Chapter 13
Winster followed his heart and took a step forward, but stopped in time - he couldn't let himself get too close to his brother!
Elphis saw the child shaking his head to refuse, and then lowered his head as if he didn't dare to look at him, and he couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.
Having said that, this was the first time he felt frustrated in terms of affinity.
Winster looked at his brother's elegant back as he rode away on horseback. There was clearly a beautiful scene in his eyes, but his mind couldn't help but think of the two corpses with their eyes open, reminding him how dangerous he was.
The village where he was born was more remote and isolated than the town of Lisse. There were not so many delicious foods, no horses for long journeys, and no priests came to tell people what the double black appearance meant.
But the villagers already disliked him even before they knew the rumors about the Son of Doom.
The child should not be blamed for his mother's death during childbirth, but the sight of the red moon hanging in the sky that day, the forest birds flying in panic, the crows howling, and the wild beasts roaring was quite scary. Under such circumstances, it was understandable that the villagers thought that a disaster was about to happen.
At first, no one thought of Winster, until they saw the baby was so cute, with no resemblance to his ordinary-looking parents, and a pair of black eyes that neither of his parents had, and no one knew where they got them...
Some old people in the village speculated that this was a case of demonic possession. No one could bear to do anything to a baby, so they left it alone with some doubts.
Winster's father also doesn't like him. In addition to the rumors of his wife's death and demonic possession, he also doubts whether this is his child?
With the idea of taking care of the child in his old age after he grew up, the man did not abandon Winster. Instead, the child was taken care of by his grandmother, whose grandfather had died before he was born.
There was no breast milk or other nutritious food. Even more unfortunate was that the old man had a bad memory and was often confused, wandering around the village. Winster actually survived, which was quite a tough life.
He knew that he was hated by everyone ever since he could remember, but he never thought that he had anything to do with the devil.
When he was five years old, some kids from the same village asked him to climb a tree and get bird eggs for them. Winster didn't like their bad attitude and left directly.
That day, a boy slipped and fell from a tree, hitting his head on a rock and died. Because he was there, the villagers blamed him for bringing bad luck.
In order to avoid being beaten and scolded by the boy's parents, Winster gradually learned to hide himself and avoid people's sight.
When I was six years old, my grandmother fell down a slope and died because she walked unsteadily.
When he was seven years old, his father died of poisoning due to a snake bite. The villagers scolded him for being a heartless devil who killed his relatives without shedding a tear.
Winster realized that there was indeed something wrong with him. He didn't have the right emotions about many things, such as sadness. But why should he be sad for an old man who couldn't even remember his name, and a father who had never cared for him but almost beat him to death many times?
The reason why Winster didn't starve to death during these years was not only because he was very lucky, but also because he took care of his own vegetable garden, caught snakes and birds in the mountains, picked wild fruits and mushrooms, and went to the river to catch fish. He had no experience in hunting and setting traps, so he had very little meat to eat.
Frequently not having enough to eat and being beaten and scolded by his father, not only did outsiders find it strange, but even Winster himself wondered why he hadn't died yet?
After Winster's father died, the villagers didn't want to tolerate him even more, but after one look at him in those dark eyes, no one dared to get close to him and do anything, for fear of being infected with bad luck. Only the children dared to throw stones at him.
Not long after, the old village chief's son, who had been away from home for almost ten years, came back. This matter had nothing to do with Winster, and he didn't know other people's family affairs until one day the village chief and his son broke into his house, tied Winster up, and told the villagers that they were going to take the devil to the big city and ask the priest to purify him.
No one tried to stop them. Everyone was just delighted, as if they could get rid of the dark cloud that had always hung over this land.
Winster was tied up by a rope, struggling in vain, and silently listened to the village chief complaining about his son. He gave him the only horse in the village to help him travel far away to find a good living, but he didn't come back for so many years. Then he was coaxed by his son's sincere performance -
"I came back to pick you up. I didn't expect that the Son of Darkness was born in the village! If we send him to the Holy See, we can get 10,000 gold! Father, we are going to make a fortune this time!"
Winster listened to the man telling his father about the God of Light and the Church, and how they would deal with the evil dark race.
Almost everyone in the outside world knew how much a person with black hair and black eyes was worth. Only people in a small village like theirs had not heard of it. This was a good opportunity for the father and son to get a bargain.
Then the old village chief began to talk about the evil deeds of the child, which scared the man so much that he wanted to beat Winster to death on the spot to prevent him from bringing bad luck. Anyway, as long as the child had black hair and black eyes, the Church would recognize him even if he was a corpse.
However, considering the long journey and the disgusting thought of carrying a corpse, the two men gave up the idea.
When they were traveling during the day, the father and son only tied the child's hands and pulled him by the other end of the rope. When they rested at night, they tied his hands and feet and threw him on the ground.
It looks like a pig waiting to be slaughtered, Winster thought.
Rather than being hungry or on the road to death, Winster was more annoyed by this embarrassing appearance of losing dignity.
He didn't know why he, who was despised by everyone and had nothing, would care about something as inedible as dignity.
But it's so strange, he cares a lot, as if he cares about his own life, and doesn't want to be treated like an animal like this!
In the evening, the father and son built a fire by the river, boiled water, prepared to cook vegetable soup, and eat toast. As for the child...
The man looked around, and finally picked a few small black fruits from a few waist-high plants and threw them casually in front of Winster, "Try to see if they are poisonous."
The village chief next to him said, "This little monster is very tough. Even poison can't kill him. Son, don't eat these unfamiliar fruits."
Winster looked expressionlessly at the dusty little fruit in front of him. He could hear two people imagining what they would do after getting the bounty. He felt it was very noisy, veins throbbing on his forehead, and the pent-up anger finally erupted.
"Shut up!"
The child then lost consciousness.
When he woke up, it was already the next morning.
The fire had long burned out of firewood, and the father and son fell to the ground with their eyes wide open and bloodshot, just like the fire next to them, without a trace of residual warmth left.
As for Winster himself, the ropes on his body had broken into several pieces - he was free.
The child stared at the corpse in a daze, remembering that the villagers always said that he was possessed by a demon. He had never thought of himself this way before. The people who died in the village were just unlucky. He had never done anything bad.
Until this moment, Winster suddenly believed it - it turned out that there was really a demon in him. He wanted the two of them to die last night, and he had malicious intentions, so he released the demon...
Winster stood there for an unknown amount of time, but he was not frightened by the strangeness of himself, nor did he feel guilty for the lives that were implicated by his misfortune, because he didn't care at all.
——He is cold and ruthless by nature. Winster even thinks that he is not possessed by a demon, but the demon himself!
The skinny child took the father and son’s clothes and the few copper coins they had, and began his exile in hiding.
He walked in a random direction, but luckily met Elphis, ending his eight years of suffering.
Winster cares about Elphis, and he doesn't want to wake up one day and see his brother become like the village chief and his son.
But he didn't know when he would lose control and hurt his brother and other people in town that his brother cared about. Winster could only avoid contact with them as much as possible.
——
Elphis doesn't know what's in the mind of a child. As the old saying goes, 'crying children get candy, but sensible children are ignored.' But it's just the opposite for him. Even though Elphis can get along well with everyone and has a warm personality, he actually likes quietness and his smiles are mostly fake.
He would only dislike the noise of crying children. He would be willing to keep a child like Winster for a long time, even if he didn't like to be close to people. But Elphis felt that the child was like a little wolf cub, sharp, calm, tough, and with an untamed wildness, which he admired very much.
Winster always kept his distance from him, but Elphis didn't think he was an ungrateful person. On the contrary, the child was a loyal one.
Elphis admired and felt sorry for him, so even though he found delivering three meals a day a bit annoying, he persisted.
In the spring, Elphis got the children some thinner, more fitted clothing.
This day was also the day when hot water was delivered for washing hair and bathing, so Winster did not hide. He finally got the child's consent to trim his long hair.
He didn't have any special skills, but with a few clicks of the scissors, he gave Winster a hairstyle with bangs and shoulder-length hair, which was meant to be neat and not cover his eyes.
Winster has grown taller, his face has gained some flesh, his eyes are calm, and the thinner clothes make him look clean and neat.
Compared to his skinny appearance when I first met him, the change in just one winter is like a complete transformation.
After admiring the handsome boy he raised, Elphis patted Winster's head and sighed, "My child is so good-looking. I wonder how many girls he will attract in the future."
Winster was embarrassed by his brother's intimate actions and words. He stared at the ground awkwardly and whispered, "Brother Al is the best looking."
Elphis chuckled. Looking at Winster's shy appearance, he felt that the child was not so resistant to his approach. Perhaps after he had adapted for a while, he could mention moving in with him.
"Brother has something to do tomorrow, so he won't be here at noon. I'll prepare some extra food for you in the morning so you can heat it up before eating at noon."
Winster nodded obediently, he knew that his brother would go out every few days.
This time, Elphis was not going to the city, but to go into the forest to dig bamboo shoots with several men in the town who had learned to ride horses!
They don't grow enough bamboo themselves, so when the spring bamboo shoots come they can't just dig them up and eat them wantonly.
The bamboo forest in the forest was too far away. The few times they went there in the past two years, they only dug up small bamboos to plant, so they had less bamboo shoots to eat.
But they have horses this year! They can run to the bamboo forest faster. They used to feel tired if they went there every few days, but now they can run there every day!
So this spring, the specialty shops opened in the town of Lisse began to sell fresh and dried bamboo shoots again, and the taverns had several more dishes related to spring bamboo shoots. Sometimes they could not be ordered because the boss said that the suppliers only delivered them once every few days.
Selling spring bamboo shoots is a cost-free business for the townspeople. Things from the forest require no cost. At most, it just consumes some of the horses' energy.
Soon, those horses became the town's favorites. People who made money from them were particularly active in deworming, cleaning, combing and feeding them. The horses became fatter and stronger, and their bodies became shiny and sleek, like horses carefully maintained by nobles.
Having made a lot of money in the specialty store and the tavern, Elphis prepared several days of hard dishes for Winster, including braised pork, steamed fish, meatball soup, roasted rabbit...
One day at dinner, Elphis came a little early, and Winster didn't have time to hide, so he took the big bowl of shredded pork noodles with a few vegetable leaves and a fried egg.
Elphis looked at the child lovingly, "Eat more. You are so skinny. You are not as good as our horses that eat grass."
Winster: “…” You just praised me for my good looks a while ago.
Elphis glanced at the majestic horse tied at the entrance of the cave and tempted the child again, "Don't you really want to ride a horse for a ride?"
Of course I want to. How could I not want to?
But Winster just shook his head silently.
Elphis wondered, this child was not a timid person.
"Why not? Are you afraid of falling? Brother will protect you."
Winster turned his head away and stuffed noodles into his mouth. After a moment, he finally told the real reason, "I will bring bad luck. I might make you fall."
Elphis Zhengran looked at the child's gloomy face, as if he understood something...
Could it be that Winster doesn't like to interact with people, not because he is autistic or easily stressful, but because he is worried that he will hurt others unintentionally?
Elphis asked about his guess. In fact, the only person Winster was worried about was his brother, but he was embarrassed to point this out specifically, so he just said "hmm" in a depressed tone.
The boy looked at Winster with a softer look in his eyes - even after experiencing countless injuries, he still showed kindness to the world...
Elphis began to tell the children that the Church was a privileged class that would make up all kinds of stories to control the thoughts of the common people. The so-called dark race threat theory was used to scare the common people and make them dependent on the Church so that they could seize money and power. Blablabla...
He tried hard to break Winster's feudal ideas and wanted the child to have a correct understanding of himself.
Winster was stunned and didn't even eat. He wanted to believe what his brother said, but...
Winster bit his lip tightly, looking like he was having a fierce ideological struggle. Under Elphis' gentle and expectant gaze, he finally spoke in a trembling voice about the death he had witnessed...
Would my brother be afraid of him? Would he never want to get close to him again? Would he... let him leave this place...
"Food poisoning, it must be food poisoning!"
Winster looked up in confusion: "......?"
"It was summer when you were taken away, and food could easily go bad. Fortunately, the father and son were stingy and didn't give you their food, otherwise you would be in danger."
Elphis touched the child's head in fear. "As for the people who died in the village, many people die of illness, falling, drowning or even starvation every day in the world. Accidents happen everywhere. Those people are just venting their dissatisfaction with life on you. Don't take what they say seriously."
Winster hugged his knees and looked at the boy who seemed to be glowing. He wanted very much to believe what his brother said, but what if...
"What if I'm really an unlucky person and my brother is killed by me..."
Elphis felt soft-hearted after hearing this. If the child must be superstitious, he would just follow the child's thoughts.
"What you're worried about won't happen. My brother was thrown into the river but was picked up by a kind-hearted person. He grew up healthy and successfully started a small business. This shows that I am a person blessed by good luck and will not be harmed by bad luck."
"Besides, since you believe in the rumors of the Vatican, you should also believe in the existence of gods. Grandpa Pastor has placed a statue of gods in the church and prays every day. With the protection of gods, are you afraid that we can't suppress your bad luck?"
The child looked at the confident Elphis with wide eyes. What his brother said seemed to make sense...
Elphis tapped the dazed kid's forehead and said, "Don't be silly. Come and eat. After you're done, I'll take you home."
Winster obediently picked up the bowl and stuffed the noodles into his mouth. He didn't say yes, but he didn't refuse either. His nose felt sore, his eyes became hot and tears fell.
Elphis's little compassion was basically used on the poor and sensible child. When Winster cried, he immediately panicked and tried to comfort him.
After the child finished eating the noodles, Elphis and him packed up the things they wanted to take away, then he curved his eyebrows and stretched out his hand to him, "Let's go, brother will take you home on horseback."
The hand was slender and white, with distinct joints. Unfortunately, due to years of doing various manual labor, it had a thin layer of calluses and tiny scratches, which destroyed the noble feeling of the perfect hand shape. However, it made Winster feel extremely at ease.
Winster was led out of the cave by his brother's hand. He looked up at the gentle boy's profile with a smile on his lips. His dark eyes seemed to have been washed away by tears, and for the first time they were so bright.
A soft white light emanated from the child and floated towards Elphis next to him.
At this moment, Winster restrained all his joy! His dark eyes were dark and cold, not like a child's. The already dim cave lost some of its brightness. Elphis thought it was because it was getting late.
Samuel watched helplessly as his faith fell into the hands of a human cub, his face gloomy.
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