Ch3 - His voice reached a freezing point: “You have the wrong person.”

Immediately, the sound of chattering exploded!

“Goodness, so he’s the Earl of Mephistopheles! The owner of the Schlieffen Confection and Toy Company?” 

“Isn’t he a sponsor of the Royal Milo Family’s Arts Academy, and the king’s trusted aide?”

“He’s usually very low-profile and rarely attends events like these…”

“…He’s so handsome! He’s like someone that had walked out of an oil painting…”

“Of course. My friend’s younger sister even danced with him once! They say it’s impossible to hold a gaze with him for more than 10 seconds!” 

“Is he married…?”

…………

No, no…

Morel couldn’t hear the people talking at all.

He gritted his teeth. His name was Mephistopheles? He wasn’t Bill! Bill had golden hair…

But other than the hair color, their faces and voices were exactly the same!

As he contemplated, he disregarded everything and dashed to the door. He didn’t even hear his didi who was chasing after him and calling his name. His actions had long deviated from his reason.

He ran frantically and caught the corner of the Earl’s jacket, “Bill! Bill!” 

“What madness.”

Following the cold voice, Morel was pulled away by a bodyguard and was thrown to the side like a fly.

His bottoms hit the floor but the child couldn’t feel the pain. He scrambled over and grabbed the Earl again, “Bill…I’m Morel, it’s me, Morel…Bill gege, have you forgotten about me?”

The Earl scrunched his beautiful brows and looked at the pathetic little guy with disdainful eyes. 

The boy was like a drowning man clutching at straws and refused to let go of the Earl. His green eyes were round with hope but gradually, they became redder and redder. The boy’s face was taut, his mouth was pressed thinly, and large drops of tears fell from his eyes, falling onto the corner of the Earl’s jacket and the Earl’s glove.

His voice reached a freezing point, “You have the wrong person.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Vbyylcu, Zbgfi xfqa mjiilcu bea “Dlii”, yea atf yieggs oluegf bcis ugfk rwjiifg jcv rwjiifg. Sjgi kjixfv ab atf agjrt mjc jcv atgfk jkjs tlr batfg uibnf. 

Morel felt like he was dreaming.

He hadn’t had a nightmare like this in a long time!

In his dreams, Bill was always gentle to him…he always held his hand and told him everything was alright, that things would get better. Bill would never…he would never…

No matter how mature Morel normally acted, in the end, he was just a 12-year-old child. 

He covered his eyes, sat in a corner, and cried loudly, his snots and tears making a mess. No matter how the people around pointed at him and no matter what they said, he didn’t care anymore…he wouldn’t care even if someone threw him into the ocean right now to feed the sharks!

Hania had never seen his gege like this and was stunned.

He ran over and stared at him for a long time. He didn’t know what to do and began crying as well.

It was a terrible night for the group of aristocrats. 

The two hateful children cried for an entire half an hour before a waiter chased them to the deck so they could calm down in the cold wind. But their crying remained as loud as ever and the two children cried for another 2 hours, making the passengers on the ship unable to sleep and several filed their complaints.

*****

The two children cried themselves hoarse, their faces red and swollen, and when they had tired themselves out, they fell asleep in a spot that shielded them from the wind. When they woke up from the cold several times, Morel found a couple of coats and draped them over himself and his didi.

When Morel woke up in the afternoon the next day, Hania was missing. 

As he was about to panic, he heard Hania’s footsteps going “thump, thump, thump” as he ran around on the deck.

Hania was like a lively puppy. Other than his slightly puffy eyes, there were no traces of him crying for an entire night.

Morel stretched his body and walked to his didi.

“Hania, what are you doing? Why are you so happy?” 

Hania saw that his gege was up and gesticulated happily. He climbed onto the thin pillar on the eave and leaned against the rails, “Gege, I can see the shore! The land is so pretty…”

Morel couldn’t help but climb up as well.

It was true!

A flock of white seagulls bathed in the sunlight and soared over the ocean reflecting golden light. Looking into the ocean on the horizon…it was no longer just pure blue but an undulating patch of gold and green! 

They were almost there!

The two children were so excited that they didn’t know what to do with themselves…

The ship proceeded swiftly. Gradually, the gold and green ocean became more distant. Through the mist, the shadows of buildings slowly entered their eyes! Many tourists came onto the deck and cheered!

Morel immediately dragged his excited didi into the ship. Hania was not happy, “Gege, I want to look at it more!” 

Morel said, “Is Hania not hungry? Or do you not plan to eat tomorrow or the day after as well?”

Quick-witted Hania understood what he meant.

Two little mice infiltrated the self-serving buffet and even stole a few sacks from the kitchen. They packed many delicious things and in the end, Morel carried two sacks on his back and Hania held one in his arms. The two went to the laundry room in high spirits to retrieve their clothes then happily mixed into the line to get off the ship.

They didn’t have any money to take a carriage but it wasn’t too bad to walk, especially after eating and drinking well. 

Under the brilliant blue sky and white clouds, a tall and short figure stepped on the stone paths with beech trees growing on both sides and ran across the fields of France, listening to the larks singing above the fields.

When they were tired, they stopped by an irrigation canal. Hania crouched down and whispered to his gege that there were fish inside, and sure enough…in the deep, blue-green water, there were groups of black shadows swimming through the grass! Morel immediately thought of roasted fish. The two struggled for an hour and caught countless tiny shrimps but only one tiny, tiny fish…then they gave up.

They strolled through the green meadow and stretched their arms, raising their heads to look at the pink horizon.

The wind carrying the scent of grass ruffled their hair and even their soul could smell the scent of flowers. 

The farmer girls saw the two foreigner children and were very friendly. Sometimes, they even took out fruits from their baskets and gave them to the two children to eat.

At blue hour, the bell ringing reverberated in the encroaching night.

The two children stood on top of a hill and overlooked the small, flourishing French town.

The mist dyed in the evening light was like a sea of clouds and the rows of houses and the chapel’s gothic roof were faintly discernible through it. As the curtain of night fell, light poured from every building like groups of stars in the milky way. In the vast universe, the people and the horse carriages were like tiny reflections of the world. 

The two children from the boonies had never even visited the metropolises of England. They had never seen such a beautiful sight.

It looked like a fairy tale world to them.

The two children were completely immersed in their bliss. In this moment, Morel had forgotten about Bill. He forgot how he had cried long and hard because of that person yesterday. But only for a moment.

When dusk’s last ray of light was swallowed by the night, Morel’s heart became heavy again. 

If that person was Bill and he no longer remembered him, what was he going to do? When he thought about this, his nose soured again.

He told himself it must have been the wrong person. Perhaps that person really wasn’t Bill…or perhaps he simply didn’t recognize him because he was already 12 years old.

But no matter what the reason was, the most important thing was, he had already brought his didi to this foreign town.

That night, he and his didi slept in a small church between the mountains. 

The old nun there was very kind. She served Morel and his didi a dish of hearty stew to warm their bodies, allowed them to stay for the night, and before they left on the second day, she also gave them two 50 centime coins. Although it wasn’t much, it was enough to buy a few pieces of bread and feed them for two days.

Morel and his didi wandered in the small town every day.

Morel looked for job recruitments everywhere. He went to the book shop, the antique store, and many other places, but when people saw his thin and weak appearance, no one wanted to hire him.

But he had to earn money no matter what, so he started a business polishing shoes. 

He used the money from the nun to buy shoe polish and a brush and picked up a cleaning rag from the street. He observed how the old men were cleaning the shoes on the side of the road and began experimenting himself. Before 2 hours passed, he was open for business.

He didn’t wait in a corner like the other people who waited for customers to come to them. He hugged his tools and visited every restaurant, going from table to table asking, “Sir, do your shoes need polishing?” Hania followed his gege like a little tail, he clutched the corner of Morel’s shirt, poked out his head, and looked on in curiosity.

But the language barrier was proving to be a hurdle. Some of the Frenchmen didn’t understand English. But that problem was solved soon enough.

Under a kind person’s guidance, Morel learned how to say “Do your shoes need polishing” and “10 centimes a pair” in standard French. 

Normally, a pair of shoes were polished for 20 centimes, so 10 centimes a pair was him eating at a loss. Moreover, the two children were beautiful and earnest, whenever they received a customer, they worked diligently, and soon, business was booming for the two brothers.

The two sat on the side of the road. Hania handed over the tools and Morel polished the shoes.

Their hands became dirty and when sweat dripped from their foreheads, they reached up to wipe it. Soon, the two children became two dirty kittens, but the shoes they polished were black and shiny. Many customers were very satisfied and gave them a few extra centimes.

After working until 8 in the evening, Morel gathered the silver coins they earned, counted them, and grinned from ear to ear! They actually had a total of 210 centimes! 

The two children happily went to the bakery with their silver coins. They bought bread and milk and ate a full meal, and there were still 160 centimes left in their purse! At night, they slept in a haystack in the alley. Although it was a little itchy, they weren’t cold at all and slept soundly until morning.