Back at home in their three-story building, Dermot and Natalia were already waiting on the sofa, one reading a book and the other doing needlework.
When Natalia saw Lecia come in, she put down her needlework, picked up a pure white layered pleated dress and gestured at her.
"It looks quite suitable. You need more decorations so that you can stand out in the election of the sacrificial saint."
"Natalia, you haven't asked Lecia if she likes to do it, you're too anxious."
"It's okay. You can wear it for daily wear. It's perfect. It brings out the flaming red hair. Come and eat."
There was no chance for Lecia to intervene in the conversation between them, but that was true. She had been living in their arrangements and plans since she was a child, and she was used to it.
"Lecia, how are you feeling this morning? Are you still used to it?" Dermot finished eating the fried meat and bread on the plate and asked her what she had seen this morning.
"Fortunately, the students were just a little strange, so I asked the village chief to help me calm down."
Lecia took the broth that Natalia pushed over and ate it. There were a little less vegetables today.
"You're pretty smart, so those kids who make pranks will think twice about it."
"Are all the children in Yansir Village so mature now? I saw a girl who was pregnant. Her name was Awosika. There was also a girl named Betty who was also very mature and wanted to seduce me."
Lecia ate the stewed lamb and the peas inside, and said without paying attention.
Dermot looked at Natalia with some confusion.
"This is how it is in small villages. Girls can get married and have children when they reach menarche. This can add another labor force to the family and make life better.
Our family's conditions are favorable, so you can't understand the hardships. Otherwise, we would still be holding the children in our arms and dragging them around. Can you still finish reading? "
"Is that so?"
After listening to Natalia's explanation, Lecia seemed to be like this, picked up the cold vegetables and ate them with the staple food.
After finishing the meal and cleaning up, the three of them sat on the sofa in the hall to rest. Natalia was still busy sewing her white skirt.
Lecia rested in Dermot's arms with her eyes closed. This feeling was very familiar, it had always been like this before.
"Wake up, Lecia, it's time for you to go to class. It won't be good if you're late later."
Lecia, who was lying on the sofa, was shaken awake. After checking that her clothes were OK, she hurriedly said goodbye to the two of them and went out.
The scorching sun outside was a bit strong. She opened the small white lace umbrella that had been tucked in when she went out, and a strange carriage came walking on the road.
Different from Malad, they are two upright creatures with sheep's horns and black fur, and their lower bodies are tied with rags.
When they met Lecia at almost the same level, they opened their mouths full of sharp teeth and roared at her, and the strong arms tied behind them continued to struggle.
"Asshole, pull the cart properly." The driver took the whip and drove it under the fur, making the two-legged sheep continue to move forward.
"Lecia, I scared you. I'm old Germaine. This is the labor I caught from the mountains. I'm very capable and don't need to eat too much."
The coachman looked very thin, unlike his strong son, but Lecia could also feel his powerful aura.
"Old Uncle Germain, long time no see. I have to rush to class now. Let's talk next time."
"I just have to go to work. Unexpectedly, our Lecia has turned into a great beauty. This year's sacrificial saint will always be you."
"Thank you for your praise and recognition."
After speaking, Lecia hurried towards the steeple building. The two black two-legged sheep always made her feel scared, and they would rush up and tear her apart in the next second.
"Teacher Lecia, good afternoon, we meet again."
Betty ran in from nowhere and hugged her hands directly in front of her.
With her clear eyes and moist red lips, she continued to lure Lecia to her secret garden.
"Betty, when you walk, you can't jump around. You have to have a moderate pace and a steady breath. And you can't do these random things to others. You have to be a dignified lady."
The helpless Lecia taught her how to place her hands, and then how to hold each other elegantly with one hand.
"I'm not a eldest lady, why should I be a lady? Teacher Lecia, are you a lady?"
"Everyone can be a lady, just take it seriously."
Looking at Betty, who was still a little out of touch, and the unique children, Lecia knew that she might not have a good time in the past six months.
As expected, whatever you worry about will come true. She and Betty met the Awosika sisters who came to class at the same time at the door.
Awosika, who had a swollen belly, looked at Betty with disgust, destroying the original maternal brilliance of her body.
"Teacher Lecia, let me give you a piece of advice. Betty is not a good child. You are not deceived by her appearance."
"Awosika, are you a good boy?" Betty looked at her belly.
Awosika ignored her and pulled her sister inside. Helpless Lecia followed closely with Betty.
The afternoon class also went well. The children were all enjoying themselves, except for Schiller and the two somewhat rigid children who seemed to be listening carefully.
In the back, Germaine is thinking about showing off his strength and hunting skills. Awosika and his sister are stroking their bellies and exuding the glory of motherhood. A few sloppy children are playing with clay sculptures and holding drawing boards. children draw their own paintings.
There is also green-haired Betty, who is always winking at herself and adding some fun.
Lecia almost wanted to go to the police to complain about her harassment.
"get out of class is over, that's it for today. When you go back, remember to write your name a hundred times and leave it to me tomorrow. If you can't write it well, just write it before you come in."
A few children rushed out directly, a few bowed, and Betty immediately entangled them.
Awosika came to her and gave her a contemptuous look and pulled her sister away.
Schiller stepped forward and said, "Sister Lecia, let's go to the wheat field and listen to the sound of the flute. I have a new song."
"You can also go to my secret garden." Betty folded her hands behind her and tilted her head, which looked a little cute.
Lecia was also curious about her secret garden. There should be nothing there if she went to see it, otherwise it would keep pestering her.
"Then let's go together."
Germaine also ran over and said he was going to hunt inside. Betty's face froze for a moment, but it quickly returned to that look.
When she was going out, she also saw Yulia, the wife of the village chief Little, talking and laughing with Awosika in the office across the door, just like they were friends after the New Year.
"Teacher Lecia, you should understand who that child is."
Betty said something mysteriously, and Lecia thought that the person was the village chief Little.
Could this guy just invite someone to have a baby with him when he sees her? He even praised himself today. Just find an opportunity to ask clearly.
The three of them followed Betty and came to the area where her home was. Instead of returning to her house, she turned back to the forest on the side.
After walking through the wheat field, I realized that there was a field of colorful flowers blooming on thorns.
The densely entangled thorns underground were gray-yellow in color, with tumor-like nodules protruding from them. They looked very ordinary.
"Sister Lecia, let's stay here. It won't be good if we go in and stab you in the foot."
Schiller stopped everyone, sat directly on the pile of wheat straw and played the melodious flute.
Germaine clenched his fists and beat the tree trunk next to him in rhythm, causing a few leaves to fall from it from time to time.
Lecia also felt a little afraid of the scenery inside, and sat next to Schiller.
Betty ran into her secret garden and disappeared into it, probably to pick flowers.
Schiller's playing was very beautiful, giving her a sense of peace and not wanting to leave, and also a little tired in the afternoon that she wanted to rest on the spot.
A man walked out of nowhere near the road. His face was as pale as a corpse, and there were several thorns wrapped around his chest. He held a piece of meat in his arms and ate it directly.
The edge of his chewing mouth was covered with red blood. He turned his head and glanced at Lecia and the others. After thinking for a while, he continued to bite the meat and left.
"Teacher Lecia, that person is the weirdo I told you about. Isn't he scary?"
Betty appeared next to him holding thorny flowers, her eyes fixed on the disappeared weirdo.
Schiller stopped playing the flute, "Isn't that your distant cousin North? It is said that his business failed, and he was expelled by several families and ran back here. His mind became a little abnormal."
"Schiller, if you don't know how to speak, stop talking. How will I find Teacher Lecia's concern in the future?"
"Don't make any noise. Don't let this happen next time. Don't forget what we are here for."
Lecia stopped them from quarreling.
Betty gave the flowers to Lecia, mainly red and yellow.
This combination made her feel a little strange, and she could only hold it carefully because she was afraid of the thorns on it.
"Teacher Lecia, everyone is here. Let's go in and take a look. There are more inside. There must be something you like."
Lecia had to be careful about the thorns of the flowers, so she was pulled in without paying attention. Betty stepped over the grass entangled with thorns below, trying to get Lecia to step over too.
"Sister, something strange seems to be happening over there. There seems to be students from our class."
Schiller's voice came, and Germaine also punched a branch, which made the somewhat confused Lecia wake up. She quickly threw away the flowers and took back her foot that was about to step forward.
"Let's go over quickly and take a look."
"Teacher Lecia, if you don't come in, I won't get along with you from now on."
Betty's face was full of resentment, her feet kept hiding from the ground, watching the three of them leave.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it." She picked up the bouquet of flowers, tore them apart and threw them away regardless of the thorns on them. She grabbed her hair with her scratched and bleeding hands and walked inside.
On the harvested wheat field, a few slovenly children drew water from nowhere, stirred the soil into mud with wooden sticks, and threw it towards a rickety old man with white hair and beard.
His clothes were old and his face was covered with hair and beard except for his eyes. His body was stained with a lot of mud. He lay on the ground and curled up, letting the children throw mud at him.
Seeing that Lecia and others were still waiting after they arrived, and beckoning everyone to join them, Lecia quickly stopped them.
"Roach, Varro, how can you bully the old man? Have you forgotten what I taught you?"
"He's just a weirdo. He can't be bullied anymore? Let's go. I don't believe you, Teacher Lecia, can watch him every day."
Those sloppy children threw away the mud in their hands and ran away quickly. Lecia also knows why they are so dirty every day. Do their parents not care about it?
The old man who fell to the ground stood up on his own, held the root in his hand and walked away without saying anything.
Looking at the stooped and muddy back, Lecia felt an indescribable feeling in her heart, and quickly stepped forward to ask.
Schiller tugged at the corner of her clothes and finally let go, following suit.
Germaine had already run after those sloppy children. He didn't know what he was going to do.
"Old man, are you going home? Where is your home?"
Lecia asked the old man from the side, but he did not answer. The skin on his face was full of wrinkles, and pieces were stacked on top of each other. After a long time, I muttered a few words.
"I want to go home, I repent, please let me go home...
"Old man, isn't your home here? Where are you from?"
Lecia kept asking questions, and the old man who slowly walked far away realized that he looked like her and spoke slowly.
"Lecia, come back quickly. The candidate for the sacrificial saint is about to be decided. If you don't come home so late next time, we will teach you a lesson."
Natalia's voice came from the road behind, interrupting the old man's words.
The old man did not continue talking and continued to leave the area.
With no choice but to go back to Natalia, Schiller also said goodbye to them and went back.
"You shouldn't have been allowed to go out to study, and you wouldn't listen to us when you came back." Natalia complained as she held Lesia's hand and walked home.
"Didn't I come back? Where have I not been obedient?" Lecia hugged her arms and hugged each other for a while. After noticing that the other person's mood had improved, she continued her question.
"Who was that old man just now? Why haven't I seen him before?"
"I don't know where the weirdo came from. Just leave it alone. I heard there's a new one there, but he's guarding the woods and can't leave. So there's only that old man wandering around all day."
"Oh." Lecia didn't ask what the old man said. She thought it was better to ask herself. Her sister might not know either.
On the way back, she also saw the child sitting silently in the corner, who seemed to be named Gibbonhardt. He ate grass from the ground and stuffed everything into his mouth.
Lecia quickly stopped him, which caused another round of scolding from Natalia.
"Lecia, this is people's custom. You can't ask everyone to be like you. You must respect others."
"Then he won't care if he eats sheep dung balls?"
"Let's talk about it after we eat."
Before returning home, she saw that Edmund was still tinkering with his research and development, and the ship had no progress except for its skeleton.
Thinking that she would be criticized if she ran to join in the fun, she could only turn towards home and open the door.
"I'm back."
