"Sophia, dear, come out quickly, your brother has returned from the Vatican, and he has brought you a lot of gifts." Coming back from Silvia's party in a puff, Sophia locked herself in the room, the duchess heard the servant's report, and couldn't help but sigh and walked to her daughter's door, when she married the duke, people in the circle of noblewomen were jealous of her sparrow into a phoenix experience, at that time she was also busy proving that she was no worse than the previous duchess, and therefore neglected her daughter's education, and when she looked back, her daughter had been spoiled by her husband, even if she wanted to get it back, it was difficult, but considering the power of her own family, Even if the daughter marries out of her husband's family, it will not be too difficult, so she will let it go, and only when she makes too much trouble will she admonish.

"Brother is back?" Sophia opened the door suddenly, smiled and ran down the stairs with the corner of her skirt, many half-brothers and sisters in aristocratic families do not get along well, but Sophia likes to stick to her brother very much, in her eyes the brother is gentle and knowledgeable, often brings herself some small gifts, the most important thing is that the elder brother is the archbishop of the church at a young age, and she secretly listened to the conversation between her father and her brother last time, and the elder brother will soon be promoted to cardinal.

"Sophia, dear little sister, how are you doing these days?" Ian smiled and gave his sister a hug, and then smiled and pushed the young man behind him to the front, "This is my friend Kreuz, he is here for the first time in the Vatican, maybe you would like to get to know him." ”

"Ahh Sophia screamed, quickly turned around and hid behind her mother, "Brother, I haven't dressed up yet, how can you despise your friend like this." ”

"It seems that after two weeks of my absence, the little lady has grown up." Ian smiled, his eyes were like every brother who loves his sister, in fact, Ian did not approve of his little sister dressing up like a cookie-cutter aristocratic girl in high society, but at this moment there was a kind of innocent and casual beauty.

"Brother!" Sophia was coquettish, turned around and quickly ran back to the room and began to direct the maid to serve her and change her clothes.

"Kroze, I'm smiling." Ian smiled and explained to his cousin that after confirming the marriage of the two families, in order to show closeness and respect, when the Pope could not leave the Vatican at will, Croze personally came to Philemerald, as a prospective son-in-law, to visit his father-in-law.

"It's okay, Sophia is cute." Kreuz shook his head slightly, along the way he knocked on the side to find the servant of the duke's family to inquire about Sophia's information, after understanding his identity, he knew that his marriage could not be controlled by himself, but when he thought of starving and freezing in the village when he was a child, he suppressed the impulse to pursue love in his heart, but tried to see if he could cultivate a relationship with his wife, I have to say that at this moment he was moved, because his future wife was such a beautiful and dazzling girl.

"Dear lads, you must be tired all the way here, I have told the butler to make the bed in advance, I think you may want to take a shower, eat something and get some sleep." The Duchess stood aside and smiled, and her years of experience had made her grow into a qualified lady, and at this time, she saw a few young people finish greeting each other, and spoke unhurriedly.

"Thank you, Mother." Ian smiled, "Actually, I was going to do it, but my father hasn't come back tonight, and Kroze thinks it's important to follow the etiquette to meet your father first." ”

"Yes, ma'am." In fact, Kreuz couldn't hold it anymore, and his body had become extremely weak after years of being sick in bed, and it was a waste of effort to be able to stand and talk to the Duchess at this moment.

"Ian, you know that your father has always been busy with official duties, especially in recent times, but he ordered you to rest early in the morning, and it is not too late to adjust and see you tomorrow." Although the relationship with her stepson is mediocre, but she has no choice but not to give birth to a boy after all, she knows very well that her husband, who is fifteen years older than herself, will one day grow old, and it is very likely that he will go first, and the position of the patriarch of the Conte family will inevitably be inherited by the nephew of the duke, and he can only rely on his stepson, and the young man in front of him really lives up to expectations, although he is young, he can also be called a high position in the Holy See, and it is better to have him to help than to rely on nothing.

"Since my mother said so, Kroze, let's go and rest first, I'm really tired enough after so many days of travel." Ian nodded at the Duchess's words and turned to look at his cousin inquiringly.

"Then I'll bother." Kreuz only felt that his legs were trembling, barely able to support the strength of his body, but he had a tenacity in his bones that was beyond others, so he almost fell to his knees the moment he entered the guest room and closed the door.

After a brief bath, Ian didn't choose to sleep as the butler thought, but instead changed his clothes and walked out through the side door.

Although he understood early on that the clergy in the Holy See were not as required by the Bible, and he was not a person with clean hands, but at this moment he walked under the cold light of the first quarter moon, he suddenly felt a little sad in his heart, he didn't know what books others used when they were literate, but he was in contact with the Bible from the beginning of his enlightenment, as the youngest student who skipped a grade to graduate from the seminary, he almost memorized every word of the Bible, and he wanted to grow up to be what God expected a long time ago, but since when did it start, Like his father, like the nobleman he once hated the most, he began to use his power frequently, not to pray for the believers, not to bless the believers, but to obtain more benefits.

Therefore, after learning that his mother was angry after knowing that his father's former mistress was actually his cousin, he began to calculate in his heart, and smoothly led his father to Sophia from favoring to conniving, and inciting some people's dissatisfaction with Sophia and even his father in the presbyterian church without a trace, especially after the incident of the Griward family, what he wanted was to take the opportunity to grab benefits in the chaos and turmoil, so he was still a qualified priest?

Blocked from the flat and wide roads of Rome, Fei Leng Cui is more of some zigzag alleys, the moonlight shines through the pointed roofs, the mottled stone roads are full of crooked shadows of the roofs, the young man carries a lantern and walks slowly, and soon he walks to the river, the river is sparkling in the moonlight, reflecting the crooked crescent, like a soft dream.

"Hey, sir, are you here to see the moon too?" On the dock by the river stood a black-haired boy dressed in coarse cloth, carrying a lantern with a unique shape, and Ian walked in to find that the black-eyed and black-haired man was a pure Oriental.

“…… Yes. Seeing this young man, Ian was in a trance, in fact, he was not very good at recognizing the face of the Oriental, but the strange thing was that he found that he could actually remember that the young man in front of him was the wandering painter who had a glimpse of the square before, maybe the moonlight was too bright, and he always had a familiarity with the people in front of him, and he suddenly wanted to talk to the young man in front of him about his troubles, "Are you also alone?" ”

"yes." The young man sat by the river and smiled, in fact, today was his birthday, and he didn't have a birthday in several worlds, and when the black cat was so dead that he couldn't return to his side, he naturally chose to be passive and slack off, originally he wanted to invite Marcus and Sylvia to spend it with him, but considering that the current income is only enough for his own expenses, especially in this world, oil painting paints are expensive and scary, he still chose to give up, Therefore, it is rare for a childlike boy to make a small orange lamp according to the memories of many worlds ago, and after buying a small chocolate cake in the bakery, he walked out alone while Marcas was still helping in the bakery, "Today is my birthday, and my friends are very busy, so I went out alone." ”

“…… Happy birthday. Ian spoke a little dryly, and his irritable mood suddenly calmed down a lot at the sight of the young man's pure smile.

"Now, would you like to try the cake?" Many years ago, when Ah Zhai was a secondary school teenager, he once thought of a very unique birthday, carrying a cake and setting off alone, taking a strange bus to get off at random at a stop, and then inviting a stranger to share the cake with him, and even without knowing each other's names, he may not meet again in his life after leaving, but at that moment he felt that he must be able to be as chic as the lonely hero in Western fantasy movies, although he was not able to take the bus today, but his boyhood wish was suddenly fulfilled in this strange world, Ah Zhai couldn't help squinting his eyes and smiled pleasantly.

"Okay!" As soon as the words came out, Ian himself was taken aback, it was not that he had not attended the birthday party of others, the clothes and sideburns, the staggered cakes, the sweet pastries, and the sweet wine...... However, it was really a novel experience for him to accompany a stranger who only had a one-sided relationship to celebrate his birthday, sitting on the grass by the river like an ordinary citizen, stretching his legs at will, not caring about his own appearance, how comfortable his image was.

The two sat side by side on the riverbank and shared a piece of cake, although the chocolate zuò was still relatively rough at this time, and the fermentation and baking of the pastry were not as good as in later generations, but both of them felt that it was the most delicious cake they had ever tasted.

"Thank you, sir, for spending time with me on my birthday." The moon rose high in the sky, and the night became more and more gentle, and the two of them ate cake while talking, and sometimes they sat quietly and did nothing or say anything, but naturally revealed a tacit understanding.

"I think thank you for inviting me to share such a unique birthday." The depression in his heart disappeared with the moonlight at this moment, and Ian smiled and looked at the young man in front of him, only to feel that his heart had never been so peaceful.