Twilight War

02

The slanted window on the side of the stairs was covered by a dark green velvet curtain, and the Corinthian wind blew in through the broken window, blowing the green curtain as if it wanted to hold everything down.

Outside the window are crumbling ruins, and in the distance are burned ashes and wreckage.

Decades ago, a fire burned the palaces where the nobles lived, and the ashes still seem to retain the scorching heat of that fire.

It is said that the flame burned for three full days, starting from the easternmost duke's mansion.That day was the dance banquet of the Duke's house, and all the prosperity and extravagance were burned in the dust.

The girl's skirt brushed the flames and the falling red wine, and the roses fell.

A graceful figure is reflected in the stained glass windows.

Huang Xuanjin walked up to the second floor step by step on the mahogany stairs wearing Martin boots.

The dust shook off, and the boy put his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker.

The baroque soft chairs on the first floor fell to the ground, and the leaves blown in from the window fell on the soft chairs.

Vehipel still stood there, looking at the boy who was walking up the stairs.

"You'd better come up, there is an old guard who comes here to sit for a while every day, I don't know why." Huangxuan Jin squinted his eyes and looked out the window, "It's probably about time."

Wischpel also came up the steps.

Huang Xuanjin leaned back behind the curtain and looked downstairs with half-closed eyes.

After a while, I heard the sound of the door on the first floor being opened.

An old guard with a beer belly.

The somewhat chubby guard tiptoed into the once glorious and now dust-covered hall, helped up the fallen chair, and sat on it.

The guard lowered his head and took out a bottle of cheap gin from his pocket, then touched his body, trying to find the bottle opener on his body, but failed to find it after a long time.

Huang Xuanjin tilted his head and walked to the wine cabinet, took out the bottle opener inside, and threw it downstairs.

The metal bottle opener made a crisp sound when it landed on the dusty ground of the first floor.

The guard looked back at the bottle opener on the ground, got up with some effort, picked up the bottle opener on the ground, frowned and looked up at it.

Huang Xuanjin ignored him, put his hand into the pocket of the windbreaker, and walked up the stairs.

Wisper followed behind him.

When passing by the wine cabinet, Huangxuan Jin took a bottle of wine, "There are a lot of good wines here, but the guard always brings his own wine every time, and never comes upstairs. Sit. And put the chair down when he walks, like he's never been here."

The old guard shook his head, sat back on the upholstered chair again, uncorked the bottle and drank the wine.

Huang Xuanjin also took a sip of the wine in his hand, and jumped out from the window on the side of the stairs.

Wischpel also jumped out with him afterward.

Outside the window is a large flower garden. The owner once planted many precious plants here, but now, those delicate plants are dead, and weeds are everywhere.

The lowly grow up in old palaces.

Huang Xuanjin walked through the weeds with the wine in his hand, and the hem of his windbreaker skimmed over the weeds.

"Where are you going?" Vehipel asked him.

"Do you still remember what we are here for?" Huang Xuanjin asked with a smile.

"Of course, aren't we here to find Mrs. Waffle's cat?"

Huang Xuanjin looked back at Wisipel, "So we have nothing to go."

"Searching has no direction, let alone a cat you're looking for." The boy turned around and walked through a large expanse of weeds.

"You seem to be familiar with this place." Vehipel asked behind the boy.

The old garden overgrown with weeds and the misty sky.

"I just love it here," the boy said.

"Go there. I remember that there was a piano in that house. Maybe it was too heavy, so it has not been moved." The boy said while kicking away the stones beside him.

"Okay." Vehipel nodded.

Pushing open the gate of the palace hall, Huang Xuanjin walked in directly.

The entire palace hall was covered by heavy dark green curtains, and the darkness was like twilight.

"Can you play it?" He looked back at Vichypel, and tore off the green velvet blanket covering the piano. The blanket was covered with dust and even had many years old holes.

Wischpel nodded, and tried the sound test, "The sound is a bit inaccurate."

"It's okay, as long as you can listen." Huang Xuanjin said as he walked towards the wall of the palace hall, where there were many portraits of dramas hanging on the wall.

He looked at the "Venus in the Cave" and saw the graceful woman in the painting handing her hand to the visitor. The woman lying among the jewels was like flowing milk.

Wischpel played the grand piano slowly behind him.

Huang Xuanjin walked along the wall and looked at the paintings.

It is said that the owner of this palace hall is an aristocrat who has devoted his whole life to drama. Every night, in this bustling palace, actors are invited to gather and part with each other in this palace.

"The moon is bright tonight, and no one knows why I came here." Huang Xuanjin slowly read the opening scene of "The Princess and the Rookie".

He looked at the painting beside him, the masked princess and jester, and the falling black curtain.

"Then can you just tell me why you came here? I swear, I will only mention it to the moon." Huang Xuanjin continued to read another person's lines as he walked forward, as if talking to himself.

"I said no one knows why I'm here, not even myself."

"The goshawk tortured my body, and longing engulfed my soul. I will never see you again in this life, but I still live for you." Huang Xuanjin still read the lines in those dramas, his voice was still young The voice is human, but it may be because of years of smoking and drinking, there is some sandy voice when speaking in a low voice.

"I've waded through the desert, and I've come here alone. I'm a nomad, and that's good, because a nomad never gets lost, because a nomad never has a direction."

Wischpel was still playing the piano, and he looked up at the young man who was walking along the huge palace, singing alone.

While drinking, he looked at the already gray and dusty oil painting beside him.

The young man is like a somewhat crazy actor, reciting lines from those plays like no one else.

"Do you like this play very much?" Vehipel asked while still playing the piano while looking at the boy.

"Where is it?"

"The Princess and the Friar," said Vichypel, "you've read a lot of it."

"Really? I can't remember where I read it, but I just read it when I remembered it." Huang Xuanjin said.

In the past, before the fire was extinguished, in this huge palace hall, countless actors sang and whispered, sorrowful, joyful and angry.

The stray lights flickered on and off.

And now the boy is alone reciting lines that some of them may have also recited.

"I know it, I know I will lose it eventually, so I avoid all the joy when I get it, lest I be too sad when I lose it."

"But in the end I didn't get any joy when I got it, but I was still sad when I lost it."

Huang Xuanjin slowly read the lines in those plays, with a sad tone.

It was as if countless people were living and dying on him.

Wihipel looked down at the black and white keys, but the boy suddenly stood on a high place and pulled down the heavy dark green curtain on the side of the palace.

Light invades.

The huge stained window behind the curtain has been broken, and the white snow outside the window is blown in by the Corinthian wind.

The boy stood in the bright snow that suddenly intruded.

"The heavy curtain fell! The supreme light appeared, and I am the greatest king in this world!"

The boy chanted word for word in the wind and snow.

A heavy thick green curtain fell from the boy's hands, and he raised his head slightly.

The boy in the bright snow is like the son of a demigod who has descended into the world.

"But now I choose to fall, falling like stars." He suddenly smiled, then stood on the highest point of the platform and fell out of the window.

Wihipel was stunned for a moment, as if he had seen the past.

Among the thousands of troops, the blood on the young man's palm was stained red and white snow, the battle flag of the Huangxuan family was blown down by the wind, and the young man looked at him and fell backwards.

The sound of rustling flags.

Wihipel instantly pushed away the heavy piano and rushed towards the broken window.

Snow and sky.

When Vichypel ran to the window, he saw the Huangxuan family lying on their backs on a tree outside the window, like a child who sneaked into the tree to take a nap.

Wisipel stared at Huangxuanjin closely, but Huangxuanjin pointed to a tree beside him as if he didn't care.

A cat with yellow stripes on a white background is lying peacefully on a nearby tree.

The snow fell on the cat, and the cat shook its ears as if afraid of the cold.

"Is it Mrs. Waffle's cat?" Vehipel asked.

Huang Xuanjin smiled lightly and nodded.

Wisper wanted to catch the cat, but Huang Xuanjin shook his head, "Take him back when he wants to go back."

"Then when will he want to go back?"

"After a while." Huangxuanjin said.

Vehipel looked at the boy, who was still just lying on the tree.

Snow fell on the boy's eyelashes.

I don't know how long it took, the cat suddenly jumped down from the tree.

Huang Xuanjin also jumped down directly, and then hooked his hands behind him, "It's time to go back."

The flower cat jumped onto the boy's shoulders and curled up lazily.

When they returned to Queen's Road, Gray Tail and the others were still holding the portraits they drew and asking from door to door, "Master, aunt! Have you seen this cat!"

Huang Xuanjin directly took the portrait from their hands.

He looked at the magical creature that looked like Anubis on the paper and frowned, "Are you looking for a beast that can be dedicated to the king?"

Then he knocked on the head of the red fire ant, "Let's go, let's eat dessert."

The flower cat shrank its body between his necks.

"Do you know where the cat will hide?" Wisipel asked suddenly as he walked past him.

"Think whatever you want. Whether you knew it earlier, or just met by chance, anyway, you've found it now." Huang Xuanjin lifted the cat from his shoulder.

Back at Granny Huafu's yard, Huang Xuanjin threw the cat to Granny Huafu.

"Next time if it gets lost again, don't look for it." Huang Xuanjin said, "It's useless to look for it."

Granny Wafu just smiled and said nothing.

"The roses in the backyard are blooming?" Huang Xuanjin threw the cat to Granny Huafu and then went into the backyard.

"Well, those seeds you brought over." Granny Huafu said with a smile: "It grows very well."

Huangxuan Jin sat on the wooden plank in the backyard, watching the Corinthian wind blowing through large patches of roses.

The cat ran over and curled up beside Huang Xuan Jin's legs.

Huangxuan Jin poked the red soil next to the rose field with a wooden stick a little bored.

Granny Huafu looked at it for a while and then smiled and went to the kitchen.

"Are you familiar with him?" Wisipel, who was standing inside the house, asked softly when Granny Waffle passed by him.

He was tall and thin, and he looked a little aggrieved standing in the narrow Corinthian room, and even had to lower his head slightly.

One or two strands of long silver hair leaked from the hood, and the blue eyes were like the sky of Asgard.

"He was picked up when I was looking for that cat." Granny Huafu said softly.

Vehipel's eyes were too cold, making people look a bit chilly, but Granny Wafu looked at her with gentle and soft eyes, as if she was looking at her own child.

Granny Huafu walked past Wisipel, picked out a few biscuits from the oven in the kitchen, walked to the yard, and placed the biscuits beside Huangxuan Jin.

Huang Xuanjin didn't look back, and while teasing the cat, he picked up the biscuit beside him and ate it.

Granny Huafu looked at the boy.

She thought of the first snow a year ago, the first snow in Corinth always came suddenly.

And her cat got lost.

She went to find her cat, and someone said she saw the cat running into the former aristocratic area, so she sneaked in.

But he saw the black-haired boy in the ruins.

A tabby cat with yellow stripes on a white background is circling around the boy.

She accidentally made a noise and was spotted by the fat guards patrolling there.

But the fat guard just carried the boy on his back.

She held up a blackened kerosene lamp to illuminate the snow-falling road for the fat guard.

But the doctor said that the boy might not live until tomorrow, and even he didn't know what disease the boy had.

He said that the boy's body seemed to have been eaten away by ants, and it was already riddled with holes...

The snow was so sudden that the boy might not be able to survive it.

So she placed the black-haired boy in her shop.

She looked at the child, the child's eyelashes were straight, as if they were a little prickly.

In the middle of the night, she heard some noises coming from the kitchen.

Very fine, like a mouse stealing food.

She took the kerosene lamp and went to the kitchen.

But he saw the boy sitting on the ground wearing a somewhat torn thin black shirt.

Beside him was the opened cupboard door, which contained frozen desserts, those that Granny Waffle kept for herself, and some ice water.

Borrowing the faint light of the kerosene lamp in the cupboard, the boy looked at the medicine manual in his hand.

In front of him is the medicine that Granny Wafu put at the bottom of the cupboard.

A lot of them are medicines bought and prepared by Granny Huafu.

The boy swallowed those medicines and desserts indiscriminately with the ice water.

White pill boxes and drug leaflets were scattered on the floor.

She saw the boy clearly, the boy had a pair of black eyes, like stars at night.

But the boy swallowed the medicine and food like a wild dog on the side of the road biting the remnants.

Ferocious and reckless.

Trying everything...to survive.

Yet calmly and frighteningly so.

Granny Huafu couldn't help but exclaimed.

The boy immediately raised his head and looked at the person in front of him.

The eyes are alert and alert.

The two stared at each other closely like hungry wolves and passers-by.

Granny Huafu nervously held the lamp in her hand, she didn't know who this boy was.

She didn't even understand why she wanted to save the boy back.

There is a good chance that she lost her life because of her kindness today.

After all, that boy's eyes...

Fierce and calm like a lord of wolves.

And wolves... are bloodthirsty.

Granny Huafu looked at the boy nervously, but the boy suddenly picked up the empty plate beside him, as if to hand it to Granny Huafu.

"Is there anything else?" the boy asked.

His voice was clean like a teenager, but a little hoarse.

"It's delicious..." the boy added while holding the plate.

"Have you?" Granny Huafu didn't understand why she suddenly laughed. She took the plate from the boy's hand, looked down at the boy sitting on the ground and said, "You can't take these medicines casually."

"I didn't eat casually." The young man lowered his head and said, "I read the instructions very carefully. I felt a little headache, so after eating this, I still felt a little uncomfortable in my stomach..."

"How much medicine did you take?"

"I can't remember clearly, I just ate it because it felt a bit like my own situation." The boy said, "Maybe it will work, who knows."

Granny Waffle took some cakes out of the oven, which were supposed to be sold tomorrow morning.

After placing the cake beside the boy, she took another glass of warm water.

After looking at the thin and shabby shirt on the young man, Granny Wafu took out her dead husband's clothes from the bottom of the closet.

The dress looked thick and the material was not bad.

She put the dress next to the boy.

The next morning, Granny Huafu saw the boy when she opened the bedroom door.

She thought she saw the Duke's son.

The boy was wearing a dark red dress, sitting on a chair by the window, his head tilted slightly, and the morning light fell on his side face.

His right leg was resting on his left leg, his eyelashes drooped slightly, and his posture was elegant like a nobleman in the court.

The imitation sapphire at the neckline made it look like the most expensive treasure in an antique shop.

Her husband often wears this to church and he just looks like a normal squire every time he wears it.But the young man wearing this dress looked like a nobleman who was going to meet the queen.

Obviously that young man was like a stray dog ??????on the street last night, fierce and reckless, but now he looks like the most noble son of Vaner.

"Eleanor?"

The boy suddenly turned his head and shouted softly.

Elena was her name, but no one had called her that since her husband died.

"The name is written on the back of this photo. I guess it's your name." The teenager pulled out a photo from his chest, which was a photo of her and her husband in front of the church.

The boy handed over the photo.

His hands were clean and fair, but had countless wounds.

He is like a wild dog on the street, and also like the proudest son of a family.