Ch6 - He was like a noble swan, walking towards Morel, step by step.

The two children spent the rest of the day in leisure. Morel watched Hania feed the ducks, he bought Hania a cute balloon and even used 5 francs to buy Hania a dark blue fountain pen with dark green decorative flower patterns.

Morel took Hania and arrived at Pérouse Academy. 

He told his didi that he would be attending the academy as well, only they wouldn’t be in the same place because of the differences in their age.

His didi still stubbornly shook his head.

Morel crouched down and stroked his didi’s face with his gloved hand, “Hania, didn’t you say you wanted to raise me when you grow up? Will you keep that promise?”

“Yes!” 

“If you don’t know anything, how will you make money? Hania, polishing a pair of shoes will only give you 10 centimes, but if you go and study, then when you get a job in the future, you can make tens if not hundreds of francs a month. That’s why you have to study at the academy, so you can become successful and make money to raise gege. Do you understand?”

Hania thought about it and reluctantly nodded his head.

“Good. That’s gege’s good didi.”

Morel let out a soft sigh.

He held his didi’s hand and entered Pérouse Academy.

By this time, even his footsteps were shaky.

That night, Morel’s breathing was ragged as he leaned against the metal frame of his didi’s bed and watched as a teacher laid the sheets for Hania. There were about 10 other children in the dormitory and they looked over curiously at the new kid.

Hania felt a little scared. He said something to Morel but Morel didn’t hear a single word of it. 

He repeatedly asked the teacher to take good care of Hania. Then secretly, he slipped a pouch full of coins into Hania’s hands. Of course, he didn’t tell his didi that this was everything they had left.

“Don’t go spending it recklessly, but remember, in situations that call for it, don’t mistreat yourself. …Hania, you’re already a big boy, so look after yourself…study well and try to get along with your classmates…”

“Okay…”

Hania hung his head, his fingers tightly wrapped around the corner of his gege’s shirt 

“Hania, gege needs to leave now.”

Hania lifted his head, his eyes red, and he clenched his teeth tightly but in the end, he let go of his gege’s shirt.

Morel was almost at his limit. He started to walk out of the academy.

He knew Hania was still watching him, so he tried his best to make his footsteps look natural… 

“Gege, when will you come get me?”

Hania’s voice echoed behind him.

Morel turned around, replied “Soon…”, then left without looking back again.

Hania continued standing in the same spot for a long time. At this moment, it started raining. 

It was cold, icy rain; like tears.

A female teacher came and persuaded him for half a day before he reluctantly followed the teacher back.

But he didn’t know. His gege barely left the academy and entered an alley when his entire body began spasming…

Morel pressed against the rough wall and slowly slid to the ground. 

The rain began to fall harder. Harder and harder.

The rats in the alley scurried away in a hurry.

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.

Countless French citizens held a black umbrella and sprinted down the streets like headless flies. In the sea of people, no one noticed the flickering life in the dirty and small alley.

Llr rmjgo ofii ab atf ugbecv. Ktf yijmx iewqr bbhlcu klat yijmx yibbv tjv jigfjvs rqgfjv ab tlr ojmf. Llr fcalgf ybvs kjr oliifv klat vlgas, yijmx yibbv. Pa mbeivc’a kjla ab yf ogffv. Qtfc tf vgs-tfjnfv, la rqliifv bea ogbw tlr wbeat. 

Lf kjr pera jc ecgfwjgxjyif wbat atja jmmlvfcajiis ofii lcab atf ijguf rqlvfg kfy. Ktf gfjqfg mgjkifv abkjgvr tlw rlclrafgis jcv rkloais ybecv tlw klat lar atgfjvr. Lf mbeiv cb ibcufg frmjqf.

But he wasn’t afraid in the least.

He gasped for air, his vacant eyes staring into the grey sky.

He seemed to have seen something. 

He lifted his head and smiled like he was having a beautiful dream.

Softly, the smile was like a swan’s feather.

His mouth twitched, calling out a dear and beautiful name.

Someone distant and untouchable, just like a dream. 

Bill.

He closed his eyes.

……
…………

From the grey, disorderly crowd, a black figure walked out. 

It was a person that had no business appearing in a dirty place like this.

He was like a noble black swan. Step by step, his finely-crafted, white Anatolian sheepskin boots walked towards Morel.

Without a pause, he took off his evening cloak that had satin clasped on both shoulders and draped it gently over Morel. He then picked the child up horizontally, not minding the child’s deadly disease or the disgusting filth on him.

His footsteps were like the wind and soon, he brought Morel onto the carriage. 

The horse whinnied and the carriage disappeared into the depths of the night.

****

Drip, drip. Drip, drip…

Late at night, 4-year-old Morel squatted by the lake in a daze. 

In the gleaming and crystalline water was the reflection of the round moon. Morel tried to catch it but failed every time, and he let out a disappointed sigh.

“Young Master, it’s time to go home and sleep.”

The maid picked Morel up and walked towards the large residence.

The leaves faintly reflected the moonlight and the white daisies swayed gently in the grass. 

Morel raised his head to look at the full moon and said to himself, “So pretty…”

“Hm?”

“A pretty jiejie!”

The maid looked left and right and didn’t see any “jiejie” around. She smiled, “What are you saying, there’s no one around.” 

“She’s on the roof.”

The maid looked up. She saw dark outlines of gothic buildings, the pointed lighthouse, and the softly shining shutters, but there wasn’t a person in sight.

“But there’s no one!”

“She left! Jiejie had long golden hair…she was like a fairy from the moon.” 

The maid, however, froze.

“It’s Bill!” She whispered.

“Bill?”

“It means the devil. And he’s not a jiejie, but a gege!” The maid muttered, “I’ve never seen him before but Sister Lisa has. Young Master Wallace had once brought him to the basement. He was really too beautiful, but perhaps his unreal beauty is what makes him frightening. Especially his eyes, they’re pure purple. I heard that that’s the devil’s color. No one dares to look him in the eye, because once you do, you’ll agree to anything that he asks for…” 

Morel listened intently even though he didn’t really understand, his green eyes full of curiosity.

The maid rarely had the chance to chat with someone and didn’t care that the other party was a child. Perhaps it was because she thought a child wouldn’t understand anything that she began to talk in an even more unrestrained manner, “But then a frightening thing happened. On the wedding day of Young Master Wallace and Princess Alexandra, it was like Bill had gone mad. He ran over as the two were about to exchange rings and tried to take the young master away! The young master couldn’t shake him off, so he started hitting him. And when he released his hand, the drinking glasses, the light bulbs, everything around them shattered! The glass pieces had hurt a lot of the people on the scene. And we saw with our own eyes, something purple flowing out of his eyes! Everyone became even more certain that he was the devil and wanted to hang him, but Young Master Wallace stopped them. Then Bill was locked into the basement again and never came out since then…”

Morel couldn’t fully understand the story.

But he would still feel the desolate sorrow. 

Bill was so pitiful. When he thought of this, his soft pillow was soaked with hot tears.

Inside his dream, he saw that beautiful person again on top of the roof.

His long golden hair blew in the pitch-black night and there wasn’t a single expression on his pale face.

He was quietly observing himself… 

He heard that his eyes were purple…

Was it the same color as the violets raised by his papa?

Bill.

That was the first time the name appeared in Morel’s memory. 

And what happened next?

“Are you not afraid of me?”

A clear voice and a cold sensation.
………………

Morel awoke on the bed with a jolt! 

His head felt extremely heavy. He pushed himself up only to fall back down like he was made of lead.

His eyes widened. He subconsciously lifted his hand and observed his wrist and the black marks. He lifted the soft blanket and his pajama that carried a faint fragrance, and looked at his body under the illumination of the moonlight…the black tumors had disappeared with only faint scars left behind.

Morel couldn’t believe it!

Was he dreaming? Or was he in Heaven? 

Hearing the ticking of a clock, he turned around and saw the second hand on the stomach of an exquisite parrot alarm clock working diligently, going around and around. It was already 7 in the morning…

He looked around at his surroundings.

The pillow was soft and white and was made of silk. From above, the light purple muslin drapes with rose patterns fell like a waterfall. On the bedside cabinet, other than the adorable parrot alarm clock there was a lamp shaped like morning glory. Morel fumbled around and pressed a switch, and the lamp actually lit up by itself! It turned out to be the newest carbide lamp. The rainbow light illuminated the entire room, making it look like a dreamland.

He poked out of the muslin drapes and stepped onto the Persian rug with long tassels on the fringes. On the small coffee table, there was a book made of yellow paper with a slightly worn cover and inside were densely packed words that he couldn’t read. Next to the coffee table, there was a celadon flower vase that was full of pink tulips… 

As Morel was taking all of this in, the door opened.

There was the sound of fast footsteps.

“Oh? You’re awake!”

The middle-aged woman exclaimed happily. She wore an apron and had her hair pulled into a bun. 

The swaying gait and her plump figure made her resemble a penguin and Morel could sense her friendliness.

“Why did you get up? You finally managed to wake up, it’ll be terrible if you caught a cold after all that!”

The maid placed the porcelain dish holding the medicine onto the coffee table. She easily hoisted Morel and placed him back into bed, wrapping him tightly with the blanket while speaking in extremely fast chatters, “Little thing, you’ve been unconscious for almost two months, we all thought that you wouldn’t make it! Did you know, when you first arrived, your heart had already stopped beating! …Hehe, it was my first time seeing such a panicked look on His Highness’ face, he is usually a very calm person, so you must be a very important person to him! He invited a bunch of doctors, and they all said that you were beyond help but he refused to believe them…come to think of it, it really is a miracle that you lived, I mean, your heart had stopped for nearly two hours. I wonder how His Highness managed to save you, but anyway, you lived! And you even woke up. I must send the news to His Highness immediately, he would be delighted…”

She spoke too quickly and was also speaking in French. 

Morel only understood a small portion of it.

But he still grasped the crux of the matter.

“Who is ‘His Highness’?” He asked meekly in English.

The maid was stunned for a moment, “Why didn’t you say you didn’t know French!” She switched to English which she spoke rudimentarily, but communication became easier, “His Highness is naturally the Earl of Mephistopheles! This is his residence, otherwise, who do you think saved you?” 

She brought the medicine over and said “ah” for Morel to open his mouth. Morel obediently opened his mouth and drank the very bitter medicine.

Morel didn’t mind the bitterness in his mouth at all, but the maid took out a piece of candy from her pouch. She unwrapped it and stuffed it into Morel’s mouth.

“Thank you…”

The maid smiled and turned around to tidy up the things. 

The candy was strawberry-flavored. It was sweet and fragrant; it was a taste he never had before.

Morel inexplicably felt like crying.

“Why did Earl Mephistopheles save me?”

The maid was stumped and muttered, “I don’t know either. I thought you were perhaps his illegitimate child…or maybe you’re the child of a friend? Hehe…” Saying this, she stuck out her tongue and winked at Morel. 

Morel hugged his legs.

He thought back to his meeting with Earl Mephistopheles on the ship.

His cold, disdaining expression…

The other found it disgusting to even touch him. 

He…how could he possibly save him?

Didn’t he say he had gotten the wrong person?

Could it be that he’s really Bill? He didn’t recognize him back then…but he remembered afterward and came back to save him?

This was the only reason that he could think of… 

Then has Morel found his Bill?

He has found Bill at long last!!

Bill saved him, meaning he didn’t hate him…and he still remembered him!

Thinking of this, his tears finally fell. 

But at the same time, he smiled.

“Can I meet with the Earl now? …I want to see him!”