the culprit

Cyril, who had a broken leg, lay in bed for a full month, and Doris brought breakfast and dinner into the room.Heken still came back every three to five days, Felix was locked in the room and no one was seen, the three dumb servants often sat together idly, unable to speak, the old people dozed off in the sun, and the young maid stared at the old man. A tree in the distance is in a daze, sitting for a whole day.

It was time for school in the fall, and Dr. Douglas was relieved that Cyril's leg had healed and was free of limp.He packed up the medicine box and casually asked the boy if he would like to be his apprentice.At that time, Cyril was sitting on a high chair in a wrinkled shirt and stared out of the window in a daze. One trouser leg was rolled up, revealing her fair calf and ankle.Hearing the doctor's question, he turned his head slowly to look at the bearded man, blinked his eyes without speaking, and then shook his head.

The doctor never forgot how he hid under the blanket and wept secretly when he saw the child for the first time. Later, every time he came to see him, he took the extra trouble to check whether there were any new injuries on his body. Fortunately, after that time, the boy's body had No other scars appeared.When he left that time, the boy didn't thank him, and naturally he didn't say goodbye.It was the same every time afterwards, without thanking or saying goodbye.A whore's son is a whore's son, with no education at all.The penny-pinching doctor graciously forgave the boy, because he missed Heken every time he came, so he couldn't find anyone to talk about the child's education.

He was so gloomy.

Thinking of this, the doctor suddenly rejoiced at the boy's refusal. If the boy really clung to him and insisted on becoming an apprentice, not only his patient, but even his wife and children would have to complain all day long about why he brought such a boy. Uninterested guy goes home.

luckily.What a blessing.

The doctor picked up the medicine box, took one last look at the boy, swallowed the fluid in embarrassment, and left without looking back.

In the dinner room that night, Hucken mentioned school to Cyril.He took out the earl's letter and spread it on the dining table, the sealing wax was broken, and a few dark red wax shavings fell on the corner of the table stained with oil.

"He applied for admission to Noria Public School for you, and will send a carriage to take you there in the past two days."

Hucken seemed to be in a good mood, and specially asked Old Jack to go to the wine cellar to get some wine.

The boy sitting at the other end of the dining table was eating the boiled beans on the plate seriously with his head down. He only paused for two seconds and nodded when he heard his uncle mention the matter of enrolling in school.

"I'll pack my things tonight."

Perhaps because he said it too coldly, Heken couldn't help raising his eyes to look at his nephew twice more.

Since his father broke his leg, the boy has become more and more reticent day by day.Most of the time he was recuperating in bed, not going anywhere, and Heken never took the initiative to visit him.Heken was very satisfied with this situation. Before that, he was thinking of running away for three days, but later he actually wanted to kill Felix. Now he is being honest, and he is much more pleasing than before.

Sure enough, it was right to invite my brother here.How could an uncle be as good as a father.

Heken thought triumphantly, folded the letter paper on the table and put it away in his arms, thinking that in two days, he would not have to see this troublesome and damned boy for several months, his mood was like a cloudy sky Suddenly see the clear, instant clarity.

After dinner, he sent Doris to help Hucken pack, suggesting that she'd better stuff everything he had brought back into his little trunk.

"Put it back where it came from, don't leave it here."

Doris went upstairs after cleaning the house, and when she entered Cyril's room, the boy had already folded all the clothes in the closet and put them in boxes.Doris brought all his books over again. The boy glanced at her, and asked lightly if he couldn't stay here. The dumb maid didn't expect him to ask such a question, and bit her lip in embarrassment, but in the end she still asked. Press the book on the folded clothes.

"I'll come back here on vacation." The boy was still struggling, but the maid had already got up and started looking for other things he had left in the room.

Cyril was no stranger to Doris, after all, she was a maid brought by her father from the Earl's Mansion.When he was at home, he often saw her, and like other servants, she was lukewarm towards him, and occasionally met her in the corridor, and she always seemed so nervous that she was about to faint, for fear that he would suddenly stop him She asks strange questions.Most of the servants at home are like this, they don’t want to be known by him, they don’t want to be called by him, they don’t want to talk to him, they don’t dare to answer his questions.

When meeting Doris for the first time here, Cyril thought he had come home in a dream.At that time, he had just been beaten up by his father, and his leg, which was barely fixed, was still in pain. He lay on the bed and saw her come in with food. He couldn't help but call her name, and asked her if he was there. dream.

At that time, she showed the expression he was used to again, with her eyes wide open and her mouth slightly open, her shoulders and chest heaving rapidly, if she was not holding something in her hand, she might turn around and run away from the door in a second.

He thought that people from home would always be closer to him.

Doris was more distant from him than anyone else.

It's like father hit harder than Uncle Hickey.

The boy looked at the back of Doris walking around the room, got up and walked to the bed, took out the small purse that Mary made for him from under the pillow, and put it in the suitcase.

He misses Mary so much.

"Everything is packed, thank you, Doris." As he spoke, he couldn't help picking up the money bag, grasping it in his hand and stroking it gently. When he looked up, he saw Doris turned around and looked at him with There was a relieved expression on his face.

That night, Cyril fell asleep clutching the purse.

He dreamed of Mary again.She is still so old, the corners of her eyes and cheeks are covered with deep grooves carved by the years, she is wearing an old skirt with two patches on the hem, and when she grins, she will reveal a mouthful of incomplete and yellow teeth.He dreamed that they came to an unknown field, the wind rustled the low grass, and the sun above his head was blurred like egg whites scattered in the water.

He told Mary that he was going to school, and Mary was so happy when she heard that, she bent down and hugged him, stroking his head with her thin hands.He put his arms around Mary's neck and said that they would have afternoon tea together when they came back from vacation. The old lady kissed his forehead, then got up and took his hand and walked towards the sun.It seemed that they were going to go to the foot of the sun, which seemed to be a long, long way, but he was elated and his heart was beating for joy.

It was already dawn when I woke up from my dream.Cyril stared at the high roof for a while, then turned to look at the window.The sunlight shines into the room through the flying gauze, like egg whites scattered in the water.The money bag was still in his hand, and the coins inside collided with each other, making a ding-dong sound through the fabric.

He is leaving here.

But no one expected his return.

It seemed that something was blocking his throat, his shoulders trembled for no reason, his eyes blurred for some reason, and something slipped from the corner of his eye and dripped into the pillow.He felt his cheeks wet from the pillow.

Shrikes could be heard outside the window. At first there was only one bird, but after a few chirps, several more came one after another.

The boy in the room wiped his eyes and sat up in bed.

Only he is superfluous.

Very lonely.

At breakfast, Heken still maintained the good mood from last night. The aroma of wine filled the breakfast. He looked at his nephew before raising his glass. The boy dipped the bread in the broth, and his eyes were red.

pitiful.

The man sighed.

Poor, who told him to kill his own mother.

The man who was drinking didn't realize his hypocrisy, and tried his best to put on a look of compassion.For the first time, he did not go out in this fine weather, but stayed in the manor with his nephew and waited for the carriage to arrive.But until the sun set, the expected carriage did not appear.

During dinner, he smashed a glass.

damn.

damn it.

Who told you to kill your own mother.

Why do you still want to kill Felix.

Who told you to kill us.

The man bit the cooked Shrike on the plate, and glared viciously at the boy on the other end with his bloodshot eyes.He chewed the bird's slender leg bones together with the flesh, and then spit out the broken bones vulgarly. His greasy lips were close to the mouth of the cup, leaving an oily lip mark on it.

He kept his brother's letter close to his body all the time, and now he took it out and opened it to have a look, saying that he would pick it up in the near future, but he didn't keep his word.

Brother has always been like this, the Earl who is putting on airs has always been like this.The money promised to him was always delayed for ten days and half a month before being delivered. For this reason, he made a detour to the Earl's Mansion, but he was kicked out without entering the door.He knew that the Earl wanted to disassociate himself from him now, that he was just a manor in the countryside, living in a big old house, with old and dumb servants, and the worst thing was that he had to bow his knees to a vampire Dedication——but if it weren't for him, could the Earl still be the Earl!

Hucken stared at his nephew, feeling more and more that the increasingly gloomy boy was more and more like his disgusting elder brother.

He poured wine into the wine glass angrily, poured himself angrily, walked over to drag the boy out of the door through drunkenness, pushed him down the steps, and yelled at him to get out.The boy who fell covered in mud struggled to get up, stood in the cold moonlight, and looked back without saying a word.

He didn't even cry.

"You don't even cry anymore!" Heken waved his hands and shouted angrily, staggered and chased down the steps, then raised his hand and pushed the boy to the ground again, "Get out of here, get out of here!" He raised his foot and kicked the boy waist, clearly saw the boy's body vibrated violently.Delighted to follow the drunken river rushing in his body, washing his limbs, he giggled, bent down and grabbed the boy by the back collar, lifted him up, threw him into the distance, and followed him with drunken steps, thinking How else can I vent my unwillingness and hatred on him.

"Harken."

A cold voice sounded behind him, and the man who was in the sadistic pleasure froze suddenly, his hot body seemed to be pushed into a glacier, and his head was instantly cooled from head to toe.

In the night, Felix didn't wear his gloomy black cloak, his fair face and the white shirt on his body seemed to be haloed under the light blue moonlight.He just stood behind Heken with a blank face, but he held the man's wrist intimately with his right hand, and pulled him, who was stupefied, towards the old mansion.

Burning pain came from his waist, and the skin all over his body seemed to be on fire. Cyril, who was caught in the sea of ​​flames, couldn't restrain his body's instinctive tremors.He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, tasted the taste of blood unexpectedly, and the tip of his tongue stopped at the place where the blood gushed out, hot and sticky.He was panting, and heard his own breathing sound like the wind passing through the branches in winter night, cloudy and hoarse, so sick that he almost wanted to vomit.

He lay on the ground without moving or thinking about anything, but raised his head slightly.

Hucken, who had just suddenly gone mad, staggered behind Felix at this moment, his shoulders were as stiff as if he had been nailed into two sharp wooden wedges.

Felix, who was walking slowly under the moonlight, was as pale as a ghost about to disappear.And the ghost never looked at him directly from the beginning to the end.