Then, he asked the negotiation team, and when he learned that all the letters written in the name of the Duke had been sent out, but no one had responded so far, he frowned in worry. He understood the principle of being forgotten when someone leaves, but he did not expect that some of the previous duke's connections would change so quickly. Afterwards, he looked at the accounts managed by the statistics team. Although it was only a very small team, he still divided the finances into two parts: managing money and managing accounts, and he was personally responsible for checking them. Angelica did not treat the young Duke badly. The living expenses she provided were enough for Dias and his team to live a ducal life in Waite, but it was almost impossible to save money. This account reconciliation basically extinguished Corneille's idea of saving money. For the future of Diaz, he had to find a way to increase revenue. "Do you have any good ideas?" asked Corneille. The noisy voices of the participants attracted Dias. She secretly opened the door a little and saw Corneille sitting in the center, commenting on everyone's suggestions from time to time. She could feel that everyone trusted and respected him. This was how she imagined herself as the Duke of Alva, chatting and laughing with her subordinates, but Dias was not jealous or defensive. She knew that Corneille did not like these tasks. The "Duke of Alva" preferred to buy a novel, brew a pot of white peony tea, and spend the whole afternoon leisurely. "If you don't like being a high-ranking official and don't like killing people, then why are you here?" Young Diaz asked this to Corneille who was playing with him by the pond. The child did not know how to consider other people's emotions, so Diaz was curious and asked.
At that time, Corneille, who was still a teenager, replied: "Because I was asked to do so." "Can't you refuse?" “If I don’t do the things I hate, then I can’t do the things I love, and that’s how life works.” Corneille carried Dias, who was too close to the water, to the gazebo: "Fortunately, you don't have to live like this." Now, Dias understood Corneille's feelings a little. She sewed the door shut, put back the "Federal History of Art" that she had originally planned to read, and took out "Waite's Language" and "Waite's Introduction to History". At this time, the note fell from the book. Dias picked it up and found that it was the reading notes prepared by Corneille for him, which distilled the key points that the Duke of Alva needed to master. Although Corneille was a soldier, he was also educated and his summary could be trusted. Seeing his friend's care in the subtleties, Dias held the book in his arms, feeling warm in his heart. She said softly, in a gentle voice that she herself did not notice: "Pierre, kindness will not be wasted. One day I will repay you." The Toledo mansion continued to operate as usual, and Corneille wrote a letter to Anne to formally express his gratitude to her. After that, he sent a name card and a letter to the palace of the Trastamara family (the former royal family that the royalists tried to restore) in Merida, apologizing for the Duke of Alba's inability to meet him in person, and he would visit on his behalf on a certain day. Anne wrote back on scented paper, enclosing a potion that was said to help with recovery, and the Trastamara family expressed understanding and invited Corneille to join the picnic on April 4. Corneille didn't care whether they understood or not. He had no political stance and chose the royalist party only because of his own interests. It is true that Diaz, who only had an empty title, was in a very miserable state, but how much better off was the Trastamara family who had lost the throne? Despite this, he fabricated emotions of gratitude and ecstasy in his letter, and added drops of salt water to pretend to be tears. This lying skill was learned from Angelica. The lazy Duchess taught the honest young mercenary social etiquette and clerical format, and then pushed all the work of replying letters to him. "Corneille, when a letter smells sweet or has tear stains, don't believe it no matter what it says." The Duchess raised her teacup, sniffed the cool aroma of white peony tea, and said, "The performance is too heavy. Letter paper does not need to convey fragrance, and the world does not need so many tears." The young mercenary was puzzled: "Madam, I don't understand. If this is a universally recognized truth, why do you want me to spray perfume on the letter paper and drip salt water to pretend tears?" "Because the Duchess of Alva is in Vanity Fair, and lying is the passport to Vanity Fair." The Duchess put her hand on Corneille's head and said in a very sad voice: "Corneille, if you ever walk into that place, you must learn to be hypocritical and hard-hearted, otherwise, the pain will torture you endlessly."
Memories are like a rainstorm, coming and going quickly. Corneille looked at the reply letter he had written and said to himself: "Yes, Angelica, I have experienced the pain." Cecil was very efficient. On April 4, a Waite's passenger pigeon broke into Corneille's room and delivered a large package with a note sticking on it saying "Open it with Dias". Corneille took the package to Dias's room and opened it, and saw that the big package was divided into two small packages. "What? So mysterious." Diaz said. The first package contained a can of ointment and an accompanying instruction sheet: the adverse reactions of the ointment were "unknown", there were no allergic or mutually incompatible drugs, one spoonful at a time, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:20, and taken. It would take effect within half an hour and turn Diaz back into a man. "It's a very convenient medicine." Dias opened the can and smelled it. "It doesn't have any weird smell. It shouldn't be too bitter." Corneille shook out the letter from the second package, and a complete set of women's clothing including underwear, which was elegant and sophisticated, with jewelry, perfume and powder attached - the jewelry was borrowed, and Cecil particularly emphasized that if the jewelry was lost, he would have to compensate for it at its original price. The doctor said in the letter that she had found a reliable tutor and would accompany her tonight. She asked Diaz to wear this "Wearing women's clothes?" Diaz was struck by lightning. Although she became a girl, she still maintained her original clothes for the past few days and felt that it was natural for her to wear men's clothes. She looked at Gao Naiyi aggrievedly, and Gao Naiyi said helplessly: "Even if you are a reliable person, on the surface, you have to dress up to give people the opportunity to pretend to be confused." "Can you be flexible?" "I can accommodate you, but others don't know you that well." "Hmm." Diaz made a distressed sound. Corneille picked up the clothes and examined them, even the underwear. Then he held the clothes against Dias's body and compared them, and found that they fit him well. Apparently, the doctor took the opportunity of the examination to get Diaz's physical data and then find clothes of the right size. "Try it," said Corneille. "I don't want to be treated like a girl... but I also don't want to let down Pierre's efforts. Oh, it's a pain." After a long silence, Dias barely convinced himself and reached out to unbutton his clothes, but was grabbed by Corneille's wrist. She looked up in confusion and asked, "What's wrong?" "I'll change it when I get out." Diaz didn't care: "Pierre is not an outsider." "You're a girl now." Diaz was stunned, and after a moment he said angrily: "I am not!" Corneille replied: "Psychologically not, physically yes. Dias, I can understand your situation and treat you as a man, but what about others? Objectively speaking, you are beautiful, and your defenseless appearance is tempting to commit crimes, so you must learn to protect yourself, starting with good living habits. " "But Corneille will protect me, so there's nothing to worry about," Dias said naively. Corneille was happy for Dias's trust, but also uneasy for her blind obedience. Compared with Dias, he seemed to be the one who had changed his gender, and all kinds of thoughts that he had never had before emerged in his mind. "I'm going to go out first. Call me when you're done."
Before leaving, Corneille added, "Diaz, we are still the same as before." "?" The women's clothing given by Dr. Cecil was easy to put on, so Dias could put it on by herself. After putting it on, she wanted to call Corneille in immediately, but an inexplicable emotion made her carefully adjust it in front of the mirror until she could no longer find any flaws, and then she showed a satisfied smile. After a few seconds, her smile froze. Hey, what am I doing! Diaz held his head and felt his cheeks getting hot. Chapter 5 The Middleman When Corneille came in, she was attracted by the rich scarlet color of the long skirt at first sight. The golden lines extended straight on the skirt, from the neck to the ankles, adding to its three-dimensional effect. Diaz hid her smooth arms behind her back, which only highlighted her waist, which was decorated with a golden butterfly pattern (which is also Diaz’s personal emblem), and the unignorable curves of her chest. Dias noticed that Corneille's eyes were on her, and she couldn't help but get nervous. Every second of silence made her more embarrassed. Her competitive spirit taught her to want to win Corneille's praise, while her sense of shame taught her to feel that it was not a glorious thing for a man to be praised for his feminine beauty. "With a doctor's regular income, he cannot afford such expensive jewelry. How many bad things has this person done behind the scenes?" said Cornell. Dias sat down and stopped talking. The violent movement made her sapphire earrings shake and her pearl necklace shift out of place. Corneille smiled, came behind Dias, picked up a comb and combed her hair. Dias knew that her best friend was addicted to eroticism - when she was still a boy, she and Corneille had a frank conversation in the spacious bathtub and talked about their eroticism while they were in high spirits. But she didn't expect that her best friend even controlled her hair. Soon, Dias noticed from the mirror that Corneille's braiding skills were very professional, and he couldn't help but wonder: "Pierre, why are you so skilled?" "I learned this from braiding my sister's hair." "Pierre's family?" Gao Naiyi raised her eyebrows: "Ah, I haven't told you much about my family. You probably imagined me to be an orphan?" "……sorry." "Nothing, that's all." "What happened?" Diaz asked cautiously. “My sister is a genius and I’m jealous of her, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t beat her in the areas where we can compete. In my hometown, people treat me as her appendage, as if the whole meaning of my life is to set off this "masterpiece" of hers. The adults said so much that she believed them and started to take care of her "stupid brother" who couldn't do anything well. The feeling of "for his own good" gradually turned into a desire for control. " "?!" "I admired her, but I was also afraid of her. Before our relationship degenerated into something more deplorable, I escaped and became a mercenary.
Now, I have come to terms with it: she has no bad intentions, but her sense of responsibility and the gap between genius and ordinary people make her love painful. " Corneille's voice was calm, but Dias could sense his regret. She bit her lip and couldn't help feeling sorry for her friend. After a while, Dias came to her senses and saw that her long hair had been tied up behind her head. She looked around and said, "It looks better than before." "Just keep it like this, and I'll untie it for you after I send the tutor away." Corneille said, "Before that, think about your character so that I can talk to you." Speaking of this, Diaz was somewhat excited. When she was bedridden, she spent her time reading or listening to novels read by others. She was fifteen years old, but she had experienced a thousand years in fantasy stories. Unfortunately, Corneille rejected her proposal without understanding the situation and proposed two principles for building a character: Principle of decency: No matter what, Diaz's character cannot be violent or vulgar, because Diaz's experience makes her interpretation of such a role full of flaws; Single attribute principle: Diaz's character should be summarized by one or two non-conflicting labels, because complex attributes need to be piled up with the number of plots, and they don't have time to construct so many plots; Dias was uncertain: "This seems to be the requirement of classical drama, but I heard that romantic drama is now challenging the old rules?" "Yes." "So Pierre prefers classical drama?" "I just feel the same way. Think about your character quickly." At 8:30 in the evening, Cecil arrived with a human-shaped black cloud. This was not an exaggeration, because the visitor was wrapped in a black headscarf, a veil covering the entire face, a black dress and silk gloves, weaving a mysterious aura and exuding a pleasant peach scent. Corneille took the initiative to speak: "Let me introduce you. This is Tiresias, who was born in the city-state of Corinth. She is the daughter of a merchant. She was separated from her family due to an unfortunate shipwreck and is temporarily in my care." The "foreign girl" hid behind Corneille shyly, with her hands on his waist, nodding to the two guests, appearing very shy. This is not an act, but his nature. Diaz talked and laughed with acquaintances, but he became withdrawn when he met strangers. This forced Corneille to add drama to his own plans for Diaz. The lady Cecil brought followed suit, calling herself "Melusina". Her studies in magic had exhausted her savings, and she needed a high-paying job to make a living. This pseudonym is interesting, thought Corneille. Melusina, known as the "Succubus", "Two-tailed Mermaid", "City Builder" and "Snake-bodied Witch" in different parts of the Federation, has a common story: after learning that her mother was abandoned by her father, she kidnapped her father together with her sisters and blew up the old man's gold coins; and after her husband broke his oath and spied on her true self, she blew up his gold coins. Corneille looked at Melusine and also felt the gaze from behind the veil. "Mr. Corneille, Dr. Cecil has told me that Miss Tiresias is extremely talented, so we can skip the test." A pleasant voice came from under the black veil: "Let me ask you, in what direction do you hope to train this young lady, and how far do you expect her to go?" "I don't have any ambitions. I just hope that she is healthy and has a certain ability to protect herself." Corneille replied. Melusina nodded: "Okay, your request is within my capabilities, I can take this job with peace of mind. As for the compensation, how about the average salary in this industry?" "no problem." The two parties signed an employment contract and a confidentiality agreement. Melusina made an additional request. She hoped to stay in the mansion temporarily and keep it secret from outsiders. Most importantly, she would not take off her veil and the reason would be kept secret.
