Scepter of Thorns

He felt like he was dreaming.

The mother put on heavy makeup, the father put on a faded dress, and the old butler stood stiffly on the left side with his face carved with layers of wrinkles.The dilapidated copper candlestick was burning with a crackling flame, and the wine-red tablecloth was gnawed with holes one after another by silverfish. He woodenly cut the meat on the white porcelain plate with a silver knife and fork, and stuffed it into his mouth Swallow it down.

Dry, fishy and salty.

He put down the tableware, wiped his lips with a long towel hanging down his chest, and said, "I'm full." Then he sat and waited for his parents to finish eating, and the butler put away the plate before returning to his room.

There are a few tall sycamore trees outside the window. After singing the melody of summer, only a piece of sad withered yellow is left to trace the line of autumn.

The cool wind slipped in through the half-opened window, and his figure sitting at the table trembled, then closed the doors and windows, drew the heavy curtains, and the room returned to the familiar coldness, and the thin sunlight in autumn Even more isolated.

He lay down under the quilt, curled up to breathe, his long dark golden hair was pressed under his body, smooth and comfortable.

"Why is he a mixed race?"

"We've had the worst luck."

"Isn't your Daulsas family a declining branch of the Celestial Clan?"

"Yes, but accidents are not ruled out."

He was an unexplainable accident, and no one thought that the two different bloodlines would be neutralized.

Mother always stepped on sharp high-heeled shoes, and her curly dark purple hair was as shiny as if soaked in oil.Most of the time she wears dark black eye shadow and wears heavy lipstick and argues loudly with her father.His father pursed his lips tightly and paced the floor with his hands behind his back. There was something deep in his blue eyes called arrogance.

He knew very well that he couldn't make a sound at this time, otherwise his mother would scold him loudly, and his father would imprison him in a cube made of mirrors, which was a space made up of magic - his mother had threatened him , you will be dazzled by countless selves, and you will never find a way out.

Like his mother thought, he felt that there were countless images of himself inside, but when he was really locked in, he realized that there was endless darkness inside.That's right, he thought about it for a while, and he understood: when the mirrors are tightly assembled into a cube, no light can penetrate, and people inside can't see anything at all.

The quarrel between his parents could not be transmitted to the cube. He sat in the corner with his eyes closed and kissed his hair.

It's like a small, virtual world that belongs to his kingdom alone.

In this dark territory, he couldn't see the filthy blood, the nobles who were clearly in decline but still tried to hold up their faces, and the light.The only thing he can feel is a strong ego.

Later, probably a long time later.

The money was finally spent on those cumbersome aristocratic etiquette expenses, the old housekeeper disappeared for no apparent reason, and her father strangled her mother to death. At that time, she was putting on lipstick, her arms subconsciously twitched due to the suffocation, and the corner of her mouth was drawn with a bright color by the lipstick .He leaned in front of the vanity mirror and watched expressionlessly, watching the face gradually lose its vitality, only the red streak, which looked like a mocking smile.

On the father's face, there were disgust, hatred, and contempt.Before leaving, he looked at his son with the same eyes, and then walked away without looking back.

He looked at himself in the mirror.

Dark golden hair was tied in a bunch and hung behind her.The facial features have lost their childishness and now have a bit of the gorgeousness of the demon race, but no matter how you look at it, there is a kind of lifeless gloom.

Outside the window is the same decaying sycamore tree. A crow perches on a dry branch. Its scarlet pupils reflect his shadow. It doesn't know how long it stands there before it spreads its wings and flies away.

He bent down to kiss the back of his mother's cold hand, and the light gathered in his palm into a fiery sphere, rolling over the corpses of the dead demons.The woman who was lying flat burned into ashes and scattered in the room.

Dressed in his religious uniform, he left home to go to the temple.He didn't tell his family about his studies. In fact, his parents gave him very little money in this regard. Except for the aristocratic airs put on by his father, he really didn't get much.However, the blood of the Celestial Clan brought him a high affinity for light and a rare talent. He finally graduated from the Seminary with honors and was directly promoted to be a priest of the temple.

Everyone around him said that you are the favor of my god.

The temple was very bright, and to be honest, he didn't like it here, even the air was filled with an uncomfortable smell.

He will feel dirty.

The broken murals on the corridor wall are still vivid. He walked in the corridor, like deciphering the maze, like looking for the story that has long been lost in the dust of history, because it is so tortuous, so colorful, and the road he walked Complete intersection.

There was no information about the father's family in the hallway.He hid the disappointment in his eyes and entered the altar.

He has entered the altar in three capacities, the first is the priest, the second is the son, and the third is the pope.

Ten years later, he is the third type.

He went to the place where the demon sacrifices were held, patiently listened to the bloody lawsuits, and then said with a smile at the end: "The death of heretics is not guilty, and the evil of darkness is responsible." face, reached out and made a sign of the cross on his chest, "the light lasts forever."

It is undeniable that his heart is full of joy.

But there was an accident.In the first sacrifice he presided over, a family member of the demon sacrifice was mixed in. It was the daughter of a wealthy merchant in the gem business, and she secretly hid in the crowd with her five or six-year-old child to watch the execution.She thought she was doing it very covertly, but the child inherited his father's demon blood, and his heart would subconsciously tingle when he was shrouded in light, creating a sense of repulsion, and he could clearly feel the position of the mother and child.

He was hesitant to send someone to arrest him. The demons bound to the salt pillar instinctively sensed the dark elements on the offspring and the subtle movements of the executioner, so he pleaded as a father, "Please..."

He killed the demons amid cheers, and explained to the priest who came to ask about the remaining dark elements that it was just the unwillingness of the demons to remain after their death.

He hesitated for the first time, but soon regretted his soft heart - the boy will inherit the cunning of the human race and the cruelty of the demon race when he grows up, the potential of the mixed race is always far beyond ordinary people, and the status of the demon race that he killed is said to be in the demon world. Whether it is high or low, if there is a successor, it is very likely that the power will grow further. If the old scores are revisited, the Holy See will be a little troublesome.

He hates trouble.

Just a flash of thought, his memory returned to the old attic next to the sycamore tree. The love between the demon clan and the celestial clan was like an endless fairy tale. With the sycamore leaves falling, he still used darkness as a protective color, hiding in the mirror. cubic mile.It's a pity that he will never see the countless selves, so he has to cover his eyes to avoid the dirty colors flowing in his blood.

He sat quietly in the dark, fantasizing about his mother's embrace and his father's smile, and these so-called memories were just the last innocence he had forgotten in that cube, as illusory as a dream.

----Chapter16. Cubic & End----