old dream

Unlike the vestibule, which was left to dilapidate like ruins, the back garden has obviously been well cared for by the owner of the palace.When wandering around, Colin was always puzzled by this difference in scenery, until he saw Bernice who was pruning the branches, and a certain kind of enlightenment suddenly arose in his heart.

But that enlightenment is fleeting, and when you want to catch it, you can't catch it.

"...Aren't you leaving?" Colin asked:
"It's getting more and more dangerous here, and all the other servants have run away."

Bernice shook her head, did not answer his question, but continued with her work.Seeing such a female officer, Ke Lin felt more and more confused and strange.He hadn't expected to meet Bernice here, and he couldn't find a reason for her to stay.

The palace had just been shelled last night, and people who lost control may rush in at any time.It is no exaggeration to say that now is the time of chaos.Bernice, as the Grand Duke's lover, stayed in this kind of place. In the eyes of others, it seemed as if she was going to die for Edmund.

However, no matter how much the female officer has true feelings for the Grand Duke, Colin can't smell any death will from her. For some reason, she seems to be convinced that she is safe.Now Bernice seems to be a different person in peacetime, she seems to be a lot tired, and she also seems to be relieved that a heavy burden has just been lifted from her shoulders.

"Actually, I often can't help but sigh... how can my situation come to this point."

The female officer said in a calm ashen tone, without any trace of the usual vitality on her face.This is not the first time she expresses this kind of emotion. When she was in the clothing store, Colin heard her say that she first entered the Garden Palace just to have the opportunity to make those court costumes.But in the end, no one cared about her works. On the contrary, her own beauty and intelligence were appreciated by the Grand Duke. Soon after, Bernice became Edmund's only lover.

"Another person might be complacent about this, but I've never been." The female officer said, her always calm tone was filled with resentment at this time:
"I just feel that someone has stepped on my pursuit for the entire first half of my life... But at that time, I had no choice at all. The Grand Duke was not so much asking as an order, and all I could do was to accept it. And then, in the dead of night, a person constantly feels disgusted and disgusted with the self who compromised and surrendered."

"All the time I spent with the Archduke, I thought I was just a plaything, otherwise Edmund wouldn't have given a damn about what I thought. But it took me a long time, especially in recent years, to understand that... ...I'm afraid that's what he is. This person... is actually mentally ill. Since he was born, he has never gotten along with anyone on an equal footing, so he has always been condescending. Because of these illusions, I underestimated myself in the heart of the Grand Duke. weight." The female officer said lightly:

"I found the poor devil, he seemed to want to please people all the time, but he just didn't know how to do it."

"If he hadn't died, I wouldn't even have found out about it later. Because some things are not even worth mentioning to me, but when he has only a little instinct left, he keeps thinking about it, and then repeats it over and over again. For example... the clothing store that was promised to me at the beginning, for example, for worrying that my wife would be unfavorable to me, for example, for example, before I died, I asked people to build the bronze statue, and, for example, the bet about the afterlife about."

"……Wait a moment."

The female officer was a little lost in memory, so Colin has been listening silently.But the feeling of disobedience in his heart became more intense, because he found that his understanding of the whole matter became more and more confused, and now he directly discovered some details that were obviously inconsistent with the female officer's words.

"You mean, Edmund is worried that the Grand Duchess will be against you?"

"Yes."

"But the Grand Duchess is not..." Colin murmured:

"Did he die ten years ago?"

If the time of birth and death of other important figures in the principality, Colin might remember it wrong.But the Grand Duchess, he could never be mistaken.

Because ten years ago, this lady died of tuberculosis.

Based on this, Ji Lian concluded that Danalo had no cure for tuberculosis.

At the same time, according to the investigation department's information, Bernice became the Grand Duke's lover only in the last few months.

Because less than a few months ago, Edmund had asked her name in public.

That being the case, why would the Grand Duke worry that his wife, who died ten years ago, would hurt his lover whom he only met in recent months?
Regarding Colin's question, a smile began to appear in the female officer's eyes:
"Yeah, what's going on?"

She seemed to be reading out Colin's confusion, and said in a teasing tone:

"The time doesn't seem to be right everywhere?
"Why was the bronze statue designed by the Grand Duke smashed in the municipal square the next day?

"Why has the clothing store he kept promising me been open in the embassy district for so many years?
"Why did the Grand Duchess, who had died a long time ago, come back to life inexplicably in his mouth?"

Colin looked at Bernice's slightly raised lips, and felt a slight chill in his heart.

If you think about it carefully, there are not many places that are wrong.

There is actually only one point of real dislocation, and that is the Grand Duke himself.

His time seems to have stopped more than ten years ago. At that time, his wife was still alive, the bronze statue hadn't been built, and Bernice's tailor shop didn't exist yet.

Colin remembered the rumor that Edmund was very forgetful and often lost his memory.

Because of the Grand Duke's misleading, the investigation department mistakenly believed that Bernice had only become the Grand Duke's lover in recent months, but in fact, she had always been by Edmund's side.

The assassination on the Autumn Hunt carried out by Vera a few years ago was finally explained to be that a favored female official was ill, so the Autumn Hunt was cancelled.That female officer should be Bernice.

If the Grand Duke can't even tell the time, then, these long ten years...

"That's why you don't care about Nancy's theater ceremony, do you?" Colin said.

Because the Grand Duke, whose time was stuck more than ten years ago, is at most a puppet.

"I don't care, because this ceremony cannot be successful." Bernice said:

"Because no matter what kind of ritual, it is impossible to kill a dead person."

"Already, dead?"

"That's right... the real Edmund died 15 years ago, but he didn't know it himself." The female officer whispered the country's heaviest secret.

"Then... what is that thing that everyone sees?"

"What is it?"

Strands of pitch-black bedbugs have climbed onto the petals of the night lily at some point, and are crowding around and nibbling on the beautiful stamens under the moonlight.Bernice glanced back, and lightly threw Colin's question to them:

"What do you think, Edmund?"