The Sensory Animals of Ston Hill

Grace couldn't wait until the "early morning of the day after tomorrow" that Chris told him.

He was taken out of the palace the next evening, during the two hours each day that Eva and Anna were allowed to be with him.So the two girls watched as he was led away by some uniformed guards, just as he had watched Chris.

Anna fell to the ground crying, and Eva knelt down to the guards.Grace persuaded the girls not to cry like Chris comforted him, saying that she was not afraid and could not lose face.

He was taken to a familiar place - the Royal Prison.

One part of the prison had been blown up, and he was taken to the other half, where he was locked in a cave-like cell.After the guards closed the wooden door, there was only a small window that was much taller than a person leaking a little light, and the whole cell exuded a cold musty smell.

Grace spoke to the guards outside through a small hole in the wooden door, but he was ignored.He guessed it was a national meeting—no, it should be called a national meeting now, and it was a decision of the national meeting.

His heart felt cold, and the icehouse-like cell made his cold even worse.What will happen to the king if the queen is thrown into prison?

Grace measured the height of the small window with her eyes, and then dragged the crude iron bed under the window.He deliberately made a lot of noise, but it was quiet outside the door, and no one came in to ask.He erected the iron bed.Afterwards, he raised the only piece of furniture left—the wooden shelf on which the washbasin was placed, and put it on the head of the erected bed, and then began to climb up carefully.

It was unsuccessful at first, or the iron bed started to tilt during the climbing process, so he had to get off quickly, because although the bed is simple, the iron frame is still very heavy, and if it hits the body, it will definitely fracture.Either he managed to climb up, but couldn't stand on the wooden frame, because the wooden frame wobbled a lot and didn't look very strong.

He practiced many times, getting more and more tired, and finally stood at the highest place smoothly.Thanks to the unevenness of the stone wall, he could hold onto it a little bit and help the wooden frame under his feet share some weight.He carefully stood up straight, stood on tiptoes, and finally saw the outside from the window not much bigger than his face.

As people walked the streets, a National Guard patrol passed by, and newsboys hawked the day's papers.There was no glass in the window, so he leaned his face to the window, and the cold wind directly hit his face, and he finally heard what the people outside were saying clearly.

The newsboys shouted: "The Habsian dynasty has uttered cruel words. If we dare to hurt the king's hair, they will burn down all the houses in the capital!"

Climbing down is harder than climbing up.Halfway through Grace's trembling descent, the wooden door of the cell was pushed open, and the guard who came to deliver the food saw him stunned.

Tears welled up in Grace's eyes. He knew how beautiful he was when he cried, and he also knew that his voice could be considered beautiful, especially when he spoke in a low and soft voice, which made people think that he was Very honest and has a good personality.

He looked at the guard with tears in his eyes, and said in a soft voice, "Can you help me?"

The guard came back to his senses and hurriedly turned around to close the wooden door, but then felt that something was wrong, opened the door again, put the rice plate on the ground, and ran over to help him hold the iron bed.

Grace was once again thankful she was wearing pants.His feet were careful to avoid the guard's hand, but bumped his arm as he jumped down, and the young guard blushed instantly.Grace pretended not to see it and bowed her neck to thank him.

When the guard left, he looked hesitantly at the raised iron bed.

Grace put her hands on her chest and begged him: "Please let me see out, it's very important to me! Please!"

The guard finally said nothing, and brought him candles and a quilt before dark.

It took a lot of effort to drag the iron bed, and Grace slept on the floor that night, it was cold and hard, and he didn't fall asleep all night.He did not comb his hair the next morning, and when the guard came to deliver the meal, he saw that the young man preferred his hair loose.

When the guard came to collect the empty plates, Grace asked him: "What's your name?" Then he not only learned the name of the guard, but also learned that it was the threat of the Habsian dynasty that completely aroused the hatred of the people of the capital against the king. , and completely confirmed the king's crime of betraying the country.

Grace panicked and defended the king: "That is an agreement between the Queen Mother Margaret and the Habs Dynasty! Your Majesty did not participate in the signing of this agreement, let alone know that they would be so arrogant! This is just the agreement of the Habs Dynasty. It's just a trick, they're just looking for such an excuse to take the opportunity to invade us!"

The guard looked embarrassed, "Don't tell me these things, I can't make the decision."

Grace suddenly took his hand and begged him: "Please tell me more, is the king safe now?"

The guard hated the queen so much, but pitied the "woman" in front of him so much.

He said to Grace: "The king is also on this floor, locked in a cell at the end."

Grace gasped in pain, "Is it that cold there too?"

The young guard couldn't help but look at the quilt he had spread on the floor.Grace ran over to pick up her quilt, stuffed it into his arms, and begged him: "Please send this to His Majesty's cell. Even if you suspect that the king betrayed the country, there is no trial and no sufficient evidence. Just suspicion. That's not the way to treat a man who is most likely—actually innocent!"

The guard looked at him sympathetically, put the quilt back on the place where Grace slept last night, and said that he would apply to supplement the king's daily necessities.

"Thank you!" Grace rushed to the door, and the guard gave him a complicated look before closing the door, promising that he would not let the king freeze, and then closed the door.

Afterwards, it was not the guard who came to deliver food, but an old soldier who looked grumpy.

Grace asked him if he was changing shifts.The veteran told him that the young man didn't want to continue this job and applied for another post.

He also said that the young guard had interceded for the Queen when the guards were changed, and allowed the iron bed to stand there.The veteran didn't speak well, and said to Grace in a strange voice: "Young men are hot-headed and soft-hearted when they see a beautiful woman, but it may hurt you. You know what it is when a person's head hits the ground from such a high place Is it good? It’s as crisp as a melon.”

Grace understood that these guards were hard to corrupt.

After the veteran left, Grace couldn't help crying for a while, choosing a frivolous way for herself.He felt ashamed, ashamed of Chris, and thought of Miss Charlotte Corday, and wondered how she had managed to stay decent, and he was so afraid.

He rushed to the door and yelled, "Chris!"

When there was no response, he yelled again, and the old soldier knocked on the door outside, telling him to stop yelling, saying that the cell here was very soundproof, and the king couldn't hear anything from such a distance.

Later, Grace heard the news from France through the window: the restored French King reverted to his old ways, and followed his predecessors to prevent the National Assembly from proceeding and forced the Parliament to adjourn.He deduced from what people were saying that this was what was happening in France.

He thought it was because the reformists advocated building roads across the country, and the king signed the document, so the carriage that brought the news could run so fast.But people forget.

People shouted in the street: "The king is the king! They will never get over their arrogance!"

"With the king, the power of the parliament will never be guaranteed!"

People roared: "Our country does not need a king! The king should be hung on the street lamp!"

One night, Grace was too cold to sleep soundly, and he remained in this half-dream state until dawn.

The old soldier came to deliver food again. Grace suddenly got angry at him and asked him: "You have so many soldiers with guns, why don't you go to the front line? Why don't you go to fight the real enemy? The regular army of the country is suffering on the front line." If you are struggling, you will just yell here!"

The old soldier annoyed that it was because they were defending the capital, since the House of Habs threatened to attack them.

"What about the bread? The National Assembly is in power, but has the bread become cheaper? Are your children fed?"

These words hit the veteran's sore spot.Grace had already seen that he was not a rich man, and hoped that he would throw the plate in anger.

But the old soldier just panted angrily, and couldn't even utter a rebuttal.

Grace overturned the plate by herself, the rice inside was not bad, the meat was hot, the bread was soft, the plate was broken, and the dark brown soup flowed all over the floor.

The old soldier picked up the fragments of the plate in the soup and walked away cursing.Grace fumbled for a long time from the soup on the ground, and found a fragment of a plate.

But too small.Grace stroked the piece of broken porcelain on the side of her neck a few times, not sure if it could cut open that terrible blood vessel.He hid the fragment in his clothes.

Then he heard some movement and headed towards the other side of the cell.Noisy human voices echoed in the cave-like corridor, like hundreds of people.

Those voices disappeared for a moment, and then reappeared quickly.Grace slammed on the door of the cell and shouted: "What happened? The king is innocent! The king did not betray the country! Have you forgotten how the king supported reform! It was he who restarted the national conference first!"

But no one answered him.Grace yelled at the top of her lungs, "Chris! Chris! Are you okay?"

Those voices went away and disappeared, and he rarely heard them through the wooden door after that.

It turned out that after the citizens captured the prison, the cells were left unoccupied.During these days, there were only two people in the entire floor of the cell, he and Chris.

Now he is the only one left.

In the early hours of the morning, Grace learned that the general meeting had concluded the trial of the king.The final vote was: the death penalty.

Grace hangs on the window all day.His nails were bald and his fingertips were scabbed with blood.

He saw noon from morning, and evening from noon.When the clouds in the sky turned a faint pink, the streets suddenly became lively, and people cheered and ran in the same direction, turning the clouds from a faint pink to a blood-like red.

The city boiled, and Grace felt the wooden frame shake under her feet.The country is shaking.

But suddenly—

All sound is gone.

It seems that they opened their mouths because of surprise, but couldn't make a sound; or they destroyed the wall in front of them excitedly, but found that there was still no way in front of them.

No one spoke in the whole city, complete silence.Grace felt like she had dropped something precious, into a cliff, and he knew it was falling fast, away from him, but he couldn't hear it hit the ground.

Then, quite suddenly, the city is buzzing again, and people reappear in the streets.They cheered and danced, and the handkerchiefs they waved were as red as the clouds in the sky. Whose blood was that?

After that, Grace saw Chris.

Chris's hair is beautiful, well-groomed, with little natural curls.But now the hair was messed up and covered with blood.His affectionate eyes were also closed, like when he was sleeping, his face was peaceful even in his nightmares.He's so tidy, but now not only is his hair dirty, but his face is covered in blood.And his neck became especially ugly.

Because he was on the spear, Grace felt him close to her as he passed by Grace's window.

Grace fell off the wooden frame.

His head wasn't split open like a melon, but it seemed to be open.

He lay on the ground unable to move or make any sound.His eyes were extremely blurred, probably from tears, or from a broken fall.He felt no pain, just cold and getting colder.

He didn't know if he was dead or alive until he heard someone talking outside.

He wondered why the voice sounded so clear, and it took him a while to understand, because the voice did not come from outside the window, but from outside the door.

The guards shouted loudly because of their excitement: "The decision of the National Assembly is correct! Knowing that the king had been beheaded, General Veriker immediately surrendered! If there is one more stubborn and good fighter like Alan Ston Officer, we will definitely not be able to resist!"

"Even though General Verrick surrendered, I still can't forgive him! If he hadn't taken away part of the troops, our battle at the front would not have been so tragic!"

"But what I don't understand the most is Alan Ston. If he hadn't chosen to come to the capital to point his gun at us, but stayed on the front line and fought side by side with his brother, William Ston might not have died in battle. They used to cooperate so well Well, so many great achievements have been made!"

"Yeah, what a pity, the dazzling 'Ston Twin Stars' fell together!"

Grace's world plunges into total darkness.