Water lanterns and dreams in 1 nights

The last is the largest one, and it takes two hands to turn it over.I hesitated to pry into the duke's privacy, but there was no point in letting it go, so I looked at the painting.

The overwhelming snow swept down from the sky like a goose feather, and there were messy and overgrown thorns everywhere, surrounding the pure white altar in the middle.The snowflakes were everywhere, pressing down on the boy who was lying on his back on the altar like weightless. His body was not covered by clothes, and part of his body was covered by white snow. As he lay there, bright red blood flowed continuously from the pierced chest. , the snow melted in his blood.On his pale face covered by black curly hair, his expression was extremely serene and peaceful, with a hint of joy. On his skinny calf, he twisted and clung to a long black snake, hissing and spitting.A corner of the cloudy lead-colored sky shone faintly with the golden light from the kingdom of heaven.

After seeing the largest portrait, I realized that there was a stack of unframed paintings hidden behind it.Without thinking about it, I picked them up and looked at them one by one. They were all complete and completed oil paintings, the same as the previous paintings, with different styles, but the subjects were all the same young man, or Smiling, or meditating, or playing, or reading, there are many gestures, but there is only one thing in common, and this alone makes everything different.

The young man was either dead or dying.

Piercing, drowning, poisoning, falling from a building, hanging, there are as many ways to die as there are paintings, no matter how he dies, his expression is always relaxed and peaceful, as if he voluntarily went to die, which is not death, Instead, he responded to God’s call and returned to the pure and joyful kingdom of God.

The young man in the painting is too young, black curly hair, emaciated frame; in the painting of his drowning, his eyes are wide open, and you can see the misty green eyeballs; the look I sometimes see in mirrors—the young men in the paintings with my face.

Footsteps came from the stairs behind me.Someone is approaching.I am clearly aware of this but there is no way to avoid it. I understand that when I meet someone, the truth will be revealed, all disguises will be torn off, and the questions I want to know will eventually be answered. Eyes collided.The room was so empty that I could only stand there, waiting for the event to strike.

He stepped on the final steps, his eyes suddenly changed the moment he touched me, he sighed regretfully, "This is my vision for you." He murmured, "You shouldn't have opened this door so early." Standing In the dust flying in the sun, the Duke bent down and coughed violently.

13. Duke 12

"How do you see me?"

The Duke didn't answer me, and slowly approached the window, exposing his whole body to the sun and looking into the distance. I hesitated for a moment, and went to his side, looking out from his angle, but there was nothing outside, except Green trees with a bright sky above.He is always thoughtful, as if in front of you, but there is another world in his mind, you can't touch his thoughts, but I have to ask for an answer.

"Is it your child, or the Lamb of God that belongs to you?"

After a long silence, I said. "You know I love you. But now it seems to me that you just think of me as a sacrifice. You want to kill me, and I don't understand why."

He turned his head, and the corner of his mouth showed a strange arc, "Our future was written in the past. Andre, I had a chance to correct it."

I felt something was wrong, the tone of his voice was like something prophesied years ago to the present.I recalled the long-standing question, the reason why he sent me away for six years for no reason, the reason why he kept silent, and tentatively asked: "So you sent me to a nurse to raise me?"

"Every Fitzgerald's head of the family will have a prophecy when they take over the title. They treat it as a secret and keep it secret. Either fight fate, or follow that road, how can I forget, whether it is Who is always following the track of fate and heading towards the destined path.”

"What is the prophecy about you?"

"The prophecy says I will lead the Fitzgeralds to glory."

"as well as?"

"Because a child buried it."

Startled in my heart, the Duke turned around, his hands tightly grasped my shoulders, and there was a kind of crazy light in his eyes, "I shouldn't take chances, I shouldn't even let you come back to me alive. I will live as predicted Said to lead this disgusting family to glory, take care of the stupid and stupid subjects, and avoid the second half of the prophecy."

"Why did I become that reason?" I argued, "How can you be sure that the prophecy will come true? If so, why take me back."

"Don't you understand? You make me hate other people." The Duke's expression is hard to discern, is it called "sarcasm" or "repressed anger", "The better you are, the more I hate their filth .I want a successor, so take you back to me. Now that you are here, how can I get rid of you?"

"Why me," I asked, inexplicably, "why do I have the honor of being the embodiment of your ideal on earth?" If he had listened carefully, he would have noticed the sarcasm contained in my question.

"A person's performance is most perfect and natural when he is not aware of his own advantages." The Duke said, "You came to the study to find me in the afternoon not long ago, but I was blocked from the door. Didn't you hear me take action against the enemy? and understand it when I test you later? If I must say it, start with that. A child hears blood and killing, and at least touches it, even if he doesn't really understand what it means, but you don't Again, I see that you're not inclined to do that, but you're not against it, you're not stopping me, you're not accusing me, and you're acting like nothing happened or that it's none of your business."

"Bystander." The Duke gently pushed my forehead back, revealing my complete face. He looked at my face carefully and cherished it, no different from appreciating a masterpiece of art: "This is my appreciation of my face. Your judgment. I have to say it's quite interesting. I don't believe in human beings without desires and weaknesses, let alone a child. Sometimes I even suspect that in your young body, there is an adult soul, but an adult does not It will be so clean. I deliberately exposed the darkness of human nature to you, and my own methods against the enemy...others may think it is inhumane. Do you know what you do?" He became excited and raised his voice: "You still watch , listen, but never speak. Just like your thoughts have formed a system of its own, which will never be shaken by the outside world and will not be polluted. I corrupt you with a luxurious life, and change your nature with rich knowledge and skills, but You don't develop a passion for anything, you don't have something you want from the bottom of your heart, you never get moved, and it goes on like this for a long time, who can say that you are not my only pure place in the world?"

"I used to think that you were a child born outside the prophecy, clean, simple and harmless, how could such a child have the power to destroy a family. But as you grow up day by day, whenever I bring you to a party, you Always get some attention and you don't know anything about yourself, no one's emotions can catch you, you just listen quietly and do your own thing. I don't think it's bad at first, I'm satisfied with your Excellent and alienated, I think you are my perfect successor even though your character is weak, but I find everything more and more unbearable, I don't need you to be judged by them, those inferior things are not qualified to judge you. You It's good to keep a distance from everyone, but there are always people who are attracted to you and do everything possible to invite you to participate in their activities. All the fun organized by the empty people, in my opinion, is a means of stealing you, I don't want you to be my successor at first, but rather you are just a rose in my glass greenhouse."

"But you don't have a glass house. Your garden grows naturally, without pretentiousness."

"Who says it's not? Paradox. Paradox is my life. I am in the blood and prefer the light. When I see the light, I would rather catch that ray of light and be stained with blood. But it is the light and beautiful light that attracts me. The only way to keep you is to let you be permanently sealed before being polluted, just like amber." The duke made a metaphor, and his tone was not lacking in sadness: "An insect is instantly wrapped in turpentine and dies. After it dies, time passes It cannot be broken, it can only be made more precious."

I turned my head away from him. "Since when have you conceived my death?"

“Since a few years ago,” he said, “when I was upset, or had nothing to do, I would draw you, and I found that it brought me peace.”

"Painting my death gives you peace," I pointed out sharply.

"You are not affected by others, but you radiate influence." The Duke hugged me, buried his face in my shoulder, ignoring how awkward the height difference between us made this posture, "I used to hate emotion, it made people lose their minds , almost not like myself, fanning the flames and infecting the demons of jealousy in people's hearts; I spurn the enjoyment of the body and the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, thinking that it degrades people, but being with you always makes me feel simple happiness, even loss I used to be cruel to the world. I am gradually becoming kinder, which is scary