Time flew by in a hurry. For Ivan, a day, a week or even a month passed in the blink of an eye.During this one-month period, he had met numerous people, witnessed a great many things and also made lots of new friends. By then, he had already become the most sought-after guest among countless noble families in Luxembourg.For Ivan, every day was extremely tight in terms of time. Although he had already visited all the prominent families in Luxembourg, deep affection could never be firmly established just through one single visit.Banquets and balls became Ivan's main occupations during this month. In fact, he often held two or three invitations in his hand simultaneously. As a result, he was as busy as a bee all day long, dashing from one ball to another and moving from one banquet to the next.These social engagements took up the majority of his time. However, all of this was absolutely essential because winning over those nobles was the most crucial guarantee for him to firmly take the position of the lord.Everything was proceeding very smoothly. Ivan tried his best to squeeze out some time to study magic, which was the thing that intrigued him the most. Magic practice demanded perseverance and was also a time-consuming endeavor. As the saying goes, "No pains, no gains." Although Ivan was quite talented in magic, he was so occupied with social engagements that he really didn't have much time for magic research, which made him feel rather helpless. Ivan wished that he could do without sleep so that he could have twice as much time as ordinary people... He even gave it a try. Although it eventually proved to be impossible, he did find a workaround.Since he had sensed the existence of wind spirits in the Bart Forest and had a spiritual communication with them on that occasion, Ivan was eager to retrieve that wonderful feeling once again. However, since he was confined to the villa by Miss Madin, he was no longer allowed to approach that forest. Although there were also large tracts of trees planted beside the villa, for some unknown reason, it wasn't a place where wind spirits gathered. Perhaps it was due to the existence of the villa. These unnatural rocks blocked the free wind, so the wind spirits regarded it as something unfriendly. By chance, though, Ivan discovered that he could sense the fluctuations of magic elements in the middle of the rippling lake.Therefore, starting from that day, Ivan rowed a boat to the middle of the lake to meditate every late night. Although he couldn't succeed every time, in most cases, he could also sense the magic spirits on the lake surface. The thing was that they were not the free wind. These magic spirits were livelier than the wind, yet they didn't want to wander far and always circled around him. Ivan could clearly feel that these spirits were as lively as the wind spirits. However, compared with the unrestrained wind spirits, they were shyer. Whenever he got very close to them, these magic spirits would quickly fly away. These magic spirits were really puzzling to Ivan.Although he still couldn't communicate with these magic spirits, Ivan found that they liked to stay with him. They seemed to have already regarded him as their best friend. Whenever he arrived late at night, the spirits would swiftly rush over from all directions and gather around him. They wouldn't disperse gradually until the sun rose in the morning.For Ivan, this feeling was truly wonderful.Because of this, every night he would just sit in the boat and spend the whole night in the middle of the lake. As for the bedroom in the villa, he simply gave it to Miss Susanna.For Ivan, the time spent with Miss Susanna was both the happiest and the most annoying at the same time. Although Miss Susanna hadn't yet let him truly experience the great pleasure that a woman could bring to a man, and had never even shown Ivan what the differences between women and men were, this had made Ivan's curiosity swell to an extreme degree. However, Miss Susanna's slender fingers, her soft and small lips, and that lively and agile tongue were enough to make Ivan feel as if he were in paradise.Unlike in the beginning, Ivan had already learned to endure this feeling. He had already grasped how to control his sensations.In fact, it wasn't that difficult. Herbert had once taught him knowledge and skills in this regard. It was just that Kayler taught him how to endure pain, while Miss Susanna taught him how to endure pleasure.The methods taught by Kayler and Miss Susanna were completely different.The best way to endure pain was to divert attention and not focus on the place where the pain was.But using this method to deal with the feeling of pleasure was really a pity. Miss Susanna taught Ivan how to enjoy the pleasure, because that was the meaning of pleasure, while also guiding the feeling of pleasure away so that it wouldn't burst out. However, when the pleasure came too fiercely and too quickly, the method of diverting attention was still quite useful. That was why he always got pricked by Miss Susanna's needle on his tailbone.Of course, Miss Susanna's methods didn't always make Ivan feel happy.Apart from the pain of the needle pricks, when he woke up every morning, the feeling of abdominal distension and the burning sensation in his dantian that wouldn't subside for a long time always lingered.However, this wasn't the reason why Ivan was full of antipathy towards Miss Susanna. In fact, whenever Ivan saw his gradually growing masculine features, he would feel a sense of inexplicable pride in his heart.What really made Ivan unbearable was Miss Susanna's sarcasm.Mocking seemed to be the only hobby of this young lady.Although Ivan was quite aware that Miss Susanna might be the most erudite woman he had ever met. Whether it was in poetry, drama, history, geography or the arts like playing musical instruments, chess, calligraphy and painting, she had astonishing accomplishments.Perhaps compared with Audrey, Miss Susanna was slightly inferior, but her knowledge was definitely above that of the former young master, Mr. Madilde, and Baron Lipper.However, Miss Susanna obviously only regarded this knowledge as capital to attract men. This young lady wasn't really interested in anything, and Ivan was completely certain about this. Although this young lady was knowledgeable, she clearly didn't have many hobbies.Even drama, which an old maid like Miss Madin was fond of, was just a waste of time in Susanna's eyes.Even dressing up, which all women were enthusiastic about, seemed to Miss Susanna to be just a means of making a living, without any fun at all.However, Ivan could completely understand this. After all, when he saw Miss Susanna alternately wiping her body with hot towels and cold towels and saw her face slightly distorted because of the pain, although after everything was over, Miss Susanna who walked out of the bathroom had skin as white, tender and pinkish as a newborn baby, Ivan didn't think that all of this was worth it. This might be the only place where Ivan had sympathy for Miss Susanna.Miss Susanna's only hobby was to mock men. She dared to mock all men, even including Eckert.The only exceptions were Mr. Juan and Herbert.According to Miss Susanna's own statement, Herbert wasn't a real man at all. He was just a killing machine. Besides killing, this guy had no other functions. She wasn't interested in mocking a machine.As for Mr. Juan, it was because she owed Juan a great favor.However, apart from these two people, in Miss Susanna's eyes, any man was the target of her mockery. And now Ivan was the only man beside her, so he naturally became the target of her venting.Miss Susanna's mockery was embarrassing and unrestrained. She seemed to have no idea that others also had self-esteem. She also never seemed to think that parental affection was of great importance to a person, especially for a child like Ivan who had lost his parents since childhood. Whenever she wanted to, Miss Susanna would use the words that hurt Ivan's heart the most to mock and stimulate him.Because of this, Ivan always tried his best to avoid staying with Miss Susanna.Except when Miss Susanna gave him lessons every night, Ivan would rather stay in the garden living room or row a boat to the lake...A month passed in a hurry. During this period, there were also one or two incidents that caused a sensation throughout the city. Two weeks ago, in a warehouse on the outskirts of Luxembourg, seven corpses were unexpectedly discovered. The person who found the corpses went mad because of excessive fright, because the scene was really too tragic.The seven corpses were even difficult to piece together. They were torn into shreds. Judging from the expressions of the corpses in painful struggle, the process of being torn apart was carried out when they were alive and fully conscious. According to the knights of the Luxembourg Guard who cleaned up the scene, those deceased were not from Luxembourg, and these people were very likely to have been knights originally, because on one of the corpses they found a religious mark, which was an honor that only senior knights could enjoy.And soon after that, corpses were found everywhere in Luxembourg. There were tailors, small merchants, and even some clergy among them. The only common thing among these unrelated people was that they were all single and had only moved to Luxembourg in the last two years.In the face of this series of murders, the people of Luxembourg were in a state of panic, and Earl Levy also dispatched more manpower.Apart from the common people, most of the nobles were also quite panicked. Since the tragic incident in Southport, the nobles had always been worried that the south of Francois would become restless, and this series of murders seemed to foreshadow all of this. However, there were also some people who didn't take it seriously. They had an unspoken understanding about the things that had happened or were happening in Luxembourg.If there was any change, it was that the number of nobles standing on Ivan's side had increased significantly. Those nobles who had been wavering and didn't know which camp to choose gradually stood on Ivan's side. Another change was that the Leonard family, for various reasons, relocated the wives and children of higher status in the family to the capital. Whether it was because the wives' parents missed them or that children could receive a better education in the capital, anyway, the women and children of the Leonard family left Luxembourg one after another.Any discerning person could understand what this meant.A month passed in a hurry, and the inheritance ceremony was just around the corner. For some reason, Ivan felt extremely nervous. If it hadn't been for Miss Betty staying by his side all day long, he wouldn't even have known what to do.In the garden living room, Ivan, dressed in the magnificent attire of the heir to the lord, was sitting on a bench with a backrest, closing his eyes and doing meditation practice.Because apart from this method, Ivan simply couldn't calm his heart down.On his left and right sides were sitting Miss Fanny and Miss Lisztine, the daughter of Viscount Theodore, respectively.For Ivan, today was an extremely important day, and the two young ladies had come here early in the morning. At the long table in the distance, Miss Betty was buried in a large pile of documents. Although today was just a formality and everything that needed to be prepared had already been done during this month, and they already had a pretty good idea of how the nobles would vote.However, these supporting documents still needed to be sorted out completely. Although probably no one would read them, this was the rule of the inheritance ceremony. And this task naturally fell on Miss Betty.She had to gather all the supporting documents in order according to the regulations and classify them.She had to check whether each seal was authentic and reliable, whether all the signatures were complete, and also check whether there were any traces of alteration on the documents.Any oversight could be seized upon by the other side. In front of Miss Betty was spread out a thick booklet covered with all kinds of seals.Miss Betty's most important task was to check the seals on the documents one by one against the seals in the booklet. This was a very laborious job.After putting the last document into the beautifully decorated gold-painted box, Miss Betty gently closed the booklet and stretched her limbs."Miss Betty, is everything ready?" Fanny asked."Finally, it's done. Let's wait for departure," Miss Betty said with a smile."Miss Betty, didn't you already check it once a few days ago? Why do you need to check it again today?" Lisztine asked curiously."To avoid accidents. Such things have happened before. Suddenly, a document with an obvious flaw appeared among the documents that had already been checked. Such small tricks often work. Therefore, checking the documents again before departure has become a necessary task. Well, Fanny, Lisztine, who would like to hold this important box? This is an important job. No one can touch this box until it is handed over to the Archbishop," Miss Betty said with a smile."Me, let me do it," the two girls said at the same time."Alright, Fanny, it's more appropriate for you to hold it," Miss Betty said."Why?" Lisztine asked with a pout, clearly not satisfied with this decision."If your father knew how enthusiastic you were, I'm afraid you'd be severely scolded when you got home," Miss Betty said. Hearing this, Lisztine immediately fell silent. She knew that was inevitable. In fact, she had sneaked out this time. Her grandparents were accomplices, and her mother didn't object either. Only her father mustn't know about it.Lisztine was also quite aware that in Ivan's mind, he might just regard her as a friend. Even with Fanny, there might not be any romantic feelings between them. Perhaps it was still mostly friendship.It could be said that the hope of making Ivan fall in love with her was extremely slim. However, Lisztine was always reluctant to give up. Her stubbornness was a character trait inherited from her father.On the contrary, Fanny was a bit hesitant. She was afraid of losing Ivan and also worried that their family backgrounds didn't match.Lisztine didn't care about these things at all! However, she didn't want to be scolded by her father all day long either. If her father knew that she was so close to Ivan, a scolding was inevitable.In fact, Lisztine herself was quite clear about why her father was so dissatisfied with Ivan. Besides her father's stubborn personality and his one-sided love for Miss Bertha, Ivan's mother, when he was young, there were indeed many aspects of Ivan that made him dissatisfied. Or rather, there were many aspects of the Primo family that made her father quite dissatisfied.In fact, now most of the nobles in Luxembourg knew that Ivan was an out-and-out playboy in some aspects.Everyone had already heard that the Primo family was extremely promiscuous and dissolute in life, and Ivan even regarded this dissolute life as a kind of philosophy of life. And his eloquence made it impossible for others to refute.Ivan was naturally regarded as a playboy and a little rascal.Moreover, there was a rumor that on Ivan's eighth birthday, his father gave him a stunningly beautiful woman as a birthday gift, and that woman had always been by his side taking care of him and serving him.Regarding this rumor, she and Miss Fanny did believe it to some extent because they had seen with their own eyes that there was a much older and beautiful woman hidden in Ivan's bedroom. And that woman was indeed a stunning beauty. At least Lisztine herself had to admit this.Most likely, that was the birthday gift Ivan received on his eighth birthday.With this vivid example, she and Miss Fanny could certainly imagine that Ivan might really be a little libertine.What's more, once Ivan and the nobles went horseback riding in the forest on the outskirts. After a day of playing around, everyone was sweating all over. At the suggestion of a certain noble, they went to the river and took a cold shower like knights. The final result was that most of them had to lie in bed for a whole week because of a fever and a cold, and it was also discovered that some parts of Ivan's body were better developed than those of most adults.People guessed that this might be a characteristic of the descendants of the Primo family and also the reason why this family was so obsessed with a dissolute life. Because with such a large organ, it was really not easy to get satisfied. Moreover, it would be a pity not to take advantage of such an advantage.All of this had undoubtedly made Ivan bear the reputation of a playboy.However, none of the girls cared about these things. On the contrary, there were quite a number of girls who were deeply attracted by this and gathered around Ivan.In fact, this was not difficult to understand. The status of the heir to the lord, the demeanor and temperament of a mature diplomat, the rich and elegant conversation, the sharp and shrewd vision, and the resolute and decisive character, all of these deeply attracted the girls' hearts. What's more, Ivan's identity as a magician added a mysterious touch to all of this.Ivan had become the symbol of the most perfect Prince Charming in Luxembourg.The girls didn't really care about the promiscuous blood of the Primo family. If possible, they were willing to give it a try. In fact, privately, she and Fanny had discussed it like this. No matter which one of them Ivan finally chose, they both wanted to share that happiness. One would be the wife and the other would be the lover. This was what they had privately agreed upon long ago.Just as the two young ladies were silently looking at the Prince Charming in front of them who was meditating with his eyes closed, the maid walked in from outside the door."Is the carriage here?" Miss Betty asked."Yes, Lord Kenneth is waiting for you outside the door, and Earl Levy has come along too," the maid replied.Ivan slowly opened his eyes and recovered from his meditative state. He saw Miss Betty solemnly hand the box on the table to Miss Fanny.Ivan stood up and walked towards the door. The short meditation was really useful. It didn't mean that his magic power had increased, but that he wasn't as nervous as before.Behind him, the three young ladies closely followed.When they walked past the small door at the stairway entrance, they saw a beautiful and charming young lady standing in the corner, waving to them. Miss Betty nodded slightly as a polite reply.Fanny and Lisztine also nodded. They didn't want to offend this stunning beauty who had been with Ivan since he was eight years old. Although this young lady was just a birthday gift, when Ivan got married, there would probably also be a place for this woman in his marriage bed.Either because he was too nervous or because he didn't care at all, Ivan didn't pay any attention to that young lady.He walked towards the door on his own.Opening the door, to Ivan's surprise, the pomp outside was extremely spectacular.Two teams of cavalry were wearing shiny silver ceremonial armors. The shiny breastplates were like mirrors that could clearly reflect people's appearances. The scarlet capes fluttered behind them, rising and falling with the wind.The horses equipped by those knights were all of the same color, as white as the snow in the sky.The long manes were flying in the wind, looking extremely energetic. In front of the door, there was also a carriage parked, which was magnificent and imposing.The carriage body as white as jade was outlined with various laces made of gold thread. Near the door, a coat of arms was inlaid, which was exactly the emblem of the Madin family. The edges of the carriage were decorated with exquisite gold-painted floral ornaments. The four wheels were painted bright red and were so shiny that they could be used as mirrors.The four horses were harnessed with horse gear covered with gold foil. Ivan was no stranger to these horses. They were exactly the purebred horses owned by Lord Juan.And the coachman was Ted, the comrade who had fought side by side with him."Lord Ivan, are you ready?" Earl Kenneth said courteously."Thank you for coming to pick me up," Ivan replied with a standard diplomatic smile."This is what I should do. Please get on the carriage," Earl Kenneth said.After getting on the carriage and sitting down with the three young ladies, the carriage started moving slowly.There was no doubt that this carriage was exquisite and beautiful, but it was far less comfortable than Lord Juan's former carriage.The four walls of the carriage were inlaid with exquisite porcelain pieces. These artworks from the Far East were quite valuable. The expensive inlays were used as decorative patterns, making the whole carriage look extraordinarily beautiful. However, both the porcelain pieces and the inlays were cold and hard.The cushions in the carriage were the same. The chairs made of the skins of young elephants dyed bright red were indeed smooth and soft, but any decent piece of cashmere could bring a much more comfortable feeling. The floor of the carriage was made of red sandalwood and was thickly waxed."Very uncomfortable, isn't it?" Miss Betty asked with a smile."Yes, my family's carriage is much more comfortable than this one," Lisztine said."This is the carriage specially for the lord. This carriage is just like the position of the lord. It looks splendid on the outside, but it's not comfortable to sit in," Miss Betty said with emotion.