Chapter 1,181 People’s hearts are scattered (Part 2)
Victoria Vladimirlovna adjusted her hat in the mirror, making this slightly old and floppy hat as straight as possible. Then she touched the corset on her chest and tried it on.
To be honest, she was a little worried about the tightness. After all, this corset had been used for too many years, and the buckles on it were worn and looked very worn.
It would be rude for a young lady from a duke's family to wear such a dress when visiting a grand duke.
It's just that Victoria Vladimirlovna no longer has money to buy new clothes. In fact, she bought this one for her fifteenth birthday. Even though she takes great care of it, she wears it very carefully and does her best to maintain it.
But it is indeed both outdated and a bit small.
It's just that the family's financial situation is really tight. Let alone buying new clothes, it's a bit of a problem to eat. If she can't find a job that matches her dignity and status as soon as possible, she may be evicted by her landlord soon and have to sleep rough.
On the streets!
Victoria was both troubled and helpless about this. The reason why her family was like this was that, in addition to the lavish spending of previous generations of ancestors, the most important reason was that two or three generations of her family had not entered the core organs of the country and held power.
Therefore, even if he had the title of duke, his father's generation was still very marginalized and could only find ways to start from the lowest level. He had served as a soldier and participated in the war, but his ability was really limited. He was injured and became disabled soon after.
I can return to my hometown and live in a miserable state.
From then on, he could only use alcohol to anesthetize himself and live a confused life of drunkenness and dreams. If it weren't for the hard work of his virtuous mother, the family would have been doomed long ago.
However, when her mother died of overwork, the barely maintained balance was finally broken, and now Victoria had to put aside the restraints of an aristocratic lady and go out to work.
According to her idea, she wanted to find a job as a tutor for an aristocrat. She hoped to teach those aristocratic young masters, because compared with those aristocratic playboys who are fifteen or sixteen years old and have a fancy mind, younger children are still more mature.
Safer.
Of course, it would be best for her to teach aristocratic ladies, because it is safer and more respectable. However, her father is very ruined and has no relationship in this regard, so she can only settle for the second best and teach a lesson first.
Noble young gentlemen.
But what Victoria didn't expect was that she didn't wait for the noble young master, but instead waited for a grand duke. If the famous Count Speransky, the son of her mother's best friend, hadn't been the guarantee, no matter how hard she was, she wouldn't have
I won't agree to try it.
"Miss Fontana, what kind of person is Grand Duke Andrei? Is he easy to get along with?"
Victoria sat in the carriage and pinched the hem of her skirt slightly nervously. Her heart was filled with regrets that she had agreed to this job too rashly, and she was worried that she might not get the job.
If she could no longer find a job, rent, food and drink would be a problem. She really couldn't imagine what it would be like to live on the street. If it really came to that point, she might have no choice but to end her life because she couldn't bear the abuse of her family and her mother.
Reputation in disgrace!
Fontana looked at Victoria with pity. Looking at her now, she could always think of herself back then - having to do things she didn't want to do in order to survive. This feeling is still so bad even in retrospect.
It's just that Victoria is luckier than her. She has a good mother and can get to know Alexey, a good person, without being forced to sell her body like herself.
She smiled softly and said: "Don't worry, Miss Victoria, Grand Duke Andrei is a very easy-going person and it is not difficult to deal with him."
However, her comfort did not have much effect, because Victoria had always had a strong distrust of the children of the great aristocracy, and always felt that these people were either playboys who played with women or they were big assholes who did not stingy.
At least that's what her mother told her back then.
She smiled reluctantly and said: "Oh, thank you, Miss Fontana, you can just call me Vita... But I heard that the Grand Duke is not married yet?"
If another woman had asked this question, Fontana might have suspected her intentions, but it was Victoria who asked the question, and you could tell by the guarded look on her face that she had no intention of climbing a high tree or fishing for a rich husband. Obviously she was more interested.
It's about worry.
Fontana continued to comfort her: "That's true. I heard that His Excellency the Grand Duke's life was relatively difficult before. As you know, his life experience is quite special, so some things were delayed... But he is not the kind of casual person.
I'm not a playboy, so don't worry about this..."
Victoria said timidly: "That's good, but why does the Grand Duke suddenly need a dance partner? Hasn't he learned it before?"
Yes, when Alexey told her about such a job, Victoria was full of doubts, because wasn't dancing a skill learned at the age of twelve or thirteen?
Children of aristocrats have to enter the social circle as soon as they reach the age of twelve or thirteen, and naturally they have to learn relevant skills. The Grand Duke is already in his twenties, so it is unlikely that he would want to learn dancing to integrate into the social circle at this time, right?
To be honest, Fontana also thought this was ridiculous. When she was in Bucharest, she had seen someone's poor dancing skills. To be honest, even a commoner like her was inferior.
Later she learned that someone had a rather special experience and had not received a complete aristocratic education, which was why he was so weird.
She explained patiently: "His Excellency the Grand Duke is not very interested in events such as balls, but he has to attend such an occasion when he returns to St. Petersburg. He cannot lose his dignity, so this requires special practice."
Victoria sighed, this explanation made sense. She couldn't help but think: It turns out that big nobles sometimes have to put on pretense and show off. I thought only people like ours need to pretend to be fat!
Yes, sometimes she didn't understand her parents' quirks. Even though her life was very tight, she still had to hold on to some ostentatious events, such as the luxurious carriage at home and the horses that pulled the carriage.
The food expenses are higher than that of their family.
There are also all kinds of fancy expenses, even when it is difficult, my mother will not be stingy. She always says: "We are not an ordinary family, and we cannot lose the family's honor just because we save money!"
Victoria felt that the Grand Duke should also have this confusion, otherwise there would be no need to find a partner to practice dancing...