Water lanterns and dreams in 1 nights

.The duke told me that I could go straight there without notification.

The butler left me almost at the entrance of the garden. I asked him why he didn't go in with me, and the answer was that the Duke didn't like to be disturbed. He only ordered me to go directly.Everyone in this manor looks like this, performing their duties, and never crossing half a step.

I went into the garden, which was especially disorganized compared with the garden when I first came in.It’s not the kind of messy weeds, but all the flowers are blooming in a row, red, white, yellow, blue and green, all the colors are different, one cluster after another, without the slightest pattern, he is like The flowers that bloomed throughout August were moved to the garden without any arrangement, without any rules, and they grew wildly and bustlingly. I can count dozens of flowers at a glance, although there are Don't know their names.

On the left hand side of the entrance to the garden, there is a huge elder tree. The crown of the tree is so lush and dark green that it looks like a large condensed cloud. There are clusters of snow-white and small flowers like clusters of broken stars on it. The trunk is thick and thick. It was enough for two people to embrace each other, and a white marble table was erected under the shade of the fallen elder tree. On the seat next to it, the Duke was putting the porcelain teacup back on the tray. Even if there was no wind, the fine white flowers Still keep falling from the tree.

"Come and sit next to me," said the Duke, without turning his head, and from my point of view all I could see was his pale profile.His eyes wandered among the flowers and plants in the garden.

I walked up to him and sat down on a random chair beside him, only then did I have time to look at him.The Duke is indeed completely pale, not like the gentle whiteness of ivory, especially against the black hair, the cold tone is almost like thinned ice, and even the light blue and purple blood vessels can be clearly seen.My black hair should be inherited from his, but the Duke is straight and mine is curly.The Duke's brow bone was high and his eye sockets were deep, with black eyeballs and the tails of his eyes turned downward. When he lowered his eyes, his eyes were hidden into the shadows, making his expression appear unpredictable and menacing.His cheeks are thin and his lips are tightly closed. Because he is sitting now, I don't know how tall he will be for the time being, but it is obvious that his stature is not low. I guess it is about 1.8 meters five.

I just looked at him, and after he opened his mouth to break the silence, I realized that it was impolite to stare at people all the time, so I apologized to him, he didn't pay attention to it at all, and didn't repeat the previous question, so I remembered him Just now you were asking me how the road was going.

"Very good, the people you sent took good care of me."

"Fine," he said, and there was a silence.

I thought he was acting a little weird.To be honest, I would like to ask him why it took him six years to call me to his side. As far as I know, he has no other blood besides me.But this question can become very embarrassing. I don't want our relationship to become stalemate. If he doesn't like me, it doesn't matter. After all, I don't live by anyone's love.But I do want to make myself comfortable, and the duke is rich and powerful, and related to me by blood at the moment, and in that respect I have to live on his love.I haven't called him yet since I saw him, so I guess I should say something in order to get closer.

So I said, "It's a fine day, Father."

Only then did he withdraw his gaze from the flowers, and looked up at the sky, "Yes, very good." He said, suddenly, as if he had just recovered from meditation, he smiled briefly and indifferently at me, " Even better is that you have come back to me at last, my little Andre."

It was quite refreshing to hear a name called in such an affectionate manner from what amounted to a stranger.In the past six years, I have rarely been called that. Originally, everyone in the manor just called me young master or young master, and the chances of using my real name were very slim.

The Duke looked at me for a while, told me to stand up and let him see how tall I had grown, and said I was a little taller than he expected. "I don't know what you like to eat. I will ask the butler to see you later. You can tell him your taste, or if you have any other needs."

I nodded in agreement.Afterwards, I talked to him about some trivial matters. He was not as impatient as adults are with nagging children. Compared with the indifferent impression, he really listened to the end, although I doubt he is true. Listen to me, or just take it as some kind of noisy humming in nature, like the sound of a gadfly or something.Because his expression was almost unchanged, maintaining a polite coping.

This is also quite unusual.

He didn't respond to this conversation, and I was scratching my head. I wasted half my life pretending to be a child's innocence. When I finally had nothing to say, he interrupted, "Sorry kid, I'm afraid I can only accompany you here now. I'm tired, I'm going to take a nap here."

"it's here?"

"Yes."

"But there are neither bamboo beds nor deck chairs here, and the sun is still scorching hot."

"Those, don't worry, they'll move over soon." He hesitated a little, and touched my hair with his palm, I guess he wanted to force himself to touch the top of my head, but for some reason he couldn't success. "The sun will warm me up."

I immediately checked with a certain rumor I had heard about the duke, and it seemed that his constitution was not quite satisfactory.My hands were hot from the heat, and a good innocent child had to show a little care at this point, so I clamped his right hand between my small palms and said in a child's voice: "Hi your hands cold."

When I first made this movement, the Duke abruptly withdrew his hand and looked at me with displeasure. I was innocent and interested.

"Okay, don't stay here with me, you can play by yourself." He said briefly, rang the bell, and soon the butler took me away.

"Either I have a cleanliness." I pondered, "Or a mental cleanliness." I followed behind the butler, thinking I wanted to ask: "Excuse me, does the Duke always dislike contact with people?"

The butler turned to me, knelt down and explained to me, "Yes."

"When did it start?"

"I have only worked in the Duke's manor for six years. The old butler retired and went back to the countryside. I don't know much about the Duke's past." The butler replied. "Do you have any other questions?"

"Not for now." I said absently.He nodded to me, stood up, and then led me the way.

It's a bit of a nuance to have a father.Especially when he himself refuses to be contacted and has a weird personality.I'm not worried that the duke will hate me. As long as I want, I can even be subtle. Even if I don't like it, I shouldn't dislike it too much.

It's just that first I need to know what kind of person he is.

4. Duke 03

Before the servant notified me of the class, I had been lying on the window sill on one side of the room and looking into the distance.In this two-story building, the duke's room and mine are both on the second floor, and his bedroom is further back in the corridor.There are two windows in my room, one facing the manor, and the opposite opening to my favorite corner.There is a quite secluded pond at the back of this vast manor which is reached through the noisy street.Surrounded by lush fir trees, lotus magnolias and other tall trees, water lilies and fishweed grow in the pond. When I go there to play in the afternoon, I can often see several swans with slender necks floating on the green water. Red's beak gracefully combs the fine feathers on its side.

At this time, I can only look out the window and listen to the cicadas in the garden. The gardener will clean them up soon, but they don’t always stay in one place, so I can hear them from time to time. A few monotonous performances.Like them, my good days can't last long.

When I was a simple orphan whose parents both died, my impression of nobles was close to simple, and I didn’t pay any attention to them. If I had to make wild guesses, I would think that they were extravagant, profligate, rich and happy, without material deprivation, and not affected. The oppression of power, the freedom that everyone pursues at birth, a week after moving into the Duke's manor, life taught me to be realistic.

Obviously people have their own difficulties, and the variety of subjects I'm going to study amply demonstrates this.From Monday to Friday, from [-]:[-] am to [-]:[-] pm, my courses are fully arranged, covering various fields such as military affairs, general history, science, foreign languages, literature and art, equestrianism, theology and so on. I don't like being in endless toil, and the only advantage is that I don't have to go to school, and naturally a tutor will come to the door.

My initial plan was to endure it for a while, and as the courses deepened, I gradually showed my inadequacy and declined a few courses. This is more sincere than rejecting everything at the beginning, and it will be easier to succeed.And as time went by, my limit for "a period of time" became shorter and shorter, and then my thinking changed to "Anyway, I'm only six years old now, so it's nothing to cheat", and I took it very seriously.This idea gradually developed into a practical idea, and if it can satisfy all this in front of the Duke, I will be willing to do it.

The Duke was discussing matters in his study.There was a pair of guards on the left and right of the door of the study room. After recognizing me, they saluted me. I whispered to them and asked them to wait for my father to come out at the door.I sat on the ground with my back against the door and hugged my knees, leaned my head back, and made a comfortable posture.