248 Why Is the Dove So Large? (2/2)
”Yeah, you’re right.” The youth nodded and wiped his smile away.
Under the sunlight, he opened his hand. The rice fell and a few doves flew over to eat it. The pure white feathers crisscrossed and scattered the sunlight. The youth’s face was shrouded in a mass of blurry light and shadows.
He looked at the flying birds and muttered to himself, ”Sadly, I understand the principles but why are these doves so big?”
-
Sunlight fell onto the long hall, cutting open the darkness and casting jagged shadows. Barthélémy paced soullessly and saw Heisenberg sitting by the corner. Taken aback, he nodded at the man and continued forward. He could not help but pause when he passed by.
Grandmaster Heisenberg looked up and took a cigarette out his pocket. Barthélémy hesitated but accepted it. He breathed in after lighting it and began coughing. He was old now and nothing like before; this fact saddened him.
Holding the cigarette, he sat beside Heisenberg in silence. After a long while, he said quietly, ”Anta, I’m starting to have doubts.”
”You’re just indecisive,” Heisenberg said lightly. ”You’re always like that, avoiding problems. That’s why Professor chose me in the end.”
”Yeah, you’re decisive and much better than me.” Barthélémy sighed sadly and felt his thinning white hair with a bitter expression. ”Anta, do you still remember things from before?”
”Before? How could I not?” Speaking of the past, a tinge of nostalgia appeared on Heisenberg’s sinister face. ”Back in the day, everyone liked you. I was that annoying guy that couldn’t fit in. I always watched you all from afar and wanted to be like you. I used to envy you back then. But then the inheritance book was lost and they found it in my room. For my punishment, I had to guard the abyss for six months and missed the inheritance ceremony.”
Barthélémy smoked and said hoarsely, ”I did that. I framed you.”
”I know.” Heisenberg nodded.
”I regret it.”
”I know too,” Heisenberg said. ”That’s why I never envied you after that.”
Barthélémy remained silent. Heisenberg looked back at his ‘old friend,’ at the man who never became involved in disputes after this, and his eyes grew pitiful and complicated. ”It’s all in the past, Barthélémy. It has passed,” he said. ”Thanks to you, I was no longer weak and became who I am.”
”It’s my fault.” Barthélémy hung his head. ”Anta, I don’t want to make mistakes anymore.”
”The parliament sent a letter to you too, didn’t they?” Heisenberg saw through his pain. ”If you reject them, most of your research funds will be cut off. You won’t be able to continue researching. That’s why you’re in pain—you can’t face yourself.”
”What do you think I should do?”
”That’s your problem, not mine.” Heisenberg gave him one last glance. ”Sometimes you must commit evil to survive in this world. You’re scared of becoming like that but I’m not.”
He rose and left. Barthélémy sat in the quiet yard alone.
-
When Ye Qingxuan returned to the hall, there was still no one there. The grandmasters had not returned; the scholars and reporters could not enter before the session reopened. The hall was silent and still.
A servant cautiously took down the Church’s curtain. There was no one behind it. After Archbishop Mephistopheles had proved the translation method’s validity, the Church left—this was their usual style. Believers of God should not be involved with matters of fame and fortune.
But after he had left, Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt a little worried that the parliament would try something.
”That…boy over there, come over.” Suddenly, a crisp voice sounded behind the royalty’s curtain. It sounded like a little boy. Taken aback, Ye Qingxuan walked over after a short hesitation.
The steel knight guarding the curtain did not move as if he had not heard anything. Ye Qingxuan was not sliced in half for approaching the royalty either.
”Come closer,” the child-like voice urged.