Chapter 8 Chapter 6 Altruism

"Okay, Lord Denis, I will keep bowing until I bury my face in the mud." That was what a eccentric old farmer said to Denis Gandley in the field the next day.All the humans and gnomes gathered around Deni burst into mocking laughter. "Should I pay taxes directly to you now?" asked the other guy, "a part here versus a part there, a part of the pig's feed and a part of the pig's own?" "Only the back half of the pig," said the first old man, "keep the front part for yourself." "You should leave the feeding part instead of the meaty end," said a pointed-nosed dwarf. "That sounds more like something in the mind of a nobleman!"

They laughed loudly again.Denis Gandre tried to hold back a silence as much as possible, but very unsuccessfully.Of course he understood their joy.These farmers never had a chance to lift their heads out of the muddy ground they had sunk into, but now, suddenly and unexpectedly, it looked like luck was about to change for the Gandelés. One of the members may be on the verge of climbing to that impossibly high position. Denis could have taken their taunts, joined in with this whole hearty laugh, even interspersed with some of his own wisecracks, but there was one fact that didn't suit him, and it was the one thing that kept him up at night. : Meralda doesn't want to go.If his daughter could show some attitude, some yes, to Lord Feringal, Deni would be one of the happiest people in the North.He knew the truth, so he couldn't ignore the guilt in his heart.For this reason, the taunts hit him hard, in the mud of this rainy morning, adding wounds to his nerves that were unknown to his friends.

"So when are you and your family going to move into the castle, Lord Denis?" asked another guy who moved up to Denis with an awkward bow. Purely on instinct, Denis shoved him onto the man's shoulders before he even thought about his move, laying him defenseless in the mud.The guy crawled and laughed like everyone else. "Oh, he's never acted like a noble before!" cried the first old rascal. "Get to work in the fields, or Lord Denis will kick us all down!" As if on cue, all the peasants began to kneel in the mud and worship Denis. After withdrawing his anger, he remembered that these were all his friends, they just didn't understand how Deni felt, and Deni Gandrey walked out of their siege, fists clenched tightly, knuckles Whitened, he gritted his teeth until his jaw ached, and a long string of muttered curses escaped his mouth.

"Never felt so stupid," Meralda confessed to Torrey, as the two girls stayed in their little stone house.Their mother was out, for the first time in two weeks, and she was so keen to run around among friends in the neighborhood telling the story of her daughter's night with Lord Feringal. "But how beautiful you are in that dress," Torrey argued. Meralda returned her sister with a faint smile of gratitude. "He must have been staring at you, I'm sure," Torre added.Judging from her expression, this young girl has completely fallen into a dream full of romantic fantasies.

"And his sister, Ms. Priscilla, but she's been maligning me." Meralda replied, saying at the same time a word that was often used as a curse among peasants. "Oh, she's a fat cow," said Torrey, too. "She's just jealous of your beauty." Both girls burst out laughing together at this moment, but Meralda's laughter lasted only a short while, and she immediately became frowning again. "Why are you unhappy?" Torrey asked. "He is Lord of Orkney and can bring you anything you want." "Can he?" Meralda resumed the sarcasm. "Can he set me free? Can he give me my Jaka?"

"Can he give you a kiss?" Torrey asked playfully. "I can't stop him from kissing me," Meralda replied, "but he doesn't want more, and believe me, I've given Jaka my heart, not anyone who smells good Lord." Her proclamation seemed to evaporate in an instant, and her voice trailed at last into a whisper, for at that moment the curtain parted and a furious Denis stormed in. "Get out," he ordered Torrey.When the younger daughter hesitated for a moment and cast a concerned look at her sister, he growled even louder: "Disappear immediately, little piggy!"

Torrey hurried out of the room, looking back at her father at the same time, but his gaze immediately caused her to flee the room at full speed. Denis Gandrey turned his terrible scowle on Meralda, and the girl didn't know what to do, for she had never seen such an unforgettable expression on her father's face. "Dad." She began to greet tentatively. "You let him kiss you?" asked Denis Gandrey directly, his voice trembling, "and he wanted something more?" "I can't stop him," Meralda emphasized, "he's coming too fast." "But you want to stop him."

"Of course I am!" Before the words were finished, Denis Gandley's big slap had already landed on Meralda's face. "And you want to give your heart and everything you have as a woman to a peasant boy, don't you?" the man growled. "But, Dad—" A second slap slapped Meralda onto the bed, before rolling to the floor.Denis Gandrey poured out all his frustrations on her, slapping her with his huge, powerful hands, beating her on the head and shoulders, calling her a "slut," a "whore," and calling her She didn't think about her mother at all—the person who brought her up.

She tried to fight back, tried to explain that she loved Jaka and not Lord Feringal, that she had done nothing wrong, but her father couldn't listen anymore.All he was doing was raining beatings and cursing on her, one after another, until she was lying on the ground with her arms folded over her head, protecting herself ineffectively. The beating stopped as quickly as it started.It was a while before Meralda dared to lift her bruised face from the floor and look slowly at her father.Denis Gandre was sitting on the bed, crying loudly with his head in his hands.Meralda had never seen him like this.She walked slowly to his side, calmly and softly reassuring him that everything was all right.Momentary anger replaced his sadness, and he grabbed his daughter by the hair and dragged her towards him.

"Now you remember, girl," he said through his teeth, "listen to me. You don't have a choice. Not at all. You give Feringo The lord has all he wants and more, and keep a smile on your face. Your mother is dying, stupid girl, and Lord Feringal is the only one who can save her. I won't let her Damn, I won't let you be so selfish." He shook her hard and let her go.She stared at her father as if he were a stranger, and that look was perhaps the most painful thing for a lost Denis Gandre. "Or better yet," he said quietly, "I'll see Jaka Scully die with my own eyes, and let his body be eaten on the rocks by gulls and petrels."

"Dad..." the young girl protested, her voice barely a whisper, and a trembling whisper at that. "Stay away from him," Denis Gandley ordered. "You should go to Lord Feringal. I don't want to hear a single complaint." Meralda didn't move, didn't even wipe the tears that were already streaming from her beautiful green eyes. "Clean yourself up," Deni Gandrey instructed. "Your mother is coming home, and she won't want to see you like this. You're all her hopes and dreams, girl, and if you take them from Take it away from her, and she will be buried under the cold loess." After saying this, Deni stood up from the bed and started to walk towards Meralda, as if to hug her, but when he put his hands close to her, the girl's nervousness was something he had never experienced before.He walked past Meralda, his lowered shoulders expressing a genuine rout. He left her alone in the house, and then deliberately walked to the northwest side of the hill, where there was no one inhabited but a rocky place where he could be alone with his thoughts.And his sorrow. "Then what are you going to do?" Torrey asked Meralda, and the young girl rushed into the house as soon as her father was out of sight.Meralda was busy wiping the last trace of blood on her lips and did not answer her. "You should stay away from Jaka," Torrey said suddenly, her face glowing as if she had discovered the perfect solution to all the world's problems.Meralda looked at her suspiciously. “哦，对了，那个是你爱的人，”少女更正道，“那么远离弗林戈领主吧。只是我无法想象这么做的话爸爸会怎样狠狠地揍你。” Meralda turned her head and looked at her own bruises in the silver-plated mirror again, which was definitely the strongest reminder of the outburst just now.Unlike Torrey, she can imagine, every blow can be imagined.She wasn't a child anymore, and she could understand the anguish on her father's face—even when he hit her like that.He was scared, very scared, for her mother, for all of them. Then she understood her duty.Meralda realized that her duty to the family was extremely important, not because of the intimidation and threats from her father, but because of her love for her mother, father, and annoying little sister.And so, staring at her own bruised face in the mirror, Meralda Gandley began to understand the responsibility that had fallen on her slender shoulders, the timing that had come before her whole family. Still, she shuddered as she imagined Lord Feringal's lips touching hers, his hands on her breasts. Deni Gandre barely noticed that the sun was setting below the sea level, and that the little bugs that found him sitting motionless were flocking to his bare arms and neck and throwing a party.This uncomfortable feeling is nothing at all.How did he beat his beloved daughter just now?Where did this anger come from?How could he be so angry at her, a person like her who had done nothing wrong or violated him? Deni's mind played back the horrific shots of seeing Meralda, his beautiful, beautiful Meralda lying on the floor avoiding him, shielding her body from his vicious beatings.Deep down, Deni Gundry knew he wasn't angry with her, but that his frustration and anger were directed at Lord Feringal.His anger comes from his humble position in the world, where he can only watch his family of farmers and his wife get sick and die, unless Lord Feringal There is a possibility of interference. Denis Gandre knew all this, but deep down he only knew that for his own selfish reasons he had sent his beloved daughter into the arms and bed of a man she did not love.Denis Gandre knew he would be a coward at that moment, in no small part because he found himself unable now to muster the courage to jump off the mountain and throw him on the jagged rocks not far below. To pieces.