Cloud Thinking

Seeing that Helia remained silent, Ian Hill took the initiative to speak: "Since the young lady said that she wanted to make friends with me, then I have said so much, the young lady should introduce herself, right?"

"I don't know if anyone has ever praised you for your beautiful eyes. They are very impressive. I have been thinking about you every day since we parted."

He used the same reason Helia had given before. Making friends? What kind of friends? It was just a disguise for testing.

Even the compliments are the same, this scholar is very smart...

Helia was not angry. Instead, she laughed with interest and said, "It's rare for me to introduce myself. Most people would bend down in fear when they see my appearance. At the very least, they would kneel down in fear after hearing my full name."

"People's descriptions of me have long been popular. Even if they don't know me, they have heard of me to some extent. As long as they know who I am, the image of me they have imagined will pop up in their minds. Why should I make excuses for myself?"

Helia thought she sounded relieved, but to others it sounded like she was throwing a tantrum. She really had the mentality of a child... Ianhill couldn't help laughing twice, and only restrained himself a little after Helia glared at him unhappily.

"Are you angry? Because others judge you casually?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

"Oh! No! There are so many people in the world, so many mouths, how can I stop them all by myself? Go ahead and say whatever you want!" She felt like she had been exposed and had given up hope. She spoke quickly and urgently, which made Ian Hill's smile even wider.

His eyes traced Helia's face carefully. She felt a little uneasy when he looked at her. She frowned and was about to curse when she heard him say, "So, are you a famous noble lady?"

Helia just felt that this guy was still pretending. She had made it so obvious, how could the other party not guess it? She dared to guarantee that this guy was pretending!

"Don't worry about it, they are just empty names. If you want to know me, you might as well come and chat with me more and find out for yourself what kind of person I am." Helia did not answer his question, but instead made an invitation. She didn't believe that she would not be able to figure out who you are in the future!

"Miss, I will not refuse your gracious invitation." Ian Hill's smile became even brighter, but Helia was inexplicably furious and wanted to reach out and tear his perfect face to pieces to see what evil intentions were hidden behind it.

The road in Sutterde was not very smooth, especially the dirt path that turned to Duke's Orphanage, which was full of potholes. After several bumps along the way, Helia's face was pale when she got off the car, and she almost vomited in the car, but fortunately Ian Hill was there. Looking at the face of that outstanding work of the goddess of beauty, vomiting would be a blasphemy to beauty, so she forced herself to swallow it back.

Ian Hill gentlemanly reached out his hand to help Helia get out of the car. Seeing that Helia looked very bad, he asked with concern: "You look very bad, do you need to rest?"

"No need, let's talk about it when we get upstairs." Helia glanced at the desolate scenery around her. On the entire hill, there was only the lonely building of the Duru Orphanage. On the mottled green slope dotted with swaying flowers, many children could be seen playing and having fun. They saw Helia and her group of well-dressed visitors from afar and were about to come over here in a noisy manner.

"Brother and sister! Who are you? Why are you here?" "Wow! What a pretty sister!" "Brother is so handsome too!" "Brother and sister, did you bring any delicious food? Do you have any candy for us?" "Wow! This uncle has a sword! He looks so majestic!" "Uncle! Can you pick me up and play with me?"

Children are naturally lively and active, and they are not shy. They shout at people when they see them, chattering back and forth, which gives Helia a headache. And Ronniesi behind him is even more pitiful. He has been climbed up by several children like a tree, and soon several children have climbed up on him.

These kids were very smart. They knew Helia and Ian Hill were not ordinary people, so they didn't dare to touch them casually. But Ronnie was different. He looked honest and dressed simply. Although he was big and carried weapons, compared to Helia's noble and unapproachable appearance, they almost immediately judged that Ronnie was an object that they could approach and bully.

Helia saw a hunched figure appear at the end of the mountain path. Because of the backlight, she couldn't see the other person's appearance clearly, so she put her hat back on to block the glaring sunlight.

The man was seen walking slowly down with a cane, and Helia was patiently standing there waiting. Ian Hill seemed to like children very much, and he bent over to chat with the children who were brave enough to come over. Ronnie was ridden on the neck by a child, who grabbed his hair and scratched his face. It was because he had a good temper. If it was Helia, she would have beaten him up long ago.

But the man seemed to have a problem with his legs and feet, and walked as slowly as a turtle. Helia's patience was not very good, and she was sweating under the sun. In addition, the noise of the children behind her made the furrows between her brows deeper and deeper.

Before her patience ran out, the lame old man finally came to Helia and bent down tremblingly, "Greetings, Princess Helia... You are..."

Before he could finish his words, Helia interrupted him. Firstly, she didn't want to listen, and secondly, it was unnecessary. "Excuse me, are you Mr. Charles, the director of the Dulu Orphanage?"

Her tone was fairly polite, but her expression showed a little impatience. Noticing the old man was trembling and unable to stand steadily, she stepped forward to help him up.

"Yes, it's me... I'm sorry to make you laugh, but my old leg was injured a long time ago, and it's not working well. I dare not ask Your Highness the Princess for help." Charles smiled at Helia embarrassedly, revealing his mouth with few good teeth left. He wanted to pull back his arm, which was as thin as a dead branch, from Helia's hand, but he didn't dare to make any big movements for fear of offending Helia.

He was as thin as a piece of paper, with sunken cheeks. Time had left obvious marks on his face. On his not-so-round head, there were a few strands of hair stuck together by grease. His hunched back was only as high as Helia's chin. He didn't look like someone who would cause trouble.

Of course, one should never judge a book by its cover, and Helia did not let down her guard because of the other party's weakness.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you. I didn't consider your poor legs and asked you to come down to pick you up in person. I really blame myself and feel ashamed." Helia didn't let him twitch. She used a little force to hold Charles' arm and led him upstairs.

After Charles called out "Her Royal Highness Princess Helia", the children around could not hide their surprise and looked at each other, not daring to make any more noise. After all, they had heard of the princess's reputation and did not dare to provoke her.

Ian Hilton paused, but unfortunately his back was turned to Helia. Even if he looked shocked, Helia wouldn't be able to see it. Otherwise, she would definitely roll her eyes in her heart and complain, "Why are you pretending?"

Ronnie took the children off her arms one by one with good temper, letting them go play aside, while she followed Helia with her sword in hand.

Because Charles walked slowly, Helia had to slow down as well and chat with him as they walked. She was a little more patient at this moment, perhaps because she felt guilty for having just despised an old man with poor legs and feet who walked slowly.

"I see these children are so lively and active, I think you are taking great care of them. When did you take over this orphanage?"

Charles thought for a moment and replied, "Well... probably about fifteen years ago..."

"Are you the only one managing this orphanage? It has been running for fifteen years and has taken in so many children. Do you have any financial difficulties? I came to visit you because I want to help." Helia's words were spoken beautifully. If someone else suddenly asked these questions, the dean would probably not answer. But if someone asked as a rich man who wanted to do good deeds, then in order to win over the big moneybags, Charles would not hide his questions.

"In the early years, I had three brothers helping to run the business together, but the good times didn't last long. My eldest brother died suddenly, and my two younger brothers didn't want to stay in this sad place, so they left, leaving me alone here to guard my eldest brother's grave."

Because he suddenly talked about the sad things in the past, Charles' eyes drifted into the distance, a little dazed, with a sad expression, while Helia chose to respond in silence.

"My eldest brother left a large inheritance to me and the children. We lived well in the early years, but as we adopted more and more children, as Your Highness can see, we have been unable to make ends meet for several years. We have to sell some of our belongings and hang out with old friends to raise money."

"Or wait for kindhearted people like you to donate some money, so we can hold on for one day at a time."

"Grandpa doesn't even have money to see a doctor! Your Highness! Please help me!" A young man appeared from nowhere and grabbed Helia's skirt. Seeing this, Ronnie was about to draw his sword.

When did this guy show up? He didn't even notice it?!

"Ronishi." Helia stopped Ronishi's actions and asked him to hold Charles, who could fall and roll down the slope at any time. She turned sideways and pulled the child's wrist, glancing at him from top to bottom.

His hair was unkempt and uneven in length. The haircut was done by a man who cut it like Mobichus, and it looked like it had been gnawed by a dog. He was only about 1.5 meters tall, and his face was sallow, showing signs of malnutrition. He was wearing only a thin, worn, patched shirt and pants that were so short that they exposed his ankles.

He was so skinny that Helia could easily hold his slender wrist with one hand, and the protruding wrist bone made her palm uncomfortable. He had several chilblains on his hands, and looking at his rough palms, one could tell at a glance that these hands had been tempered by countless hard labors.

If there was one thing that was most unique about this man, it would be his eyes. His eyes were a deep and mysterious dark red, like the most beautiful rubies Helia had ever seen. However, when you looked into their eyes, you would feel fear, as if you were facing a wolf hiding in the darkness, ready to pounce; or a cunning fox that was good at disguising itself.

He had probably heard about how Princess Helia was willful and had a bad temper. When he looked at her at this moment, he could not hide his fear, worry and nervousness. But even though he was afraid, he still stood up and told her about his current embarrassing situation.

"Sick? When did it happen? What disease did you have? When did you start to lack money?" Helia asked one after another.

"I don't know what disease he has, but when it's cold or rainy, Grandpa's legs hurt so much that he can't walk. He also coughs up blood from time to time. He can't sleep at night and keeps coughing." The boy answered truthfully, "He has always had problems with his legs and feet, but it has become more serious in the past two years. He started coughing up blood three months ago. At first, he asked a doctor to see him, but later he stopped taking the medicine because he adopted a child."

"Jepas!!!" Charles tightly grasped the cane in his hand and used all his strength to pound it into the ground, making a muffled sound. Along with this roar, his coughing became more and more violent, as if he was going to cough out his entire lung. Every time he coughed, his already thin body trembled, and he looked extremely pitiful.

"Sir, the child is much more honest than you!" Helia sighed, called the guards who came with her to call a doctor, and walked in front with the child, while Ronnie followed behind holding Charles.

"Your Highness Helia, I was not clear about your identity before. I hope you can forgive me if I have offended you." Ian Hill caught up with her at some point and put on a pretentious show with his handsome face.

But as an actress, Helia just wanted to say, buddy, go back and practice in front of the mirror. You want to snatch the Oscar from me? That's it, that's it? Do you dare to squeeze out two tears now and let me see?