[The Phantom of the Opera] The Beast and the Canary

At the same time, the violinists in the orchestra began to play in unison, and the flutes and clarinets resonated—the climax of the dance came.

The attendants in white uniforms and black gloves were standing on the second floor holding salutes, flowers, and bombs. With a "bang", gold, silver, purple, red, and flower rain-like sequins fell to the ground.Amid applause and applause, everyone on the dance floor asked their dance partners if they would mind taking off their masks. Some nodded without hesitation, while others showed hesitation, and some directly hugged and made out in public.

In such a lively atmosphere, there was an extreme silence between me and Eric.He tilted his chin slightly, looked at the chaotic dance floor with his eyes a little out of focus, and didn't know what he was thinking.

In the end, it was Clara who broke the silence: "Well said, it seems that you don't have a little knowledge of music like Hester said, on the contrary, you have your own ideas." After a pause, her smile became meaningful Shen Chang said, "However, there is another meaning of "Two-Face Man" that you have not deciphered. As for what that meaning is, you need to explore it yourself. The time is up, I should go." After finishing speaking, she gracefully He stood up and put on the velvet gloves inlaid with white pearls.

Eric finally came back to his senses, quickly supported her, and sent her to the entrance of the theater.During the whole process, he only said to me "stand here and wait for me", and didn't look at me again, as if the person who was shocked by me just now was not him.

When he came back, without saying a word, he directly dragged me up to the balcony on the second floor, and pressed me against the delicately carved Roman columns.

It was already midnight, the dew was getting deeper, and the night wind was cold. I was only wearing a thin long skirt, and I couldn't help shivering, and a layer of goose bumps appeared on my arms.He looked at me motionlessly, as if he had something to say to me, but he took off his coat first, wrapped it around my body, and ordered bluntly, "Put it on."

I silently put my arms into my sleeves.The clothes were too big and hung almost empty on my shoulders.All of a sudden, I looked weaker.

"Speak." He let go of me and leaned against the Roman column on the other side, with an indifferent attitude as if I were a stranger, "Who taught you those words just now."

I didn't expect his first sentence to be this, and I was a little confused: "No one taught me, I thought of it myself."

"I don't believe that you have studied my works," he said nonchalantly, "your musical literacy is only average."

"What is the relationship between my musical literacy and my research on your works?"

He was silent for a while, looking away, with an indifferent expression: "Every time you see me, you are scared, and I can feel your emotions. A person who is afraid of me studies my works? There is only one possibility, you want to please me, Let me let you go, okay?"

What he said was well-founded and almost made me laugh angrily: "So, I confessed to you loudly in front of Ms. Clara, saying that no matter what your status is, I will love you. In your opinion, it is actually Want to leave you? You are so smart, but sometimes your ideas can be called stupid."

He ignored my sarcasm, and stated blankly: "It's not like you haven't done this kind of thing before."

I was so angry that I almost stomped my feet, and felt a tight pain in my chest: "Then tell me, when did I do it?"

"Three years ago."

"Okay, since you mentioned three years ago, you must still remember that kiss." I walked up to him, looked up at him, and tried to widen my eyes to show anger, "Tell me, if I'm afraid of you, then Why are you still kissing me?"

He and I looked at each other for a moment, the Adam's apple slipped, and then quickly averted his gaze: "I also want to know why you kissed me in the first place."

"I said it because I like you."

"Really? Then later, I unveiled the mask to you underground and ordered you to kiss my face. Why did you turn your head away?" He closed his eyes and sneered, "The kiss at the beginning said that he wanted to learn to sing from me, It's all just a cover, and your ultimate goal is to get rid of the ugly theater ghost. If I don't take coercive measures, you will never stay by my side, am I right?"

I was stunned and thought about it for a long time. Three years ago...it seems to have happened.

Why didn't you kiss his face then?

It seems that because he thought of the previous life, he and Christine...

Some guilty conscience.But I didn't want to show timidity in front of him, so I took a step forward and grabbed his wrists: "You are wrong about these things, but you are right about one thing, and I shouldn't lie to you, I I'm really scared of you."

He opened his eyes and looked at me in amazement and sadness.

My heart twitched, I resisted the urge to coax him, and pretended to say coldly: "I'm just an ordinary girl, without extraordinary talent, nor rich experience, and the setbacks I have experienced since childhood can be counted on one hand." Come on. I'm not brave, I admit it. That's why I was scared when I lost my voice on stage; I was scared when you pushed me into a cage; I was still scared when I pressed against the wall."

His body gradually became stiff, his eyes dimmed and became hollow, but his voice remained indifferent and unwavering: "Then you must already know what kind of person I am. No matter how much you accuse me, I will not let you go, die." Take this heart."

I was still thinking about whether my words were too much, but when I heard this, I was pissed off again: "Yes, I understand you very well."

He looked at me and said nothing.

"You have a wealth of experience, from Persia to Paris, you have your footprints; you have a tough heart, you can survive under the claws of lions; you have dabbled in everything from architectural design to opera creation, and you are omnipotent." I faced him. Shocked eyes, "You're the smartest person I've ever met."

He frowned slightly: "You..."

It was rare for me to interrupt him forcefully: "At the same time, you are also the most stupid person I have ever met. You obviously have doubts about many of my behaviors, but you refuse to ask me yourself. You just guess in your heart, and you are all wrong. I know you're ugly, but I love you. I know you're mean, even using dumb drugs, just to keep me from rejecting you, but I love you. They're right, you did blackmail the ex-theater manager , but so what, I really love you. Just now in front of Clara, I didn't finish my words, whether you are Hester in the sun or Eric in the shadows, I treat you the same. No matter Noble or mean, your nature is noble or base, and I love you no matter how frightening your means are. I love you, Eric. Do you still doubt my feelings for you when I say this?"

He suddenly threw away my hand and walked quickly towards the end of the corridor.I don't know what I said wrong, seeing that he was about to disappear from my sight again, boundless fear spread, I shouted almost tremblingly: "If you dare to leave, we will part ways and never see each other again! "

He stopped, and his whole body almost merged with the darkness.After a while, he said in the shadows: "If I told you that Hester didn't exist at all, would you still think so? If I told you, I didn't look like this at all, and I was even uglier and more like me than before. Devil, will you still love me?"

"Suppose," he turned and walked towards me step by step, "'I take off the mask at the climax of the ball', would you still want to see me?"

The first half of the sentence is the line of "Two-Face Man", I was stunned for a moment: "What do you mean?"

He smiled lightly, but there was no expectation in his eyes, as if he already knew my answer: "Hester's identity is false. After I left the theater three years ago, I went to many places. The name was found on the merchant's body. I buried him, returned to town with his wares, resold them for a small fortune, and then used his name to contribute to local theaters, to publish articles in music magazines, and very soon. Soon to be famous..." His tone was light, as if he was telling someone else's story, "As Hearst became more and more famous, I began to dare not stay in one city for a long time. More and more People wanted to find me, draw me, take pictures of me, and I had to live in the sewers again, until one day I ran into a circus and saw them performing face-changing."

"I stayed with that circus for four months, wrote them several hit operettas, and in return, they taught me the art of changing faces. At first, my new look only lasted two or three hours, and then the dark By accident, I rescued a puppeteer in the theater. He had an intestinal ulcer and almost died in the box. I helped him save his life. He taught me how to adjust the height of the bridge of the nose, how to change the shape of the eyes, and how to use raw skin Pigskin to cover the scars... So, what you see now is just an illusion created by me."

My heart felt like it was hit hard by something.Even though I was breathing the fresh and cold air, I suddenly felt a suffocating feeling. I couldn't tell if it was distressing or worrying, or what: "Then what did you mean when you said...you are uglier and more like a ghost than before? "

"You want to know?" He smiled indifferently, "I'll show you."

After the words fell, he walked out of the darkness, stood under the too bright moonlight, and uncovered his "skin".Bright red blood flowed down his jaw. This was not a face-changing technique, but a form of torture.The movements of his hands are so cruel, but the expression on his face is quite light, as light as pressing a key and plucking a string.

The heavy and severe heartache pinched my throat, making it impossible for me to speak at the first moment.He was right, that face was completely festered, and it was uglier and more like a ghost than before. If you look closely, you can even see white bones and scarlet flesh. A degree of ruthlessness.

Before I knew it, tears had flowed all over my face, and I lowered my head and gritted my teeth to wipe them away.

"Now do you understand." He concluded calmly, teaching like a teacher, as if I was a stubborn student who could never teach, "Hurst is not me, and I will never be him."

I couldn't help snorting, wiped away my tears, pulled his tie to force him to bow his head, stood on tiptoe and kissed him heavily: "Now you should understand? No matter how ugly you are, I will love you, Do you have to believe me if I tell you this?”

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