Flowers, Swords and France

"By the way, daughter, are you still painting recently? Show your latest painting to Dad... Dad hasn't seen it for a long time. It's rare that he's in a good mood today..."

The Baron's smile was as friendly as ever, but it was like a thunder in Laura's ears, so shocked that she could hardly stand up.

After all, my father still didn't fully believe in himself... Humph, that's right. I was the biggest beneficiary after my brother's death. No matter how much my father loved me, how could he not doubt me? Laura smiled bitterly in her heart.

She was not unprepared - as early as that night, she had asked her accomplice to help draw a painting and got it back the next day.

Originally, in order to avoid the problem of conflicting painting styles, the safest way was to paint another painting next. However, she was afraid that the painting had been seen by the servants before, and changing it to another painting in the middle was tantamount to causing trouble. , so I haven’t started writing yet. In addition, I have been very busy recently in order to take care of my father's worries, so I haven't done any painting.

Originally, because of her father's recent silence, she had never been asked to take a look at the painting. As a result, she even forgot about it. Unexpectedly, her father suddenly made this request.

After a moment of panic, Laura quickly regained her composure, without showing anything unusual on her face.

No matter what, my father's order was irresistible. At this time, even if I had to bite the bullet, I had to show my father the painting.

"Dad, I'm afraid I've disappointed you. I haven't been drawing recently because I'm not in the mood." Laura's face darkened. There was even a hint of crying, "I painted a painting recently. I painted it at a party with Miss de Treville on the night my brother was killed. As a result, I encountered such bad news as soon as I got home... ...Hey, dad, after encountering such a terrible thing, how can I still be in the mood to draw? "

God knows how many times she rehearsed this tearful confession beforehand to make it so real and natural!

"Poor child!" The baron looked at his daughter and suddenly sighed. He didn't know which child he was lamenting about being pitiful. "You don't need to apologize to me. It's such a tragic thing. How could you remain indifferent? It's okay. Show me the painting you drew that night. I'll just keep it as a souvenir..."

It seems that I can’t escape after all... Laura secretly told herself in her heart.

"Okay, Dad, please wait for me. I'll get it right away." She saluted her father respectfully, then turned and left the study.

The baron just looked at his daughter's leaving figure without saying a word.

After a while, Laura came back. And behind her was a servant carrying a picture frame.

Laura waved, and the servant gently placed the picture frame on the desk.

"Dad, please look at it... I just hope you don't criticize me..." With a forced smile, Laura looked at her father coquettishly.

"Oh. How could it be! My daughter is so good, how could her paintings be ugly?" The baron waved his hand and asked the servant to go out. Then he began to look at the painting carefully.

Laura looked at her father calmly, thinking in her heart. When should my father give up this temptation?

In the past, Baron de Beauvain was deeply proud of his daughter's artistic talent - but. Of course, as a banker who came from a civilian background and focused entirely on his career, he had no appreciation for art and had no interest in art. He just wanted his daughter to have another talent that she could show off to others. Just proud.

The baron was still looking at the painting on the canvas quietly at this time, looking very seriously and immersed in it without saying a word.

In the painting, several girls are standing together, sitting or lying on the ground, chatting with smiles on their faces, but their eyes are not intersecting. In the gaps between the withered leaves, a stinging gloomy feeling struck everyone.

At the top of the painting, there is a night sky without a single star, hanging high above everyone's heads like a black nightmare capable of swallowing everything.

The baron's hand gently rubbed the canvas, as if he were touching this indelible darkness with his own hands.

"Very good work." After a while, the baron suddenly spoke. "Daughter, this painting is better than your usual."

"Huh?" Laura was stunned for a moment, then immediately lowered her head, "Thank you for your compliment. In fact, I think there are still many shortcomings..."

To be honest, she still felt a little unhappy, because her father's praise was tantamount to admitting that Miss Treville's painting talent was much higher than her own.

"Oh, do you still need to be humble to your father? That's fine, miss." The baron smiled lightly, then raised his head and looked at his daughter, "Were you in a bad mood that day?"

"What?" Laura was surprised again. "What do you mean?"

"Although this painting is indeed excellent, I can already feel a sense of resentment and a very bad sense of depression from your painting." The baron calmly commented on his daughter's painting, "The painting style is gloomy and dark, and I can see that you I was painting this with a lot of anger.”

Laura’s heart was already very restless.

"I... I usually draw in this gloomy style. It's not like you don't know, Dad." She replied with a forced smile.

Different from pretending to be relaxed just now, now she had gathered all her energy, fearing that she would reveal some flaws and make her father more suspicious.

"Although it is also gloomy, it is not the same." The baron's gaze seemed to be able to penetrate Laura's entire soul. "Your usual paintings, even if they are gloomy, are domineering. There will always be something in your paintings. A sense of oppression, but here? This is a kind of resentment that suppresses your mood, which makes people feel very uncomfortable... This is not your normal emotion, is it? Although your father has no taste, this thing You can still see it, kid.”

No...that's appreciative enough, Dad...you're awesome!

She almost wanted to applaud her father for his brief artistic comment. She never thought that her father actually had more artistic appreciation than she imagined.

But now was never the right time to pay homage to my father...this was a decisive moment for my life.

Under her father's intimidating gaze, Laura's breathing slowly became a little rapid.

"Dad, I didn't expect you to be able to see this!" She forced a smile and praised her father, and then said the explanation she made up almost instantly, "Yes, I was really upset because of some small things that day. At the party with Mademoiselle de Treville, I had a quarrel with Mademoiselle de Dillion over some wine, and she was very disrespectful to me, so you see, in the painting, we are all. The appearance is incompatible but the spirit is different..."

She is not afraid of her father verifying this, because it is the truth.

However, her father did not ask any more questions, nor did he even continue to express doubts. He just looked at her quietly.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

After she finished speaking with a forced smile, the Baron nodded slightly.

"Oh, is that so? Didn't I tell you, don't drink too much, drinking can easily affect your judgment."

"Okay, thank you for your teachings," Laura nodded, with great expectation in her heart, praying that her father would believe what she said.

It seemed like a year had passed, and it seemed like only a moment had passed, before the Baron finally waved his hand.

"This painting is really interesting. Let me keep it and collect it myself. You don't mind giving me a gift for my father, right?"

"Of course! You can keep it, I'm just afraid it won't be comparable to the masterpieces you collected." Laura quickly replied.

"Oh, how could it be? My daughter's works are priceless treasures to me." The baron still had that gentle smile on his face. Although he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart, he really didn't seem to care anymore. He continued to ask, "Don't be too sad. Recover as soon as possible. What a pity it is to lose the painting skills you have developed over the years? Well, it's getting late. You can go back and rest first."

With a kind of joy of surviving a disaster, Laura felt that her whole body was about to relax, and her blood rushed upward, making her face slightly red.

"I will, Dad." In order to suppress the excitement in her heart and not appear too abnormal, she lowered her head even more, "Same for you, please recover from your grief as soon as possible and stop worrying, so that I can It will be very distressing.”

"Me? What else can I have to worry about?" The Baron chuckled, as if he was amused, "What I am worried about now is our future Emperor. When the time comes that he plans to canonize me as an Imperial Earl, how should I refuse? Lose……"

"You can have the honor of being a baron." Although she didn't understand her father's attitude of treating the baron as nothing, Laura would not argue with her father at all.

She bowed to her father again and left the room.

When she left the study and stepped into the corridor again, she felt relieved, and her chest heaved violently due to her rapid breathing.

It was so terrible that until now, she still couldn't believe that she had escaped from such a terrible situation.

With indescribable joy, she walked back to the hall step by step along the corridor.

Just when she was about to go back to her bedroom and have a good rest, her maid suddenly came over and handed her a note.

She took it casually and examined it.

Then, as if she had been violently stimulated, her eyes suddenly opened wide, then she clenched her fists, crumpled the note into a crumpled ball, and put it into her hand.

The fear she suppressed in her father's study turned into uncontrollable rage in an instant. Only in order not to lose her composure in front of others, she did not curse.

This bitch, does she really think she can order me around at will? (To be continued...)