The Sin of Ludwigs

In addition to the money spent on the road, there is one more thing that I must have.

"I have no objection to your request for money, but I need to get Anne's slave status contract."

If Anne has always been a slave, and this hidden danger has always been lurking there, and it cannot even be ruled out that Elvis used that document to issue a fugitive slave arrest warrant in a fit of anger, then even if I brought her back to Luther Vichysburg will also face this trouble.

The baron shrugged his shoulders: "Okay, I will give you Miss Anne's contract documents as an extra gift, and I will send someone to deliver them later. You haven't seen each other for a long time, and you must miss each other very much, so I will I'm not here to disturb your reminiscence."

After carefully negotiating the terms of helping us leave, the Baron left Anne and me a private space.

As soon as he left, Anne lowered her voice and asked me eagerly: "Edmund, that money..."

"Don't worry, 600 pounds is a bit much, but my annuity can still afford it." I assured her, "But I can't guarantee that everything goes well on the way back. If you encounter difficulties, you will probably follow me to eat some Difficulty, Anne."

"I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of anything when you're here." Annie said, hugging my arm tightly, and her voice was crying, "Nothing will be worse than what I suffered when I was a maid at Kollak Manor. The time is getting worse, don't leave me behind."

I hesitated for a moment, gently grabbed her hand, and let her look into my eyes.

"Have you really thought about it, Anne," I said, "it's a great risk to follow me, I'm going back to my old home, which is far, far away, and your family is here; we There may be robbers or storms, we may walk halfway and find we have no money, or other problems, or even a single rain can kill us. If you stay here, stay with the Baron, be safe A comfortable life can still be guaranteed, that's what you've been pursuing before, isn't it?"

"I'm not afraid. I'll follow you. I'll go wherever you go. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to go back to my family." Annie looked at me. Faced with the difficulties I mentioned, this girl showed She showed an extremely decisive courage, which I have never seen in any girl before, "Earl Ian doesn't care about me at all, and the baron is the same. As long as they need it, they can send me off at will." Going out is like giving away a cat or a dog, only you won't do that to me. Even Miss Selena has to stay with that rude and ugly Gaston, so I don't want to face him in the future For such an encounter!"

When she said these words, Annie's eyes had a kind of brilliance unique to firm belief. At this moment, the girl who dared to challenge her own destiny in the Kollek Manor returned—perhaps only the rough and fearless temperament of the New World could breed a woman like her. A girl like Anne, even the idea that "women will make the best choice after weighing the pros and cons" deeply rooted in my mind seems dirty by comparison.

"I will take you back to my hometown." I hugged Anne, and I didn't know whether to tell her or myself, "When we get back to Ludwigsburg, I will take you to see My mother, madam must be delighted to see you."

I can accept Elvis's attitude towards me for a short period of time in order to restore my due status-every qualified noble will know that there are always situations where you must bow your head, but I can't accept what I get after paying the price It's just a deception, and no matter how you look behind that deception, it will not be the result I want.

After confirming that what Caroline said is indeed true, I have reason to doubt the truth of every word Elvis said to me, and I am even very inclined that the reply letter from Duke Lane will not be returned——Duke Lane Maybe I didn't know about it at all, and all I got was a contract document that made me a slave.Does anyone on this continent know whether Ludwig Francaimon Edmund was from Württemberg or from Brunswick?My king, family, and friends have no idea that I am here, and it only takes a little tricks and the power of the Haggas family to turn a man from a man of status to a slave; This kind of direct threat to turn me into a slave, Elvis's method of letting people down but unknowingly cutting off all my reliance, and at the same time using a luxurious life to make me unable to do without them is obvious. More stealthy, but also more deadly.

On the way back to my living room after leaving Baron Fred's apartment, I met Beatrix and her maid.

Seeing Beatrix again, I don't know what it feels like, anyway, it's extremely uncomfortable——her whimsical idea in the Kollak Manor saved me from being tortured by Ian, but made me I sent it to Elvis, which led to this embarrassing situation.What's more, I am not sure whether she knows about Ian and me at the moment, which makes me feel very embarrassed when facing her.

Beatrix is ​​still so graceful and generous. After greeting each other, she said to me: "I heard Jane from Mrs. Elvis say that you once went out for a walk, and when you came back, you took Miss Caroline's fan."

I myself forgot about the fan that was polluted by mud. I didn’t expect Beatrix to know about it. The channel is not strange: "I'm surprised that you know such a small thing... Ah, Miss Caroline accidentally dropped her fan into the drain that day. I picked it up for her and took it to the servants to clean it. You Not to mention I forgot."

Beatrix looked at me, and for some reason, I could see a trace of worry in her eyes.

"The fan is just a trivial matter, but you should try to avoid contact with Miss Caroline," Beatrix said to me softly, perhaps because she was worried about being heard by others outside the corridor, " Miss Caroline, she... In the past, Lord Ian had a very favored lady. In order to attract the attention of the adults, she wore too little clothes in winter and died of pneumonia. At that time, there were rumors that Caroline said in the middle For whatever reason. If she says anything to you, you must not believe her."

I always felt like I had heard this story somewhere, and when I went back to the living room, when I saw Lily, I suddenly remembered Mary, another maid beside Beatrix who once took care of me—isn’t that what Mary loved? I mentioned that the confidante next to Ian was the lady who caught the cold and died of pneumonia!

Despite this unverifiable episode, I decided to go ahead with my plan, and when I got back to the living room, I pretended to be sleepy and told Jane that I was going to take a break and let her wait until 06:30 It's time to wake me up for dinner.

"You might as well get up later for supper!" Although Jane complained, she still followed my order.

Elvis didn't show up at dinner, and since I was too sleepy to get out of bed, muttering about the maids walking up and down the third floor while I was sleeping was disturbing me. But it made Jane very angry.By the time I finally struggled to get out of the warm bed, it was almost eight o'clock.

"Is your lord busy these two days?" I asked Jane while eating the food Lily brought up, "Is there a guest arriving at the manor?"

Jane evaded the question vaguely: "I don't know, maybe I'm busy with things that need to be dealt with during the celebration."

Elvis also came back a little later than usual today. I was playing cards with Lily and the others. I saw him when there were only the last two cards left, so I threw the cards away like usual. Standing up as if nothing had happened: "Ah, my lord, you are back."

Jane, who was about to win me and Lily, quit. Under my protection and connivance, she has dared to whisper to my face these days: "You are cheating, you are not a man at all!"

Elvis looked up at her when he heard this.

Jane immediately surrendered: "Okay, I knew it must be the result..."

She directed the maids to change the nightgowns for us, arrange the quilts and pillows, and then led Lily and the others to retreat.

"You pampered them too much," Elvis told me after Jane and the others exited the living room.

"Girls should always be more tolerant." I pretended to be calm and said, but in fact my palms were already sweating just facing him.

Elvis gave a low laugh and reached out to pull me.

I was dragged by him and took two steps towards the bed, I grabbed his sleeve nervously, and met his suspicious gaze.

"My lord," although I had already made a decision secretly, but when it was really about to come true, I still couldn't shake off the extreme sense of shame, and my voice trembled, "I, I, please, please let me I……"

"how?"

As soon as I gritted my teeth, I pushed Elvis. Regarding this sudden movement, he took two steps back very kindly, and then sat on the edge of the bed, as if he had already guessed something, just sat and watched silently. with me.

I took out the silk scarf hidden in the pocket of the nightgown and approached him, Elvis just tilted his head slightly, and let me cover his eyes with the silk scarf.

As if inadvertently, my hand slid across the spot I confirmed last night-this time, I didn't touch the raised scar.

My hand that tied the scarf was shaking, or rather, my whole body was shaking, and I couldn't tell whether it was shock or shame.

Elvis reached out and took my hand, leading me to tie the silk scarf in a knot.

"A man should be calm no matter what happens, Ludwig."

It was still that deep, magnetic voice, but with a hint of a smile on it.

"..."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………

The next day I didn't want to move at all, I didn't even want to get up for breakfast, let alone go for a walk.

Bored, I asked Jane to bring me two aristocratic genealogies from Elvis' study.

Jane seems to have been preventing me from wandering around the castle on a whim today. After confirming that I didn't intend to go out, she was not obviously relieved, and went to the study by herself—I guess it was to ask Elvis for instructions. Passed—then brought me several French books, not only a genealogy of the English aristocracy, but also several books on travel notes.

And knowing that there will be guests coming today, I also pretended not to know about it - Elvis didn't tell me a word that there would be a viscount coming, let alone introduce me to the guests, which is a great proof My judgment that he might turn me into a slave, because once I was formally introduced to the guests, they could not easily deny my true identity.

I flipped through the genealogy of the nobles, and then played double sixes again. At about three o’clock, I yawned, expressing that I was sleepy and wanted to take a rest, and asked Jane to wake me up for dinner at seven o’clock .

After yesterday's tossing, Jane easily accepted my request this time.

After the third floor fell into silence, and even the footsteps and whispers of the maids gradually became inaudible, I lay on the bed with my eyes closed and waited for about half an hour, then got up quietly and opened the curtains a little, from Peek out through the gap.

I can see a fence from my living room window. Dusk in winter is always earlier than other times. On the third time I looked there, when the twilight was about to start to diffuse, there was an extra bunch on the fence. The white daffodils seemed to have been placed there inadvertently and then forgotten.

——That was the signal that the Baron and I had agreed upon.

--------------------

Sure enough, when I lose my morals at night, I can't control my appetite just like my appetite (from a person who typed while eating supper)

Edmund: I always feel like someone dug a hole for me (meditation)