Water lanterns and dreams in 1 nights

I waited without guilt, but I didn’t expect to hear their conversation. The voice was as small as a mosquito. If I didn’t press my ears firmly against the door, it would be difficult to hear, but at this time I was still young and my hearing was very good. I still heard some, and it was these conversations that changed my impression of the Duke.

Whether it is from other people's descriptions or our meeting, his image shows a cold but polite attitude, rigorous but not harsh, which almost makes me forget that I have heard that he is still a good fighter.As far as I could hear, their conversation was drawing to a close, and it consisted mainly of two things.One is that a group of large-scale escaped robbers have recently fled into the eastern part of the jurisdiction of Fran. They were forced to flee to other places because they were under the tough siege of their own country. gentry.This group of thieves was heavily armed, and most of them were accustomed to killing people. The local guards could not find their hiding place, so they could only be passively attacked and had to ask their superiors for advice. Many people have abandoned their beliefs and secretly converted to other gods.

The first difficulty is that the gangsters are not afraid of death. Even if they catch the spies who come to step on the spot, they will either bite their teeth and kill themselves with poisonous sacs, or they will be stabbed to death by poisonous needles shot by their remote monitoring companions, so they cannot follow the vines to enter the lair.The latter is that many people could not resist the persuasion of their family and friends, secretly joined associations, but did not change their beliefs.Due to the large number of people, if the other party plays a trick, it is difficult to carefully identify heretics from the crowd, so many fish will slip through the net.

The Duke didn't speak much, and only asked about unclear details and clues after the narration was over, followed by a short silence, not long, about one to two minutes.Because his voice was low, it was more difficult for me to hear clearly.In any case, I heard more or less about his decision, which surprised me.

His instruction was that since the robbers would not take the initiative to disclose the location of their lair, two guards would be secretly set up near the mansion of the rich gentry who might become the next target in the local area every night. Latent when attacking.After the guards arrive, they will deliberately let go of one or two thieves when strangling, and the guard who is lurking will follow them and mark them along the way. "If they have killed everyone and seized the property before the guards arrived, the hidden guards should follow directly. Let that family die a worthy death."

As to matters of the heretics, the duke's instructions were much briefer and harsher. "Everyone present will be killed."

"Many people are still believers of my god, and it's hard to explain to their families..."

"There is no need to discuss this matter, but it is just another lamentable tragedy caused by a group of heretics."

"Your Mightiness?"

"If you want to defeat your enemies, you must first study them thoroughly, Fayel... I have done some understanding. Inside this cult, they quite trust a reincarnation ritual, and they will sacrifice hundreds or thousands of people Lives as human sacrifices to bring back to life their lost false gods. In my opinion, this paganism is just repeating a similar tragedy..."

My secret eavesdropping only stayed here, and their conversation was coming to an end. I had a hunch that if I continued here, the result might not be as I expected. After all, my original intention was to cut down my courses, not forcefully break into their political topics.Do cults really want to perform human sacrifice?Are all those present guilty?Aside from discussing the treatment method discussed in the process, the Duke's strong will throughout it is unified into killing and bloodshed. Only blood can make the enemy cowardly and the people obedient.

He has no touch of this red, no mercy for the enemy, whether the opponent is really hostile or not, the position is a big problem for him.And I don't think this kind of tough measure is only used against the enemy, but also a manifestation of his character. How he treats the enemy must be revealed when he treats his own people. significance.In that sense, his way of treating me may have been mild.

I stood up from the ground in a jiffy, raised my index finger to my lips to make a silent gesture to the guards, even though they would definitely report this matter, and then walked away slowly.

5. Duke 04

When it seemed impossible to change the course, I gave up in time. The Duke's attitude was firm, and he told me to learn every course that was assigned to me. It's settled.And for the next few years, it followed this path.

Whenever I asked about the traces of the Duke, if he was sitting in the garden when he was not discussing matters, I was completely puzzled. Every day outdoors in strong sunlight, even under the shade of a tree, there should be some dark spots, and his His skin color has not changed at all, it is still morbidly pale, unlike other nobles who put layers of powder on their face in order to maintain an elegant posture, he is never happy to dress up in color.Occasionally I touch his palm and it's always cooler than mine, but I haven't seen him take medicine, see a doctor, or do anything else, so I guess even if he's not well, he shouldn't Too serious; or he is seriously ill, but he is too lazy to take care of his body.Normally it would not be the latter.In order to show that I am smart and sensible, I would still bring him tea or hot milk myself from time to time, but often he would not let me in, and just asked me to leave it at the door.

Every Tuesday at three o'clock in the afternoon, the Duke personally taught me theology, and only this lesson was taught by him himself. Only at this moment, when I was allowed to enter the study, did he treat me gently.Usually he would order the maid to make two cups of tea first, let the whole room diffuse the fragrance of tea leaves, and then ask me to read theological classics alone, the stories of gods full of awkward names and obscure metaphors, and wait until the tea cools. At a pleasant temperature, drink tea with me while discussing the meaning of what you read.

The whole process of being a theology professor can be called easy, provided that I obediently follow his instructions.I may not read much in one day, but I have to remember everything I read, human life, place names, and poems rich in wisdom and philosophy. I can express my own opinions, and the Duke will not be angry for the time being.He listened patiently and corrected me, regardless of every small flaw and error, if anyone asked him, he would be surprised to find that he knew all the theological classics very well, and even piously recited every word of the gods.

In the faint scent of tea, rather than saying that the Duke is teaching me, it is better to say that he is preaching to me meticulously.

"Since man's way is covered, and God surrounds him on all sides, why is there light for him..."

"Why was light given to him." The Duke corrected my sentence.With one hand behind his back, he lowered his head and fiddled with the leaves of the freesia on the windowsill.

I repeated the sentence and read on.

"...I groaned before I had eaten; my groaning flowed like water. For my fear came upon me; my fear came after me. I had no rest, no peace, no rest, but Tribulation comes..."

A fine white feather came from nowhere and floated past me. I only glanced at it, leaving an almost imperceptible gap between the two sentences. When I was about to read the next paragraph, if the Duke Feeling interrupted: "Just stop here today, Andre, you can arrange the rest of the time freely."

"But it's still early. Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, instead of trapping a young man like you in the house to distract yourself, it's better to let you out." He opened the window, letting the cool air and the buzzing of insects pour in, and the quiet and isolated study was suddenly overwhelmed. into the real world.

I really only stopped for a very small moment, but these days together made me understand that the Duke is never a perfectionist who will not indulge any flaws.

"I'm sorry." So I apologized honestly.

A red dragonfly flies around quickly in the afterglow of the red sun that is about to set. "It will be another season soon," said the Duke, and closed the window again with a click. "Go ahead."

"I want to be with you." I observed his expression and saw that he didn't feel disgusted with my voice, so I continued, "You don't look very happy now."

"I'm not unhappy, Andrei. And, perhaps on the contrary, I think the atmosphere just now is comfortable," said the prince, "but sometimes one has to be wary when one is comfortable."

He seemed to mean something.I didn't expect annoying to make him so alert?I was baffled, and was still hesitating whether to continue asking, but he changed the subject, "I think you learn a musical instrument, and you can decide what you want to learn first. I'd love to hear you play for me."

I opened my mouth, wondering why he didn't realize how much he had already given me to learn, "I have a tight schedule now, maybe I don't have time..."

He interrupted me and said unquestionably, "Saturday morning."

"But I haven't had a good rest for a long time—"

"There is a hot spring in one of my villas, you can go to relax this winter." He said in a tone that seemed to be a tolerant compromise.God knows how long the winter has just passed, and the next winter is almost the same as next year.

The final result is of course that I have gained one more course, and the reward is indeed meaningless to me. After all, sitting comfortably on a warm bed in the cold weather is the only thing I want to do, and the Duke doesn’t care about my opinion. He's so used to being assertive, it makes me wonder why I thought he was less severe in the first place.

During several years of getting along, I figured out that the Duke