Chapter 58: Circus

Chapter 58 The Circus

Let us get in the carriage.

Eunice stood before the hearse, gesturing for everyone to board.

Mina, Lunt, Lilith, and Sarah—Eunice gave each of them a helping hand as they stepped inside.

Thank you, Teacher.

Thank you, Teacher.

Eunice climbed into the hearse as well, closing the door and pulling the latch tight. As she looked for a place to sit, she found that one bench was completely filled by the four children, leaving the entire opposite row vacant for her.

Do you not feel too crowded?

The children replied in unison, Teacher, we do not mind the crowd at all.

Then would one of you care to join me over here?

No one spoke.

Even Mina, usually the most sensible of them all, seemed rather bashful at this moment.

It could not be helped—what else was one supposed to feel when one's mathematics teacher suddenly became one's future sister-in-law?

It was shyness compounded upon shyness, completely devoid of the spirited energy with which she had previously cheered her brother on.

Very well then.

Eunice could only sit by herself on the opposite side. In the rectangular recess before her lay a barbecue grill, charcoal, skewered vegetables, and various meats that had been marinated since the previous evening.

Karen took the driver's seat. As he started the engine, he glanced through the rearview mirror and said:

Mina, go sit with your sister.

Mina blinked, able only to manage a smile: Very well, Brother. Teacher, I am coming.

Eunice reached out, steadying Mina as she hopped across. Once Mina was seated beside her, Eunice took the girl's small hand into her own.

Mina wore a smile akin to one receiving a certificate on a stage—elegant, dignified, and a little stiff.

Sitting opposite them, Lunt, Lilith, and Sarah all wore expressions of gloating amusement.

Sit properly, do not run about, and speak to me first if you need anything. Do you understand?

Understood, Brother.

Understood, Karen.

Karen drove the hearse forward, their destination a farm in the suburbs.

The last time Lady Jenny visited his home, it seemed she and Dis had conversed most amicably. In any case, when Lady Jenny emerged from the study, her enthusiasm toward Karen could be said to have ascended to another level.

Karen even felt that if he had taken Eunice's hand that day and said, "It is too late and raining, why not stay the night here," Lady Jenny would very likely have chosen to agree.

Though Karen could not envision a scene of Dis conversing "amicably" and "enthusiastically," the effect achieved was undeniably excellent.

Furthermore, Karen knew that the day of his departure for Wien was drawing closer, and what he could least bear to part with was his family.

Thus, during these days, he devised every means to make each day's luncheon a grand affair, and even patiently taught his aunt and grand-aunt the secrets of cooking Chinese cuisine.

As for these younger siblings who had to attend school on weekdays, Karen chose the weekend to bring them out specifically for a barbecue.

If they were destined to part for a time, then at least they could leave each other with a few more memories worth treasuring.

Yet Karen felt this separation would not last too long.

Dis had a very important matter to handle at present, a matter whose ripples and magnitude would be immense, but Karen believed Dis was entirely capable of managing it.

Because... he was Dis.

Moreover, the choice Dis had given him was either to remain at home forever as an ordinary man, or to grant him the opportunity to breathe the air of freedom outside.

Therefore, the family should be able to continue living a peaceful life in Roga City, while he, once he arrived in Wien, could begin to touch the "taboos" belonging to his grandfather that could not be approached at home.

Karen was actually well aware that, although he always considered himself an ordinary person, certain special abilities manifested in him were an objective reality.

In Pu'er's words, this was the manifestation of an evil god's power.

But Karen firmly believed he had not a single lubi of relation to those "deities." As for this ability to make the dead sit up, did it signify a kind of... talent?

A spillover of talent caused by his own "unique experience"?

Pu'er had once mentioned a possibility, only to dismiss it immediately afterward: unless he himself was a person returned from the dead, possessing an innate capacity for "empathy" toward the deceased.

Yet the early mythological outlines of the Church of Order recorded that the God of Light had awakened the God of Order. Even though the current version of the "Light of Order" had been revised to delete the role of the God of Light, it still retained the record that the God of Order had "awakened."

The God of Order had no childhood, unlike other true gods who had stories of their youth. It was as though he had suddenly arrived in this world; the moment he appeared, he stood at an exceedingly high pinnacle.

The Church of Order was founded by the God of Order. After more than an era of development, it had surely been filled, enriched, and improved, yet the standard ability of an Inquisitor was to "awaken" a corpse.

It could also be said that the very foundation of the "arcane arts" under the faith of the Church of Order—the most primitive line—must have been personally set and left behind by the God of Order, and must have been the "ability" best suited to the God of Order himself.

What "chosen one," what "child of destiny," what "descent of an evil god"—

Karen acknowledged none of it.

He remained an ordinary person.

A person who very likely shared a similarity in some aspect with the God of Order, and thus fit more harmoniously into the belief system of the Church of Order.

To walk this path, the threshold was purification.

In Roga City, in the Inmeles home, he would not have this opportunity, nor would Dis ever grant it to him.

To go to Wien—

Only upon reaching Wien could he truly encounter and step into the genuine wonders of this world.

There is water in the bag, Karen reminded them. If any of you are thirsty, take it to drink. There is juice as well.

Is anyone among you thirsty? Eunice asked on his behalf.

The children all shook their heads.

The hearse entered the suburbs, and the road conditions began to deteriorate. Fortunately, the vehicle was spacious, and since today brought a rare clearing after consecutive days of rain, the air was exceptionally fresh, and the outdoors looked as though it had just been washed clean, imparting a most comfortable feeling.

There is a circus over there! Lunt cried out.

Karen turned his head to look. There stood a large tent erected by a circus, with many small tents surrounding it, though the two groups likely had no subordination to one another.

A circus preparing to perform here would surely draw a large crowd, so some small vendors were also gathering to do business, especially small groups of Chaset people, who most favored following the flow of people.

After all, the three major professions of their group—divination, theft, and prostitution—could only find suitable clients in places where crowds gathered.

It seems they have not finished setting up yet. Even if there is a performance, it should be in the evening. We can come over to watch tonight, Karen said.

Splendid! Lunt shouted, pumping his fist, and Mina and the others were also delighted.

Children had always possessed no resistance to the performances of a circus.

The picnic spot Karen had selected was only five or six kilometers away from the circus grounds, by a small river. Though it was winter, the scenery here remained exquisite.

Unlike the suburbs in another direction, which had been enclosed by many factories for workshops, the suburbs in this direction were developing somewhat toward the expansion of residential areas for a future city. Many wealthy families in Roga City had built their manors here.

Alfred had long been waiting here. This piece of land, strictly speaking, belonged to the private estate of a baron. Although it had undergone no development, if one wished to come and play, one still had to give advance notice.

Furthermore, to guarantee his young master’s absolute peace, Alfred had arrived early to clear the grounds.

Karen brought the car to a halt by the roadside, glanced down the narrow lane, and ultimately drove a bit further down the slope to leave the path completely unobstructed.

Beside Alfred stood a middle-aged man holding the reins of a horse; he was short of stature, yet his face bore an unmistakable air of lofty arrogance.

"Alfred, this friend of yours drives a rather high-class vehicle. If my eyes don't deceive me, that is a hearse, is it not?

Hahaha,

Don't tell me he brought a flock of corpses out for a picnic, how terribly amusing."

"Hahaha!"

Alfred joined in the laughter,

Then reached out, seized the man's hair, and slammed his head downward, burying the man's face directly into the fresh manure just dropped by his bay stallion.

"Listen closely. He is my master. I have no desire to spoil my master's mood today, otherwise, I would twist that head right off your shoulders and fling it straight into this river to feed the fish.

Do not forget who paid off your family's debts, and who pulled the strings to get a financial fraudster like you released from prison.

I can prop you up to look like a proper gentleman, and I can just as easily turn you right back into a dog!"

With that, Alfred released his grip, walked down to the riverbank, produced a bar of soap, and began to wash his hands with meticulous care.

The Baron lifted his head, gazing at Alfred with a look of mounting dread.

"Scorn off!"

"Yes, yes, of course." The Baron immediately scrambled onto his horse and galloped away.

Karen walked over and asked, "What happened?"

Alfred replied, "He said Miss Eunice was very beautiful."

"Oh? Isn't that the truth?"

"It is indeed the truth, but he possesses no right to utter those words in my presence. You and the lady by your side are absolutely sacred and magnificent existences in my heart, and I will tolerate no desecration whatsoever."

"Heh."

Karen turned and waved his hand, gesturing for Eunice to bring the children over.

The grill was set up and the charcoal embers were ready; Alfred took Karen's place at the fire to tend the meat, while Mina, Lunt, and the others gathered around him, eagerly waiting to eat.

Karen and Eunice sat a short distance away on a gentle slope, where they could watch the sparkling sunlight dancing across the river's surface.

"Is the courtyard at your home like this too?" Karen asked.

"Yes, it is just as beautiful as this."

"And the architecture?" Karen inquired.

"A four-story main house where the family and the servants reside. There is a performance hall to the east, and an old castle to the west, which belongs to the ancestral estate; apart from sacrificial rituals, no one usually lives there."

"There is even a performance hall?"

"Yes, I heard from my father that a century ago, a grand-aunt of mine was immensely fond of opera but loathed traveling to the city's opera house, so she had a performance hall built at home. Back then, they would specially invite opera troupes over to perform."

"How extravagant," Karen remarked.

Yet, could that grand-aunt possibly be Pu'er?

Considering how it insisted on a cup of coffee even while eating squirrel-shaped mandarin fish as a cat, it truly was the sort of creature capable of such a deed.

"It is, though it is still cleaned regularly now, I rarely remember it ever being used within my memory."

"Mm."

Karen leaned back slightly, propping himself up with both hands behind his back to make his posture as comfortable as possible.

"I have never lived in a house that grand before; my heart holds quite a bit of anticipation."

"In truth, sleeping requires only a single room. Whether it is grand or not makes no real difference.

Later, when you grow weary of living there, we can move into York City, or move back to Rieland, or even return to live on Mink Street.

We are still young now, but in the future, we will be free to make our own decisions, won't we?"

The mandate handed down by her grandfather, father, and mother was for her to return to Wien with Karen—a condition Eunice could not alter and one that Karen had accepted;

But Eunice understood well that a man moving into a woman's family home would inevitably harbor some lingering discomfort in his heart;

She could not change the reality, so she could only offer comfort.

When courting, one ought to tidy oneself up elegantly, presenting one's finest and perhaps slightly theatrical self to the other party without cross-crossing into deception, much like a gorilla gathering handfuls of dry leaves while howling and thumping its chest during courtship;

But once the relationship is solidified, it is time to gradually reveal one's true colors at the appropriate moments.

Be it a love for food, a love for play, being meticulous with calculations, or being casual with spending—of course, lust does not count as a flaw.

For instance, when Karen proposed this picnic, he had driven the hearse out because there were many people and other cars were inconvenient; the hearse happened to fit everyone comfortably and spacious;

He did not mind displaying his "hearse complex" before Eunice, for his own family ran a funeral parlor, which might appear somewhat unpresentable before true "aristocracy," but there was truly no need to conceal it;

Nor did he mind showing Eunice his yearning for living in a "grand manor," because across two lifetimes, he had indeed never lived in one, and he truly wished to experience it.

The period between establishing a relationship and marriage is a phase of emotional adjustment, a time to reveal the authentic self as much as possible to see if the partner can adapt and endure; of course, this is not about letting oneself go entirely; if existing flaws prove intolerable, one can always append a promise to "change in the future";

Otherwise, if one constantly hides, suppresses, and puts on airs, once exposed after marriage, it will cause catastrophic problems due to the lack of preparation and cushion; conversely, even if one continues to "fake it," life after marriage will never be comfortable.

Fortunately, Eunice possessed none of the foul habits of a spoiled young lady. She was intelligent, exceedingly intelligent;

Though her emotional responses were somewhat naive due to her previous blank canvas of a past, she learned remarkably fast.

At times, as a "master of rhythm control," Karen could clearly perceive that Eunice was consciously aligning herself with his cadence.

This romance felt like a master sea-king and a veteran green-tea bitch dancing a tango beneath the spotlight.

It was only that neither had found the time to accumulate a "scum-like" past.

"In this lifetime, one must always experience what ought to be experienced." Karen looked toward Eunice. "Do you have any thoughts regarding the future?"

"For now?"

"I mean, your original thoughts, had I never appeared."

"But you have already appeared," Eunice said.

These were not sweet nothings; Karen discerned the underlying meaning—without him, there would have been someone else, but stating it directly would easily spoil the atmosphere.

Though they were merely objects of a political marriage, they had maintained a tacit understanding to pretend it was a match ordained by fate.

Eunice's father was not the eldest son of the family and originally not the first in line to inherit the mantle of family head, which was why he had been able to enjoy a romance of free will and marry Lady Jenny, a woman who fundamentally did not belong to that circle;

Yet later, mishaps occurred, his two elder brothers became unable to inherit the position, and Eunice's father became the head of the house.

And by Eunice's generation, her marriage was destined to stripped of freedom from the start.

"What about other thoughts, interests and hobbies?" Karen asked. "The arts? Traveling, painting, things of that nature?"

"If it is those things, it isn't as though I cannot continue them in the future, is it? Furthermore, I feel that if one views the objective with too much gravity, life becomes terribly exhausting."

Karen smiled faintly and said, "You are indeed open-minded."

"What about you, Karen? What did you originally intend to do?" Eunice added with a smile, "Before you met me."

Karen's eyes drifted into deep reflection;

In his past life, ever since reaching adulthood, he had thrown himself into studying, and upon graduation, plunged into the relentless struggle of entrepreneurship. His existence resembled a gear, constantly driven by a self-imposed necessity to keep turning.

It was exhausting, truly, yet he never deemed it a hardship; for within that very state of turning oneself into a mechanical cog, a peculiar sort of pleasure could be derived.

But as for this life...

"My original thought was simply to attend a university, pick a major, and secure a decent, respectable job after graduation. I wanted to amass some savings, make a few investments, and achieve financial freedom tailored to my particular level of need."

"And after that?"

"After that... I haven't really thought it through."

"Shouldn't it be about finding a woman you love, and building a happy family together?"

Karen hesitated for a moment, then shook his head regardless.

"You've never thought about it?" Eunice looked at Karen with genuine curiosity. "When my two older brothers were in school, their favorite topic of discussion at home was what kind of sister-in-law they would eventually bring back for me."

"I really haven't. Perhaps I simply haven't reached the age your brothers were at back then?"

Resting her cheek in her palm, Eunice murmured softly:

"Yet I feel it might be because your psychological age is far too advanced."

Karen immediately diverted the topic:

"What, do you enjoy studying psychology as well?"

"I've read a few books on the subject, though I wouldn't call it study. But I find observing and analyzing people rather fascinating. For instance, observing you."

"Observing me? Have you gained any insights?"

"The insight is that it feels as though you saw right through me a long time ago."

"Hahaha..."

Both of them burst into laughter.

Mina stood up, holding a handful of meat skewers, and began walking toward her brother.

As Karen laughed, he naturally reached out to caress Eunice's hair, and Eunice just as naturally rested her head against Karen's knee.

Mina, still holding the skewers, turned right back around and walked away.

The two of them remained in that posture, perfectly still for a long while.

...

At dusk, the hearse pulled up outside the circus encampment. The crowds were immense, but fortunately, the area was quite open, with no shortage of space to park.

Alighting from the vehicle, Karen led the group toward the grand tent of the circus, with numerous vendors lining the path, hawking all manner of goods.

Alfred walked at the very rear, ensuring the children would not be separated by the surging throng.

Outside a small Chaser tent, a husband was selling various divination props, beneath a sign claiming they were sacred artifacts blessed by a priest of a certain holy church.

Business was dismal, so his gaze constantly prowled through the crowd ahead, searching for a careless target whose wallet he might stealthily lift.

Regrettably, perhaps because his fellow tribesmen had struck too ruthlessly during similar events in recent years, the tourists visiting the circus remained highly vigilant, despite the smiles on their faces.

Fortunately, however, his wife had already taken a client inside the tent.

Inside the small tent;

"You don't need to move, just let me lie here for a while."

"Very well, guest, you are truly kind," the woman said with a smile, holding the ruble notes in her hand. "Are you searching for the feeling of home?"

"I am searching for the feeling of my childhood," Rasma replied.

"Then you are searching for the feeling of home," the woman insisted.

"Yes, indeed," Rasma nodded, a smile breaking across his face. "My mother used to do the exact same work you do; she relied on this to sustain me during my youth."

The woman silently placed a banknote back beside Rasma's head.

"What is the meaning of this?" Rasma inquired.

"For a guest returning home, there is naturally a discount. Shh, we mustn't let my husband know. Though it hardly matters; you gave too much to begin with, and he won't be able to tell anyway."

"It is because I had no father," Rasma said.

If his father hadn't succumbed to illness while he was still in swaddling clothes, his mother would not have faced such a grueling struggle to raise him.

The woman licked her lips, leaning close to Rasma's ear to whisper softly:

"To be honest, I rather wish I didn't have a husband either."

"Heheh, would you consider that a prayer?"

The woman shrugged, laughing as she asked, "Will God hear it?"

Rasma replied, "He will."

Having spoken,

Rasma closed his eyes, resting his hands upon his lower abdomen.

Seeing this, the woman shifted her body away, choosing not to disturb the resting wanderer.

Rasma's world dissolved into shades of gray and white once more.

"Oh?

Tsk tsk, there is a minor aberrant demon possessing the eyes of a succubus; those eyes of his would be quite suitable to gouge out and fashion into an exquisite pendant.

Eh?

And it isn't just him.

Heh,

The owner of this circus turns out to be a bewitching aberrant demon."

"Why is it taking so long? Isn't it over yet? Overtime requires extra payment!" The husband swept the curtain aside and stepped into the small tent.

Rasma slowly sat up,

And smiled gently:

"It is over."

The husband collapsed to the ground,

Dead.