Evetrona's old stories

The man had been eavesdropping at the door.

"Don't forget about that cat. It's called Alben. Does the name sound familiar?" the girl asked, "Have you written it all down? Do you want me to say it again?"

"No need, I'll go right away." Eve sighed and walked out of the room quickly.

[101] The Wind of Winter (Part [-])

"Hurry up, Laningov's group of old hooligans are coming this way, and if you linger, your house will be confiscated." Walking on the road, Marco was more active than Eve, and the buildings on the west side had not been swept away by the knights. , it seems much deserted here.

The two found the tower described by the girl. Marco took two quick steps and kicked open the downstairs door.Walking up the winding stone steps, the interior of the tower looked a little dark, but the old liar who was leading the charge still walked fast.

"Slow down, be careful there are people ambushing inside." Seeing that she was about to lose track of him, Eve reminded her aloud.

"Don't worry, I know what's going on." Marco replied, patting his chest.

The voices of the two talking continuously echoed inside the tower.

"I've been meaning to ask you a question—how can you run so fast?" Eve said.

"Fast?" Marco laughed helplessly, "It's all forced. If I run slowly, can I still live till now?"

"Is it so dangerous for you to go on a mission?"

"That may not be the case. Casualties like this one are actually rare." After Marco replied, he suddenly realized that Eve might have got it wrong, so he said, "No, how can you run away casually in war? I mean cheating. If you cheat others, you must run away."

"Why are you lying to people?" Eve asked him while climbing the steps, "Aren't you afraid of ruining the reputation of the Knights?"

"Of course I'm afraid, this is not just for fun." Marco said loudly, "So I never wear knight clothes, and that outfit doesn't match me."

"That's right. When I saw you for the first time that day, I thought you were a foreign tramp from somewhere."

The two chatted and quickly climbed to the top floor.At the top of the steps was a wooden door painted blue.The door was ajar, leaving a small gap, and the interior of the room was very dark.

Marco pushed the door open, but unexpectedly something fell from the top of the door and hit him on the head and shoulders.The old liar let out a scream, and a large cloud of white smoke rose all around. A wooden basin jingled and rolled down the steps, spreading a large amount of white powder.Eve leaned against the wall to dodge, seeing the wooden tub keep rolling down until it fell to the bottom and fell to pieces, then turned to look at Marco.

"Hey, is it okay?" Seeing that Marco was still yelling, Eve couldn't help feeling a little worried.

Hearing Eve's question, Marco finally closed his mouth. He bent over and kept shaking off the white powder all over his body.

At this moment, his face, eyebrows, and hair were all mottled, and he looked extremely embarrassed.

"Flour?" Eve asked.

"It's chalk, the ash used to paint walls!" Marco flicked his sleeves, and threw out a large cloud of dust, "Is this something that humans can do!"

Seeing him alive and kicking, Eve breathed a sigh of relief.

When the two entered the house, Marco was still cursing. He walked to the window and opened the curtains to fill the dim room with light.

The snow outside the window was much lighter, and the strong wind was blowing against the window, making a humming noise, like a whistle that could not be blown.Eve stepped over the threshold carefully and closed the door behind her.I don't know if it's an illusion, but the building seems to be shaking slightly with the wind, and the dark wood grain floor creaks from time to time; the beams above the head are covered by a large dark tarpaulin, which looks a little depressing.Standing in this not-so-spacious room is like being in a narrow cabin that is constantly swaying on the calm sea. Just looking at it makes people feel dizzy and stuffy.

There are a lot of things piled up in the room, books, papers, clothes, bed sheets, and all kinds of bottles and jars. Things are everywhere - on the bedside, on the cabinet, on the floor, on the table and chairs... After entering the door, Eve even had to be careful when walking.

"Let's leave after we finish picking up the things, and leave the rest to the people below to clean up. Don't take things around here." Eve started to look around when he saw him enter the door, knowing that he was thinking about it again.

"Don't worry, how many years have I been working, I have a sense of proportion." As Marco spoke, he began to dump things on the table.After a while of rummaging through boxes and cabinets, he found a large iron can with a lid from the cabinet under the table, held it in his arms excitedly, and sat down on the bed behind him.

Seeing him open the tin can and stuff the contents into his mouth, Eve quickly reminded him: "Do you know what this is, be careful not to spoil your stomach if you eat it."

"Biscuits, it's biscuits, can I not recognize biscuits? Do you want some?" Marco didn't keep his mouth idle when he spoke, "It's quite delicious, just hungry."

Seeing that he was able to sit there and eat honestly, Eve breathed a sigh of relief, and began to get busy with the business that the girl told him.

The wardrobe is opposite the window, taking up a lot of space in the room.Eve was a little surprised when she opened the closet—dozens of clothes of different colors were neatly hung inside, most of which were dresses, and there were also a lot of clothes in the grid at the bottom of the cabinet.

The clothes looked brand new, probably not worn a few times.There were four lavender dresses, and Eve picked them all out, and found the one the girl described.In the past, Nanfen always took Eve to the shop to cut clothes. Over time, she could recognize a lot of fabrics. She was surprised to find that none of the items in the closet could be called cheap.You know, this place is located on the border of Krigin, deep in the depths of the Mien Mountains.

She folded the clothes and put them on the bed, then squatted down to look at the clothes underneath.Most of these clothes were warm or dark in color, and some of them had fixed pins on them, obviously they had never been worn once.

There was the sound of Marco chewing biscuits behind him, and he approached her with the jar in his arms, and asked her, "What's the matter? Is there something good?"

"These clothes should have been given to her by someone else." Eve said, "If I bought them, I wouldn't buy so many things I don't like and put them here."

"That's the reason." Marco nodded.

Eve stood up, pushed Marco who was in the way, and opened the cabinet door under the bed.The cabinet was full of wooden shoe boxes, all of which looked exquisite, some of which were carved with nameplates, and Eve could recognize some of them.She took out all the outer shoe boxes, checked the nameplates on them one by one, and finally picked out a dark long box.

Opening the lid of the box, inside is a pair of white over-the-knee boots with slender heels like silver needles. The leather surface is new and shiny without any wrinkles. It is the pair Eve is looking for.She closed the lid, put the shoe box on the bed, and put the rest of the boxes back in place.

"So you found it?" Marco asked with his eyes wide open.

"Yes." Eve was a little proud.

"You didn't even open it, how did you know?"

"I have seen the above brands, and this pair of shoes must be the most expensive among them, so I chose it."

"Why is it so expensive? How much is it worth?" As soon as Marco heard her say it was expensive, he became interested.

"I can't say how much it is worth, but most people can't buy it even if they want to." Eve said, "The shoes are made by a certain shoe store in the Eastern City. Their orders are only open to members. Members have to pay an annual fee every year, and making a pair of shoes requires an appointment a long time in advance."

"How much do you pay a year?"

"Who knows, I heard that there are differences in grades, but even for the lowest-level members, the money they pay in a year is probably equivalent to half the life expenses of ordinary people. So these members are not ordinary rich, they are probably the kind of rich people with family businesses."

"Really? It's the first time I heard that shoes can be sold like this. How did you know?" When Marco was speaking, he still stared at the boots on Eve's feet for a long time, and he confirmed again and again that they were just shoes. A pair of standard boots of the Knights—but because the size of the shoes is too small, the more he looks at them, the more unfamiliar they become.

"I do have several pairs of these shoes, which were given by a friend." Even if Eve is not the kind of person who is willing to show off, when she mentioned these, her tone was still a little light.

Her words stunned Marco for a moment.

"What is your friend's background? Introduce me?" Marco was still holding the tin can in his hand, but he straightened up with a serious expression.

"He's quite pragmatic. What good does it do for him to know you?" Eve slammed the cabinet shut, startling Marco.

"Do you think it's okay to be a bodyguard? 'Former member of the Knights, decent style, honorably retired', doesn't it make you lose your share?" Marco raised his arm and waved his fist.

"Let's not talk about whether you are upright or not, your facial features are not qualified." Eve glanced at him and sat on a chair beside him, "If you really want to see him, why don't I introduce you to work in his factory. He sometimes inspects the properties under his name. Maybe you can meet him someday."

"Are you going to sell me?" Marco curled his lips, "To be honest, I actually despise this kind of rich people the most, and you are also... the little accomplice of the rich. Be careful when you wear your shoes in the future. You are walking in the blood and sweat of the poor."

When Eve heard him suddenly say such tendentious words, she couldn't help being stunned for a while. She said, "If you don't steal or lie, I might really be ashamed for a while after hearing this." Eve stood up and pushed him aside again.

Opening the drawer at the bottom of the closet, the colorful underwear was neatly stacked in the storage grid. Because of the surprising number of them, she felt a little dizzy.

"Hmm...does this count as collecting addiction?" Marco's voice sounded from above her head.

Eve closed the drawer, and said to Marco in a serious tone, "You'd better eat the biscuits honestly, don't act like a hooligan."

Marco laughed dryly, and retreated to the bed.

When picking up things, Eve noticed a set of items on the desk—a few pages of letter paper piled on top of an open poetry collection, with a pen and a carved wooden bookmark next to it; a half-written poem was transcribed on the blue grid letter paper, and a black ink bottle was pressed in one corner.The content on the letter paper was written by a modern romantic poet. The author sighed on his hospital bed about his unrealizable lofty ambitions.The characters themselves are written neatly and compactly, without using complicated cursive styles, as if they were printed.

Eve was attracted by this group of still lifes. She walked to the desk, looked at the pages, and took out the book of poems with buckle on the cover from below, flipping through them page by page.She noticed the sound of the wind and snow hitting the glass window, so she went to the window again and poked her head to see the scene outside.

It was a three-sided oriel window, not too large, but with a wide view.The direction facing the window is the direction in which the girl fled in the morning; the right side is the upwardly tilted cliff, while the left side is the half-collapsed castle entrance.

When the Knights attacked Silingsburg, she might still be sitting at the desk writing quietly.

A gray-black mass filled the recess under the window, revealing only two blue eyes, like its owner.Eve felt its sight, and then noticed the cat named "Alben" in front of her.Eve reached out her hand and stroked its head. The cat turned its ears back, but did not avoid her touch.Elben is a long-haired cat of unknown breed, with a flat face, small and round ears, fluffy and clean hair.

The cat seemed to have heard what was happening on Marco's side. It stretched its head and looked at the person sitting by the bed.Suddenly, it got out of Eve's palm, jumped out from the window sill, jumped onto the bed in the blink of an eye, and ran towards Marco.

"Yo, this little bastard saw me eating, so smart." Marco smiled, and stuffed another handful of biscuits into his mouth.

The cat raised its head and raised its fluffy tail. It opened its mouth and barked at Marco twice, as if begging for food, but only hissed like a snake.

Marco frowned, looked at Eve, and said, "There seems to be something wrong with this cat." He put down the tin can, hugged the cat in his arms, and looked at the cat over and over, "The vocal cords may have been cut... Oh, the lower part was castrated too, and the claws were cut off—hey, even an old man like me wants to cry...Do you feel pain, poor boy?"

But the cat couldn't understand what he said.It turned over, jumped out of Marco's arms, and went straight to the tin can beside him.Seeing that it was about to stick its head into the jar, Marco reached out and patted its head.The cat was slapped lightly and softly, and immediately retracted its ears and neck, and let out a weak cry in its throat.It staggered back a few steps with a bowed body, then turned around and jumped off the bed, and got under the bed in a swift motion.

"Why are you hitting it!" Eve didn't have time to catch the cat.She squatted down and looked at it on her stomach, her face almost touching the floor.The cat got into the innermost part, leaning against the dark corner of the wall, revealing a pair of reflective eyes, staring at Eve motionlessly.

"This little bastard doesn't obey the rules, so he must be taught a lesson. If he sticks his head in, should I eat it?" Marco held the tin can and spoke plausibly.

"It's good now, how can I get it out?" Eve stood up, and said to Marco with a sad face: "Okay, don't eat it, what kind of biscuit is this, I thought it was cat food just now."

"Cat food?" Marco widened his eyes, looking at the jar in his hand, but swallowed the contents in his mouth.

"This cat hasn't eaten for a day, and it's pitiful for you to snatch the food." Eve sighed helplessly. She sat on the corner of the bed with her back to Marco, and she didn't speak for a long time.

For some reason, a feeling of desolation suddenly rose from her heart.

For this cat, the easy life was gone forever.It is about to leave its nest, bid farewell to everything that is familiar, and it does not know where it will go in the future.

Just like the former self and its current owner.

There was another slight chewing sound behind him.

[102] Winter Wind (Part [-])

Perhaps it was because of the white ash splashed all over the door when he entered, Marco was full of hostility towards this room.He walked onto the bed with his boots on, and stepped on the soft gray-blue bed surface full of shoe prints and wrinkles, which made Eve feel a little distressed.

"I can't take the things with me. When the Knights evacuate in the future, this place will definitely be abandoned. Since these things will rot here sooner or later, why worry about it?" Ma saw Eve's strange expression, so he explained to her like this.

Marco stepped heavily towards the bed, and the frightened cat underneath moved in response to the sound, and rushed out quickly.Just as Eve was about to go up to catch it, she saw the cat make a sudden stop, turned around and got back under the bed.

"This silly cat." Marco jumped on the bed a few more times, but the cat never came out again.Marco jumped for a while, and his shoulder hit the bookshelf on the wall, and all the books on it were scattered on the bed.

"Do you think that girl is sick?" Marco kicked the book that fell at his feet aside, "With such a huge pile of things hanging above her head, isn't she afraid of being smashed all over her head when she sleeps at night?"

Eve scanned the surrounding walls and found that there were many similar shelves in this room, and the walls were full of books.She picked up two books from the bed. The titles were "The Harmony of Tranquility and Warmth" and "Muros Talks to Sumen". Books on morality and ethics on display.

Eve has read both books, and she was impressed by the collection of essays—she thought she had mastered Kriging, but when she read this book, she realized that the language originated on the West Coast. How complicated the languages ​​of various countries can be - at least at the time she hadn't realized the joy of reading.

As for another book.Philosophy and speculation, under what circumstances do ordinary people actively come into contact with these things?Is it the doubt and negation of the world, is it to clarify all the rules and principles, or is it the yearning and fear of the end?

Or just to pass the time—philosophy may not be able to solve problems, but it can make absurdity and contradictions normal—it’s hard to say whether people will become more rational because of this, or they will fall into the chaos of the root problem, But there is no doubt that it can ultimately bring the individual's will and reason into harmony—and thus achieve the greatest understanding of oneself and others.

With a loud click, the bed board was finally trampled down by Marco.The cat had nowhere to escape, and was driven to the edge of the bed, where Eve grabbed her front legs and dragged it out.

The cat was dirty, it couldn't make a sound, but it kept thumping in her arms, getting dust everywhere.

Marco jumped out of bed and grabbed the struggling cat out of Eve's arms.The cat was grabbed by the fur on its back, unable to break free, and finally became much more honest.

"Get your things, we should be leaving soon." Marco held the cat in one hand, but did not forget to grab the can of cat food on the bed with the other hand.

After Eve packed her things, she casually wrapped the poetry book on the table into her clothes and took it away.She couldn't explain why she wanted to do this.

The two walked out of the room, and Eve looked back again.The house is in a mess, the owner of the house will never come back, and the place will become more and more chaotic.

On the way back, the cat was thrown around by Marco, kicking its legs from time to time to try to escape.Eve was afraid that he would hurt the cat, so she asked Marco to put the cat on her side, wrapped it in clothes and held it in her arms.The strange environment coupled with the familiar smell finally made the cat calm down a bit.

"Hey, Astro, you have worked hard! Would you like some biscuits?" On the way, they met a knight, and Marco handed over the big tin can in his hand.The knight took off his gloves, and without doubting him, he reached out and took a small handful of cat food biscuits from the jar, and put it into his mouth.

"what about the taste?"

"The taste is not bad, but why is this biscuit not sweet?" the knight asked while chewing.

"Haven't you tried it? Northern biscuits taste like this." Marco lied without blinking.

"Where did you get this? It's such a big can."

"It doesn't matter where you got it from, but I still have to tell you the truth about one thing." Marco lowered his voice and said, "This is actually cat food."

"Cat food?" The knight looked at the jar in his hand, then at the cat in Eve's arms, and quickly spat out what was in his mouth.

"Hey, I'm just kidding you, do you really believe it?" Marco pushed him, "How could such a good thing be cat food." As he spoke, he squinted his eyes and stuffed two pieces into his mouth demonstratively.

"Isn't it?" The knight was completely confused by him.

"Of course not." Marco handed the jar up again, "Some more? No time to eat, fill your stomach first."

"This is really... no wonder people say you are out of shape - you are too good at teasing people." The knight cursed with a smile, grabbed a handful of cat food from the jar, and left.

Along the way, Marco succeeded once and repeated the same trick again, which really deceived many people.

The cat named Alben stared at the tin can in Marco's hand, seemed to vaguely understand the situation in front of him, and couldn't help but bury his head in Eve's arms aggrievedly.

Eve couldn't stand it any longer, and finally began to speak out to dissuade him. After talking hard, she finally stopped Marco's behavior.

When they returned to the kitchen, the girl had regained her freedom and was sitting on a chair in the corner.

Seeing Eve's return, Ologin and Ponsev stood up and prepared to leave the room.Before leaving, Olukin told Eve: "We will stand outside the door, and call us if you need anything."

Eve nodded and watched them leave.

The door was closed, and only she and the girl were left in the room.

The girl walked up to Eve, took the cat from her hand, and held it in her arms.The girl put her chin on the cat's soft nape, with a faint smile on her face.

"Bring this too? Thank you." The girl couldn't help being surprised when she saw the big tin can on the table.She picked up the tin can, but her eyes were full of doubts.

"Sorry, just now my partner thought it was a biscuit and ate a lot, but I didn't have time to stop it." Eve quickly explained.