Whispering Poems

Chapter 2613: The Tenacious Mortal

"James doesn't know."

The baron shook his head and looked at the flames in front of him. He suddenly looked much older:

"Mother never told James that the man she was engaged to was also named Cumming, so James knew nothing about it. As for mother, she probably guessed something before I was born, but because of love, she didn't want to accept the reality, so she pretended not to know.

The early death of her mother was probably related to the fact that the future was gradually fitting into the speculations she didn't want to pay attention to. In addition, she was unable to contact her father again, and finally her heart died, died in anxiety and longing.

So in our family's fifty-year story, among all the participants in this tragedy and comedy, I know everything best."

Xia De looked at him curiously:
"But I still don't understand what this has to do with your one-year-old wife who was stolen from you in 1809 when you were young?"

"It took me, a 23-year-old, more than half a year to read my mother's diary and figure out what happened. I almost went crazy at that time, and even wanted to use the diary and the book as evidence of my mother's madness. After all, my mother was indeed a little mentally abnormal when she was alive."

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down:
"During that time, I read a lot of books and looked up a lot of information, and then I realized one thing: many things that have not happened in the future have contributed to my being me at that time. Once something in the future does not happen, I will no longer exist."

He paused for a moment, then asked Xiang Xiade very seriously:

"Do you get me?"

Shade nodded slightly:

"I understand. Normally, the [past] determines the [present]. But because your family's affairs involve time travel, the [future] determines both the [past] and the [present] for you."

The baron exhaled a breath of white air and picked up the cup of tea that the monks had just given him:

"I never thought about changing the past. I was young at that time and I just wanted to exist and what was supposed to happen must happen.

It took me a long time to sort out everything that happened in the past and in the future. In addition, there were occasional voices in the book, which I guessed were voices from other times, which allowed me to further complete the entire experience of three generations of my family from my mother to my son, including the origin of my wife.

I later learned that I had said it in 1850, near that book.”

He looked at Shad.

"The only thing I didn't figure out when I was young was who James' father was. It seemed that all the previous owners of the book had never figured it out. But at least I knew the origin of my wife and that James must get the book. This is a necessary condition for 'I am me'."

"So, it was you who really gave James Cumming the book Opening the Forest Gate: Our Animal Companions?"

"I didn't give it to him, I just let him discover it. I didn't give him any hints. He discovered the function of the book by himself, and he also contacted his mother who lived in the 1800s by himself."

The baron took another deep breath and looked at Shade in the snow:
"So the answer is this. I am not sure who stole my wife. But if she had not become my wife, had not become the Baroness, then James would not have been born, then Mother Erica would not have known James across time, and then I would not have been born."

Both Shad and Owl understood:

"You did this yourself for your own sake?"

“Yes, although I am not familiar with Ximu Town and the farm where her real parents live, I successfully brought the child out after only one attempt.

Although I was able to determine the address of her real family, I was not sure about her adoptive parents' schedule that day. I had already thought about waiting for a long time before finding an opportunity to send the child away, but on the afternoon I took the child away, I met the timber merchant couple in the forest.

At this point, everything was closed, and Shad could even imagine the expression on the face of the young Kane Cumming, holding his baby, when he saw the timber merchants riding in a carriage in the woods.

And Baron Cumming has his own thoughts:

"I'm not a ring wizard like you. I'm just an ordinary person. When I took her away, I thought it was fate that arranged our family for three generations. But when I saw her being adopted, I suddenly realized that my existence itself proved that I had to do this.

As I said when I told you the beginning of this story, this story spanning fifty years is a circle. Every beginning is an end, and every end is also a beginning.

"No, it all started when Erica got the book. And it all ended when James Cumming lost the book and severed his connection with Erica."

Shade corrected, still savoring the story in his mind.

The story of the three generations of the Cumming family is more complicated than what the outsiders have experienced before. Two time travels, James Cumming impregnating Erica and Baron Cumming stealing the baby, complete the fifty-year cycle.

For the Baron, this is indeed a circle. The fate of three generations continues to wander in this cycle. Only people outside the story like Shad are qualified to say "beginning" and "end".

The most bizarre thing about this story is that there are no purely bad people in it, but everyone did something wrong.

The love between the two young people across time is not moral, but it is only immoral and despised, after all, they both have their own marriages; Baron Cumming committed the serious mistake of stealing a baby, but since he exists, this incident is bound to happen, and it can even be said that he took the initiative to maintain the stability of time.

Therefore, neither Shade nor Miss Winslet knew how to evaluate all this. Absurd but very reasonable, taboo but if you think about it carefully, everything is voluntary.

Snowflakes were falling from overhead, and the sound of the round-faced owl on my shoulder shaking its body broke the silence:

"According to what you just said, when you married your wife, you actually knew that she was actually your grandmother?"

The Baroness gave birth to James Cumming, who traveled through time with Erica to give birth to the present-day Baron, so the title is correct.

The Baron nodded silently.

"So when you married her, you knew she would definitely give birth to someone else's child?"

Xia De asked again, trying not to let the pity in his tone. He didn't really want to ask this kind of question, as it would tear a wound from the other party, but he had to ask for the truth.

The baron did not nod this time, but said in a hoarse voice:
"I thought at the time, if James was my biological son, and my biological son gave birth to me, then it wouldn't be a big deal, but then I met them."

He looked at the hermits:
"They told me some basic knowledge about time travel. If I am James' father and James is also my father, then our paternal bloodline is equivalent to being created out of thin air. This level of paradox is not something that ordinary people can create. So James was born from my wife's affair. She still thinks I don't know about it."

Xia De now envied the owl on his shoulder because she could ignore her expression, but Xia De had to not show more pity:

"I'm sorry to hear that."

The baron shook his head:
"Don't apologize, because she doesn't know either. I also have illegitimate children outside, two sons and a daughter. I decided to do this after I knew that James couldn't be my son. After all, I have to leave my own descendants no matter what. Although in terms of bloodline, James and I have nothing to do with the Cumming family."

The sad man looked up at the falling snow. Even by the campfire, the snow had already dyed his shoulders white:

"Besides, I don't want to have offspring with her. The relationship between her bloodline and mine is very complicated. I want my offspring to be free of this."

At this moment, Shade even admired the ordinary man in front of him who was shivering from the cold. Baron Cumming was an ordinary person, but his thoughts, ideas and actions were outstanding. He did do something wrong, but it was really not his fault.

He completed the time loop, did not embarrass the other parties involved in the matter, and he also realized his own wish. Even if the stranger did not appear here, he had already achieved a result that everyone was satisfied with by his own hands.

"So you see, sir, there's no need to embarrass me. It's all over. If you want the book, just go back to 1854 and take it. I've done all I can do. It's over, it's all over."

The baron gave a miserable smile, shook his head and looked at the fire again.

Xia De understood what he meant:
"So, Erica Cumming is pregnant?"

"Yes. If they meet again next time, Mother will tell James about it. So it doesn't really matter whether they meet or not. I'm old enough to have reached the end of everything. If you don't come, I will find a chance to get rid of the book myself."

Shade stroked the owl again:

"Where on earth did your mother get this book?"

The Baron shook his head.

"It's not written in the diary, and I haven't found any clues. But he should have bought it from a bookstore. I've researched this book. It's a very common book in this era, and it's sold in bookstores in town now."

“So who is James Cumming’s biological father?”

Shade asked again. This question was actually not very important. After all, this man was not involved in the fifty-year cycle. He was just having an affair with the Baroness. But Shade was still curious.

The baron still shook his head:
“If I wanted to investigate, with my status and financial resources, I could definitely hire some private detectives to investigate, but I didn’t do that.

Even if I find out, what can I do? I can't help but love James. After all, we are the closest blood relatives. My wife betrayed me, but she gave birth to James after all, and I also have an illegitimate child. So I shouldn't know who it is. If I know, I will have other ideas."

He laughed at himself:
"I've experienced so much in the first half of my life. I understand that the less I know, the happier and safer I am. I know so much that I'm what I am now. If I hadn't discovered the relics left by my mother, time would have closed the loop in other ways. This is also a very dangerous idea. I can't think about things like 'what if I didn't'."

What he said at this moment, "The less you know, the safer you are" is also the consensus of the ring warlocks, and Shad understands his thoughts.

PS: Added 3/3. There is one more chapter if you turn back, which is part of the normal update this morning.