Water lanterns and dreams in 1 nights

Anything about her or leftovers, I'm just too curious. "

"It's been so many years." The Duke said, without too many emotional fluctuations in his tone, but he had the leisure to remind me, "Your tea is getting cold, Andre."

"I know, I want to drink it cold."

"That's not good for your health."

I argued, "It doesn't matter, the weather is warm now."

It was warm indeed.In the past few days, the weather has warmed up abnormally, and many flowers suddenly bloomed together. A kiwi tree in the corner of the garden has a few white flowers, which is the weather of Xiaoyangchun.

He won't listen to my explanation, and won't believe the weather. "You'd better drink it now."

I had no choice but to do so, and he continued with the text.

"Your mother was once a pure and innocent girl." He started with this sentence, and "mother" and "girl" in the words themselves are a set of contradictory words, and his tone made me feel a little strange.

"I didn't even see her face the first time I saw her."

"How come?" I asked with great interest.

"It was very foggy that morning, and the air was full of fresh and cold water vapor. In that weather, I suddenly wanted to go for a walk, so I didn't bring anyone with me, and I went out with a cane, without deliberately distinguishing the direction. , walking by instinct in a vast expanse of whiteness. I walked in the mist for a while, turned around many roads, and then somehow entered a narrow alley with a brick wall on one side and a small red roof with uneven heights on the other. There are large and small windows facing the alley. The first thing I heard was singing.”

"Is mother singing?"

The Duke whetted my appetite and taught me to be more patient before continuing, "It was your mother who practiced the piano and sang to it at the same time. Her voice...was pure, and she sang a hymn to the Virgin, I remember clearly now that her singing is something hard to forget. There were flowers planted on the window, big tulips dotted her figure, white skirt, blond hair, beautiful side face, she sang intently , didn't glance out the window. I stood under the window and listened quietly to her singing, and then changed to other songs. I really wanted her to sing the previous one again, but it was too presumptuous to interrupt. I After writing down the address, courting, and getting married, it’s no different from any other couple.”

"Then mother is not noble?"

"Not really. She comes from a merchant family."

So this can explain part of why mothers always reclusive.

"What kind of person is she?" I asked.

"Kind, patient, elegant, she is a natural girl." The duke replied.

This is the second time he has used the word "girl".The Duke doesn't repeat a figure of speech very often, unless it comes from his deepest impressions.I have to look into this.

"Are you satisfied?"

In fact, it is far from enough, but I have to learn how to stop, and the Duke is obviously not used to talking about my mother with me. "That's it," I said, "and one last question, do you love her?"

This question seemed to haunt him for a while, and there was a brief silence in which the Duke looked at me with an inscrutable look, which was a kind of cautious gaze. I believe that if his subordinates were here, they might be too scared to tell me. I watched him, but I kept watching him, waiting for his reply. "I don't want to lie to you, Andre," he finally replied curtly. "I loved her once, but it's been too long. I hope it doesn't break your heart to talk about your mother in this way."

"I won't." I put my hand on his wrist, "Too much time has passed."

Then we all stopped talking and let the silence pass by.

The Duke's answer did not quite solve my doubts, but instead led to more questions, such as his use of the word "girl", his relationship with my mother, his enthusiasm for religion, his disregard for human life and his neglect of himself, etc. The question is doomed to be unable to be put to the mouth, so I have to press it alone in my thoughts, waiting for when he inadvertently leaks the secret, or is more frank in the foreseeable future.Fortunately, my curiosity is not very deep, so I don't have to worry about trying to find out the truth.

I can't read Duke most of the time.When I first came to the manor, no matter how soft his attitude towards me was on the surface, behind my back, I always suspected that he often looked at my every move with a mocking and critical look. He was not surprised when I made a mistake, as if You have already anticipated my bad nature, and doubled down on teaching me.I even suspected that he had a natural dislike for me. I could clearly judge such emotions at that time. As time went by, "love" sprouted, and this dislike gradually faded away, but it still stuck between us.A child should not suffer rejection from his father if he does something wrong, unless the child's birth is accompanied by elements that make him dissatisfied.

And sometimes, for example, when I was reading the scriptures, he was leaning against the window railing to meditate, the golden-red sun deeply splashed and dyed his hair and high cheekbones, his lips were tightly pressed, like eternal patience and eternal resistance, Only at such times did I feel close to him, and read a kind of piety and idealism in the style of an ancient silent monk from his demeanor.

On a night with some cool winds, I was surrounded by a sweet and fragrant sleep, half a dream and half awake, snorkeling on the edge of consciousness, feeling someone gently combing my forehead hair with cool fingers, very subtle whisper my name. "Andre." The Duke's voice sounded like a sigh.I woke up slightly when he came, and fell asleep again in the silence. When I woke up, my arms were resting safely in the quilt, and I didn't think much about such behavior.If you look at it from this point of view, it can almost be said that he values ​​my body more than his own. The Duke is almost obstinately neglecting his own health.

From the details, I can basically tell that the Duke loves me.It's just that he never said, and I never asked questions.My habit of keeping silent stems from my introverted way of doing things in the past, and the Duke’s is from his disposition. As for where this disposition comes from, it is an unknown mystery to me.

7. Duke 06

About prophecy.

In this land of devout belief in gods, the cognition of the existence of demons is also firm. Many people think that they are still dangerous and evil and must be eliminated. The general consciousness is that demons cannot appear in front of ordinary people. It is necessary to establish a relationship with believers, that is, wizards to exert power, so the persecution of wizards, especially witches, is quite logical.People hated witchcraft and, paradoxically, believed in curses and prophecies from wizards, roughly because it was not surprising that wizards were believed to be in league with the devil and possessed supernatural powers.

I don't really believe in theism, and I'm not opposed to it. It's just that I haven't seen a surreal event for many years, and I don't have any beliefs, so my cognition is always in a vague and ambiguous state.But if such supernatural powers do not exist, how would my present situation be explained?I have no evidence to prove its existence, nor hypothetical enthusiasm, strong curiosity. If I want to use an analogy, I usually regard myself as a leaf of the river of fate, pushed forward by the current, and do not inquire about the journey. A pure form of movement.

When it does not hinder one's own survival, in fact, too much investigation can easily lead to disaster. Even Zeus, the king of the gods, is also restricted by his daughters and the three goddesses of fate.Putting aside the question of whether gods exist, I regard it as some kind of metaphor, and pretend that fate is an entity. She has made a decision and will not change it. The same goal is achieved by different routes, and prophecy is a little trick of hers. Mortals think they are smart Trying to escape fate, but often sent himself to the gallows.

The duke disagrees with me.He is stubborn by nature and unwilling to be easily flexible. This character trait is reflected in many places, and his views on prophecy is one of them.He believes in the existence of prophecy, but he refuses to compromise with it. He treats prophecy as if he is reading historical materials, and he wants to learn from it.

"Avoiding danger is a coward's act." The Duke said to me at the time, with an unpredictable expression of disdain and arrogance on his face.We were wearing hunting clothes, standing on the shooting range paved with a large expanse of green lawn, he held his pistol/gun in front of him, squinted one eye to aim at the target, and then shot.Shang almost missed the target.He put down his gun and nodded to me, "Andre, you can try it too."

Although I had studied shooting for three years at that time, my appearance was ordinary and could only be regarded as unsatisfactory.As I was trying to aim, he went on to talk to me, "I don't think it's strange that those wizards are willing to be lowly and become the minions of the devil. After all, there are such low breeds in the crowd, and they are gifted by the gods." I don't care about my spirituality, and I am willing to be a livestock rolling in the mud. But those prophecies, you might as well listen to them."

I fired a shot, only to catch the seventh ring, the Duke couldn't see it, he surrounded me from behind, grabbed my arm to adjust my posture, "I should really ask what your archery teacher taught you. "

"The teacher is fine," I replied, "I'm just not very good at physical coordination."

So he laughed at me for being unmanly, I have no opinion on this, only one fact in reply, "But just like this, I am the only apparent heir you have chosen."

He refused to talk to me, and taught me to fire three more shots, all of which were between the eighth and ninth rings before he stopped. In order to show my obedience to him, I continued the previous conversation, "How do you read the prophecy?"

"It can be assumed to be a possibility in the future." He said lightly,