Madame got up early in the morning and walked on the Witch Street, then returned to the bookstore along the river, called Miss Zusli who was lying in bed, and after breakfast, the troika drove to the Black Swan Lake, and the laurel crown pulled by Holstein's heavy horse was very helpless, because he did not know the road, he could only follow the gold balance badge and eat dust, Uss obviously cherished the time with this distant cousin, left the carriage that belonged to him, squeezed into the narrow carriage where Augustine was, and talked about many topics in the field of theology and art, and only lightly mentioned the family history under the centaur badge, Us's father was a frontier count of the Oguga Empire, This is the first powerful country in the Western Continent is a sign of power, "Brandenburg" and "Andersen" The five royal dukes with fixed titles are fixed in the royal territory for life, and have no real power, and the frontier earls who are counted by Oguga with one hand are the important ministers who really control the mouthpiece and sword and spear of the empire, and the outside world's criticism of the Holy Empire, in addition to religious hostility, a large part of it is to laugh at the "generosity" of this kingdom that can only obtain the title of nobility by the descendants of knights In the past, it was magicians who could enter the elite class, but now even the profits of merchants are included in the imperial honor, which is too absurd, there is no closure at all, no wonder White Rose always mocks the nobles of the Holy Empire for being too cheap and the bloodline is too impure.

The three carriages stopped at the edge of the Black Swan Lake, and Madame and Uth saw the stele at the same time, but Madame was more attentive and saw the inscription behind her, and as for the rough Mademoiselle Zusley, she was protesting why she couldn't comfortably ride into the manor, and saw Madame crouching on the back of the stele and walked over to ask what was engraved on it, and Madame silently recited it truthfully, and Madame Zusli immediately sent Augustine in Hell to the next Hell again, and only the poor and crazy would be interested in the Wealth of Nations. The Wealth of Nations, written by a poor commoner who died of hunger and cold, was praised by the "money worshippers" as the "second Bible", but was unanimously dismissed by the conservative orthodox aristocracy as the whisper of the devil, and it was only with the strong rise of the Holy Empire that some self-esteemed scholastic scholars had to really read this thin pamphlet that did not deserve to be on the shelf. The small episode caused by the stele and inscription soon faded calmly, and the group walked on the marble road painted with obsidian, flanked by tall and lush Quebec sugar maple and plane plane tree, which were dotted with the eyes of the magic array of the twelve zodiac palaces in turn, not an expert in deep exploration of black magic, and would only regard those exquisite sculptures as works of art that filled the façade, Zusli was very interested in the statue of the Virgin with a water bottle, ran to wash her face, pad her slender heels, and tried to reach out to block the mouth of the water bottle that kept flowing out of the spring, but was splashed by the water, and laughed to herself。 Uth stood under the twin statues and pondered, and in the shade of the trees only Augustine and the Lady of Grace remained, and the lady smiled: "Is the text behind the stele derived from the famous sentence in The Wealth of Nations: 'Three things can make any kingdom great'—faith, steel, and gold'? ”

Augustine gestured a triangle with both hands and elaborated: "Faith is the source that sustains the empire in the midst of suffering, steel is the premise of the military, and gold is the last cornerstone of war." These three form a complete triangle. ”

Madame agrees with this statement: "Mathematically, the triangle is the most stable structure. I only cursoried through The Wealth of Nations, and there were too many jargon in it that gave me a headache, but the occasional emotional argument and poetic text that popped up made me stick to the end. It seems that I need to read it several more times, and I believe that a book that will make the archon so appreciate it is worth chewing on and pondering. ”

Augustine reached out and plucked a green maple leaf from the top of his head, handed it to his wife, and smiled, "I hope this maple leaf will be honored to be a bookmark in that book of The Wealth of Nations." ”

Madame took the still emerald green Quebec sugar maple leaves, and the corners of her mouth curled, "I am honored to receive the gift from the archon in person, and I hope that if I am invited to tea by the Sacramental Congregation in the future, this maple leaf can bring the right of pardon." ”

Augustine said with a serious face: "Whoever dares to invite his wife to the sacramental ministry for tea, I will invite him to the sacramental ministry for tea." ”

Madame quipped, "It seems that when I get to the castle of poetry, I will not be able to drink the black tea of the archon." ”

Augustine was stunned for a moment, silent, and did not use the aristocratic tone cultivated by the Rotonchild family to deal with this little difficult question that should have been well answered. Madame looked up at the maple leaves at the right time, and then quietly turned her gaze back to observe the master of the Black Swan Lake beside her, a ray of sunlight shining through the gap in the leaves, shining on the young man, his face was a little tired and pale, his eyes were clear, and when he spoke to people, he habitually looked himself into the eyes of others, not the chest that the old nobles were fond of, his figure was slender, not weak, not strong, very moderate, he could be a priest, he could be a knight, his thin lips would be pursed when he was silent, adding a clear sharpness to the soft contours of his face, he did not wear a badge on his body, but under his feet were patches of obsidian patterns, not bright flowers that bloomed, only tender flower buds and buds. When he was picking the maple leaves just now, just as he had pushed the "Apologetics" in front of her yesterday, he had noticed that the ten fingers of his hands were very suitable for playing the piano and holding a quill pen, and his nails were trimmed very smoothly, unlike some nobles with bad taste, who were accustomed to keeping their little finger nails very long, and who could not hold a spear and could not go to the battlefield, but they liked to insult women in bed in this deformed way. The man in front of him, both in rambling conversation and in every detail of his movements, was impeccable, and did not fit well with the portrait of the traitor's descendants that Madame had drawn in her mind before she came to Marceau, and in her memory, Prince Schopenhauer would only talk in front of her about the exploits of war on the Red Gogol Plain, apparently deliberately avoiding the sacrifice of Reinhardt, and the high priest of Napoleon, who was recognized as a hero of the empire, had a few conversations with her about catechesis and navigation, which would have left some gloom in Madame's heart, but the man beside him had taken on his rival in love when he gave a pot of gardenias"A Thought Reed". Madame thought to herself: What is this young giant standing under the maple and sycamore leaves thinking?

Augustine knew that Madame was observing him, but he was willing to accept this harsh scrutiny, and before leaving Alpha City, he had asked the Count of Marseille to secretly investigate the origin of the black pearl necklace, believing that it would not be difficult to find out the true identity of the owner of such a precious collection. Miss Zusri had had enough of the spring, and Uth returned from the twin statues, and Augustine led them to the image of the Virgin, pressed the crystal, revealing a spiral staircase, and did not mind taking them into the underground world of the Château de la Poetry, which was the least sincerity, and it was impossible to take them around the manor and leave, lest the time comes, except for Madame, the old antiques of Fermos and Constance would slap the table and scold the descendants of this relative for being stupid and stingy. The lady saw the huge Ursula Tree Eye and exclaimed, "The Ancient Tree of Life?!"

The little queen, who liked to take her "daughter" to wander around and inspect the poems, met this group of fresh-faced guests, crossed her waist, holding a rope in her hand, and put it around the neck of the golden two-headed viper, and it was obvious that the poor little fellow of the ninth order preferred some "father" Augustine, and for this irascible and not gentle mother, there was some sad despair, and every time she broke free from the reins and hid in a small corner, she would find and put on the dishonorable rope again. Miss Zusli saw this little Lori as delicate and lovely as Princess Pei Fen of Plantagenet, and immediately ran over to pinch her face, Augustine was afraid that his butler would accidentally make Miss Zusli into a doll, but quickly breathed a sigh of relief, because all flat-chested women can become Miss Elizabeth's friends, although being pinched made her a little unhappy, but her hands were not idle, rubbed Zusley's chest, and after making sure that it was not great at all, she showed an innocent smile hiding behind sincerity, holding Zusley's hand, whispering, Augustine lost a few eyes that had done too much, and after getting a response, he was no longer worriedIt can be seen that the adventurous Miss Zusli climbs in a very inelegant posture, but it is full of heartfelt excitement, probably back to the golden family of White Rose, and has one more capital for her to show off to her father and elders.

Miss Zusley, who has not had a fear of heights since she was a child, is very easy to deal with, and follows the little queen to conquer the ancient tree of Ursula, and Uss is about the same, attracted by a document that has just come out of the poem, which is the masterpiece of the one-eyed dragon Ulise, the deputy chief of order, used as a basic intelligence assessment, a total of one hundred and fifty questions, one hundred and fifty points, covering almost all fields, and requires divergent and reverse thinking, careful and powerful logical reasoning, in order to get a high score, Miss Poetic Riche was the only one to get a high score of more than 100 in the specified time, and Professor Shirley and Assistant Professor Kim, who are only deeply researched in the professional field, did not even qualify, and Hall, who has a wide range of knowledge, got more than 90 points, which made Ulise, who had a sense of intellectual superiority over Augustine, very regretful, until the Lori butler threw the one-eyed dragon a scribbled answer sheet, which was a terrifying full score, and at the end it was accompanied by a sentence full of anger: The author You can die, it is a waste of Miss Miss's time to read "Flowers and Blood", you can read twelve lines in half an hour! You great idiot whose intelligence is equivalent to a dwarf! Please answer honestly to the great Queen Elizabeth, are you stuffing your mind with straw? or straw?

After that, the members of the poetry can often see a funny scene: the tall single-tailed deputy chief Ulise follows behind the little queen holding a "little snake", bends down to ask some professional questions, most of the time the little queen is too lazy to answer, and occasionally in a good mood, she responds to the deputy chief's full of traps.

Augustine is well aware of the depth of their wisdom and is located on the same plane, so he should be able to be a good friend, the kind of friend who wants to keep each other's heads and turns the other into an undead puppet.

Uth was busy answering questions, Augustine had to take his wife to the empty library on the first floor of Tulip, there were not many books, and there was a bookshelf in the corner dedicated to a fat man's papers, which was not open to the public.

Some people, who have only seen the plains in their lives, naturally will not try to climb those mountains that have never been seen, these people are happy, some people, have seen the mountains, but can be very optimistic not to climb, but can also see the scenery at the foot of the mountain similar to the top of the mountain, these people are also happy, but unfortunately Augustine is an obsessive-compulsive pessimist, in front of him is not only a peak, but also a stretch of mountains, there is the Faculty of Thought, there is a higher Vat of the Trantican than the Faculty of Thought, there is the Empire, there are those nobles who stand on the top of the Empire, there are the muses who have just joined the temple of sacrifice, there was the Duke of Maga Black Sheep who held the horn of destruction to prevent St. Urban's ascent to the top, and several higher peaks shrouded in mist, Augustine certainly wanted to rest, but even if he didn't look up, he knew that the existence of those peaks could be overturned at any time, and now, like his body, the order was seriously ill: St. Urban, who had descended from God, had returned to the primordial plane, and the armor of the holy remains was as completely torn as the robes sewn by the godfather, and the secret letter of old Clough indicated that the Holy See was finally going to give him the "Teachings" The interpreter identity began to work on the deprivation process, and the deepest secret was that Augustine's hourglass of life was still passing at several times the speed, and he didn't even dare to tell the already sad enough Lori Steward about this disaster, but the future was not absolutely suffocating darkness, this was Augustine's pessimistic optimism: Ulise was stable for the time being, and he was a qualified ruler of the kingdom. The Ancient Tree of Life does have the potential to be a key to open the cup of Golal. The tentacles of the golden scales began to penetrate beyond the county of Marceau, and the free-range lambs were thriving, each beginning to become independent predators. Prince Dimmit is expected to be the youngest true ancestor in the history of the Setus family, and it won't take Augustine too long. Crucially, Augustine is still alive.

Madame coincidentally picked out a draft of Augustine's continuation of "The Second Empire", and as soon as she saw the first page, Madame immediately put down the draft and apologized: "I will keep it a secret, and promise that I have never read this draft, please believe me." ”

Augustine shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter, this is a banned book that will not be published for decades, and if Madame is interested in reading it, I will be glad that the number of readers has increased from one to two." ”

The lady who sat next to Augustine had her hair cut, she tilted her head when she read, she looked very carefully, there was a natural fragrance on her body, she was reading, Augustine was looking at her, her eyes did not dare to burn, she did not dare to be frivolous. She carefully read the forty-odd pages of the manuscript bound into the volume, just one volume, probably there were too many obscure words that were out of the way, and occasionally frowned, such obstacles that affected the progress of reading were not appreciated by her, she had always believed in good works, and did not rely on conceited sophistry and pretended difficult words to pile up, but what she was holding in her hand was not a literary work, so it did not affect her love for this manuscript, especially those beautiful fonts that could be discerned at a glance from under the owl quill, full of rigorous wisdom, among the court literati friends she knew, often had magnificent thinking, but disdained to scrutinize the details, and regarded them as a sign of shallow talentAnd the philosophers, who go to the other extreme, seem to strive for the norm even for every pronunciation or every character. She had mistakenly thought that the Napoleonic Archpriest, who wrote the travel diary "A Thought Reed", was the only exception.

Madame blinked, and said playfully, "Augustine, I am your loyal new reader, and I am looking forward to this manuscript more than the sequel to A Thought Reed." ”

Augustine was a little surprised: "Madame, are you interested in sailing?"

Madame shook her head and said, "On the contrary, I am afraid of sailing. ”

Augustine smiled, "It's an honor." The next time I write, I'll be even more apprehensive. ”

Madame hesitated for a moment, becoming more and more like a reader, curious about the author's inner world, and asked for the first time in a cautious tone: "Augustine, Aphrodius, who was born with you in the city of Augs, was once your lover?"

Augustine was stunned and denied: "Of course not, I just met this famous lady of the Northern Aowufu family once in a fox hunt in the family manor, of course, Miss Aphrodi at that age is already very moving." It's just that for me, the maple leaves are still the most beautiful in autumn. ”

Madame glared at Augustine.

Is this flirting?

Augustine was very calm and laughed at himself: "Madame, do you have the attitude of a faithful reader towards a sincere author?"

Madame did not see the panic and frivolity in his eyes, and smiled, "Forgive me for the prejudice and misunderstanding of this new reader. ”

Augustine laughed: "You are biased, but you have no misunderstanding. ”

Madame gently grasped the manuscript with both hands, her face was slightly red, and her style bloomed.

Augustine explains: "It's like when I see a gardenia growing in the wild, it's beautiful, it's swaying, and I appreciate it, but I'm never going to pull it out and plant it in the garden." ”

Madame tilted her head and looked at Augustine with a sincere face, the corners of her mouth curled beautifully, and said softly: "What about the Ancient Tree of Life, is it because it is not beautiful enough that it was planted in your garden by His Excellency the Grand Consul?"

Augustine had a headache.

Madame waited quietly for an answer.

Augustine had no choice but to glare at her.

Madame was amused by Augustine's action, no one had dared to stare at her like this before, not even the man who was known as the most masculine and romantic in the Empire, but he was indeed a little older for her, and she did not allow herself to be someone's canary.

The atmosphere here was a little subtle and awkward, but Miss Zusri jumped up and down on the ancient tree of Ursula with a sense of accomplishment, and several times almost fell from the branches into the lowest tomb and became a puddle of mud dressed in luxurious clothes, and the bell tower monster who followed her to run around again and again and pulled her falling body kept silently chanting "Miss, my mother said, don't stand on a high place, whether it is a moral building or a geographical location", Miss Zusri didn't bother to teach Quasimodo "You are an orphan" at this time, and she was crazy. Since Augustine took the lead in expressing his sincerity, Uth also expressed his sincerity, and did not bring the two servants into the underground castle of poetry, at this time he was doing that test, when he was halfway through, Uth's eyes changed color, very hidden, and he replaced his left hand with a pen in his right hand. At some point, Ulise, who was standing behind the ordinary heir of Constend, spoke slowly: "Centaur Badge guest, you are very interesting, you are seriously mentally ill, do you need me to help you drive out that weak self?

Uss, who was easily solving the last theological puzzle, did not look up, and said with a smile: "No, how interesting it is now, even your master, the clever cousin Augustine, has been deceived by my acting skills." ”

"Augustine is not my master, I just help him take care of this little kingdom. Ulise narrowed his eyes, "Schizophrenia, the dragon's punishment for slaying the dragon in Constend, it is the curse that curses the family to self-destruction in madness, as far as I know, this curse that brings both bad luck and power has been lifted in previous generations, so it seems that your family needs a strong heir who makes people tremble, just like Obsidian needs Augustine, little one, if you tell me what kind of bad luck your birth brings, I will not tell Augustine this secret." ”

"Before you go to snitch, I can finish this question and make you disappear. Ulise, you are only the king of truth, not the lord of the kingdom of power. Us, who had been bowing his head, said calmly.

"I don't accept threats. Ulise chuckled and rubbed his hands.

"Where is this threat, it is a very kind reminder. The wise man who gave such a wonderful questionnaire can of course be regarded as half a friend of mine. Uss raised his head, a pair of eyes that had lost their pupils, "Introduce yourself, I am the soul master of the coward Uss who gave alms to the mild sister fetish and the heavy love-mother plot, you can call me Turing, I guess your so-called bad luck probably refers to the fact that I trained Us's biological mother and two sisters to crawling slave girls, or castrated our common earl father?"

The chuckle that Ulise had suppressed in his throat was like a crow singing in his heart, and it was so funny.

The neurotic slowly stood up, handed the second perfect score answer sheet to Ulise, and smiled: " This time I brought a pair of armor to my dear cousin Augustine, among which was the essence taken from the skeleton of the black dragon Dandong, which could have been the most wonderful cage and experienced countless forbidden pleasures, but unfortunately this cousin was too cautious, I was very happy that I finally met a good opponent, whether it was in intelligence or strength, the only deficiency was that Augustine seemed to have been injured a little, which made my cousin very heartbroken, and what was even more painful was that he could refuse the temptation of the head of the Constance family, it was amazing, and several times I couldn't help but show up and praise his wisdom in person。 By the way, Ulisse, I've seen your Dead Sea Papers, and that's the only reason I'm willing to come out to meet you, I've always been kind to humans who are qualified to maintain a standing position. ”

Ulise smiled, "I hope to have the opportunity to study your skull, and your mind that has fused with several dragon souls." ”

The schizophrenic young centaur nobleman glanced at the Ursula Ancient Tree, "Please tell my cousin, Cousin Uss is returning to Oguga, but the next time we meet, the cowardly Uss is already the holder of the Centaur Badge, I hope Augustine will not be too surprised." It's really a pleasure to meet you. As for the armor, the Will of the Leader, I have kept it as a collection of the Château de la Poetry. ”

Ulise said softly, "Looking forward to seeing you again, I hope that the surprised Augustine will be able to pluck off your head." ”

The young man with his back to the one-eyed dragon slowly walked up the spiral staircase, waved his hand, and said, "Ulise, if you think Augustine can't satisfy your curiosity, come to me, your only enemy, 'unknown', will be more." ”

Ulise no longer watched him leave, walked to the fence, looked at the overgrown Ursula tree, fell into deep thought, and for a long time, came back to his senses, and muttered, "If you knew that God had come here not to any god, but to St. Urban, who had punished 'arrogance', you would not have been so arrogant." ”