Succubus' Manor

Chapter 223

In the steep valley, a group of people are climbing the mountain with difficulty. They carry empty panniers on their backs, with numb expressions on their faces.

"It's almost there." The young man gave his brother a hand behind him.

The younger brother took a few breaths and squeezed out a sentence: "Nick, there is still no food today."

Nick pursed his lips tightly, as if he was comforting his younger brother, but also comforting himself: "The grown-ups will figure out a way."

The younger brother wiped his face: "There is nothing to eat."

They don't have much land of their own. After all, the land in the valley is difficult to reclaim. It was actually easy to feed them before the Flanders came, but after the Flanders came, the output was not enough. The pheasants and deer were almost beaten, and they could only barely eat on the food brought from the holy city.

The younger brother lowered his head and said, "I don't want to go back."

Nick pulled his younger brother aside, distanced himself from the large army, and reprimanded, "What nonsense are you talking about? Why don't you go back and wait on the mountain for wild animals to eat you?"

The younger brother said angrily: "We do everything, they don't have to do anything, and Bonnie...she comes back with injuries every day!"

Bonnie was their older sister, and since the Flanders came and took their house, took their mother and wife and sisters, and they were nothing but cowards.

The Holy Court let the Flanders come, and they couldn't defy the Holy Court. The Holy Court didn't let the Flanders let the woman go, so they didn't dare to ask the Flanders to return the woman.

However, they still have to farm and weave cloth. They are as tired as cattle, but they can't enjoy any fruits of their labor.

But the people who live here are the most devout saints, they don't feel pain, but think it is a kind of salvation - it is the test of the Holy Spirit.

As long as they pass this test, they will definitely be able to go to the Holy Spirit after death, and they will no longer have to suffer from the suffering of the mortal world.

When Nick and his brother returned to their "home", the sun was about to set. After the sun set, the humidity was very heavy. Their house was occupied and they could only live in a temporary shed, which could not be separated from the moisture, and had no furniture and equipment. There is only one loom for the bed, and this loom is only used by their mother at home, because the mother is old, with wrinkled face and gray hair, so it has not been taken away by the Flanders.

The Flanders only want young girls, not even beauty or ugliness.

When Nick and his brother came home, their mother was cooking. There were wild vegetables and a few dry beans cooked in a clay pot, and everyone could only get a small amount.

"Isn't Bonnie back yet?" Nick asked, putting down the pannier.

Mother took out the wooden bowl with no expression on her face: "I don't know."

Nick: "Where is she? I'll go find her."

The father sat on the side with no expression on his face: "You went to find her, but you just got beaten up, and she will come back later."

They just left her a bowl of wild vegetable mush.

There was no oil or candles in the house, and my mother and parents slept after dark. The "bed" was made of hay, so it was softer, and the humidity was not so heavy when sleeping on it.

But Nick and his brother couldn't sleep, and they didn't dare to light a fire outside, so they could only sit on the rocks outside the hut, waiting for Bonnie to come back.

The younger brother looked up at the starry sky, his face was still childish and youthful: "Let's go find Bonnie!"

Nick: "We don't know where she is."

The younger brother pursed his lips: "Where else can I be?"

In fact, they all knew it, but they were unwilling to admit that they knew it, otherwise they would be accomplices and watched their sister being tortured by the Flanders.

Nick pursed his lips: "Let's go."

Brother: "Do you want a knife?"

Nick's eyes widened: "Do you have a knife?"

The younger brother was a little proud: "I hid them before they chased us out. I hid three small knives. Come with me. I hid them in a tree."

Compared with adults, children are not so devout to the Holy Spirit. The brothers quietly climbed up the tree to get the knife, then walked down the path, lowered their bodies and went to the houses occupied by the Flanders—these houses were all occupied by the Flanders after they came here. They built it by themselves. The house is not big, but they did build it up with stones bit by bit. They dug the clay by themselves and tried to match it. After collapsing a lot of houses, they built it.

But now, these are no longer theirs.

The closer they got to the house, the louder the voices in the ears of the brothers.

There were men's laughter and voices. They couldn't understand what the Flanders were saying, but they could hear the obscenity in the voice.

There are also women's begging for mercy, screaming, and the sound of pain under despair.

The younger brother stopped in his footsteps, and he asked incredulously, "Then...is that Bonnie's voice?"

Nick clenched the knife in his hand, took a few breaths, and said to his brother, "Don't be afraid."

They were getting closer and closer to the cabin.

With the cover of night and the "lively" inside the hut, no one found them, allowing them to hide under the window sill.

The sound inside made them frightened, and the two brothers waited for a long time before they finally dared to stand up and look into the window.

It was a sight they would never forget.

Nick's eyes widened. He knew what would happen to Bonnie, but he couldn't imagine such a cruel scene.

He didn't even dare to look at Bonnie.

All that could be heard was Bonnie crying.

Bonnie kept crying and calling for help, sometimes calling her father, sometimes calling her mother, and even calling the names of Nick and her brother.

But no one let her go.

Nick held the knife, his eyes were red and the veins on his forehead popped, but he didn't move.

He didn't dare to move either.

The younger brother whispered, "Nick, let's go save them!"

Nick covered his brother's mouth, and said with difficulty in his ear: "There are more than ten of them...we can't...we can't save them..."

Finally, Nick dragged his brother back home.

The younger brother scolded him all the way: "Why didn't you rush in with me to save them! You coward!"

Nick listened to his younger brother's scolding, he lowered his head, not daring to look back at his younger brother's face.

The younger brother walked halfway, and even started to fight with him. The two got entangled, and Nick shouted in despair: "Can we save it with the two of us?"

The younger brother pressed on Nick, and he also shouted: "Then look at it like this?"

Both brothers had mud on their faces, and Nick said with trembling lips: "I don't know..."

What can they do?

So many soldiers, unless they take Bonnie down the mountain.

But their parents are absolutely unwilling to go down the mountain, and they want to be saints of the Holy Court no matter whether they live or die.

Going down the mountain means abandoning the Holy Court.

So they can go, but they can't. Parents are the thread that holds them.

The two brothers returned to the hut in silence, but they didn't sleep. Instead, they opened their eyes and looked at the roof until they heard footsteps after an unknown period of time.

Bonnie is back.

Nick got up, lowered his voice and said to Bonnie: "There is a meal for you."

Bonnie didn't speak, her eyes were dull, her face was pale, and there were wounds on her neck and arms. She glanced at her younger brother, found a corner in silence, and fell asleep curled up.

From the beginning to the end, she didn't say a word.

Nick stood where he was, not knowing what to say or what to do.

Bonnie has changed.

Before the Flanders came, she was the eldest sister in the family, she would help her mother weave and cook, and she would also work the fields. She always had a smile on her face, and at night when the family gathered around the dining table, she would sing two Duan Shengge, there will never be any haze on her face, no matter how heavy the life is, the smile on her face will never fade.

But that seemed a long time ago, and now Bonnie doesn't talk all day long, and every day when it's getting dark, she has to go to the cabin by herself.

Sometimes in the middle of the night she would let out patient gasps, either from pain or sadness.

But the parents just turned a blind eye to her pain.

For them, a daughter cannot be compared with the tasks entrusted to them by the Holy Court.

Sacrificing a child can allow the whole family to live a stable life. After completing the task, not only can they be rewarded by the Holy Court, but they can also serve the Holy Spirit after death. The harvest is always greater than the sacrifice.

So the girls lived like Bonnie.

Flando's soldiers were not pursuing them, and they were even worse than prostitutes. After all, in order to allow prostitutes to have direct customers, the brothel would not allow them to serve more than two customers at a time.

But they are not. They have no right to choose or refuse. They can only accept all violations and abuses in silence.

Some girls didn't make it through, and they would be thrown directly down the hillside without even a tombstone.

For girls who commit suicide, the whole family will be punished, so they can't escape, or even choose to die, and their parents and relatives act as if they didn't see it.

No one in this world can save them.

Bonnie curled up in the corner, she didn't sleep, and she couldn't sleep, she listened to the breathing and snoring of her parents and younger brothers while sleeping, a strange emotion emerged spontaneously—she was in such pain, why did her family Can you pretend you didn't see it?

She didn't dare to run away for them, and she was deprived of the right to commit suicide. She sank deeper and deeper into this swamp, but no one would reach out to her.

Bonnie gritted her teeth, and after making sure that everyone was asleep, she bowed her waist and stood up quietly.

They don't care about her, so she doesn't care about them either!

She never wants to live like this again!

Bonnie has night blindness, she can hardly see at night.

Relying on memory every night, I stumble back home.

Now she is also relying on and, stumbling towards the place where she made an appointment with her friends.

It was a hillside far away from the place of residence, surrounded by trees and boulders. Bonnie's face and body were scratched by numerous small wounds by branches and grass leaves. Her foot was also sprained, and she dared not even move if she heard the sound of reptiles sliding past her ears.

Until she heard the voice of her companion.

"Bonnie." The girl's voice trembled.

Bonnie waved her hands like a blind person, and the girl quickly grabbed one of her hands. Finally, a smile appeared on Bonnie's face: "Is everyone here?"

Girl: "...Only you are here."

Bonnie's throat was a little choked, and she didn't know whether she felt unlucky for herself or for the girls who didn't come.

They couldn't let go of their family members, fearing that they would be punished because of themselves, so they gave up their dignity, gave up everything, and continued to stay there.

Bonnie grabbed the girl's arm: "Come on, you lead me, let's go down the mountain."

Girl: "I, we have no food... and no weapons, what should we do if we encounter wild beasts?"

Bonnie quickly comforted her: "Don't be afraid, we can eat wild fruits and grass roots if we don't have food, we can pick some insect repellent weeds, and light a fire at night to watch the night, as long as we go down the mountain, we can go down the mountain."

The girl was only 14 years old, and there was no panic in Bonnie's voice, which calmed the girl down again.

The two of them suddenly held hands, cautiously, and staggered down the mountain.

They don't know what the world below the mountain is like.

But in the world on the mountain, they don't want to stay any longer.

The dark night is not suitable for traveling. No matter how bright the moonlight is, Bonnie can't see anything. The girl's night blindness is not as severe as hers, but she can only see vaguely. They walked and fell all the way, but they dared not stop for fear that someone would find out When they were young, they were chased out to catch them back. For the two girls, fear motivated them to be brave. Once they thought that someone might be chasing them behind them, they couldn't stop their steps.

It wasn't until dawn broke and Bonnie could finally see that she realized they had deviated from the way down the mountain.

There are almost the same mountains and valleys here, and getting lost means that you may never get out of here again.

The girl fell to the ground, covering her face and crying.

But Bonnie said: "Let's find a place with high ground and see where we can go down. Don't worry, since we have come out, we can always think of a way to go down the mountain."

They spent three days surviving by drinking stream water and eating worms and grass roots.

Finally, when they were about to fail, they stood at the foot of the mountain.

"We're out." Bonnie finally lost all her strength and sat down on the ground.

The girl was also crying and laughing on the side.

They exhausted their physical strength. Before, they relied on willpower to persevere, but now they are so relaxed that they can't even move their fingers.

At this time, a group of people appeared within the sight of Bonnie and the girl.

-

Chi Yan was riding a horse. It was rare for him to come out once, and he still held the map that Antoine gave him. The map was complete, but complete also meant that the size of the parchment was not enough to make the marking points very clear. After marking six hills, Chi Yan and the others just ruled out two, and now they are going to continue to rule out.

"What's the matter?" Chi Yan tightened the reins, and Kleist's horse also stopped.

The soldiers also stopped.

Chi Yan looked not far away, and saw two girls collapsed on the side of the path, a little far away, and he couldn't see their faces clearly.

"It shouldn't be the civilians nearby." Chi Yan kicked the horse's belly lightly, and the horse walked towards the girl.

Bonnie watched someone on a horse, backlit, and the sunlight was so behind her that she couldn't see his face clearly.

But inexplicably, she didn't feel scared.

She watched the horse's hooves rise and fall, and watched the sun coat him with a golden tulle coat.

Bonnie looked at it stupidly.

——If there really is a Holy Spirit in the world.

That should be the person walking towards him at this time.