The carriage was driving towards the Madin family's villa in the suburbs. It was completely different from the time when he went to the cathedral. On the way back, there was a beautiful woman beside Ivan. On the luggage rack on top of the carriage were piled up painting frames of various sizes. However, those troublesome oil paintings were not among them.
They wouldn't be delivered to him until Mr. Juan had forged perfect replicas. For some reason, deep in his heart, Ivan was rather looking forward to having those paintings finished earlier. It was completely different from the thrilling feeling when he came.
Now there was no life-and-death struggle full of crises waiting for him, and there were no assassins lurking in the dark and eyeing him covetously. Instead, there was a beautiful and charming lady sitting beside him. However, Ivan's heart was still full of nervousness and uneasiness.
After all, he was no longer a child. Regarding women, women's bodies, and the relationship between men and women, Ivan had never been without curiosity. He had also wanted to find out about it before. It was just that when he lived with Aunt Jenny before, whenever he had such thoughts, Ivan always felt that it was really a sin, something that shouldn't be done at all, and that he was somehow letting Aunt Jenny down.
Besides, Ivan was neither rich nor had the leisure time. When he was in Southport, he was busy making a living all day long. In order to have enough to eat, he had to go to the shop early in the morning and didn't return home until very late at night. The wages he earned every day were just enough to fill his stomach.
Those peers who had tasted the relationship between men and women at a young age were either from wealthy families, who took advantage of maids or learned everything in brothels, or, although poor, boys and girls had played together since childhood. When they grew up a little and began to have feelings for the opposite sex, they naturally started playing these adult games. For Ivan, he didn't have either of these two conditions.
However, he hadn't expected that such a lucky thing was waiting for him. What's more, Miss Suzanne was so beautiful and charming. Ivan was both nervous and excited. "Relax, my student. I have a lot of things to teach you. You'll also have a lot of time with me. There are many interesting games for us to play slowly," Miss Suzanne said as she gently twisted Ivan's earlobe.
This tempting language and the highly provocative and intimate act made Ivan tense up all over, and his heart beat even faster. Fortunately, Suzanne let Ivan go for the time being and didn't make any more stimulating moves. The carriage was driving steadily and quickly towards the villa in the suburbs. After passing through a barracks, the villa was right in front of them. This barracks had been set up recently.
A team of more than two hundred soldiers was divided into four groups and guarded the open field one mile away from the villa. One group of soldiers just blocked the road leading to the villa. Seeing those listless and dispirited soldiers, Ivan didn't think that these soldiers could play any role in case of any changes. After all, Luxembourg was different from several other territories in Francois.
When Francois V built Luxembourg, it was to turn this place into a large rear area that could continuously produce military provisions. Luxembourg was located in the deep hinterland of the Kingdom of Francois. Except for civil unrest, there could hardly be any wars here. And the prosperity in the south of Francois was only something that had happened in the past hundred years or so.
Before that, large areas of land here were still desolate and barren wastelands. Therefore, the private legion of the lord stationed in Luxembourg was really only responsible for maintaining public order and arresting fugitives. They were not capable of fighting wars. In front of the villa, the carriage stopped.
Ivan helped Miss Suzanne get off the carriage, which was the etiquette that a noble should have. After getting off the carriage and standing on the flat ground, Ivan realized that Miss Suzanne was tall and slender, at least a head taller than him. Of course, those paintings piled on the carriage couldn't be carried by the lady, and the maids in the villa were not under his command either.
Ivan had to do the job of a porter. Although the coachman also helped, the number of those paintings was really a bit too large. Just as Ivan was holding a stack of oil paintings and walking towards his room, there were bursts of footsteps upstairs. From the footsteps, Ivan could tell that Miss Betty was coming downstairs.
When she came downstairs, Miss Betty and Miss Suzanne looked at each other. Suzanne quickly turned her head away and stood there facing the door. "Ivan, could you come upstairs for a moment? Great-aunt wants to see me," Miss Betty said. Ivan was just about to put down the oil paintings in his hands when he heard Miss Betty say again, "Bring those with you when you come up.
Great-aunt has already seen them from the window." Ivan didn't know why Miss Madin also wanted to see him and why she wanted to see those oil paintings. This old maid shouldn't be interested in these things, right? With a nervous and uneasy heart, Ivan held the stack of oil paintings and walked upstairs to the second floor.
As usual, Miss Madin was sitting upright on the middle sofa, looking out of the window into the distance.
"Great-aunt, Ivan is here," Miss Betty walked up to the old lady and said in a low voice.
"Did you encounter any accidents on your way there?" Although it was a caring question, when it came out of the old lady's mouth, there was an indescribable cold feeling.
"Thank you for your concern. Although there was an accident, as you can see, I'm fine," Ivan said as relaxedly as possible.
"Don't think of me as an ignorant old woman. Earl Levy has just been here. Although he didn't explicitly mention your affairs, he told me that two people died on the street, a coachman and a merchant.
The merchant committed suicide with a heavy military crossbow, and before he died, he also killed the coachman to silence him. I quite understand what Earl Levy meant, and he also hopes that you will leave here as little as possible in the future, which will save him a lot of trouble," the old lady said.
"Today, Mr. Juan had something to ask me..." Ivan quickly explained.
"You can ask your Mr. Juan to come here. I can assure him that no one here will pry into what he says or does," Miss Madin said coldly.
"Yes, I'll tell Mr. Juan about all this," Ivan agreed.
"Are those paintings in your hand painted by that scoundrel? Bring them here and let me have a look," the old lady ordered.
Ivan didn't know how to decline. He was very worried that this old maid would burn these paintings.
"Bring them here," the old lady's tone became severe.
Ivan had no choice but to obediently hand the paintings to the old lady.
Miss Betty picked up a pair of gold-rimmed glasses with a very narrow frame from the coffee table beside her and handed them to the old lady.
Putting on the glasses, the old lady picked up the paintings and looked through them one by one.
Ivan stood beside her, always on tenterhooks. He didn't know when this old maid would fly into a rage and might even take her anger out on him.
After all, he was now the "son" of that scoundrel. It was only natural that the son should pay for the father's debts.
Ivan really wanted to hide away.
To his surprise, the old lady didn't say a word and seemed rather sad.
"Auntie had no choice," Miss Betty tried to persuade her at the side.
"Not necessarily," For the first time, the old lady's voice didn't have that cold feeling. "What you said might be able to deceive Blake, but it definitely can't deceive me. I could tell back then that Bertha loved that scoundrel very much. As long as it was something that scoundrel liked, Bertha would force herself to like it too. That's the kind of personality Bertha had.
You should be able to see that Bertha was quite satisfied with all this and definitely didn't look aggrieved. Hey, don't think that I have the same view as Blake. In my opinion, as long as Bertha felt happy and content, that would be fine. It was her freedom and her own choice."
"Great-aunt, I always thought..." Miss Betty hesitated to speak.
"Thought that I was an unreasonable and old-fashioned old woman?" the old lady said.
"That's not what I meant. I originally thought that not bringing young master Ivan here was the idea of you and the old master," Miss Betty explained.
"Yes, it was my idea. However, I didn't refuse to accept him because of the child's character. I didn't want that child to be involved in this complicated mess. Presumably, Bertha thought the same way. At least one thing, that scoundrel was much smarter than Blake and the others. He knew what life was about," Miss Madin said rather sadly.
"Didn't you originally want the Madin family to continue to control everything in Luxembourg?" Ivan couldn't help asking.
"What's so good about controlling everything? For the Madin family, continuing to survive is more important than sitting on the throne of the lord of Luxembourg. If I had to choose, I would rather give up the position of the lord in exchange for the continuation of the Madin family's bloodline," the old lady said.
"Just now, there was another woman who came with you. Was she arranged by that Mr. Juan to teach you how to become a scoundrel like the descendants of the Est family from generation to generation?" The old lady once again became that cold old maid.
Ivan didn't know how to answer this question.
However, obviously, the old lady didn't need his answer. She continued, "Ivan, do you remember that you once promised me that I needed a real heir to the lord?"
Ivan nodded. How could he forget this?
"I've already arranged this for you. From now on, Betty will stay by your side. She will become your most powerful assistant to firmly control Luxembourg. And what you need to do is to make her pregnant. Your child with her will be the real heir to the lord of Luxembourg, Miss Madin said.
Hearing this, Ivan was stunned.
He stared blankly at Miss Madin, completely sure that the old lady wasn't joking. Ivan then turned to look at Miss Betty. To his surprise, Miss Betty didn't show any look of surprise, but only a slight hint of shyness.
It seemed that Miss Betty had known about this for a long time.
"Great-aunt, actually... actually... actually..." Ivan didn't know what to say and stammered without being able to answer.
"I know what you want to say. There's one thing I want to tell you. This was originally a secret known only to Betty and me," the old lady said slowly. "Betty is not an orphan girl without a real identity. She has the blood of the Madin family flowing in her veins."
"Ivan, my biological father is Diego Madin, the eldest son of the old Earl Madin, and my mother was the personal maid serving my father. Therefore, I'm an illegitimate daughter without any status," Miss Betty told Ivan her identity.
Ivan could completely understand what was going on.
Miss Betty was exactly the kind of unexpected product after a noble young master's indulgence.
Young masters didn't need to take any responsibility for this at all.
"Do you understand what I mean now? I need an heir who truly has the blood of the Madin family," the old lady said calmly.
"Do you mean that Miss Betty and I should get married?" Ivan asked cautiously.
"No, you two are not a match. Betty is six years older than you. What's more, at the appropriate time, according to the agreement between me and Mr. Juan, you must hand over the power in your hands. Betty is the most suitable person to take over. She needs to stay in Luxembourg," Miss Madin said.
"Ivan, I can't be your wife, but I'll serve you like a real wife," Miss Betty said with a bit of shyness.
"You can go downstairs now and take these things away too," Miss Madin ordered coldly.
Ivan obeyed the order and went downstairs back to his own room.
All the paintings had been moved into his room with the efforts of the coachman alone and were stacked high against the wall.
His room was originally not big, and now it looked even smaller.
The curtains in the room were completely drawn open. Although it was already autumn, the sunlight in the afternoon was still dazzling.
Miss Suzanne was sitting on the head of the bed, bending over and rummaging through the suitcase she had brought.
"Come here quickly," Miss Suzanne said without looking back.
After putting the paintings in his hand on top of the stack of oil paintings, Ivan walked up to Miss Suzanne.
To his surprise, what was in the suitcase that Miss Suzanne was rummaging through were not clothes or daily necessities.
The suitcase was filled with all kinds of strange things. The most numerous ones were various sticks, some long, some short, some thick and some thin, and some were slightly curved.
Those furry rings, he didn't know what they were used for, and there were quite a number of them.
The only thing Ivan could recognize was a few necklaces with extremely sparse intervals. However, unlike those in the paintings, they were not made of pearls but just wooden beads.
As for the other things, Ivan couldn't understand their uses at all.
"What are these things?" Ivan asked.
"Toys, men's favorite toys. However, if used skillfully, they can also be the toys that we women enjoy the most. Clear out an empty drawer for me," Miss Suzanne explained.
Ivan quickly opened the wardrobe. He didn't have many clothes to begin with, and the top few drawers had always been empty.
After putting the things into the drawer, Miss Suzanne casually threw the suitcase into the corner of the room.
Having taken care of all this, Miss Suzanne stood up and gently untied the silk ribbon around her waist.
The long dress that Miss Suzanne was wearing was a bit different. The elegantly hanging, fluffy and soft skirt could be completely separated from the upper part.
The skirt softly slipped to the ground, revealing Miss Suzanne's slender and charming long legs.
A pair of milky white, semi-transparent silk stockings faintly showed her snow-white and tender skin.
This pink short skirt was really rather short, just covering Miss Suzanne's upper thighs.
The part of the original long dress that tightly wrapped around her upper body shrank up because it lost the skirt hanging below, revealing the corset around her waist.
This scene was really too tempting. Ivan could hardly bear it anymore, and his heart started beating wildly again.
Suddenly, he remembered that the door was still open and the curtains hadn't been drawn either. What if the maids saw this scene?
"I'll... I'll go and close the door," Ivan stammered.
Before he could move, Miss Suzanne grabbed him. "No, there's no need to close the door. You must get used to this because this was your original hobby, a strange taste. Now, close your eyes and let me teach you the first lesson, which is how to adapt to emotional impulses and endure intense stimulation. Only when you can completely control all your feelings can you take the initiative in this game. Now, close your eyes tightly."
Ivan obeyed the order and closed his eyes.
Without sight, his other senses became extremely sensitive.
Ivan clearly felt Miss Suzanne's slender and flexible fingers brushing over every part of his body. As the fingers gently brushed by, Ivan felt a tingling sensation all over his body, and his legs gradually went weak as if they couldn't support his body anymore.
Ivan felt as if the ceiling was spinning and rolling. Everything lost its original balance and seemed to be turned upside down all of a sudden.
Ivan's knees buckled, and he almost fell to the ground. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his tailbone. It was a heart-piercing pain.
The intense pain made Ivan jump up at once.
"You're such a useless boy, a good-for-nothing guy. Maybe you're still just a little kid. All this is really too difficult for you, my dear student. Your endurance is really too poor..." Miss Suzanne taunted Ivan beside his ear, using the most embarrassing and humiliating words to stimulate him.
"If you're ready, if you can still be considered a man, if you still have the courage, then let's do it again," With that, Miss Suzanne started moving her magical fingers over Ivan's body again.
For Ivan, it was the feeling of the world spinning once again.
Of course, the final result was another sharp pain again.
The sun gradually set in the west. For the whole afternoon, Ivan had been living in the gap between heaven and hell.
However, compared with the extremely painful needle pricks, Miss Suzanne's merciless ridicule was even more unbearable for Ivan.
To be honest, when Audrey and Herbert taught him, although they were also quite strict, Ivan still couldn't forget the pain brought by Audrey's whipping until now. As for Herbert, there was no need to mention him. His training methods could only be described as cruel.
But neither Audrey nor Herbert would insult him like this.
Ivan had never liked being insulted since he was a child because, unlike other children, he didn't have a mother to whom he could pour out his grievances.
Being beaten or scolded was something he could endure instead because although it was intense, it didn't hurt his feelings.
It was precisely because of this reason that he had never gotten along with the hunchback in the shop. Because the hunchback liked to insult him, saying that he was a jinx who caused the death of his parents one after another, that the business in the shop had become worse since he came, and even that his gloomy face made customers lose the desire to buy.
What's more, he even insulted him by saying that he was Aunt Jenny's illegitimate child, otherwise Aunt Jenny wouldn't have been so nice to him.
What Ivan couldn't tolerate the most was this kind of insult. However, he could only swallow his anger because he knew that the hunchback had always been picking on him.
Why did Miss Suzanne insult him like this?
Ivan really couldn't figure it out.
He could only endure the painful needle pricks and the hurtful insults. He could only endure all this.
When the maid came to inform Ivan that dinner was ready, the maid was completely shocked by the lewd and exciting scene in front of her. With a shrill scream, the maid ran away as fast as she could.
Not completely Wake up from the daze, Ivan let Miss Suzanne pull him out. In fact, the continuous high excitement throughout the afternoon, the intense mental and physical stimulation, and the continuous pain from his tailbone made Ivan almost forget how to walk.
"Where do we have dinner?" Miss Suzanne whispered in Ivan's ear.
"In the garden living room at the back of the villa," Ivan said in a daze.
It wasn't far from Ivan's bedroom to the garden living room. Just turn around a flight of stairs and you'll be there. When the coachman was moving those oil paintings earlier, Miss Suzanne had already taken a stroll around by herself, so she knew where the garden living room was.
Ivan was pulled by Suzanne to the living room.
As usual, only Miss Betty was sitting at the long dining table in the living room