In the midst of the chaos of laughter, Hesta's expression began to turn blank. The girls were talking about a topic that was both unfamiliar and surprising to her. The more he listened, the more Hestad realized that this was not the book club he expected.
The girls were excitedly looking for a third person to join the conversation so that the argument could come to an end as quickly as possible. They looked for Roger first.
This rich, mysterious, and elegant guest looks like a character straight out of a romantic story. Although they have never been sincere, at some point, they have all more or less fantasized about becoming "Grey's Bride" - the most romantic part of it is to be the only one who can take off his mask and become the "Grey's Bride". The woman who saw her appearance.
However, after Gray listened for a while, he almost without hesitation voted for the story in which the male protagonist had a higher moral standard. This decision immediately attracted protests from opponents.
"I take back the proposal I just made. In fact, it is a very wrong decision to let Mr. Gray participate in our vote." The girl who was not satisfied with the result smiled and held Roger's arm for a while, "Mr. Gray is a man, how could he Do you understand what girls’ true love fantasies are—”
"I really don't understand..." Roger asked warmly, "What do you want?"
This question caused everyone to fall into a brief silence, until someone tentatively spoke: "Anyway... isn't it morally perfect?"
This answer quickly gained everyone's approval.
So the girls gathered around Si Lei and Hesta and asked them what they thought about the two stories. However, both of them seemed a bit too dull in terms of language and body movements - obviously, none of them were very good at dealing with it. This kind of occasion.
"Ladies." Roger gave a low five, "Let's put this topic aside for now. Since the current situation is caused by Miss Sophie's absence, let's leave this problem to Sophie——"
"But she's sick and won't be able to come out for several days!"
"Yes, we wanted to visit early in the morning, but we were stopped."
"Then let someone go check out her message," Roger said with a smile. "How about asking her to give an answer and a reason? Continuing to argue here is just a waste of time."
The girls quickly accepted the proposal, and one of them looked at Si Lei: "They keep talking about us, but I haven't asked you where you are going."
"Mr. Gray said he had a new discovery in the manor and wanted to show us." Si Lei replied.
"Can we go together?" The girls all looked at Gray.
Roger's throat moved, "...Of course, you can."
…
This huge procession walked slowly towards the pomegranate garden where Roger had been with Hesta yesterday. During this period, the girls' voices did not stop.
The expected team changed from two people to three people, and then to nine people. Roger was already very unhappy, but he would never write this irritation on his face. On the contrary, the more times like this, his tone and expression will become gentler.
Suddenly Hesta stopped and looked to the side of the road in disbelief: "...What is the sound?"
The conversation stopped, and soon everyone heard someone singing behind the woods in the distance. The voice was indistinguishable from male to female, like the sound of nature. The lyrics were meaningless murmurs, only repeating two syllables:
Dona.
Hesta's face suddenly turned pale.
"Ladies, go this way." Roger snapped his fingers gently and led everyone to the path leading to the garden on the other side.
The singing voice is getting closer and closer, and it is getting clearer and clearer——
"On a bumpy carriage going to the market
"A calf has sad eyes
"There is a swallow above its head
"Through the sky, fly freely
/
"The wind is laughing to itself
"Laugh and laugh, laugh so hard
"Laugh and laugh, laugh all day long
"Laughing till midnight on summer night"
…
Roger looked at Hestad inadvertently, and couldn't look away again - Hestad's face showed a look similar to last night. She was listening to the sound in the wind so intently, her eyes filled with tears. There seemed to be tears.
He calmly retreated to the back of the crowd and quietly walked back to Hesta.
…
""Stop complaining," said the farmer.
"Who told you to be a cow?"
"Why don't you have wings to fly?"
"As free and proud as a swallow?"
/
"The tied calf is left to be slaughtered
"But it never knows why -
"Who wants to cherish a free body?
"We must learn to fly like a swallow."
/
“Dona Dona Dona…
“Dona Donado…
“Dona Dona Dona…
"Dona Dona do..." (1)
…
In a pomegranate forest that has lost all its leaves, there is a young man in white sitting behind a golden harp statue.
From a distance, the metal strings of the harp statue look like the bones of a birdcage.
His curly black hair fell down on his shoulders, his eyes were lowered, but his chin was raised high, singing this slightly sad song to the sky.
When everyone came not far away from him, he stopped singing, stood up, walked to the harp, and bowed to everyone.
As Roger's lover, no one present recognized him.
"Why this song?" Roger stepped forward and asked.
Roger's words were very light, and they still sounded so polite to others, but the young man could already hear Roger's great dissatisfaction and disgust.
"Because even the nightingale gets tired, sir," the young man whispered, "especially when he takes his own blood to nourish other roses."
"...Sing something else." Roger whispered, "Anything is good, something cheerful."
The young man smiled sadly. He did not answer, but bowed to everyone again and turned to leave.
Hesta suddenly said, "Please wait."
"…Do you have any other advice?"
"I don't have any advice, I just want to ask, what song... was that you sang just now?"
"Are you asking about the name of the song?" The man said softly, "The name of the song is "Donna"."
"...Why?" Hesta frowned slightly, "What does 'Donna' that has been repeated throughout the song mean?"
"I don't know, madam, this song was not originally sung in the language of the Third District. I heard that it is a folk song from the Askia Wasteland."
"'Donna'... is it Askiya?" Hesta asked.
"Maybe," the young man replied, "Some say that 'Donna' is a common girl's name in the Askia Wasteland, some say that it is a praying god in Askia's religion, and some say that it is a prayer god in Askia's religion. I think this is just a harmony word with no specific meaning at all... I don’t understand Askiya, so I can’t answer your question, sorry.”
——
1. Based on "Dona Dona," a Jewish dramatic song that describes the scene when a cow is led to slaughter.
