Eagle’s Glory

"Someone told me that Danglars and Villefort are old acquaintances, and you'd better pay attention to them."

Edmund was greatly surprised by Aiglon's words.

"is this real?"

"It's absolutely true." Aigron nodded. "Out of love, I can't tell you who told me, but I can tell you that this is the truth."

Edmund was silent for a moment.

He believed that His Majesty would never deceive him and slander Emily out of thin air, because it made no sense at all.

"We were old acquaintances" also comes in many forms.

It may be a casual acquaintance, it may be a close relationship, or there may even be an affair - Edmund knows very little about Emily's life before she became Mrs. Danglars, so he cannot rule out this possibility. possibility.

The key point is that since His Majesty specially reminded himself, their relationship cannot be just a nodding acquaintance in the social circle.

Edmund didn't care too much about whether Emily really had an affair with Villefort in the past. After all, he had already accepted her status as a married woman, so there was no need to care about the past.

He was more concerned about another thing - if Emily really had a relationship with Villefort, wouldn't it affect his plan?

If Villefort knew that he was Edmond Dantès, who was tricked by him in the past, he would definitely be on guard.

This vulnerability cannot be ignored.

"I understand, Your Majesty." Edmund replied softly while thinking.

"You can handle her affairs by yourself, whatever you want - but there is only one thing I want to remind you. Although Theresa and I accept her existence here, she is still Mrs. Danglars, and her status is very embarrassing. We really don’t want you to become a laughing stock because of her, do you understand?”

Although His Majesty did not explain it clearly, after following him for so long, Edmund certainly understood what he meant - the two His Majesty did not want to see Emily, who had an embarrassing status and poor reputation, further become the person he was. The wife of a future important minister of the empire.

He didn't know how to defend Emily, because the truth was the truth after all, so even though he felt a little emotional, he didn't argue anymore, but silently resigned to Aigron.

After leaving His Majesty's study,

He arrived at his residence, and Emily and her daughter, who had been living here, welcomed him happily after learning the news of his return.

With Alice's help, Emily finally got a task, and the "task" itself meant that she finally had the capital to exist here. Because of this, Emily has been radiant recently. Putting aside the fear of being at a loss what to do and feeling anxious all day long, I am eager to try and make my future go further.

Of course, even so, she did not get carried away. She would never forget that her biggest asset here was the earl. As long as the earl continued to "take care of" her and become her backer, she would be able to secure a position; on the contrary, If you lose the earl's favor, you will have nothing in the blink of an eye, and then you will be kicked out by someone who has long disliked you...

It is precisely because she knows this well that Alice becomes more and more attentive to Edmund and does everything possible to please him.

Normally, Edmund would have cooperated with her, and the two of them would have enjoyed each other just like a real couple. However, today, Emily could clearly feel that the count seemed to have something on his mind, and it should have something to do with her.

She kept her composure first and let Eugenie practice her vocals. Then she asked the count when there were only two of them, "Edmund, are you worried about something now?"

"It's not a big deal." Edmund shook his head. "I have been in Paris recently and have been cooperating with a well-known prosecutor, that is, Prosecutor De Villefort..."

As soon as she heard the name Villefort, Emily suddenly became nervous.

In the distant past, she did have an affair with Villefort, but at this point in time, this name is like a reminder to Emily. What she fears most is hearing it from other people, especially From the Count's mouth.

And now, her worst fear has really happened.

"Are you... are you happy working with him?" She forced herself to calm down and asked the count with a smile.

"It's quite pleasant. This prosecutor is indeed talented in his professional field, and His Majesty also relies on him." Edmund replied casually, and then changed the topic, "However, what I want to say is not official business, but A private matter."

"What private matter?" Emily was even more frightened, but she still asked bravely.

"He seems to know you -" Edmund deliberately kept it secret in order to observe the other party's reaction. "And it looks like I've had a relationship with you."

"Did he really say that?" Emily asked in panic, and the confused look on her face further confirmed Edmund's suspicion.

It's not that Emily's acting skills aren't good. She has been able to mingle in the social world for many years, and her acting skills are of course no problem. She just cares about her. Now that the thing she fears most has happened, it is naturally difficult to remain unmoved.

"He didn't say some words very clearly, but I am experienced in the world after all, so I can tell something from his tone." Edmund sighed softly, "Emily, this is that true?"

Of course, Edmund would not tell His Majesty's words truthfully, so he just evaded his words and deliberately bluffed Emily. After so many years of experience, he had naturally mastered this little trick.

But Emily couldn't tell it at all. On the one hand, she had always had something in her mind and had lost her control at the moment; on the other hand, the Earl had always been responsive to her requests, and she really didn't expect that the Earl could still play such a trick. With this method, I just thought that Prosecutor Villefort was not keeping secrets strictly, and the count saw the clues.

When she thought of this, Emily's hatred for Villefort increased several times. She had finally managed to get through it, and she was about to have a chance to rise to the top, but in the end, he ruined her good deeds in a few words. !

"My lord, it's not what you think!" Emily shouted to Edmund in a panic.

And this means that her psychological defense has collapsed.

Seeing Emily in such a state of despair, Edmund couldn't bear it. If it was really just a past affair, he didn't want to push her to this point, but it was too involved with his big plan. , so he could only harden his heart and continue to exert pressure.

"I'm not thinking about anything, Emily. I just want to know what kind of relationship you had."

Having said this, he emphasized again, "Emily, the two of us have been together for so long. You should also know that I am not the kind of narrow-minded person. No matter what happened in the past, I know that it was just It's just in the past, I don't care; but if you cheat on me now, it will make me very sad. The relationship between us should not be overshadowed by deception, what do you think?"

Although he spoke in an angry voice, Emily could totally hear the threat in it.

If she wants to rely on deception and lying to get through now, if the count finds out in the future, she will definitely not end well. And since the count has already said this, it will be difficult to deceive him by lying.

After thinking for a moment, Emily, who felt she had no other choice, finally had a sudden change of heart, and painful tears flowed from her face.

"Sir, please forgive me for hiding it from you, but... But I didn't want to deceive you, I was just too scared! I was afraid that you would hate me and abandon me after knowing what happened in the past... If I left you, I would I don’t know how I should survive!”

She cried while talking. Anyone who saw this pear blossom with rain would feel pity, especially Edmund, who had been with her for so long. Naturally, this was even more true.

"So, you did have a relationship in the past?"

"Yes... I'm sorry, yes." Emily nodded slightly, and then looked at Edmund with shame, "I was only a teenager at the time, and I had just been asked by my parents to marry a man I didn't know. The person I liked, and then Villefort said all the sweet words to me at that time. When I was young and ignorant, I had an affair with him without knowing it, but we broke up with each other soon. It was really just me. It was just a stupid thing I did when I was young and ignorant! I have always regretted it!"

Emily cried and defended herself intermittently - she didn't dare to put all the blame on Villefort, after all, it seemed too false, so she had to keep saying that she was "young and ignorant" at the time, and put that paragraph The romantic affair is said to be a mistake made when they were young.

Edmund knew that he couldn't believe all her explanations, but for him, he was most concerned about other things.

"Did you still keep in touch with each other after that?"

"No more, no more at all!" Emily immediately replied subconsciously, after all, this was the truth.

She and Villefort both had their own families, and they were both well-known people in the social world. No one wanted to ruin themselves because of their romantic affair, so they parted ways after the romantic affair ended. Emily said the same thing. Be confident.

But just a moment later, Emily realized that she had seen Villefort in the palace not long ago, and there was His Majesty's maid Chanel beside her as a witness. If the Earl wanted to verify it, he could easily verify it. .

In order to prevent the count from misunderstanding that she was still lying, she took the initiative and continued to confess, "Recently we only met once at the Palace of Fontainebleau, but we just had a quick chat and said goodbye, and we didn't do anything deviant. I swear to God."

When he suddenly heard the news, Edmund suddenly became alert, "What on earth did you talk about?"

Faced with the pressure from the Earl, Emily dared not hide anything anymore and relayed all the conversations she had with Villefort to the Earl.

Edmund listened carefully, and after confirming that the other party was indeed not lying, he continued to ask. "You mentioned my existence to him, but did you tell him my name?"

"No...he didn't ask." Emily replied quickly.

What a fluke! Edmund finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that this unexpected episode did not affect his big plan. Although Villefort knew about his existence from Emily in advance, he still did not know his true identity after all, and his several temptations were all rejected by him. Cope with it.

At this time, Emily also noticed that compared to her previous affair with Villefort, the Earl seemed to be more concerned about whether his real name had been leaked to Villefort, which was really strange.

But she was facing a huge crisis and did not dare to ask the earl, so she could only look at the earl with sad eyes, waiting for his decision.

Now that what he was most worried about didn't happen, Edmund felt a lot more relaxed at the moment, and seeing Emily looking so flustered, he couldn't help but feel pity in his heart.

"Well, Emily, since you haven't interacted with each other since we met, I won't bear any grudge against you." He stretched out his hand, hugged Emily gently, and then comforted her softly, "In Before we met, you didn't have any obligations to me, and I have no right to accuse you of your private life... You don't need to apologize to me."

Emily was so moved that she almost cried again.

"Thank you for your tolerance, sir. I have always regretted my youth and ignorance at that time, and I will spend the rest of my life atone for it!" She secretly rejoiced that she had finally taken the right step, so she choked with sobs. While saying this, he promised Edmund, "I will serve you wholeheartedly from now on, and I will never do anything to regret you... I will never see Villefort again."

"No, it doesn't have to be like this, Emily, I'm not that narrow-minded, you can meet anyone." Edmund shook his head, "In fact, I hope that if Villefort asks you for mercy one day, I hope that I can When he uses you to get closer to me, just agree to him, but you are not allowed to reveal my real name. In front of him, my name is Joseph Faria, and I am an Italian."

Emily was a little confused by the count's move. She didn't understand why the other party did this.

But after all, she had been with the Earl for so long and had some understanding of him, so after a moment she had an idea.

"Do you regard him as an enemy?"

Seeing that Emily had already guessed this step, Edmund didn't make any unnecessary cover-up and just nodded. "Yes, he is my past enemy. I need to deal with him, so I have to hide myself from him; and I need to get close to him, because this will make it easier for me to attack him - Emily, I don't want to get dirty Your hands, so you just need to do this for me, okay?”

The lover of the past or the lover of today, which side should I choose?

Faced with Edmund's question, Emily made her choice without any hesitation.

"Okay, I can do whatever you want me to do..."

After saying that, she hugged Edmund's arm tightly, "As long as you don't abandon me, I can do anything..."

Emily's tenderness and pleading touched Edmund's heart, but His Majesty's instructions just now lingered in his ears, leaving him in a dilemma.

But looking at Emily's pear blossoms and rain, and thinking about the happy times between him and her, he really couldn't bear her miserable end, "I will not abandon you, Emily, stay here with peace of mind." "