are both alike and not--their facial contours are very similar, and their hair is also completely white. But the temperament of the two old people is completely different.

The younger brother Victor has sharp eyes and hot words, looking forward to the pride of a soldier, looking like a raging fire; while the older brother Philip has a gloomy look, a reserved manner, a politician's demeanor, and is as cold as ice.

Yes, the Duke of Treville was highly relied upon by King Louis XVIII during the Bourbon Restoration era, and was entrusted with important positions many times, and even served as a foreign minister. When the revolution broke out in 1830, after the collateral line replaced the long line and usurped the throne, out of disdain for Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Treville chose to retire from politics and lived a semi-reclusive life.

As the elder brother was a die-hard royalist, and the younger brother was a Bonapartist, it was normal for the two brothers to sever ties and never communicate with each other.

Of course, the semi-reclusive life does not mean that the duke has no influence. The duke made a lot of people he liked in the era of power. These people have gone further after the political turmoil, and many people hold important positions - such as today's Prime Minister Sirte. He often expresses his own opinions on national affairs and diplomacy, but there are quite a few big people who listen to and refer to these opinions.

In short, the Duke of Treville is still an influential national dignitary.

After Charles entered the room, the study fell into silence for a while, the Duke stared closely at his grandnephew, and Charles smiled in response.

After a while, the duke spoke, and asked in that undistinguished, unsentimental tone.

"How much do you know?"

Straight to the point, no detours, very good.

"I probably know a lot, but there are still some questions that I haven't figured out yet." Ciel replied, "For example, how the 1.7 million Leoran family is going to be distributed to you."

"It seems that I really know a lot." The Duke said without surprise. "If you want to hear it, I can tell you. One hundred thousand will go to me, one hundred thousand will be divided among those who handle it, and Count Leoran will take the rest."

"You are so generous?" Charles was a little surprised.

"If you marry a princess now, the dowry will have to be 500,000, let's say 500,000. As a result, now I can marry Charlotte to a famous noble without spending a penny, and I can still make 100,000. There are 600,000 inside and outside. In today’s France, there are not many businesses that can make 600,000 in one stroke.” The Duke’s tone was still unwavering, as if he was talking about other people’s affairs. "Although I'm old, I can still figure this out. If you want more, the Leoran family can find someone else."

Charles raised his eyebrows in admiration. "That's really good..."

"How much do you want? Since you are also named Treville, I can give you fifty thousand at most, and a business of fifty thousand francs is a pure profit, which is not very much in France these days."

"What if I want to call the poor lady back?" asked Charles rhetorically.

The Duke's expression finally loosened, and he looked at Ciel again. "So you want to pack 1.7 million and that lady away? There's really no way to bribe you."

Charles coughed.

Where did this old guy think? !

However, one can't help but think about this...

"I'm just for justice, Mr. Duke." Charles looked at the other party with justice.

"Oh, yes, justice worth 1.7 million." The Duke nodded.

"It's better than killing a young and beautiful girl in a convent for the rest of your life for this little money!" Ciel replied.

"It was her parents who made this choice, and after her aunt died, it didn't even wait until the next day. The lady doesn't know yet that she is the rightful heir to a large fortune."

"At least you chose to help others and do evil!"

"If I don't do it, someone will definitely do it." The Duke's face was still sinking.

"Then at least you don't have to get one of Treville's hands dirty, do you?" Charles raised his voice.

"Compared with 600,000 francs, a dirty hand is nothing." The duke looked at his grandnephew disapprovingly. "I'll just wash it later."

"Can the conscience be cleansed after it has been stained?!"

"Of course it can be washed with money. If you have time, I can tell you a hundred such stories." The Duke's voice was terribly calm.

"If there is no money, at least we can keep our dignity, Mr. Duke of Treville." Charles looked directly at the Duke.

A look of sneering and disgust suddenly appeared on the Duke's face, as if he had seen a lame clown in a circus.

"Dignity? Mr. Treville, do you know what dignity is?"

"I think I know." Ciel responded with a look.

"No, I don't think you know." The Duke looked coldly at his grandnephew. "Let me tell you what dignity is."

"After the mass execution of the priests, your great-grandfather realized that something was wrong, and quickly planned to let us escape from France - he himself was looked upon very closely by the Revolutionary Party, and he still had no hope for life. Before escaping, he wanted to I swear to protect my brother and leave France alive." The duke recounted in a flat tone that seemed to speak of what happened to others, "I was 18 and your grandfather was 15. We sat down first. The carriage and the servants ran all the way. After reaching Lance, the mob found that we were fugitive nobles, so they shot and tried to kill us. run east..."

[On September 2, 1792, the revolutionaries executed all 160 Catholic priests in a monastery who refused to obey the new government's order to swear allegiance to the new regime, which became one of the beginnings of the era of terror of the Great Revolution. 】

The Duke stopped, as if recalling something.

"We didn't dare to go to the residential house or go to the carriage, and we didn't carry any money with us, so we walked all the way to the east, all the way to the wild countryside. We slept on the wild land along the way. Fortunately, it was not at that time. It's very cold..." After a while, the Duke spoke again, his tone was always flat, "Hungry, very hungry, I still remember the feeling of being so hungry. Your grandfather had a high fever on the road. The road was almost drowsy, and I couldn't walk. I almost dragged my back and ran eastward--Looking back on it now, I should have forgotten my oath to my father! We lived on wild fruits and vegetables, and some When I am lucky, I can steal some fruits and vegetables in the farmland. I always let your grandfather eat it first. I don’t know how long I ran and how far I ran, until one day, I felt that I could no longer run, and my stomach was so empty Stuffed with straw, and your grandfather's head was so hot that it could catch fire, I thought at the time, we're going to die here..."

Charles only felt his throat tighten.

"At this moment, God favored us." The Duke smiled suddenly, and the smile sent chills down Charles' spine. "Do you know what I saw?"

"What..." Charles tried his best to maintain his composure, but his voice still trembled.

"I saw a few voles. At that moment, in my eyes, these voles looked better than any beautiful woman, their faces were like angels, their fur was as beautiful as brocade, and their squeaks were louder than the music in the Opera de France. It sounds good..."

A burst of vomit rushed over Charles' heart.

"What's the matter, sir? Feeling sick? Is this all your courage?" The Duke cast a sneering glance at his grand-nephew. "Without these angelic voles, what dignity would you be talking about in front of me today? Stealing farmland without me. What kind of dignity can you talk about in front of me today? Sir, do you want to hear what happened later?"

Charles was silent.

"Since then, I have understood everything. Dignity is nothing. Living and living like everything is more important." The Duke sneered, "The eldest princess has a saying that the revolution will trample us into the mud, and we will Return the sludge as a gift to France."

[The princess refers to Louis XVI's eldest daughter, Marie-Theresa, who was the only child of Louis XVI who survived the Revolution and later married her cousin, the Duke of Angoulême. During the Bourbon Restoration era, he hated the Revolutionary Party, vowed revenge to the end, and even tried to blow up the French Pantheon. 】

Charles was silent for a long time.

"Do you still want to stop me?" the Duke asked indifferently.

Charles continued to be silent until the end, with his head raised and looking directly at the Duke.

"Your Excellency, I admit that without your help, my grandfather may have died long ago, and I would not have come to the world. I also admit that you have suffered a lot because of the revolution, but... I don't think this is something you can do as you please. Excuses, at least this is not the reason you can let me give up." The blue eyes unique to the Treville family shone with pride, "I have promised others to bring Miss Leoran back. No one can stop me from fulfilling my promise until I entrust it."

Twenty years of b****y storms made most of the aristocrats in that generation lose the concepts of "honor" and "morality" (although this concept was not adhered to by many people in the first place), but instead kept the creed of sword and blood in mind. Such "reactionary aristocrats" are the most die-hard counter-revolutionaries, and they have no other idea about the enemy than blood for blood.

This mentality might make some sense if it was only towards enemies and enemies, but it soon expanded to target everyone. Selfishness has thus taken on the guise of "forced", and various vices have evasions and excuses.

"Suffering is never a reason to do whatever you want, and it's never a tool to justify evil. If you feel that you have suffered before and now you can bully unrelated people, I will never agree."

Charles justly gave a negative answer.

In fact, he didn't really want Lu Jian's sword to help him, and he didn't think he was a righteous partner. If it wasn't because he felt that he couldn't get back with Fran now, he might have changed his mind.

"So you refuse to accept my terms of reconciliation?" asked the duke coldly.