[Fifth Personality] Escape from the manor

When her eyes smile, they still look innocent and bright:

"Possession is not love?"

She put the half-damaged white rose in front of her face, closed her eyes and sniffed lightly:

"No, for us, the idea of ​​possession is born because of love. We want to be watched all the time, and we want the satisfaction of being entangled all the time..."

"I want the other person's heart to beat for me, I want to have everything about the other person..."

Her garnet-red eyes looked like jewels, shining with beauty:

"Love is something that can fill the suffering of soul redemption. Willing to let go of the lover's hand is an act that we cannot understand."

She took out the garden shears and continued to cut off a dead branch. The dead branch fell to the ground and was crushed:

"Look~ the dead branches that are not loved are not even worth as a foil to the flowers I love."

She hummed a song, the melody was light and bright.

Qiao Yan looked at the crushed dullness and fell silent.

She probably understood that the problem was not Joseph alone, but everyone here.

The only normal self here is so abnormal, maybe she is starting to be abnormal, but she just doesn't know it.

"Emma, ​​do you have a lover?"

Qiao Yan asked suddenly.

The humming girl held the scissors and turned her head to look at her, her smile was still bright:

"Of course, she is the most beautiful angel~"

Then she is really unfortunate, Qiao Yan thought so.

28

Qiao Yan finally returned to Joseph's room with the bunch of pink roses that Emma gave her.

She held the bouquet and stood in the hall full of portraits, a little silent.The fragrance of roses is quiet and peaceful, making the moment even more peaceful.

She didn't intend to send Joseph flowers, but she came back with this bouquet anyway.

Forget it, let's find a vase and place it properly.

Soft and soothing music gradually sounded in the front hall full of portraits. Qiao Yan, who was holding flowers, turned her face and saw the handsome young man dressed in aristocratic attire—he was standing in front of a phonograph and smiling at her.

He walked up to Qiao Yan, bowed his head and kissed her cheek:

"Are you resting well? Yan."

"...not too bad."

Qiao Yan didn't show any resistance to his intimate behavior, she was just thinking about how to deal with the handful of pink roses in her hand.

"The flowers are beautiful, Miss Woods sent you?"

Joseph asked her.

Qiao Yan nodded, and then replied:

"Miss Woods is good at gardening and I'd like to find a vase to put them in."

Joseph took the bunch of pink roses in her hand, and put them into an empty vase in the corner.His blue eyes looked at the bouquet of pink roses put into the vase, and he said to Qiao Yan with a slight smile:

"They will always be open and undefeated, decorating the window of your heart."

Qiao Yan was noncommittal, because she knew that cut flowers like this one would lose moisture and wither after staying in a vase for a day or two.She didn't answer Joseph's words, but turned her gaze to the portraits on the wall.The people in these portraits were all Joseph, from youth to old age, the portrait she saw was the elderly Joseph, although he could already see the aging, but he still had an outstanding temperament.

Joseph never shy away from his age, nor did he hide the portraits that record his old appearance.

It is difficult for Qiao Yan to understand Joseph, who is currently pursuing eternity and has fixed his appearance in his youth.Personally, she finds this contradictory.But maybe it is not contradictory, after all, she is not Joseph, and she cannot fully understand his thoughts.

Seeing that Qiao Yan didn't answer but turned her gaze to another direction, Joseph followed her gaze and looked in that direction. At the end of her gaze was a portrait of a person whose white hair was neatly bundled up. His gray beard and wrinkles showed his age.

"Yan, are you interested in the traces time has left on me?"

Joseph walked to the phonograph and stretched out his hand to open the needle, stopping the music being played. When he looked up at Qiao Yan, his eyes were still gentle.That kind of tenderness bears the traces of time, and also has a bit of the kindness of an elder. Although there is no trace of time on his appearance, his soul does not belong to a young man anymore.

"I'm just thinking, what will I look like when I'm old?"

Qiao Yan looked at the portrait on the wall, and then turned her gaze to the delicate and beautiful young man in front of her, comparing the distance between them.

Joseph smiled lightly, but he didn't answer her question immediately.It wasn't until Qiao Yan sat on the sofa and picked up the enamel teapot and poured herself a cup of black tea that he turned to look at her and said:

"I thought women would want to retain their youth and romance."

He sat beside Qiao Yan, then lifted the teapot and poured himself a cup of black tea.When he held up the teacup, the mist rising from the black tea blurred his eyes, making his blue eyes that seemed to glow like two clusters of dark blue flames.Now these two clusters of dark flames were burning quietly in front of Qiao Yan's eyes.

"Nobody really likes aging."

Qiao Yan looked at the blurred figure reflected in the tea in the cup, her black eyelashes were drawn down to half cover her eyes, making her expression difficult to recognize:

"What will happen if I'm old?"

After all the words were spoken, she looked up at Joseph beside her, seeing his eternally young appearance, her eyes were a little confused when the eyelashes flickered:

"You cut off my time because you don't want to see my aging appearance?"

She seemed to be anxiously asking him about the longevity of this relationship.

That disturbed and confused look is cute.At least for Joseph, it's really cute.

He reached out and hugged Qiao Yan on his lap, wrapped his hands around her waist, pressed his face close to hers, and then laughed softly.The young man's laughter was noble and gorgeous, with a bit of indescribable indulgence.

Although he wanted to tell her that time would not leave any marks on her.However, the long years have made him understand the heart of a young girl far better than a young boy.

It was clear to him that when they uttered the word "if," it meant they wanted a romantic answer that would satisfy them, not a dead truth.

"I just don't want you to be taken away by the erosion of time, because that would make me miserable."

He leaned close to her ear and whispered, when the breath he exhaled sprayed on the skin behind Qiao Yan's ear, her heart trembled slightly.

Although Joseph in Qiao Yan's heart was cruel and indifferent, she had to admit that he was indeed an old aristocrat in romantic France, and he was always so touching when he talked about love.

"As for if..."

The rest of the words lingered on the tip of his tongue, and he smiled and clasped the back of Qiao Yan's neck and kissed her:

"My dear, I think you understand very well that I am no longer a young man."

Qiao Yan closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, weakly responding to his kiss.

……

After night fell, they lay down together, on the same bed that Qiao Yan had slept on before.

The feeling this time was slightly different from that night in the Red Church. She was not in the game, and the pain could not be shielded. She felt a little subtle when the teeth left marks on the skin.When the skin with the tooth marks was gently licked, the slight pain was replaced by another slightly itchy numbness.

……

The light of day passed through the cracks in the curtains and left a bright band of light on the floor.

When Qiao Yan woke up in Joseph's arms, not long after she woke up, Joseph had actually finished dressing—it was still his most usual attire, a blue coat and a golden scarf.

"I'll be back soon."

When leaving, he even smiled and kissed Qiao Yan's forehead as farewell.Qiao Yan also opened the quilt quite normally, picked up the scattered clothes beside the bed, and then put her back on Joseph and put them on.

The relationship between them is intimate and natural, like a long-married couple.

"Don't go out casually on rainy days and nights."

Before parting, the young man dressed as an aristocrat gave Qiao Yan a last word.

……

After Joseph left, Qiao Yan opened the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows. She didn't like the light in the room to be too dark, because it would make the sense of imprisonment in her heart more obvious.

It's good to be self-deceiving, at least the sufficient light will not make this place look like a prison.

It's a pity that the brightness in the house didn't last long, because it started to rain outside.

Joseph's parting instructions were not without reason.Qiao Yan stood by the window, looking at the sporadic raindrops hitting the glass, wondering whether Joseph knew that it would rain in Oletis Manor today.

The dazzling lightning pierced a black cloud in the sky, like a ferocious beast tearing the fur of a black goat, with a bit of the cruel deterrent force of nature.

Another flash of lightning flashed across Qiao Yan's face.

Qiao Yan stood by the window, looking at the thing lying on the glass outside the window, her body froze slightly.It was not a creature that should exist in reality. It was attached to the glass of the window in front of Qiao Yan like a giant lizard, blocking most of the light from entering the room.

Its dim vertical pupils stared closely at Qiao Yan, and its tail with black scales flicked across the glass, making a slow and piercing creaking sound.

Suddenly it opened its mouth to Qiao Yan in the glass, and a scarlet tongue licked the glass, leaving an obvious water mark.

Qiao Yan closed all the curtains reflexively, then squatted in a corner by the bed and listened quietly to the movement outside the window.

But she couldn't hear anything except the rain on the glass.It seemed that after she closed the curtain, the monster just now also disappeared.

Although I want to confirm whether the monster is still lying on the glass of the window, but at this moment