"Crunch, crunch." Suddenly, the sound of footsteps on snow was heard.
She seemed to sense something and slowly raised her head.
Under the dim light, a figure walked towards her, his coat fluttering in the wind, and a scent of snow came from him.
The girl's heartbeat was getting faster and faster. She didn't know why...even though it was her first time seeing this scene, she seemed to have seen it countless times.
She was about to blurt out a word whose meaning she didn't even know, as if it was an instinct she had repeated a thousand times. She stared at the figure and said, "Detective..."
"Oh my! How come there is a child freezing here?" The figure approached, and it turned out to be a white-haired old man with a pipe in his mouth: "The child... is really pitiful, come with me? I have nothing to do, so it doesn't matter if I have one more person to support."
The girl opened her mouth, and suddenly a strong sense of confusion emerged in her heart.
...It seems like this shouldn't be the case. This person shouldn't have adopted her.
But she was lucky to have someone willing to adopt her. Who was she waiting for? She didn't even know.
"Little girl, what's your name?" the old man asked, smoking a pipe.
"I...I don't have a name."
"My name is Morgan Maxey. What do you like? Musical instruments? Painting? Dancing? I don't ask you to be successful. You can learn whatever you want. Don't worry about it."
She wanted to say that she liked musical instruments, but when she got to her lips, she didn't know what happened, she said: "I like swordplay... I want to learn swordplay, Grandpa Maxi."
"Why?" Maxi showed a surprised expression. This little girl was really strange.
"I want to... protect someone," she said.
"Who?" Maxi asked in surprise.
"I, I don't know who that is. But I just want to protect someone. It seems to be an instinct rooted in my heart, a wish that I have thought about thousands of times. Although I don't know why I think so." The girl murmured, clutching the clothes on her chest, which felt empty.
Maxie shrugged, "Okay. Give yourself a name, little girl."
The girl opened her mouth and looked at the snow in front of her. The white stars fell into her pupils. The moonlight tonight was particularly hazy, as if under the street lights, a young man wearing a felt hat and a coat was standing there quietly, looking at her.
But when she looked up, there was only the quiet moonlight and no figure.
...Who is she missing?
Who does she want to protect?
I can't figure it out.
It’s like countless nightmares in the middle of the night, countless wishes that I have thought about alone... but it seems like they no longer exist.
Those warm hands, the gentle eyes, the bowl of unpalatable porridge... I seem to have forgotten everything.
Passing by a dilapidated house, she felt as if her heart was suddenly tightened. She couldn't help but stop and look at the house.
"That seems to be a detective's house, but he was a drunkard and is no longer here. The house is vacant." Maxi looked at the house and shook his head.
Through the crack in the door, I saw that the room was filled with wine bottles and books on the floor. Even the sofa had holes in it and there was a rotten smell.
The girl passed by blankly.
…It seemed that this wasn’t the person she was looking for.
That's not home.
"I've made up my mind, Grandpa Maxi." The girl looked up:
"My name...from now on I'll be..."
"Alice."
There is a long unknown road ahead, with heavy snow falling and the street lights casting a mottled and unknown warm light.
The footsteps were deep and shallow, making a rustling sound.
The girl stumbled forward step by step, towards a future life that was determined by herself. That was her vast ocean, sky, and freedom.
There was no detective in a coat under the streetlight.
…
There was nothing noteworthy after that.
In the year 555, the war was over, the goddess died, and the Steam Age gradually turned into the Ocean Age, just two hundred years away from the present.
Before she died, she lay on the bed with white hair, dying, surrounded by her weeping servants.
At this moment, she seemed to hear many voices in her ears. These voices always accompanied her in her life, like auditory hallucinations that sounded over and over again.
[Alice, the spring cakes are delicious. ]
[Alice, beauty is only a vassal, your free will is the meaning. ]
[Alice, after the war is over, let's go see the sea together. Let's see all the seas... all at once.]
[Alice, despicable is used to describe a person who is the protagonist. Just like you and I are the protagonists of our lives. It doesn’t matter if you are mediocre or stupid, you are... the best.]
…
"...Who are you?" She stretched out her hand tremblingly, and there was nothing in front of her except the magnificent and beautiful dome.
Tears flowed slowly, wetting the bedding.
It was snowing outside the window and the fire in the fireplace was crackling. In a trance, she seemed to see a figure sitting beside the bed, reading a story to her.
"The old man longed to see the sea, and the girl begged Beethoven to compose a song "To Elise" for him..."
His face was blurry, as if this had once made her extremely happy. She had seen this kind of illusion countless times in her life, but she had never been able to see his face clearly.
"…Who are you?" Her tears kept flowing, and her nose felt sore. She couldn't get an answer. Her body started to get cold, and her breathing became weaker.
Have we met?
Why do I always see you in my dreams, in my hallucinations...?
The figure turned into a white mist and disappeared.
She rested her head on the soft pillow, tears streaming down her face, and slowly closed her eyes.
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