Snow Burial: Secret Love Poems from Winter

It wasn't until this night that Norlins discovered the real Karlan—of course, it could have been another situation: Norlins finally realized that he would never know what Karlan really looked like.

Rather than saying "tenderness", Norlins prefers to call the scene in front of him a step-by-step rest.Karlan leaned on the bed, dragging the slender cigarette rod with a thin but powerful hand, and the lingering smoke rose around him.Norlins was sitting on the chair opposite the bunk—Karlan said he'd have to go back to jail for a few more days, at least to act like a prisoner.

"Why did you choose to let me help?" Norlins asked casually.

Karlan looked out through the window in the tower, and the morning star loomed in the thin clouds.He swept back the hair that fell on his forehead, and the fine beads of sweat on his face had evaporated in the dry air. "You have nothing to do with Star, and I know what price you will offer."

Norlings laughed: "It looks like we're alike."

Karlan glanced at him with a half-smile, then turned his gaze to the blurred stars in the distance.

Norlins suddenly felt a little disappointed: Karlan is not as clean as a blank sheet of paper, and even his anger is carefully calculated.But at the same time, he felt a little lucky: they were finally able to meet again, although this reunion was destined to miss the true love.

He liked Karlan, but Karlan obviously didn't have any ambiguous thoughts about him.The existing grievances made Norlins lower his expectation of the relationship between them—he didn’t expect Karlan to forgive him, and he didn’t expect to breed a love that could overwhelm hatred; Norlins realized that, Even with the exchange of benefits for each of them, he still looks forward to every contact with Karlan.

Norlins started another topic, trying to dilute the dull atmosphere with irrelevant things: "Have you heard of our star observation tower, where you can see the most beautiful starry sky and the reflection of the starry sky on the lake."

Karlan is not interested in this: "I think it looks the same everywhere, they are just a few shiny stones."

"I just wanted to say that you are as beautiful as the stars."

"Your compliment doesn't endear me."

"—I know," Norlins whispered.He fiddled with the iron chain hanging under his wrist, like a treasured object in a watchtower.

Karlan didn't break his word.

Norlins was released after spending several days in the prison in the south of Baiwanling.Before setting off to return to the Land of the Great Lake, Karlan brought him a written peace treaty.Outsiders would not have noticed that when Norlins returned the signed peace treaty to Karlan, he deliberately scratched the back of Karlan's hand with his injured finger.He didn't miss the moment when Karlan raised his eyes because of this small gesture.

Norlins returned to Lake Territory as if nothing had ever happened.Mora is much more peaceful than before, and seems to have a rough guess about what happened between Norlins and Karlan.Norlins didn't care about him, but used his wrist and connections as before to manage every family property in his hands and control every inch of territory he should have.

In winter, the grain produced in Juhuling is loaded into trucks and crosses the snow-frozen northern border, injecting new vitality into the barren Baiwanling like a surging warm current.And the freight station in the south of Baiwanling was once again full of rare minerals that would be transported to the south. The good horses of the Snow Country finally no longer set foot on the fertile land of Juhuling as war horses.

Sometimes Norlins would write to Karlan.Instead of doing business and proposing new plans around the trade and defense of the two places, Norlins wrote more love poems stamped with secret letters.For those ambiguous texts, Karlan never gave any reply—even if Norlins sent serious official documents, he was extremely stingy with his pen and ink.

Even so, Norlins continued his courtship happily.He imagined how Karlan spent his day in Snow Lion Castle, hiding all the conspiracies he witnessed or participated in under his calm face; imagined that Karlan walked into the lighthouse standing on the cliff alone, with himself Share a cold starry sky in different places.

Thanks to the resumption of trade between the two sides, Norlins was able to obtain more news from Neverwinter from the merchants.He heard that Stahl relied more and more on Karlan, and handed over part of the military and administrative power to this young man who often sat in the capital, as if he regarded him as his own flesh and blood.Norlins pictured in his mind what Karlan might look like when faced with all this: his expression was decisive and steady, his eyes were both sea water and flames, and the surging love and hatred were buried deep in the maze by the wind and snow.

He didn't know how long Karlan would be dormant under Star's command, and he didn't know what Karlan's plan was; but Norlins still knew about himself.At least one thing is clear: Norlins will reject any request from Karlan that is contrary to his status as lord.He can abandon his excess desires for Karlan, and he can also abandon Karlan for the benefit of the Great Lake Territory.Norlins believed that Karlan's plan would definitely be in their common interests—after all, he was a person who was used to hiding his strength and biding his time, and was smart enough.

The more he imagined this, the more fascinated Norlins became about Karlan.Even close friends who are familiar with him can't help laughing: his children who were born after impulsiveness have already learned how to ride a pony with the court servants, and Norlins himself turned upside down for a man in Baiwan whom he had only met a few times. Dictionary of the Old Imperial Language.

Norlins knew that he was the only one who would be so invested in this emotion; as for Karlan, Norlins never expected to hear the slightest echo from him.But whenever he came to the top of the Star Watching Tower alone, like a child, he lay his pillow on the thick stone bricks that had been silent for centuries, his eyes were full of bright and dark stars, after all, he still harbored some illusory and humble longings.

Mora didn't dare to call Norlins at this time. Even though he had several reasons such as "it's cold and easy to catch cold" and "the lord of the giant lake must look like a lord", he still refused to interrupt his master unwisely. reverie.

Norlins' eldest son, Gwenk, is nine years old, and he often follows his father in contact with some less esoteric and relatively important work; and when Norlins is too busy to manage him, Mora will temporarily take on the "less care" master's responsibility.As Norlins's lesser confidant, it's not that Mora didn't try to curry favor with Gwink -- and he did.But in the end, Mora understood Norlins's extraordinary insight, and those little calculations quickly ran aground in his own plans.

It was another dry and cold night, Gwenk dodged Mora's block, trotted all the way to the top of the Observation Tower, cheered and threw himself into Norlins' embrace.Despite his dignified status as the son of a lord, he usually shows a seriousness and sensitivity that does not match his age (very different from Norlins when he was a child), but he is just a child who likes to stay with his father.

Norlins, who was interrupted from stargazing and meditation, was not angry, but smiled and rubbed Gwenk's long curly hair. "It's getting late, why didn't Mora push you to sleep?" He asked softly.

Gwenk grinned, his big clear eyes shining in the moonlight: "I threw him away."

Norlins gently reprimanded Gewenk, but instead of driving him back to the room, he lay beside him on the heavy cloak he had unrolled, tracing a highly simplified constellation map for his young son in the air with his fingers.In fact, Norlins didn't know much about astrology—that's the job of a stargazer; he simply heard anecdotes from his own father and passed them on to his children.

"Father, what were you thinking just now when you looked at the stars?" Gewenke asked curiously, his little hands clenched Norlins's skirt.

Norlins smiled and looked at the hair on the top of Gwenk's head, and chose a perfunctory answer that was more incomprehensible for children between lying and being honest: "I'm afraid you won't understand when I tell you, you'd better wait until you grow up to guess. "

Gewenke stared at his father dissatisfied: "You always say that."

"There are still many questions in the future, and I will answer them like this." Norlins showed a mischievous expression, and his behavior that did not match his age and identity made Gewenke who was just about to get angry laugh.He stood up with his arms around his son's slender shoulders, and pulled the cloak over him. "It's cold at the top of the tower, we should go back."

The father and son of the lord of the Juhu Territory walked down the star-watching tower on the steps that circled smoothly under the moonlight, just like stepping on the thin snow in winter.

Norlins did not hear from Karlan until the winter when Gewenk's voice-changing period was coming to an end.At the same time as this handwritten letter arrived, there was also the smell of blood wafting southward after the resumption of war in the northern territories of the empire, as well as rumors of breaking the contract in the territory of Baiwan territory.

Norlins realized that Karlan's revenge had reached the most critical period.And what he played in this revenge drama was just a supporting role that had never appeared in front of him.