The Happy Life of a Duchess

"Although I wish it was me," Duval narrowed his eyes and said with a very subtle smile, "but I am no longer so young, and I have lost the qualification to dance with young girls on the dance floor."

"I don't think so." Adele stared at him with a smile. The mood swings seemed to be just his illusion.

"It's Armand," he answered without leaking.

"The first sight with you...you are on the dance floor, you are like a flying butterfly, beautiful and moving, but I am outside the dance floor, and I am lucky to be the lucky one to capture the beauty of this moment."

"It's really a wonderful meeting, isn't it?"

Adele was a little annoyed at his politeness and restraint.

She knew, of course, that this was perfectly normal for him, and that it seemed inappropriate for a gentleman who was widowed and had sons older than her to show some excess emotion to a young unworldly girl. So appropriate, especially if the other party is a relatively devout believer or a relatively well-behaved person.

However, Adele was not happy. Her favorability towards him was already very high just by looking at him, not to mention that after getting in touch with him, she really couldn't call him an annoying guy against her conscience.

Although there is a slight difference in performance before and after, Adele can see that the surprise in his eyes at the beginning is real, and the smiles when the two talked with each other are also from the heart.

But right now, his strange politeness made her very unhappy, and it was also a compliment. She always felt that the other party seemed to be cryptic and overly polite at this time.

As a young lady who is still being held up in social circles, she thinks that maybe she should consider shifting her attention to a more appropriate place.

"Of course, it's a great honor for me to know you." He concluded, complimenting her, but avoiding the key point she always wanted to ask.

"Is it just an honor, sir?" Adele looked at her fingers and raised her eyebrows at him with a half-smile, "I thought it was a pleasant night?"

"Miss Juraday!"

For some reason, he suddenly raised his head seriously and snapped a sentence.

Adele was taken aback by his sudden increase in volume, and then quickly went through what she had just said in his mind under his seemingly oversensitive gaze, and suddenly realized what he meant.

Mr. Duval also realized that his reaction was a little too big, especially when she didn't mean that at all, but he misunderstood it abruptly—well, he didn't want her to say that kind of ambiguous words, The bad thing is that she didn't mean it that way, it was obvious that he himself overreacted and misinterpreted her words as that meaning under tension.

He rubbed the center of his brows in distress. For many years, he has never made such a low-level mistake. You must know that in his political career, he has never made such mistakes and slack, otherwise he would not be where he is today. achievement.

Now, in front of a young and beautiful young lady, it is completely unreasonable to lose her composure.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Adele couldn't hold back anymore. In his slightly embarrassed and dazed look, she covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed loudly.

The damn corset prevented her from doing anything she wanted at all.

But Adele is in an unprecedented mood.

"Okay, I see, Mr. Duval, I assure you..." she said with a smile.

"Ah..." Duval also had a helpless and funny expression on his face. He watched her laugh until her chest trembled slightly, his eyes were averted like an electric shock, and he had to help the lady who was almost out of laughter. , "I beg your forgiveness."

"Of course, I'm not at all...hahaha, I'm not angry at all..." Adele comfortably grabbed his arm to stabilize her figure, and forced herself to hold back her laughter.

The other party was completely silent, and it was obvious that there was nothing they could do.

When she had almost recovered, he apologized again, for his offensive remarks to a young lady.

Adele also waved her hands again and again to show that she was fine, and she would not hate anything because of this.

She smelled a little stronger alcohol on him than before, maybe he drank a lot after dancing a few dances.

However, nowadays nobles regard being able to drink wine as a way to show off, and they usually drink a lot. Adele guessed that a politician of his age should have participated in many balls and socializing, and his drinking capacity would not be too bad, so she didn't think too much about it.

Not all families will stay until the end of the dance. In fact, if they are very close to the host family, they will not accompany them until the end.

It was already the second day, before the first ray of morning light came out in the sky, some people estimated the time and were ready to leave.

Adele was actually a little tired, but she still pulled herself together.

As a young man, staying up for so many nights is not a big problem, not to mention that people's daily routines are like this, and it is not a big problem to go back and sleep until noon or even afternoon.

Except for some young men and women who were still dancing very enthusiastically and happily, some of them, like Adele, had already reached the resting place, and she declined the gentlemen who wanted to ask her to dance after that.

She looked around for a while, but she didn't see anyone. She guessed that the Duke's father might be playing cards with the men in the chess room next door, so she asked Mrs. Lude to send a message to ask when they would be back.

"Why do you want to go back?"

Not long after, Mrs. Lude didn't come back, but Marianna came over.

She held her hand affectionately, her words were full of intimacy.

"I still thought you would stay and accompany me to see off the guests."

"It's rare for you to come back to participate in the dance, and we will hold similar ones in the future... What's more, you are my sister, and it is completely okay to socialize with others as half of the host family."

"At first you refused, but I thought you didn't know everyone well. Now that the ladies and gentlemen like you very much, and you know someone, don't refuse at this time..." She laughed shortly, He deliberately looked at her with suspicious eyes that were somewhat genuine and somewhat false.

"You don't despise our Angli family, do you?"

"Of course not." Adele quickly denied.

After talking to this level, she couldn't refuse anymore, so she could only talk to Mrs. Lu De first after she came back.

"Amande, I want to spend more time with my sister. My sister invited me to see off the guests. Can Dad accompany me again? Remember to let him drink some hangover soup."

"..." Mrs. Lude looked at her and then at the smiling Marianna, and nodded in agreement, "Yes, miss."

Seeing this, Mariana's smile became more real.

Adele knows her enthusiasm well, but since the other party gave this ladder, she should learn as much as she can.

She was a little embarrassed to ask her to take the initiative to speak directly as the host, but fortunately, the ladies are all smart people. After they saw her by Mariana's side, they would take the initiative to say some compliments and continue to be polite, or More or less, he would take her with him, so that she would not be too embarrassed to have nothing to say.

Soon, after Mr. Duke took the initiative to come over, everyone's attitude was obviously more enthusiastic. The maintenance of the Duke's attitude towards her was also visible to the naked eye. With this love, everyone's perception of her was a little deeper.

It took another almost an hour before most of the guests present were sent away.

Some of the male guests were drunk, and some of them were directly stayed here by the Angli couple with their wives, while some insisted on going back, so Marianna arranged for servants to help them and send them into the carriage , You have to watch them go up to be able to express enough concern for the host.

Following a cold wind that blew at the door for a long time, Adele watched the different carriages leave one after another, feeling a little emotional in her heart.

The Duval family left relatively early. Marianna later secretly complained to her. It is estimated that Mr. Armand left early to hide from Miss Bernard of the baron's family. He really couldn't stay behind, so he just invited After dancing with the two ladies, he was stalked again. Miss Bernard tried to talk to him in different ways, and refused to leave all the time.

The etiquette did not allow him to speak harshly to Miss Bernard, but he really didn't want to make himself unclear by inviting her to dance.Marianne is not angry about this. After all, Mr. Armand is also one of the high-quality candidates in her heart. Miss Bernard's impolite behavior sounds like love at first sight and deep affection. The prom host paid attention.

Fortunately, Mr. Duval himself said that his painting has not been completed yet, and he just asked the waiter to help put everything into the studio.

Mariana deliberately asked if the other party would like to come and finish the painting. It was originally just a joke, but he didn't expect him to agree after thinking about it for a while. He only said that he watched and put away the things, because it involved some of his little habits of painting. , I hope not to touch those things, and said that I will come back and visit in a few days, and then I will take the painting back and finish painting.

Leaving this painting is tantamount to a promise, at least a good sign of willingness to make friends.

Mariana smiled very happily, and said with peace of mind that she was waiting for his presence.

Adele was not far away at the time, and she had a few polite words with Armand, but her attention was all on this side.

Hearing his words, she knew that Mariana's dance today was not in vain, and half of the goal had been achieved.

As she thought about it, she walked into the house, planning to call the Duke's father who had been slacking in the house for a drink, and then said goodbye to Marianne's family and left.

"Miss, how do you feel today?" Mrs. Lude followed her, asked and reminded in a low voice, "Have you met some gentlemen who feel good, go back to sleep and wake up, Mr. Duke may ask you, you have to prepare some speeches answer."

"Amande, I understand." Adele nodded, "I met a lot of interesting gentlemen and ladies today... The Duval family is very interesting, and Mr. Gaston is also very friendly..."

She stopped suddenly, and just now she had a flash of inspiration and found something wrong.

Seeing her stop, Mrs. Lude also stopped, showing a little confused look.

"No." Adele whispered, frowning slightly.

"What's the matter, miss?"

"Go and tell your father that we are going back and tell him to get ready." Adele thought for a while and said, "By the way, tell Marianna, I'll check something."

"...Okay." Mrs. Lu De disapproved of causing more trouble at this time, but seeing that she was very persistent, she agreed, thinking that after all, she was at a relative's house, and there would be no major troubles.

After Mrs. Lude walked a little farther, Adele turned around, found a waiter, and asked:

"Which studio did Mr. Duval receive all his paintings today, please take me to have a look."

When the waiter saw that it was the princess, and Marianne attached a lot of importance to her, he didn't think much about it, and took her there directly.

It is in the studio for guests on the first floor. Respectable people have such a place. The master and the guest's studio are separated, and the things here are generally not moved. It is convenient for guests to use and play.

"You go ahead and do your work first, I'll come out after a while, I won't break or mess anything up." Seeing his hesitation, she said generously, the other party was relieved, bowed and left.

Adele quickly found the easel Duvall was using, next to a section of discarded drafts that had been held down by the box holding the palette brushes.

By candlelight, she took away the tool box and looked at the draft. On the top were discarded drafts that were similar to the finished line drafts, and on the bottom were blank papers.

She frowned with some doubts, and then looked at the finished manuscript. After a while, she hesitated and put down the candlestick.

The drawing board was fixed on the easel, and the reverse side of the drawing paper was clamped on the drawing board. She loosened the fixed part and took off the drawing board together with the work. She frowned for a while, and suddenly realized something. Open the clip at the back that holds the paper.

Adele's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and she seemed to realize something, and a sense of tension suddenly rose.

Now she was full of restlessness as if unwrapping a present, with a subtle anxiety. She took off the last finished product, and there were actually two blank sheets underneath, but the next one was not blank.

Her cheeks were suddenly stained with a thin blush.

The author has something to say:

Adele: What did I see? ! !Your secret was discovered by me!

Duval: Ah, found out (laughs)