Ch10 - “Does sleeping with him make you that happy?”

It was still dark outside the window when Bill pushed himself up.

Turning his head, he looked quietly at Morel beside him. 

Morel had only fallen asleep when it was nearly morning.

He was aware that Morel had been unable to sleep, even though the other only tossed and turned carefully out of fear of waking him.

Was he that afraid of thunder?

Or was there something else on his mind? 

He got up without a sound and covered Morel with the blanket again. Wearing a dark purple jacket and slippers, he walked out of the room.

As always, he looked at the bookshelves to observe which books had been moved.

From the lower right corner, he picked up a book with a dark green cover. He opened it and his mouth faintly lifted upward. On the yellowed pages, there were Morel’s light pencil marks and creases on the corner of the pages where he had folded them, showing how dedicated he was.

Morel liked things relating to the fine arts.

He had been looking at artworks of the Renaissance period, at Raphael’s portraits of the Virgin Mary, at the drawing techniques written by Leonardo da Vinci, and the mist-filled landscape paintings of Turner from the previous century…

He walked into Morel’s bedroom.

Morel’s room was always neat and tidy, but today, there were messy bits of paper on the small coffee table

His dark grey eyes slowly read the wobbly English words: 

April 15th, 1864.

I made dinner for Bill gege, but he didn’t come home.

April 18th, 1864.

Bill gege is still ignoring me. There’s no one to keep me company. 

April 20, 1864.

Today, Little Black fell asleep by my side. Its chubby stomach is so soft! And, if you rub its stomach gently, it’ll go “meow” “meow” and squirm around before continuing to sleep.

Bill gege didn’t come home tonight.

April 22, 1864. 

The lilac flowers are blooming beautifully. Bill gege painted for the entire night, he’s still ignoring me.

April 24, 1864.

Auntie Karin’s daughter is finally better, I’m happy for her!

I dreamt of Bill gege last night. As always, it was a good dream. 

But I’m starting to suspect that everything was my own delusions.

Because Bill gege…

In reality, he doesn’t like me.

April 25, 1864. 

I talked to Bill gege today, he’s still very cold.

Does he really dislike me…but why?

I can’t always stay here and bother him.

April 26, 1864. 

My necklace actually came back! I originally thought it was Bill gege who had put it on me but…his expression today was even scarier than before, he won’t even look at me. Maybe it was Mom and Dad who had become angels and they were the ones who returned it to me. Grandma used to say, angels would always remain by our side and protect us.

April 27, 1864.

Most of the lilacs have wilted. I really, really want to see Hania!
…………

Bill looked at the scraps of paper and his brows creased. 

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.

He sat down on the bed, his mood somewhat disorderly.

Lf qgbqqfv tlr obgftfjv klat tlr mbiv tjcv. Ktf vjgx mbibgr ecvfg tlr fsfr wjvf tlw ibbx j yla algfv.

“Ccufir?”

Ktf mbgcfg bo tlr wbeat obgwfv j glvlmeilcu rwlif. 

Mbg j rqila rfmbcv, j obgibgc fzqgfrrlbc oijrtfv atgbeut tlr fsfr bnfgmjra klat rtjvbkr.

Dea atf ojlca fzqgfrrlbc kjr delmxis yeglfv ecvfg atf vjgx ugfs mbibgr bo tlr lglrfr.

He stood up and from his personal bookshelf, he took out a brand new diary with yellow papers and brown classical patterns and placed it on top of Morel’s small coffee table. He turned around and left.

When Morel woke up in the morning, the space next to him had been empty for a long time. 

Yesterday’s event still lingered on his mind with clarity.

His mind was a mess.

Bill gege…why did he do that?

Did he cover my ears because he didn’t want me to hear the frightening sounds of thunder? 

He…didn’t he always ignore me…didn’t he hate me?

But last night, he didn’t sense any dislike or rejection, although Bill gege never spoke the entire time…he felt that Bill gege who was silent but still acted the way he did was incomparably gentle!

Morel’s face was faintly red, his pair of green eyes, like two lively wolves, peeked out of the white silk comforter. He looked around, then stared at the pillow beside him, inching closer and closer with caution until he was at the left side of the bed where Bill had slept…

Traces of any body heat had long dissipated, but the unique fragrance of the person lingered on the pillow and comforter. 

Morel hugged the pillow tightly!

Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply…

It was a strange feeling but at this moment…

It felt like he was hugging Bill gege… 

It was as if he was buried in his lightly scented neck, in his pure black hair…

“Knock, knock, knock—”

The knocking on the door woke Morel up from his reverie!

He quickly hid his loot behind his back like a thief. 

“Oh? You’re up, little thing!” Karin poked her head in.

Morel nodded, “Good morning, Auntie Karin!”

Karin beamed happily. She brought water for Morel to wash up with, then helped Morel get dressed, saying with a smile, “Little guy, you’re quite capable. You even managed to sleep together with a mysophobic person like Earl Mephistopheles!”

“Huh? But Bill gege isn’t mysophobic!” Morel looked around at the Earl’s messy room that was scattered with art supplies, his meaning clear. Look at this messy room, how was he mysophobic? 

“Why do you always call him the devil? Doesn’t he get angry?” Karin pinched his smooth cheek, “I bet you don’t know! The mysophobia I’m talking about is towards people. I don’t know why, but he seems to think of people as dirty. Whenever he goes outside, he must wear a pair of gloves. He never touches people with his bare hands, and when he shakes other people’s hands, he has to have his gloves…it’s inconceivable for him to kiss another person and I heard he keeps his gloves on even when doing that…”

Morel interrupted her. His emerald eyes were wide as he asked innocently, “That? What do you mean?”

Karin covered her own mouth.

Look at me, how could I have said something so inappropriate for children! 

She hurriedly said some nonsense, “I mean, when touching other people’s faces.”

Morel nodded his head.

Inwardly he thought, do the ears count as a part of the face?

Karin helped Morel wash his face while saying, “That’s why, we’ve never seen him sleep with anyone before…you’re the first one!” 

Morel was dazed.

Then he smiled.

His smile grew wider and wider…and his jade-like eyes shone with brilliance!

Karin had never seen the child so happy. 

“Does sleeping with him make you that happy?”

“Of course…it’s practically my dream…my dream, my dream, my dream, my dream, lalalala…”

Karin’s mouth twitched.

She knew the Earl was charming but turned out, the charm wasn’t just effective towards madames and young misses but worked with children as well…goodness, forgive her, her thoughts have already gone crooked. 

That day, Morel was in a good mood, but as he held a pencil and copied the drawing on the book, he was clearly absent-minded. It had been three days since he mailed his letter, but there still wasn’t a reply from his didi.

He waited for two more days, but there was still no news.
　　
What’s going on?

Did he write the wrong address? Maybe the mailman lost the letter? Or his didi didn’t write a reply to him at all? But based on his understanding of Hania, even if he couldn’t write, he would definitely ask someone around him for help!

That day, Morel ran to the post office once again, only to discover that his letter had been returned a long time ago! 

The people there told him that there was no child called Hania at Pérouse Academy. Morel was bewildered. He clearly used 500 francs to pay for 5 years of tuition. It wasn’t possible for Hania to change his name. How could he not be at the academy?! Was he taken away by someone else? Or was he sold off by bad people inside the academy?!

The terrifying news he heard from Auntie Karin about child trafficking happening in schools filled Morel’s head! If something happened to Hania…he didn’t even dare to think about it!

He lost all reasons. He didn’t care that it was already 5 in the afternoon. He asked the people in the post office for directions to the academy and raced towards it.

Using the money leftover from when he bought food ingredients, he boarded a truck carrying straws and arrived at the city center. When he got off, he asked for directions again and started running. The ground was covered in mud, and before long, the legs of Morel’s beautiful pants and his leather shoes were covered in mud. His white shirt had was torn by tree branches and his golden hair was wet with sweat, sticking against his face…in other words, he looked unsightly. 

When he arrived at the academy, it was 8 at night.

He searched all over the dormitory, interrupted classes to ask the teachers, but he always came up empty-handed. Panting for breath, he ran to the Headmaster’s office and knocked into a lot of people on the way.

The Headmaster was a portly man that had a brandy nose and wore a powdered wig.

He read the newspaper, not sparing a glance for the youth being held back by several people. 

“Where’s Hania?” Morel hollered.

“Hania?”

“My didi! I only sent him to the academy recently and I paid 5 years of tuition for him…but when I mailed a letter to him a few days ago, not only did I not receive a reply, the people in the post office told me that there’s no child called Hania in the academy!”

The Headmaster’s assistant pushed up his glasses and casually flipped through the student registry. 

After a while, he nodded his head, “Yes…we did have a student like that, but he only attended for a week and was brought away by someone.”

Morel’s pupil dilated with fear, “What?! Why wasn’t I aware of this?”

The Headmaster put down the newspaper. His eyes lazily moved to Morel and he said with a big smile, “Child, watch your tone! Why would you need to know?”

The assistant massaged his temples and smiled, “Relax, the person who took him is super wealthy…” 

Morel felt like they couldn’t be reasoned with!

He choked down his anger and gritted out each word, “So what if it was a wealthy person? I’m his gege, his only kin, do I not have the right to know?! Someone other than me can bring him away? Since you guys took the money, you have the obligation to look after him…but you handed him to someone else, what if that person is a bad guy? If my didi got sold off, if he got hurt…are the lot of you able to take responsibility?!”

The assistant said strangely in a shrill voice, “What happens to your didi, how is it our business? Aren’t you just worried about your 500 francs? …Sigh, we’ll take a loss and refund it to you, how’s that? I’m telling you, you won’t get that much money even if you sold your didi. Children are everywhere nowadays and aren’t worth much!”

Saying this, the assistant motioned with his head and someone gave Morel a bag of gold coins. 

Morel had no expression on his face but his entire body was shaking.

He had never been so angry, so infuriated before.

He reached out, took the money, and weighed it in his hand, finding it to be a good weight.

Then, with every iota of his strength, he swung his arm and threw the heavy sack filled with filthy gold coins into the assistant’s face! A couple of gold coins also hit the Headmaster, smacking his head and body. 

“If something happens to Hania, I’ll never let you guys go.”

Morel said flatly.

He walked out, and surprisingly, no one stopped him.

They were all quiet except for the Headmaster and the assistant who cursed as blood spluttered from their noses. 

It was because they had never seen such a terrifying and frigid expression! Underneath his golden hair that was scattered and messy, his green eyes were full of resentment, just like an injured wolf in the prairie that refused to surrender…it crawled on the floor, but at any given moment, it might disregard everything and lunged at its target, determined even in mutual destruction!

Such an expression didn’t match his age!

When he exited the school, the summer breeze that made people feel restless carried a stench that stuck to Morel’s body, and gradually, the hatred in Morel’s heart morphed into self-blame.

How could he have been so negligent? 

How could he have lived well every day without the slightest clue that his didi had been taken away?

And what should he do now…

Report the academy to the law? But compared to a 12-year-old child with nothing, who wouldn’t be more inclined to believe a group of well-to-do gentlemen?

Where should he look for him? 

Where was he taken to?

Why was I so rash…if I had asked those people just now, they might’ve known…

How was he going to get his didi back?

If something happened to his didi, how would he take revenge on those people? 

He had nothing…

Absolutely nothing!!
…………

His mind was a mess…

He was just a 12-year-old child! He wasn’t rational enough, wasn’t smart enough, wasn’t mature enough… 

He madly dashed through the dirty alleyway of France. The rats squeaked. He pushed past a group of vagrants with bloodshot eyes…

He ran; ran as fast as he could…

He gulped for air…

Until accidentally, he stepped on a stone and fell hard to the ground. 

Quietly, tears trickled down.

From an unknown point, he had learned to cry without a sound.

He didn’t know that on the other side, Bill was searching wildly for him like a madman.

He even mobilized his military forces and scoured half of the city. 

Then, 2 o’clock at midnight, he finally found the child shivering in the corner.

With his soldiers behind him and Bill jumped off his horse.

Hearing the horse’s whinny, Morel subconsciously looked in the direction of the noise.

His vacant eyes slowly came into focus again. 

Bill’s black hair billowed in the wind with his red cloak, appearing like a demon. His face was taut, his thin lips pursed, and his expression was several-fold more grim than usual.

His leather boots walked towards him, step by step.

Morel opened his mouth, wanting to call “Bill gege”, but he instantly smothered the rising voice in his hoarse throat.

His heart was beating rapidly, he was scared! 

He could tell Bill was angry…frost covered his narrowed grey eyes…he was very, very angry!

Bill stopped and looked down at Morel.

“Why are you here?” The cold, dark voice echoed in the air.

“I…” 

Morel didn’t get the chance to finish speaking. Bill grabbed Morel’s collar, picked him up unceremoniously like a cat, and his hand aimed at his right cheek!

Morel instinctively turned his head to the left, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes, awaiting the hot pain.

But the anticipated pain never came…

Because Bill actually knelt down and pulled Morel tightly into his arms!