blood stain

"Dear sister."

After hearing the familiar voice, Electra turned to face the throne.In fact, she had already heard the sound of the heavy shackles dragging the floor, but she didn't want to see the child walking towards her step by step in shackles.

"My poor brother." Electra stood on the high steps, overlooking Orestes in front of the hall, her voice revealed the majesty of the eldest sister, "We haven't seen each other for a while."

"Yeah, I wonder how my sister is doing recently?" Orestes took off his hood, revealing his thin face.

"It's not bad, but you, it's hard to live outside." Electra didn't have too much expression on her face, and she still greeted her brother coldly.

Orestes smiled as if thinking of something: "It's not bad."

"Oh," Electra sighed softly, and after a moment of silence, she walked down the steps, stood in front of Orestes, and looked at the younger brother, "There was a better solution to the matter, but you chose the fastest and most direct solution." A sort of."

Orestes raised his eyes, looked at Electra with a smile and said, "You know, sister, I never like to think."

"No," Electra shook her head with a wry smile, "actually you think more than anyone else, Orestes."

Orestes was silent.

"If you want to be a bad person, you have to be bad with a purpose. Otherwise, you are not worthy of forgiveness." Electra raised her hand, gently stroking Orestes' side face and said, "What is your purpose, Orestes?"

Orestes closed his eyes and rubbed against Electra's warm palm: "I never thought of being forgiven, sister."

Electra was startled, and put down her hands helplessly: "It doesn't matter if I don't say anything, but I should have guessed it, my silly brother."

"Then you should follow your own heart." Orestes smiled gratifiedly, "I should do the same."

There was a trace of emotion in Electra's beautiful eyes, and then she waved her hand resolutely: "Take it down and put it in the sky prison. The blood sacrifice ceremony will be held at noon the day after tomorrow."

The soldiers tightened the chains again and prepared to take Orestes away.

"If you can give me a parting hug, I will be very grateful." Orestes stood still, looking at the long black hair at the back of Electra's head, and said, "My dearest sister."

Electra didn't turn around again, and said coldly: "Put the criminal down."

Electra's rewards have been sent to Hector's home, and they are full of gold in a corner of the house.

"Hector, you don't seem very happy." Helen sat opposite Hector and asked tentatively.

"There's nothing to be happy about." Hector said lightly, playing with a cup.

Helen was a little confused: "With a large amount of gold, we don't have to go out to hunt hard in the future, and you can also move into a big house. Isn't that something to be happy about?"

Hector didn't answer her, but asked suddenly: "Helen, how do you think the soldiers in the palace know that Orestes is hiding here?"

"Ah?" Helen was caught off guard by the question, and hesitated, "Maybe someone saw it and went to report it."

"Orestes never went out, and no one came to my house." Hector stared at Helen's face, and said word by word, "Except you."

"Are you doubting me?" Helen raised her voice angrily.

"Where were you the day those people took Orestes away?"

"I went swimming in the river." Helen turned her head to avoid Hector's gaze.

"But when you came back, there wasn't a single piece of wetness on your body."

"I..." Helen was left speechless by Hector's questioning.

Hector frowned and said, "Helen, why are you reporting on Orestes?"

"Didn't you want to send Orestes back to the palace?"

"But haven't you been blocking me?"

Helen looked at the ground: "I figured it out later, he is a sinner after all."

Hector couldn't believe it: "Helen, what changed you?"

"People are fickle, Hector." Helen sighed and said softly.

Hector shook his head: "I can't accept it yet, you should leave my house first."

"Hector, things have already happened. The day after tomorrow is the blood sacrifice. You can only accept it." Helen stood up, said this, and left without looking back.

Hector sat quietly in the small room by himself.

Although things have happened, the result has not yet been produced, and he still has room for change.

Orestes leaned against the cold wall quietly, his hair had grown to his shoulders, and without careful grooming, it hung in a mess.

"There are assassins!"

There was a sudden commotion outside the prison, followed by the sound of "clinking" fighting.

There was a sudden wave in Orestes' silent eyes, he sat up slightly, and listened to the movement outside with his ears sideways.

"Orestes!" A familiar call sounded from outside the prison.

Orestes stood up from the ground in shock, looked at the person outside the prison door with only eyes exposed, but he could recognize the deity from those blue eyes.

"What are you here for?"

"Take you away." Hector clenched the ax in his hand, and chopped off the wooden prison door two or three times.

If there is a chance, it seems that I have to tell my sister not to use wood as the prison door. Orestes thought helplessly.

"I can't go with you." Orestes stood still.

"If you don't leave, it will be too late, follow me!" Hector stepped in and took Orestes' hand.

The moment the cold hand was held, Orestes thought to himself, it would be fine if he just left.

So he didn't hesitate any more, and escaped with Hector.

"The only thing we can hide now is this forest. They can't find us for the time being." Hector took Orestes to the forest where he hunted most often.

"Hector, let's stop first, I have something to tell you." Orestes stopped in his tracks.

"Can't stop, Orestes, it's not deep enough here, let's go further, if you can't walk, I'll carry you on my back." Hector said and squatted down.

"No need, Hector, that's enough for me." Orestes stroked the top of Hector's hair and smiled contentedly.

"Orestes, what's wrong with you?" Feeling that the atmosphere was not right, Hector turned around and looked at Orestes inexplicably.

"I never thought you would come to save me, Hector." Orestes sat down leaning against the tree, "Thank you, if I have only one day left in my life, it is the greatest gift from God to me to be able to spend it with you gone."

"What is the last day, when we escape from this situation, we will go to other countries to continue living." Hector also sat down beside Orestes.

"Then do you have enough money?"

"I came out in a hurry, I forgot."

Orestes laughed with a "puchi", Hector was stunned, and then laughed too.

The laughter of the two was actually somewhat harmonious in the quiet forest.

Orestes laughed for a while, stopped laughing, and said seriously: "I should die, Hector."

"You can't die."

"I committed a crime of blood. I killed my own father."

"I do not believe."

"Why?" Orestes puzzled, "Everyone believes that I killed it."

"That's because they only know the second prince." Hector looked up at the sunshine on the leaves, and said slowly, "And the Orestes I know—kind, innocent. He sometimes likes to play tricks, but he never I thought about hurting someone else."

Orestes rested his head on Hector's broad shoulders, closed his eyes and smiled slightly: "This is the first time I've heard someone describe me like that."

"Tell me the truth, Orestes," said Hector, "tell me to at least one person."

Orestes was silent for a long time, and when Hector thought he was asleep, he spoke suddenly.

"I love my sister Electra. Although she always looks aloof, she treats me pretty well, at least better than other people in the palace." Orestes said, "She is also the person I admire the most, more than My father. I know she has political ambitions, but she is a daughter."

"But what does this have to do with Agam's death?" Hector asked curiously.

"You're right, Agam was indeed not killed by me. While enjoying the scenery in the garden, he slipped and fell and died accidentally."

"Why don't you tell the truth?"

"Electra would love to be a monarch, but I don't," Orestes continued.

"You don't want to inherit the throne?" Hector was surprised.

Orestes sighed: "Maybe I thought about it at first, but later, I longed for another life." Orestes' eyes reflected the bright afterglow, "A free and simple life. But it is a luxury for me. "

"You're going to live like this."

"I hope." Orestes smiled, and continued, "So I discussed with Electra, faked the illusion that I killed Agam, and announced to the whole city that I fled in fear of crime, so that everyone would know my crime , and believed that I was the murderer."

"Agam has no other heirs, so Electra can justifiably sit on the throne of the king without criticism." Hector added.

"You're smart, Hector." Orestes nodded.

Hector frowned: "So what about you? What do you do?"

Orestes paused: "You don't have to worry about me. Electra is waiting for me to go back to accept punishment, but this punishment has been dealt with in advance and will not cause harm to me. After this scene is over, I can leave the palace and do a Ordinary people."

"What you said is true?" Hector looked into Orestes' eyes and asked seriously.

"Of course. When I fulfill Electra's wish, I will come back to you." Orestes promised solemnly.

Hector's face was serious, but he was still not at ease.

Seeing this, Orestes picked up Hector's knife and cut off a strand of his black hair, and handed it to Hector: "I didn't expect my hair to be so long. Here, this is my promise to you. I swear on justice, If I don't come back, in the future, with this strand of hair, you can go to the Hall of the Dead to find my soul and question me."

Orestes eventually returned to the palace.At noon the next day, blood sacrifice and cleansing ceremony will be held at the altar.

The flames were in the air, and the onlookers couldn't open their eyes.

The priest wearing a white robe looked at the sky, then raised his hand: "The ceremony begins, hang the sinner to the rack!"

Orestes was straddled by two men, their arms bound wide open to a cross.

The white-robed priest walked up to the altar and decisively cut the veins on Orestes' wrists with a small silver knife. The first drop of blood dripped onto the altar and soaked into the loess, leaving dirty blood stains.

——The sinner got the punishment he deserved.

"Oh--!"

The crowd of onlookers cheered, covering Orestes' cries of pain.

The red blood flowed from the prince's hand into the next basin below, "tick-tick" without stopping.The cross is made of metal, and the priest's assistants gather a brazier at the bottom to burn the cross—burning the sinful soul with hot metal, so that the sin in the body is burned away, so that the blood that flows out is holy up.

Four people brought blood to Agam's tomb, Electra pursed her lips, picked up a prepared brush made of buffalo hair, dipped in the blood in the basin, and brushed it on Agam's coffin over and over again to show the sinner's repentance .

All the subjects folded their hands on their chests, bowed their heads and closed their eyes, praying silently.

The brazier under the cross was taken away, and Orestes' wound was bandaged.

At the end of the ceremony, the sinner was hung on the cross, baked by the scorching sun, and waited for the eagles in the sky to come and eat every piece of flesh and internal organs on his body.

Hector waited at home until night fell, but the people who were waiting did not return as promised.

"Hector."

Hector looked up at the door: "Helen, what are you doing here?"

"Orestes...he's dead." Helen walked in, stood in front of Hector, and said.

"I know." Hector nodded, but he'll be back.

The person in front of him was motionless, Hector looked at Helen suspiciously, and found that she was already in tears.

"Orestes is dead! He's dead!" Helen collapsed on the ground as if losing support, covering her face and crying.

"You..." Hector stared blankly at the crying woman on the ground, at a loss what to do.

"His body...is still on the altar..."

Hector sat up abruptly from his chair and rushed out the door.

It was already dark at night, and there was no one around the altar except the wizard who was guarding it.The onlookers embrace Electra - their new leader is gone.

Hector knocked out the wizard and walked up to the altar step by step.

The moonlight poured on the man on the cross, half bright and half dark.

Orestes' body was smeared with blood, and not a single piece of bare skin was intact.

His face was slumped to one side, his eyes were tightly closed, and his long eyelashes cast a shadow on his cheek.His face was as serene as Daphne who had turned into a laurel.

Hector stood in the moonlight, gazing at Orestes' body for a long moment before he untied Orestes from the cross.

Orestes' back was tightly attached to the cross, and the flesh on his back was scorched black.

"Do not--!"

Hector hugged Orestes and cried bitterly.

When Hector was washing Orestes, a piece of cloth was exposed from Orestes' clothes, and Hector took it out and looked at it carefully.

The writing on it has been blurred with blood:

"Hector, I believe you can see this passage. You said that at least one person should be told the truth, and I can tell you the complete truth next.

I didn't kill Agam, but I caused his death.That night Agam fell down, his head hit the stone, when I saw him, he was still alive, he gave me a faint cry for help, but I didn't save him, I just watched him from a distance until he Not breathing.You must ask me why again, because I hate Agam.Living the life you want is not being selfish, it is asking others to live the way you want.I have never had a father's love, and Agam never regarded me as a child, but as the embodiment of his rights, honor, and status. Electra would be a good ruler, she doesn't know this, and if she did, she might forgive me with elder sister's kindness.

As you said, Hector, those who commit the crime of blood stains cannot escape God's punishment. I have been prepared for death from the beginning.In this world, you have to defend something.Mortals die, and it is the inalienable right of every human being to go to hell in his own way.

Everything was planned, the only thing that wasn't planned was that I fell in love with a hunter named Hector.

Hector, please bury my body in the woods where we first met.This is my last request. "

……

Time flies, and 40 years later, Electra's dynasty has long been overturned. The name of Orestes has been erased from the history books because of the crime of patricide, and a new king has ascended the throne.

……

"Mr. Stark, there's an old man up ahead who won't let us into this wood."

Tony Stark frowned and said, "I'm a nobleman, who dares to stop me?" He then drove his horse towards the forest.

Sure enough, there was an old man sitting at the entrance of the woods. His hair was all white. What was strange was that there was a strand of black and white hair intertwined on his head, which was very conspicuous.

"Are you here to hunt?" the old man raised his slack eyelids and asked slowly.

"Are you the ranger here?" Stark asked.

"I also liked hunting when I was young." The old man talked to himself without answering.

Stark said impatiently: "It seems that this old guy has bad ears. Get out of the way, we're going in!"

"You can't go in." The old man said leisurely.

"why?"

"Do you really want to hear it?"

"What do you think."

The old man smiled: "There is a cunning deer in this forest, which can lie and deceive people. It once told a lie, which deceived everyone and the person who loves it the most." He said this and shook his head. , "You go in, you will be cheated if you are not sure."

"Hahahaha..." The riders all laughed after hearing this.

Stark sneered, "The one who loves it the most must be a fool to fall in love with a deer! Ridiculous!"

Another burst of laughter followed.

Stark laughed enough, pointed at the old man with his horsewhip, and asked, "Then who are you, old man?"

"Me," the old man also smiled, "I'm just a forest guard."

……

postscript--

Later, the forest guard died of old age.The forest is unguarded, and people can freely enter the forest to play and hunt, but some people have actually seen a deer in the forest, and there is always a blond boy with a strand of black hair wrapped around the deer. There is a green vine in its mouth.They waded the spring brook and ran deep into the woods.

"You must have read it wrong. How could a deer play with people?"

"I just saw it, believe it or not."

——They say the story is not touching enough, but the storyteller always sheds tears.

(End of the article)

The author has something to say:

【patriarchy】

Due to the influence of the ethical concepts in the era of patriarchy, in addition to natural feelings, the relationship between children and their parents is more importantly the embodiment of the father's life, rights, honor, status and property, especially as a continuation of the father's life. .