Chapter 20 5. Goodbye, Natalie

Natalie had been silent, and was finally irritated when she heard this.His words repelled her, and even frightened her. "Don't say these things... I won't let you say... My position in your heart has nothing to do with me. As for whether you are Jericho or Jean de Provanec, it also has nothing to do with me! " "You must listen to me," he said more forcefully. "Two people like us are closely linked by fate. Before we really see each other's heart clearly, we have no right to say goodbye." She protested again: "I won't allow you to say that. Haven't you been treating me like a stranger for weeks?"

"A stranger who loves you." His tone became unexpectedly heated, even changing the tone of the conversation. "Since the day I saw you garlanded myself in the gardens of Naples, I have only seen you in my mind. During the months I passed in darkness, my head was dark, Only your image stays clearly inside. Only your youthful and beautiful image guides me. It is possible for me to appear insensitive or hostile afterwards, however, I am trying my best to move towards the truth I have only you in my mind, and in you I place all my hopes. From the gardens of Naples to the Villa Mirador, from the valley of the Segeste to this moment, I see in myself only Love, the deepest and brightest love. And you, Natalie, I've made it clear who I am, is it your turn to tell me what you feel inside?"

"I?" "Yes, just the two of us face to face. You should be equally frank, you have heard me say, and if we must part, shouldn't I have heard the same frankness from you?" He took the girl's wrist with a strong hand, and continued with enthusiasm and restraint: "You remember how excited you were at the Villa Mirador... At that time! You, like me, felt a kind of excitement in an instant. If it weren't for Inspired by the same miraculous emotion, would you have done that at that time? Aren't we equally fanatical? We listened to the sound of boats crashing together, and leaned over the vast sea together. Are we still ordinary friends in that situation? ?When the bell rang, the flames in the sea rose to the sky, and the sound of guitar playing gradually faded away, the feeling that we were together, the feeling that we had each other, wasn't it the hottest feeling in your life? You recall, na Wasn't Tully .

"Shut up! Shut up!" stammered Natalie, alarmed by the reintroduction of these old events. "Stop it! I can't agree to..." She desperately wanted to break free from the opponent's hand, her face flushed with shame and anger. "You hear me out," Alan Rock ordered. "...that is, until you confess." "Confession of what?" Natalie yelled, annoyed. "Confess how I'm at the mercy of others? Well, perhaps. Confess that you are stronger than I am... Your will overwhelms me... Hey, look at my wrist, it hurts so badly. Ah! Things It's always been that way. From the beginning, I've had to obey. If I run away and you run after me like I'm your prey, well, I don't want to submit anymore, I don't want to! I don't want to!"

A smile appeared on his face. "It's not surrender." "It's surrender," she said firmly. "I was like a slave, how obedient I was when you forced your way on board. But the past is past. An event in the past set me free, and I will not repeat the same mistakes." "In that case, what are you doing in this shabby place?" he said. "If it wasn't for chasing down my memories, asking questions about me, getting excited about seeing my childhood, my innocence, what are you doing here? You think I can't see Almer Do you feel so embarrassed by what you say? Do you think that when she comes back, you may wonder if I will rush to my former fiancée, and I don't see how pale you have become?"

"How dare you say that?" Natalie was furious. "Who didn't let you out?" "Because I love you. Almer knew I was here if only you had said a word." "Why don't I say it? Who won't let me say it?" "Because you love me." In a rage, she finally pushed Alan Rock away.She trembled all over, and then walked towards him again. "What you call love is actually hate. I hate you!" "No," he said. "There was a brief moment when you thought you were alienating me because you thought I was sick and inhuman. From the day you felt my pain and fear, that delusion vanished. gone."

"I hate you," she said again, looking very distressed. "Did you hear that? I've been avoiding you..." He grabbed her by the shoulder again, and said bluntly, "Well, if you hate me, why did you save me just now? You thought I was the murderer of your father, but when Boniface shot me You were the one who yelled 'Alan Rock'. Was it hate or love? Answer me, Natalie!" She backed away.Her legs touched the dilapidated stone bench.Allen Rock stretched his arms around her body, holding her tightly in his arms. "You dare to say that you don't love me, proud woman! The evidence of love has fallen into the hands of a hateful man, do you still have the right to remain silent?"

She lost the strength to fight against him, let alone fight against herself.Alan-Rourke's passion seeped in, sapping her.Words of love came to her lips, but out of shyness, she remained silent, for her eyes said it all. She recalled her own thoughts about kissing, that touching the mouth was a failure, whether through rhetoric or violence.She thought, "If he kisses me, I'm done." She waited, anxious and terrified. Nothing touched Natalie more than his unexpected resolution, his restraint of emotion.He let go of his arms, and with infinite respect, he asked her to sit down on the stone bench very kindly, then, kneeling on the ground, he kissed her skirt.

"Forgive me. Jean de Prouenec was a savage, you know, and will be for a long time. But everything will change, and must change. Believe me, in the In my heart, although I often speak big words, I am not proud of my life, as I know it now. Between the past I found and the future I dreamed, there should be a period of redemption And the phase of introspection. Natalie, whether it's Jericho or Alan Rock, the big adventure is over. There's equal arrogance and equal vanity in both. To get Jean de Prouenec back, to get your forgiveness, I must do something more earthly with all my heart."

He stood up while talking, taking advantage of the moment of excitement, and continued to develop what he had said. "Yes, I should work, herd sheep, and cultivate wasteland. In the past, I would be a monk. Today, I will go far away and be a new immigrant. Besides, in order to verify whether there are still pirates and adventurers in me Whether the nature of family has radically eradicated the state of non-judgment and madness caused by the war, shouldn't I be self-reliant and behave in a well-behaved way?" He walked back and forth for a minute or two, then came back to her.

"And, Nathalie, people like Falville and Boniface, we don't know what their reaction will be. Neither of them will give up evil. Believe it, there is nothing It can be shown that the law will never sanction them, and there will be no sensational events that will bring Jericho's past back to light. I don't want to take the risk of having your name sullied because of me. Let's break up, Natalie. " She holds her face in her hands.is she cryingWould she return his glance with indifference?He said to her: "In the Pruvanec family there is an important secret passed down from father to son, Nathalie, and the women's family members also know it in private, but this secret has never been leaked to the outside world. Huguet de Pu Rowanek, a nobleman of Jerusalem, the first Jericho prince, was rewarded with a pendant containing a piece of wood from the original cross.” He continued with a smile, “What a pity! Things do not bring us wisdom, nor peace, but on the contrary, we become so arrogant that we suffer from them. The holy things are hidden in the pendant, and in my safe With the old certificate, which can prove its infallibility. Please keep it, Nathalie. One day, I think you are worthy, and you think you can bring Jean de Provanec back here, Bring him back to his territory, and you will return him to me." Nathalie whispered, barely audible: "And Almer de Aneris?  …" He replied, "Her hopes will fade. I saw her just now and heard what she said. She is not suffering so much. She will forget." He picked a fat leaf from the haystack, stuck it to the outside of his thumb, and pressed it down with the other thumb.Then, as every child does, he put his mouth close to the blade and blew hard, and the blade shrilled, and he blew three times in succession. "Listen," he said. "Do you hear footsteps? Yes, footsteps coming here through the ruins! . . . " He blew a few more times.The footsteps quickened.Suddenly, at a distance of fifty meters, old Geoffroy appeared at the height of a slope.Panting for breath, with a puzzled look on his face, he looked around for the whistle sound. Alan Rock blew a third time, the stretched leaves vibrating between his thumbs. "It was a signal from my childhood that I came back from stealing and needed Geoffroy to help me climb over the wall." The old butler approached, his steps became slower and slower, and he was almost out of breath.He heard the old signal, but his old eyes were dim, and he could only see his master vaguely in the distance. There were still ten steps away, he hesitated for a moment, and suddenly understood everything, at the same time, his body swayed involuntarily.Alan Roque hurriedly supported him with both hands, and the old man stammered: "Jean! Ah! How could this be...My Jean!...Did you really tell De Aneris right?... My let..." Alan Rock took him to Nathalie and said to him: "Geoffroy, this is your mistress... Madame Provanec..." The old man saluted and immediately accepted the new mistress.Alan Rock, eager to get things done, leaned over and said, "Geoffroy, stop talking. Yes, I know, you love me... You want to tell me that, and Keep me with you. It's impossible... I have to go. Listen to me. I'll send you some money now and then... You keep the estate as orderly as possible according to the previous plan, you Have that plan. By that day, in four or five years, it should be made livable...Especially, you must never tell Miss de Aneris that you have seen me." He hugged Geoffroy, and walked towards Nathalie. "Perhaps you want to make amends for my bad deeds. Then, I will certainly be of good use to you to visit the Tulsi family in the village of Castellslano... Then, there are other things to do, don't responsibility... I will write to you." She nodded yes.He looked at her for a long time.Her eyes were moist, and her emotions were mixed, and they all showed on her face. "Goodbye, Natalie." "Goodbye," she replied softly. "You love me, don't you?" "I love you." They said nothing else.he's gone. Several times she watched him walk down the path leading to the gate.She really wanted to go with him.Why separate?Why bother to test again?Why so many precautions against the arrangement of fate?Whether he was Jean de Prouenec, or Alan Roque, or even Jericho, didn't she love him? Beside her, the old man trembled like a leaf.Then, he raised his crutches, stabbed and slashed like fencing, and played a few tricks.She whispered: "We won't have to wait that long, my dear Geoffroy. Let's take care of the estate together. Fix what needs repairing. In a few months, I will go to Jean de Proyet." Neck." In the distance, on the road leading from the gate to the woods, she could still see his tall figure.He strides like a beast, strong and powerful, with long legs, a well-proportioned upper body, and thick shoulders.How powerful! How incredible! She thought of the extensive genealogy of the Pruenecs.She thought that this person was Jericho, and although she was not worried about his future changes, she still shuddered.She thought of these lines at the same time: "He won trust like this? This is the power of the mind, the magic of the heart. He changes other people's minds as he pleases..."