Think of England

The front door of the villa was open.In the empty corridor leading to the room, only Lambton fell to the ground, blood bubbling from the bloody wound on his head.

"how--"

"Shh." Curtis frowned, looked around, and strode towards the library.

"Let me do it." He gestured with his lips for the other man to stay behind him, raising his pistol.

Daniel stepped back.Curtis took a deep breath, knocked the door open with his elbow, but stopped immediately.The barrel of a Holland shotgun was pointed straight in his face.

"Oh, it's you," Patricia Morton said, pulling the gun away. "You're so slow."

Curtis looked at her first, and then he noticed that there were two other people in the room: the servant Wesley was kneeling facing the wall with his hands behind his back; Fenella Carus was holding a delicate Colt lady pistol.He gaped at Fern, who smiled brightly at him.

behind him.Daniel made a choking sound and pointed to the open door of the storage room.Curtis could see papers and photos strewn about.

"Is this what you're worried about?" Pat tilted his head. "If you want to know, the evidence is intact."

Daniel rushed into the storage room.Curtis reluctantly asked, "How did you do it?"

"Well, we heard their plan," Pat said.

"It's their plot." Fern interrupted triumphantly.

"There was a lot of arguing and whispering going on and on this morning, and it looked like something was wrong, so we decided to find out as soon as the Armstrongs were out. Then we saw this But man and cruel Mr Lambton lit a fire and started moving out piles and piles of papers and photographs. I saw that this was obviously the nasty evidence you gave me, so I thought, well, at Archie certainly didn't want these things destroyed until his allies arrived, so we asked them to stop."

"Ask them nicely," Fern motioned to her gun.

"Did they burn something?" Daniel called from the storage room.

"No, they've only just started the fire. All the evidence's still there. Oh, not all of it. Fern, dear?"

Fern turned and pulled something out of her waistcoat.Then she stepped forward and handed an envelope to Curtis.

"You should keep this," she said, "if they light a fire, we're going to burn these."

Curtis pulled out the contents of the envelope and looked at the photo at the top—he and Daniel in it; the explicit picture made him wince.He hastily turned the stack of photographs over, not knowing what else to say to Fern.

She looked up at him intently, then suddenly stood on tiptoe and quickly left a kiss on his cheek.

"You don't have to worry about us, Archie. I know it's going to be hard on you guys, but—it's surprisingly easy sometimes to be invisible in this social circle. People don't do as much as you fear. You can see it all. We know it, don't we, Pat?"

Pat rolled his eyes and looked at Fern resignedly but fondly.Curtis looked back and forth at them, and his heart was clear.

Fern blinked mischievously, and leaned into Curtis's ear and whispered, "And I have to compliment your taste. As I said earlier, Mr. Da Silva is extremely handsome."

"Fenella Carus!" said Pat. "Stop bullying the poor man."

"Archie, do you have something I was thinking about?" Daniel asked standing at the door of the storage room.

"Thanks to the ladies." Curtis could only shrug.

Daniel looked at him for a second, then suddenly fell to his knees in an exaggerated manner, raising his hands high, "Miss Morton, Miss Carus, one of you—the two of you can do it together, please marry me."

"That's sensational," Pat said, with Fern laughing. "Wake up, you madman, I've heard a couple of cars coming up the driveway."

***

Curtis packed his suitcase.He packed the luggage himself, the whole villa was in chaos, and he didn't want any servants to see his blood-stained clothes, let alone those shocking photos.He stuffed the photos on the bottom of his luggage, ready to burn them at the first chance.He didn't want the box out of sight until then.

He hung a picture in front of that mirror and the hole in the wall.He didn't know if he could trust any mirror in the future.

Weize arrived with eight armed men, and as soon as Curtis's fearsome uncle arrived, he immediately called Daniel to get busy with him, and no one was allowed to participate.The bodies of the Armstrong family were taken away, along with March.He and Wesley remained silent throughout, and made no attempt to bite Curtis and Daniel back.They insisted they were just doing what their masters told them to and knew nothing about the conspiracy.

The Graylings hurried away in panic and confusion.A wound on Lamberton's head required further treatment; Fern seems to have shown his wife a few self-explanatory photographs of Mrs Lamberton hitting him on the head with a table lamp.

There was a quiet knock on the door outside, but Curtis didn't hear any movement from the corridor.He understood, and his heart beat faster.

"Please come in."

Daniel slipped in and closed the door, silently as usual.Curtis found that Daniel had washed and changed his clothes, and now he was in his former dignity, haggard but still beautiful.

"Looks like you found your luggage?"

"That's right, they put all my things in the maid's room. Thank God. I don't want to spend an extra fee on dressing." Daniel only glanced at him, then quickly looked away.

"Daniel..."

"You should be safe," Daniel interrupted. "Any accusation against you would seem vengeful, and I don't think anyone will admit to knowing secrets they shouldn't. The dead will bear all the guilt, and the It's their responsibility. Keep calm and everything will be fine." He paused for a moment before saying, "I'm glad your life is back on track."

"If that's the case, it's your fault. You saved my life, Daniel."

"I'm pretty sure you saved my life."

"That's one of us. Do you have time now?"

"About 10 minutes." Daniel showed a barely visible sad smile, "Enough to say goodbye."

Curtis brushed Daniel's lips lightly with his thumb, but the other side immediately avoided his face, and he frowned.

"I don't want to say goodbye to you."

"When you get back to London, back to your world, you'll still say goodbye to me. You know I'm right. I'd rather hang out now than have you be with me in the future because you're seen And feel ashamed, or try to break up with me. I'd rather draw the line now, while I still have options."

"What? No, you promised me. I promised you—wait for two weeks or something—and you agreed to my request. I can't just ask you to back away from your promise."

Daniel leaned weakly against the wall. "I wish you would take my word for it. We can't end well."

"You also said this morning that those pictures couldn't possibly turn out well."

"True, but how many more miracles do you think we can experience?"

"What are you afraid of?" Curtis asked.

"What am I afraid of?" Daniel curled his lips. "I'm afraid I'm going to hurt you, you idiot. I'm afraid you're going to get hurt because of me. You don't know what it is to be pointed at because of who you are." Feeling. Being ignored, or despised, rejected by relatives and friends - you don't know what it's like. I hope you never know. Damn, the look on your face when Armstrong said he had sent the photo to your uncle and uncle. You can see it all!"

"Daniel—"

"No, I can't do that to you. If you make that look again because of me—I can't stand it."

Curtis stretched out his hand to hold Daniel's face, and the cheek that the other party had just brushed against Hu Ren left a vivid tactile sensation in his palm. "Don't think about me any more. What are you afraid of yourself?"

Daniel closed his eyes.His voice almost whispered, "I don't want to get hurt either. No one can hurt me like you can."

"But I don't want to hurt you."

"I know you don't want to." He took a deep breath, "but I think you will eventually."

"No, Daniel—"

"When your dick is in someone else's mouth, it's always easy to get lost." The mocking tone returned to Daniel's voice, "But I promise you, when you hear the gossip, the It's less attractive."

Curtis' fingers sank into Daniel's chin, forcing him to raise his head. "Look at me. I'm not that brute you met in Cambridge, I'm ten years his senior—"

"But you have about five years less experience than he did at the time."

"I may have little experience in this area, but I have faced countless situations that are more dangerous than charges of obscenity."

"Dangerous," Daniel repeated tartly, "you're rich and you have Sir Maurice Weese backing you up, and there's no jail time unless you go to the House of Lords and fuck the Chancellor of the Exchequer. We both know in our hearts you don't have to worry about that kind of trouble. It's the rumours, and the snickers, and those cold faces, and the gossip that gets to your loved ones, and that look—damn, you don't get it, do you? If you can imagine the future you're rashly exposing yourself to, you'll thank me for cutting it off before we both get hurt."

"I really can't imagine it, so I won't thank you. I said I won't hide behind you. I also have the right to speak on this matter."

"That's right, I have it too, I'll tell you right now, we're done." Daniel's face turned pale, "You can't come to visit me, and I don't want to see you, I won't contribute to your self-destruction, and you can't blame me To me. That's the end of our relationship. Don't look at me that way."

"You promised me," Curtis said.He knew he couldn't convince Daniel that the other party was serious.There was a painful emptiness in his chest. "You promised—"

"Now you can see the Southern European species," Daniel gritted his teeth, "Don't trust them."

"Archie!" came a shout from the hallway.His uncle, Sir Morris, came.

"For heaven's sake, Daniel—"

Daniel had already left his original position, staring out the window.

"Archie!"

"I'm here, sir." Curtis reluctantly replied.

Sir Maurice Weese strode into the room, glanced over his men, moved to his nephew, his bushy eyebrows were habitually frowned. "Da Silva? I thought you had gone to rest. What are you still hanging around?"

"I feel refreshed now." Daniel raised an eyebrow at his boss. "Just had a nice long chat with your charming nephew."

He actually put on his most feminine and flamboyant pose.Curtis looked nervously at his uncle, waiting for the latter to explode, but Sir Maurice's expression remained unwavering.

"Don't pretend to be crazy. What the hell are you trying to do?"

"We are discussing how to answer the coroner's questions, my dear sir. I think Curtis and I must agree on poor James."

"You don't have to give evidence," Sir Morris said to him. "Any jury with self-respect will hang you outright, and I can't blame them. Go, get out of here, and do what you have to do, If you still can. I want to have a few words with Archie."

"It's a great honor. I'll take my leave first, sir, Curtis." Daniel twisted his hips and left without looking back.

"God damn boy," Sir Morris said in an unexpectedly indifferent tone, "you probably can't believe he's one of the more useful men I have. Well, after seeing him make such a mess, I don't know either." will believe it."

"It's all my fault, sir," Curtis said, "I got in his way."

"You did get in his way. Why didn't you tell me your plan, kid, before you went off on your own like a holy warrior?"

"Lafayette said he went to you, ser. He said you didn't believe him."

"He's right," said Sir Morris with a snort. "I'm a fool. Well, now that we have three—or four—will Mr. Holt's be found?"

Curtis closed his suitcase. "No, sir."

"Very well. That's three bodies and a cabinet full of evidence of treason, sodomy and adultery. I need you to keep quiet about the whole thing, Archie."

"Jesus, ser, I can't ask for more."

Sir Morris nodded. "You have to pass the coroner's inquest into James Armstrong's death, we can't bring you to court. I won't let da Silva appear at the inquest, we'll give you a story that has nothing to do with him .”

"He's fully capable of making a good impression on the jury," Curtis said. "You must know that he's just pretending to be that attitude."

His uncle glanced at him, although there was sympathy in his eyes, it was more impatient. "No chivalry here, boy, don't really think he's a woman. I'm keeping him out because there's a mountain of work waiting for him, and I don't want his name to get too involved in this incident."

"Mission? My God, ser, he just got his life back two days ago—"

"That's his job. And your job, for now, is to tell me all you know. Now pay attention to my instructions."

Sir Morris's cross-examination was so detailed that it bordered on neurotic; his instructions on how to deal with the coroner were so detailed that Curtis almost pleaded guilty and served his sentence.Curtis had been talking with his uncle in secret for nearly four hours, and when he was finally able to escape, all he knew was that Daniel had left the villa for London without leaving a word.