On the way to lead Leon to the main hall, the attendant suddenly stopped: "Young Master Leon." Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Well, what's wrong?" Leon looked at the squire who suddenly turned around.

The squire had a professionally trained smile on his face, but there was no smile in his eyes: "You know, our Huskes family is a big family. ”

Leon didn't say anything, just looked at him indifferently.

The attendant didn't care about Leon either, and said to himself: "The lord has three sons and two daughters. There are sixteen grandchildren, and the youngest of them is your mother, Miss Vinne. As for your peers...... Not counting illegitimate children, there are fifty-two people in total. They are all descendants, and they are the direct descendants of Lord Augustus. ”

You go on. ”

"I just wanted to remind you that the Hustarks family is very large, and although you are the great-grandson of the lord, your surname is Alex after all. The squire tried to express his meaning as tactfully as possible.

Leon couldn't tell whether he was good advice or mockery, and he felt a rush of anger roll through his chest, but he quickly suppressed it, and only tensed his face and said, "Thank you for your advice." ”

The attendant opened the door, bowed slightly, and said, "Then, the main hall has arrived, please go in." ”

Leon tried to calm his mind as much as he could, and the first lesson of each of his teachers who taught him aristocratic etiquette must have taught him how to calm his mood quickly, at least not on the surface.

Then he stepped into the main hall.

Compared with the coldness of the side hall, the main hall is more lively and more spacious. On the wall opposite the door, the stove burned, adding warmth to the room, and expensive amethyst glass lamps hung from the ceiling, illuminating the hall as if it were day. The attendants who came and went moved gracefully, serving food or pouring wine, and four long tables of more than ten meters were arranged around the dance floor, and each dish on it was only present at real high-society gatherings.

On the dance floor, young men and women dance the circle dance popular among the aristocracy, and in the center of the dance floor, a blue-haired girl is playing the song Monado Night as an accompaniment to the dance, and the soft sound of the piano makes people forget their sorrows.

Leon's arrival quieted the otherwise lively dinner party for a moment, and then people began to whisper.

"It's been so long since the dinner party, whose child is this?"

"It should be the Alex kid that Ling Lu picked up. ”

"Well, what an unfortunate boy he is. ”

"Yes, Vin. My niece, what a beautiful girl. ”

Everyone's gaze made Leon a little overwhelmed, looking at the eyes of the people around him with pity or disdain, Leon felt his throat dry, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

At this moment, a beautiful woman came from the other end of the table, gently shaking a goblet full of wine in her hand, and walked gracefully towards Lyon.

She walked up to Leon, bent down and asked Leon cordially, "Little Leon, do you remember your aunt?"

Leon carefully identified it for a moment, and said uncertainly, "Aunt Ellie?"

"Ho, it looks like little Leon still remembers me. The beautiful woman smiled gracefully, placing the goblet on the plate held by the attendant beside her, and then took Leon's hand, "I am sad for what happened to your family. Your mother is only one sister like me, and now that she is gone, you are my child. ”

"Thank you, Auntie. ”

Ellie's eyes were a little moist, she took out a handkerchief and gently wiped the corners of her eyes: "Of all the brothers and sisters, only your mother and I have the best relationship." So taking care of you is what I should do, and you will live with your aunt in the future. By the way, have you seen your cousins?"

Leon shook his head, and Ellie pointed to a small group of young people gathering across the dance floor and said, "They should all be there, young people are talking about it together, you go there." ”

Eri kissed Leon on the cheek, then ordered one of his attendants to take him over.

When Leon joined the place where the young men were talking, he did not agree with Aunt Ellie's words at all, and although the thirty or forty people around him were all his cousins, Leon sadly found that he did not know anyone.

His dead father may be blamed for all this, and since Alex has always been in a single line, Leon has been cultivated by Lake as the next head of the family since he was a child. Since he was not under the age of ten and could not be enlightened, Lyon's childhood was not spiritual, only learning.

The etiquette of the nobility, the history of the imperial capital, the customs and customs of various parts of the empire, the descriptions of various different worlds, and even the books on the march and war, all these things he studied. As a result of his heavy studies, Leon has hardly left Alex's Gut Rheinberg since he was a child, and how can he have the opportunity to know these cousins when he doesn't even recognize all of Alex's relatives.

However, the cousins did not reject Leon, at least on the surface, they welcomed Leon's arrival.

Leon was a little nervous, deliberately kept a straight face, and tried his best to sit upright on the sofa, so that his sitting posture perfectly matched the etiquette of the aristocracy. His actions caused several children to laugh.

"Hey, he's sitting like a nobleman. ”

Leon could only pretend not to hear, he secretly looked at everyone present, seventeen boys, twenty-one girls, of all ages, some of the girls had a beautiful arc of their breasts to show off their girlish identity, and many of the boys had grown an Adam's apple and a soft beard above their lips. The other young ones still have snotty noses and chew sweet candy in their mouths, and they are estimated to be five or six years old.

Leon was also considered young among them, after all, he would only be ten years old in another week.

A few thirteen or fourteen-year-old girls were whispering, glancing at Leon from time to time, and then bursting into laughter. Although Leon is not very old, the beautiful faces inherited from Lake and Viin are also divided into cuteness, and these girls are privately teasing who to invite Leon to come and sit.

In the end, it was a girl with sea blue curly hair who blushed shyly, and timidly got up and walked to Leon's side: "Excuse me...... Can you come with me and sit there? Everyone, you want to get to know you. ”

Leon didn't want to sit in the middle of a bunch of girls, and he smiled and asked the curly-haired girl, "I'm Leon, Leon Alex, what's your name?"

"Ah...... Anasta, Anasta Haskez. Anasta replied a little nervously.

Leon stood up gracefully, bent down and asked, "Then beautiful Miss Anasta, can I invite you to a dance?"

Anasta was sweating from her palms, and she suddenly felt that the corset lady dress she was wearing was so tight that she could hardly breathe and even fainted. She stammered and replied, "When ...... Of course, it's a pleasure. ”

To the soothing music of Monado's Night, Leon takes Anasta by the hand and walks onto the dance floor, dancing in circles. Anasta was so nervous when she danced. She was tall, and she couldn't help but think nervously that she was a head taller than Leon, which must have embarrassed Leon. I also felt that Leon needed to hold hands with her when dancing, and from time to time she had to salute her face, which was too embarrassing for Leon.

So she always unconsciously bent her waist, wanting Leon to be more relaxed.

But Leon's hand around her waist always straightened Anasta's waist vigorously, and Leon stood on tiptoe to face Anasta during the dance steps to the veneer ceremony, and whispered in her ear: "Don't worry about me, it's not a lady to bend over and dance." ”

Anasta gave Leon a grateful look, then straightened her back and finished the dance with Leon.

The two people who came back from dancing, all of them screamed "oh~oh~", and Anasta was so ashamed that she fled back to her female companion. But in this way, Leon became much closer to his cousins, and many of his cousins gathered around Leon, chattering about his dancing, and then looking at Leon expectantly or with silky eyes, hoping that he would invite himself to dance as well.

"Hmph, what's so great about this guy?" whispered a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old with some freckles on his face, to his companion next to him, with some irritation, "but a poor relative in tatters." ”

"This is not a poor relative, he is the only son of Duke Alex. It was a handsome boy who spoke, taller than the boys next to him, standing straight, always with a confident smile on his face, but now his smile was a little mocking, "Look at me giving everyone a breath." ”

He stepped forward and greeted Leon, "My dear cousin, remember me?"

Leon looked at him suspiciously, then shook his head apologetically.

"Oh, it can't be helped, after all, I only saw you when you were still in the cradle. The handsome boy put his hands on his chest and bowed gracefully, "Then introduce myself again, my name is Adelaide Huskez, and my mother is Alley." ”

In order to ensure the purity of the bloodline, many noble bloodline families will adopt internal intermarriage, as long as the blood is not less than three generations. This was the case with Adelaide's parents, whose father was a prominent side son of Haskez, and his mother, Eli, the granddaughter of the Duke of Augustus. Because of this, Adelaide has the most orthodox Hasquez blood.

As for marriages between different noble families, only noble families of equal nobility of other bloodlines would take the form of marriages, such as Lyon's parents.

This is not just the arrogance of the noble lord, the bloodline of a family is related to the blood strength and talent of the clansmen, so it is normal for the new nobles who are promoted from the commoners to be squeezed out by the old nobles.

"Hello, dear cousin. Leon bowed in return, then looked up at Adelaide, the beautiful boy who was a head taller than Leon.

Adelaide smiled, and then joked to the female companions gathered around Leon, "Pretty young ladies, let's sit down with little Leon first." ”

Adelaide affectionately took Leon's hand, pulled him to sit on the sofa, and chatted with him about some dance, music, and other things, Leon was naturally no stranger to the skills that these nobles had to master, and answered them one by one, and from time to time he could offer his own opinions.

Suddenly, Adelaide changed his tone and asked, "By the way, cousin, I heard that something unfortunate happened to Alex." ”

At the mention of sadness, Leon's face suddenly became gloomy: "Yes, Alex is now left with me alone." ”

"Can you tell us about it? You know, the grown-ups are a little shy about the Alex family, and they rarely talk about it to us. ”

Leon looked at Adelaide's smile and looked at the curious looks of his cousins beside him, and his heart gradually sank.

Their expressions were not sympathetic or sad, they simply wanted to hear the story, and perhaps when they heard the story of their father killing his family who was completely controlled by the worm mother, and then using the sword to commit suicide, they would be sad and squeeze out a few tears. That's all, it's like watching a sad drama, just because the plot needs it.

Leon slowly felt sad and lonely in his heart, and he wanted to keep his mouth shut, but it was not very noble, so he replied: "It's just a family that perished in the conquest of the empire, and they won and died on the battlefield." ”

"When a soldier dies on the battlefield, it may be the best destination and the highest honor. Adelaide replied, "But can you be more specific, for example, I heard that your mother was killed by your father, and that your father, after defeating the worm mother, could not bear the condemnation in his heart and committed suicide in front of you." ”

Leon got up from the couch with an angry face, he couldn't control his emotions any longer, his face flushed, his chest kept heaving, and he looked at Adelaide angrily.

The female companion next to her couldn't help but let out a burst of exclamations when she heard such exciting news from Adelaide. Adelaide, who was glared at by Leon, still had that damn smile, he stood up and patted Leon on the shoulder: "Cousin, what's wrong? Angry? I'm also hearsay, don't I want to get verification from you." ”

Leon shook his head: "I'm just a little tired, I'm sorry everyone, I'll go back to my room first." ”

After saying that, Leon didn't pay attention to the others, and he didn't care whether he was noble. He walked straight away, across the dance floor, pushed open the door to the main hall and walked out.

After Leon left, Adelaide glanced at several of his companions before erupting into a burst of unbridled laughter.

"You, you're too much!" Anasta said to Adelaide angrily, dancing with Leon, "why do you want to tell Leon's sadness, he has already made it clear that he doesn't want to say it." ”

"Dear cousin. Adelaide smiled and said, "I just want him to understand one thing, this is the Huskees after all. Although I welcome him, there is always a distinction between dignity and inferiority in the family. ”

At this time, one of the chubby little boys muttered in a low voice, "Respect, hey, damn respect." ”

When Adelaide heard this, his face sank suddenly: "Ashi, are you questioning my words?"

The fat boy Asco's face turned white all of a sudden, he didn't expect Adelaide's ears to be so pointed, he was always timid by nature, and he didn't dare to confront Adelaide.

Adelaide looked at Asco's trembling body, and suddenly thought of an idea, couldn't help laughing, and then pulled Ascot over and whispered a few words in his ear.

The more he listened, the paler his face became, and he whispered, "This...... Not very well, Leon didn't do anything wrong. ”

Adelaide slapped Ascot on the head hard, and Ascot drooped his head, even if he was reluctant, he could only agree, he didn't want to taste Adelaide's fist: "Okay then." ”