The Sin of Ludwigs

Chapter 30

Have you ever been on a hunt?

With a kind of heroic and brave courage, leading the attendants and servants, driving the horses through the forest, grass and ponds, hunting down the prey worth hunting, the gunshots startled the grouse and wild pheasants hiding in the jungle, and occasionally The boa constrictor entangled in the tree was startled and fell from the branch, startling the bravest hunter.

Unfortunately, that is the hunting experience that our ancestors only had. Compared with the ancestors who dared to go deep into the forest and wilderness, the nobles who have been depraved in the enjoyment of luxury and money have gradually lost that kind of physical and mental toughness. Strength, the smug grit that graced the portraits of our ancestors, is increasingly difficult to find, replaced by slaves driving game and the ability to kill with just random aim. A so-called sharpshooter who takes pride in his marksmanship.In my opinion, this kind of hunting is not so much called hunting as it is called a slaughter performance by nobles.

When I was fourteen my father, the then Earl of Haggs, put on a so-called hunting show of this magnitude.

In order to win the favor of his wife—my mother, the then Countess of Haggs, the Count held a series of grand balls, banquets and large-scale hunting at the Frigu Manor.At the time, the Countess was suffering from occasional, undiagnosed migraines, and she was unwilling to attend any public occasions that required her to perform the duties of the Countess of Haggs, which was quite incompetent for an aristocratic woman.In order to suppress other people's discussions, and to make the countess happy, the count even spent a lot of money to buy all the rubies, emeralds and diamonds in New Jersey, and presented a diamond bouquet to each of the invited female guests.

The hunting took place on a plain, and I still remember that scene.The slaves drove thousands of hundreds of animals into the fenced hunting ground, and then released the fence one by one. At the end of the fence was a pond, which the Earl ordered the slaves to dig out overnight, in order to prevent the pond from freezing in the cold. The earl ordered people to introduce water from a distance into a heating pool, and fifty stoves were fired to heat it day and night, and then the steaming water was poured into the newly dug pond through the diversion channel.The earl and the gentlemen waited ahead with guns for the beasts that came out of the fence. Even if they escaped the guns, they would be terrified by the deafening gunshots and plunged into the deep pond to drown. ——You only need to die once when you are shot, but you need to die twice when you fall into the pond. That wonderful scene made the female guests watching on the high platform laugh endlessly. This kind of hunting is just to make them laugh!

In this joyful so-called hunt, my Louise, a young deer, not yet a year old, miraculously escaped her slaves who were driving her, perhaps because she was too small, and slipped through a fence. I came out and came to me who was hiding in the bushes because I was feeling bored.

It has beautiful fur and big watery eyes. It can be seen that its mother loves it very much and licks its fur until it is oily and smooth.The little creature, who knew nothing about the cruelty of human nature, was probably hungry. He approached me unsuspectingly, put his head on my hand, and begged for something to eat.

At that time, I was not the "future Earl of Haggs", so even if I sneaked away from the earl, no one would notice-the heir to the earl at that time always referred to my brother Elvis, even though we He is a twin brother of the same father and the same mother, born only a few minutes apart, but according to the rules of primogeniture, the future Earl of Haggs will only be him.As for me, life has already been seen at a glance—like the second son of other nobles, I get a fortune from my parents, go to London or Paris, and marry a wife who can bring me a rich dowry under the family arrangement—she Their appearance, conduct, origin, and even religious beliefs are not considered. As long as they can bring a dowry, it doesn't matter if they are Jewish daughters.I will spend a mediocre life as the second son of a nobleman under the blessing of the Haggis family, but I know that if necessary, Elvis will support me to live what I want without affecting the interests of the family. Life.

Elvis is different from me, he is the natural heir, our governess commented on him "he will be the most competent master of the Haggis family".When we were five years old, the earl gradually lost patience with my endless naughty attempts to attract his and his wife's attention, and wanted to send me to a boarding school in London. When we were facing the crisis of separation from now on, it was Elvis calmly and calmly persuaded the Earl, and since then the Earl began to pay attention to the heir whom he had never paid much attention to before.This can be seen from his different attitudes towards us - in the earl, I can not sit down without permission, but Elvis never had to think about it, and as he grew older, he even gradually replaced The earl became the actual decision-maker of the family; the earl called him "El", but when he called me "my little sir" or "my naughty young master", this kind of intimacy is like pets The attitude further created the alienation between me and the Earl.

The count has always been very busy, and the countess is even busier. After all, when a nobleman has an heir, the rules of the circle have already acquiesced that as long as they maintain a superficial harmony, they can each live the life they want.Even if they occasionally think of their own children, they are more concerned about whether their heirs are qualified. As for the extra children, if they are not for the purpose of putting pressure on the heirs, they are actually unnecessary burdens—I am that burden.

Under such circumstances, I secretly took Louise back to my living room and hid it under the bed.

The earl does not allow us to keep pets. He thinks that keeping pets is something that women do. Only sentimental women will hold Persian cats and cry. Any pet, unless it is a lion, is related to a man. The status is too inappropriate.

Louise is very cute, but it is impossible to hide a live fawn in the castle. Only one day later, my nanny, Mrs. Taylor, discovered her existence. She was always in awe of the Earl. They advised me to send Louise away.

Of course I wouldn't listen to my nurse, but I also knew that if the count knew of Louise's existence, she would definitely be sent to the slaughterhouse.After thinking about it, I asked the nanny to call Elvis over. Even he was startled by Louise emerging from under the bed. That was one of the few times I saw Elvis A mixed expression of astonishment and shock appeared on Weiss's face.

Louise is so well-behaved, when she looks at you with docile and trusting eyes, anyone will want to hold her in their arms, rub her and hug her, even Elvis who is always sensible He was defeated in front of the pure eyes.Eventually me, Elvis and my nanny Mrs Taylor came to a secret agreement between the three of us that I would hide Louise in a small room during the day and Elvis and Mrs Taylor would cover for me , Wait until the beginning of spring to send her away.

The arrival of Louise brought us infinite joy. During that time, Elvis would sneak up to me at night. We huddled together to play with Louise as we did when we were very young a long time ago, and Mrs. Taylor Maids who would escort us away from the night watch, lovingly bring us thirst-quenchers when we played around, give us a "shh" with the finger when we played too loudly to attract attention, and then we Holding Louise and hiding under the quilt, holding my breath and listening to Mrs. Taylor go out to deal with the housekeeper who heard the voice and came to inquire - after a long period of artificial alienation, Elvis and I were once again surrounded by Mrs. Taylor as if we were children. We had become so inseparable in our upbringing, and there had been attempts to steer us on different paths, but the arrival of Louise freed Elvis from the invisible envelope of his aristocratic template.

The good times lasted until the end of that party, and the day after the last guest had left, after our usual Latin lessons, I couldn't find Louise.

I searched all over the stairs, rooms, and stables, and even ran back to the grove where I met Louise, but I didn't see the lively figure of the cute little guy. I still remember that when I came back from the manor, Elvis stood on the second-floor stairs, calmly watching me go crazy, and finally, he said to me, "Don't look any more."

At dinner that day, I finally found out where Louise had gone—the Earl ordered a plate of venison to be placed in front of me and Elvis, a plate of fresh, roasted tender venison.

"I specially ordered the chef to prepare this for you, El, eat it and see if it suits your taste."

A son must not disobey his father's order, a subject must not disobey the monarch's order, and a subordinate must not disobey the superior's order—this is the rule that everyone told me tirelessly when I was very young. To keep me from thinking unnecessarily about something that only belongs to Elvis.

But no one has ever told me that even Elvis, my elder brother, even though he is the legal heir of the family, even if he has done everything an heir should do, in front of our father, at the command of the Earl In front of him, he is also so weak, just like the prince of Ivan the Great, although he is noble, he is powerless in front of the emperor.

After the earl said that, Elvis was silent for a long time, finally, he picked up the knife and fork, and forked a small piece of meat from the plate.

He ate very slowly, as if it was the most delicious food in the world. After putting down the knife and fork, he said calmly: "Thank you for your careful preparation. It is very delicious, and the chef's seasoning is just right."

"I'm glad you like it, but God taught us to know how to restrain ourselves. No matter how much we like something, we can't indulge in it, otherwise it will only become your weakness. As the future master of the Higgs family, you must keep in mind This lesson."

"Yes, I will definitely keep your teachings in mind."

When the earl turned his gaze to me, I overturned the plates on the table.

The annoyed earl ordered someone to put me in a confinement room. Except for water and black bread, no other food was allowed to be delivered to me. Just like the countless conflicts between father and son in the past, someone would check on time every day to see if I said yes. Repent, and I retaliate with a hard, deadly hunk of black bread.

On the fifth day, without the earl's order, Elvis led someone to open the door of the confinement room.

After dragging me out of solitary confinement and taking a shower, my brother told me calmly: "I have some sad news for you - our mother, more than the Countess of Louise Haggs , she prefers to be called Lady Louise Carroll. She left the estate in a carriage with Mr. James Carroll just the night before."

As if overnight, my world was turned upside down.

After losing my fawn, I also lost my mother, who both had the same name, Louise.

After the countess ran away from home, I never saw the count again, and it wasn't until more than a month later that I was finally summoned by him again.

At that time, even though he suffered the great humiliation and blow from his mother, the Earl looked as gentle and refined as ever.

"Ah, my little sir," he complained, as usual, in a tone of familiarity, "look what trouble you have given me before, my capricious little master! But your father still Can't wait to tell you the good news, by the grace of London, you too will be named Earl Ian William Haggs in the future, just like your brother will be Elvis William Hay Like Count Gus!"

—That was the last time Earl William called me "my little sir" in my memory.

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In fact, Ian and Elvis are also quite unlucky, these are some kind of parents... But the parent-child relationship of the nobles at that time was like this (Tan Shou)

Thank you Nie Cen and Xianying Piaoji for sending me catnip and fish food~

The sun came out today, I went down for a walk, it felt like letting the wind go hahaha