The Duke in the Spire of Thorns

Latiou is a backward southern county, where there is no lively opera house and no high-end banquets.The nobles living here are even more incomparable with the nobles from the royal city.

"A country bumpkin." Yaris sneered and wiped his hands with a handkerchief, "I don't even know who he is, but you still want to follow me to see His Excellency the Duke?"

In the magnificent carriage, he was the only one sitting on the chair alone.Thinking back to the nobleman who blocked him just now, Yaris almost felt sick.

The obese body is like a bulging air bag, the exposed skin is so dirty that you can't see the complexion clearly, even the beard is covered with lice...

How could he be called a nobleman?It is an insult to the title of nobility!

It's such a person who actually wants to use his relationship to give his daughter to the duke as a mistress?

It's like a toad wants to eat swan meat!

Although Yaris is the illegitimate son of Dahl's family and has no title, his business ability even His Majesty the King thinks highly of him.Relying on the money he earned, he was able to get along like a fish in water in the upper class. Although those real aristocratic circles still rejected him, he didn't care at all.

So what if the nobles looked down on him?Some nobles with high status are not as rich as him!

Yaris spends money like water, lives a luxurious life, and doesn't envy those nobles at all. In his opinion, those noble ladies are nothing more than that, and they are not as beautiful as Briarson's high-end prostitutes.

He was rich and didn't need a wife with a large dowry to live in luxury, so he didn't care about his reputation at all.His two mistresses were high-ranking prostitutes in Briarson, who were raised by him extravagantly, spending money like water, and he gave them at least 50 gold coins every year.

But he didn't think there was anything wrong with it at all. To him, the 50 gold coins were nothing. What's more, although his two mistresses were a little lower in status, in his opinion, they were the same as the duchess. It's not much worse than that.

Until one day, a down-and-out marquis invited him to a senior ball.

Marquis Henry is considered a veteran nobleman. Although his family property has been reduced by more than half due to his own extravagance, his noble blood is there, and he can attend many occasions.

Marquess Henry has no money, but status; Yaris has money, but no status.This made the two of them hit it off, Yaris paid for Marquis Henry to squander, and Marquis Henry took Yaris to high society banquets to help him develop contacts so that he could continue to do business.

Although those high-ranking nobles looked down on his status, but for the sake of his wealth, they could still maintain superficial courtesy to him.

Yaris didn't care about their contempt, but he still looked down on these nobles: some noble ladies' jewelry is not as expensive as his mistress' jewelry.

The aristocrats of the upper class have always liked to hold balls, and Yaris has been there more than once, so when he participated with Marquess Henry again, he was a little contemptuous.The ball was pretty standard, nothing new, he stood in the corner with champagne, listening carefully to other people's conversations.Suddenly, the crowd in the center boiled up. Not knowing what happened, everyone stopped dancing and began to arrange their clothes.

Yaris tidied himself casually as well, and when he straightened his bow tie and raised his head, he couldn't move.

He stood where he was, as if struck by a thunderbolt, staring fixedly at the new guest, unwilling to move his eyes.

It was a childish young man with a calm demeanor and a noble temperament. His long blond hair was tied behind his head, revealing his entire face. His skin was as fair as winter snow, and his eyes were as blue as the most expansive. Sky, obviously looks like all the facial features that all human beings have, but when put together on his face, it is so different.

He lowered his eyes, looked a little melancholy, his face was pale, his lips were light in color, his figure was slender and slender, he looked as if he had just recovered from a serious illness, and his body had not yet fully recovered, and he had a special kind of frail beauty.A gorgeously dressed girl jumped up and down beside him, trying to make him talk. I don’t know what the girl said, but she actually made him laugh. When he laughed, Yaris felt that everything in the world was far away from him. I went, and there was only this smile left in front of me.

But soon the smile disappeared, and he returned to that somewhat melancholy look.

The dance party started again, but the style of the music changed from cheerful and enthusiastic to soft and soothing.

The young man took the girl's hand and danced on the dance floor, and everyone looked at them.

"Hi." Marquis Henry patted him on the shoulder, "Why are you dumbfounded?"

"Who is he?"

Yaris asked eagerly, "Why have I never seen him?"

"Oh, that's Duke Ulysses." Marquis Henry said, "You must have heard of him, and he is also called 'The Rose of Briarson', I think it is worthy of the name..."

Yaris couldn't hear the rest of the words of the Marquis Henry, and he quickly began to recall the information about Duke Ulysses: It is said that the Duke was congenitally deficient and physically weak since he was a child. He seldom appeared in public. You can only see him occasionally at the banquet.

He is the king's cousin. Before the king married and gave birth to a child, he had the first right of succession, a noble and powerful duke.

Of course, Yaris had also heard of the other party's title of "Briassen's Rose", but he never believed it: How good-looking can a sickly tuberculosis be?It is estimated that it is a pseudonym touted by the group of nobles.

Until now when he met the real person, all his previous impressions were broken. He used to think that his two mistresses were peerless beauties, otherwise he would not have paid them 50 gold coins every year. However, now, he recalled that his two mistresses face, and found that they were nothing more than that.

"Can you introduce me?"

Yaris asked eagerly: "I very much hope to meet His Excellency the Duke."

He saw that Marquis Henry seemed to want to refuse, so he hurriedly said before the other party opened his mouth: "I recently bought a horse farm, and the horses in it are very energetic. Unfortunately, I am not interested in horses. If you are willing to reward me, I am willing to give The racecourse is for you, after all, our friendship is as solid as a rock."

Marquis Henry likes horse racing and hunting the most, but top-grade horses are very expensive. Now that Yaris is willing to give him a whole racecourse, his words have changed: "Oh, what are you talking about? What are you talking about between friends? Do you pay attention to these? I happen to have a little friendship with His Excellency the Duke, so let me introduce you."

Yaris was full of emotion, looking forward to it, but secretly regretting: If he had known that he would meet Duke Ulysses, he would not be so contemptuous of his appearance - he had worn this suit three months ago, and the leather under his feet The boots aren't brand new either...

Henry led Yaris through the crowd and walked straight towards the Duke. As the distance got closer, Yaris' mind became more and more blank. His eloquent tongue was completely stiff at the moment, and he could not move at all.

Finally, he stood in front of the Duke. The Duke was not as tall as he was, but he looked at Yaris with a look of superiority that made people ignore his height.Yaris was covered by the Duke's eyes all over his body. He wished he could turn back time and start dressing himself ten hours earlier.

"Aris Dahl, right?"

After Marquis Henry finished his introductory speech, Duke Ulysses asked casually. His tone was light and contemptuous. Obviously, like other high-ranking nobles, he didn't take Yaris at all.

But Yaris didn't think there was any problem with this. In his opinion, the arrogant look of Duke Ulysses was also captivating. He hurriedly stretched out his right hand, "It's an honor to meet you."

The other party didn't shake back directly, Yaris raised his head cautiously, saw Duke Ulysses' haughty expression, he seemed to want to say something, but gave up before he could say it, with a polite smile on his face , condescendingly held Yaris' hand.

This brief handshake was instant, and before Yaris had time to appreciate it carefully, the Duke withdrew his hand. He nodded and said lightly, "Nice to meet you."

After he finished speaking, he turned and left. Unlike Marquis Henry, Duke Ulysses was a real nobleman, and it was very unlikely that Yaris could see him—and this was the only time he met him.

But this meeting alone had haunted him, and he was out of his mind after the ball.

He sent his two mistresses away, and even though they cried and pleaded, Yaris didn't change their mind - after all, they didn't really love him, they were just fed up by Yaris' generous handwriting, if they lost Yaris' Support, they can no longer live the life of spending money and spending money like water.

He ruthlessly ordered his two mistresses to leave, and began to do everything possible to find out what Duke Ulysses liked, but it was a pity that none of the gifts he carefully prepared could be delivered to each other.

Only then did he really realize the huge gap between classes, but he was still unwilling to give up. Finally, he got his wish. Although he could only be a servant by the other party's side, this also made him satisfied: after all, this was a good start .

The carriage moved forward unhurriedly, if the road was not wet and slippery, he would have liked to urge the horses pulling the carriage to gallop.

With the majestic castle in sight, Yaris' heartbeat gradually accelerated.The carriage stopped, and he couldn't wait to jump out of it.

Then, he saw Duke Ulysses who was having fun riding a horse. The sickness on his face had completely disappeared, and he looked fresh and beautiful under the golden sunlight.

In the eyes of Yaris, the castle disappeared, the earth disappeared, and the sky also disappeared. In a void, only the face of Duke Ulysses remained.