Just as he was about to leave, Cesare suddenly felt a chill on his back, and his intuition told him that someone was quietly approaching him from behind. When he touched the bone staff and looked back, he saw a lovely face that instantly made Cesare feel at ease.
Anya stood behind him at some point and quietly made a shushing gesture. It seemed that her date with the cardinals was over. At this time, she waved her hand for Cesare to follow her.
Without thinking much, Cesare wanted to leave here quickly. After confirming again and again that the leader Claudius had not noticed him, he quietly followed Anya and left the open space, returning to the place where their tent was stationed and the carriage was parked.
At this time, "Silly Man" Rosen and several other child workers were already asleep. Silly Man's snoring was deafening, making as much noise as a loud toad. It is hard to imagine what those children had gone through to be safe in such an environment. Fall asleep.
Anya did not take Cesare back to their tent, but quietly came to the carriage and walked to the carriage of the leader, Mr. Claudius.
During the day, they had been riding on the roof of this carriage. Cesare remembered that the door of this carriage was always locked. After the carriage stopped, only Claudius went in. If he guessed correctly, he should Only Claudius is qualified to enter this compartment.
But at this time, the car door was ajar. Maybe Claudius was careless and busy teaching someone a lesson and forgot to lock the door, or maybe he didn't expect anyone to want to get in.
"What are you going to do?" Cesare asked in a low voice, but he already knew the answer based on his understanding of Anya.
"Stop pretending, you must know what I'm thinking. Don't you want to take a little peek into what secrets our circus friends have hidden?"
Anya's excitement was in stark contrast to Cesare's indifference. It was obviously just a temporary ride, and Cesare wasn't sure whether it was a wise decision to delve into the affairs of this group of weirdos.
But after seeing the other side of the leader Claudius and the little dwarf being whipped, Cesare also understood what Anya meant when she said before that "it's not as simple as it seems."
"But I'm worried... some secrets should not be revealed. Even if you know the truth, you can't change anything, and it may even cause unnecessary danger." Cesare expressed his worries to Anya.
"Really? Is the secret about you, classmate Cesare, the same?" Anya tilted her head again and pretended not to know what was going on. She looked at Cesare coldly and soon couldn't bear it. He burst out laughing.
"Don't look at me like that. I thought of a good way to look out. I guarantee that no one will find out. And I only go in for a brief look and come out. Nothing will happen. Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you be prepared."
What Anya said didn't make sense, and Cesare had doubts about the circus. "What do you mean by a good idea? I always feel that you are going to do something unreasonable again."
"Usually yes, but this time it's definitely true."
Anya responded gently and opened her sleeves. A little cardinal popped its head out of it and looked around for no reason. Anya gently touched the feathers on the bird's head with her fingertips. The cardinal chirped. After a few screams, he flew out of his sleeves and disappeared into the dusk.
"I have made a lot of new friends around here. Let them come to look after us. If there is any trouble, they will tell us in time. There will definitely be no problems."
Anya stood up straight, her eyes were lively and confident, and the corners of her mouth were slightly raised as if she was waiting for Cesare's praise.
Just rely on those red-feathered birds? Cesare rolled his eyes subconsciously, knowing that even if he continued to ask, it would be meaningless.
For Anya's understanding, even if she rejects her idea at this time, she will find another time to sneak in by herself. It will be more dangerous then. It is better to end this little circus now while the circus leader Claudius is not around. adventure.
Shaking his head helplessly, Cesare sighed. "Let's make an agreement first. We'll just take a look and come out."
The moment he stepped forward to open the door, the light from the oil lamp in the car immediately came out and became the brightest light source in the forest. Cesare and Anya walked in quickly at the same time and closed the door ajar again to avoid the transmission of light. Go too far and attract other people's attention.
The interior of the carriage is more spacious than it looks from the outside. The wooden floor is covered with carpets, and the surrounding walls are hung with colorful curtains. If you look at it from the inside, there are beds and tables.
Although the arrangement was a little crowded, it was no different from a bedroom. The warm lights shone on the four walls, making Cesare feel a little dazed for the first time, almost forgetting that he was in a carriage.
A large number of performance paraphernalia were stuffed into open boxes, clothes were scattered on the bed, and what looked like a clothes hanger was covered with a piece of white cloth. A huge oil painting was placed in the innermost part of the carriage, tilted against the wall, and its corners were placed against heavy objects to prevent it from falling over due to bumps on the road.
It was a personal full-length painting of Claudius. In the picture, Claudius was wearing a formal dress, holding a golden cane, and still had the mysterious red scarf wrapped around his face. His eyes were younger than now, and his temperament was noble. Strong body.
It's just that people who collect such a large portrait of themselves are probably not extremely arrogant and narcissistic.
Anya was unconsciously attracted by the painting and walked straight over. She gently raised her arms and supported her chin with her fingers, and looked at the work carefully.
Cesare walked towards the table in the carriage. The table was firmly fixed to the floor, with a delicate little shelf nailed to it, holding a bottle of ink and several quills in excellent condition.
There is a handmade book placed next to the shelf. It looks like someone's diary. The cover is made of leather and heavy fabric, with silver corner protectors nested in the corners. The inside is woven together. parchment.
Cesare picked it up and fiddled with it briefly. The small lock on it locked the covers on both sides tightly together. Without the key, there was no way to see the contents inside.
After thinking about it in general, there were many ways to pry the lock open, but if the lock was broken by force, Claudius would definitely find it, and Cesare didn't want to get the matter to such an extent.
"There's nothing worth noting. Let's leave quickly to avoid being discovered." Cesare put the diary back in its place and urged.
Anya turned back to look at him without speaking. She first raised her head and took a deep breath of air, then wrinkled the tip of her nose to chase the smell of the air like a cute puppy. "Do you smell it?" the girl asked, looking around again.
After listening to what she said, Cesare did smell a pungent and unpleasant smell. At first, he thought it was the smell of moldy bread that had been left for a long time and didn't pay much attention to it. After smelling it carefully, he found that the smell came from Under the clothes hanger covered with white cloth.
The two walked to the clothes rack and leaned down one after another. The strange smell became stronger as they got closer.
Cesare tasted the smell in his nose that was a bit indescribable for a moment, but unexpectedly it felt very familiar and familiar, as if he had occasionally smelled a similar smell when he was at the College of San Carlo.
I was thinking about the memory of going to school, and I always felt that something was not right. I carefully observed the "hanger" covered with cloth, and I also felt that the shape was a bit weird and uncomfortable, and I didn't want to get too close to it.
And Anya had grabbed the bottom corner of the white cloth and slowly lifted it up. Just as more pungent smells flooded into her brain, the memories instantly became clear.
He remembered that he had smelled this smell somewhere. It was the medicinal smell that appeared after biological specimens were preserved. The appearance of each animal specimen appeared in his memory and Cesare immediately held his breath.
"Wait! Don't open it!"
Cesare wanted to hold down Anya's hand, but he was still a step too late. Anya had already lifted a corner of the white cloth, and Cesare confirmed his terrifying conjecture. What slowly appeared under the white cloth was a pair of shriveled corpses. Bloodless...human feet.
Anya's face also turned pale when she realized what it was, but she could no longer hold back her hand, and the entire white cloth was uncovered, revealing the terrible secret underneath it.
What was hidden under the white cloth was not a clothes hanger, but a standing embalmed human corpse specimen.
She looked like an adult woman. The skin all over her body was shriveled and dull. She looked as hard as a rock. She must have been dead for some time. She had been soaked in a large amount of antiseptic fluid to prevent further decay.
The dead body's eyes were replaced by glass balls, its expression was supported by an iron frame and it was grinning. All the teeth inside were pulled out. What's even more striking is that this woman's dead body has three arms.
A short and awkward hand protrudes from the shoulder bone and hangs on the chest. Like the other people in the circus, they are all pitiful deformities.
After her death, the metal base and iron rods fixed her body, allowing her to stand under the white cloth as she had before her death. Her grinning mouth seemed to be eager to cry out about the tragedy that had happened to her, but the truth could never be told again.
A large piece of white cloth fell to the ground, and Anya swallowed. No one could remain completely calm in this situation. Even the girl who was always brave could not help but break out in a cold sweat when facing such a weird and terrifying sight.
The light body took a few steps back following the instinct of fear, but did not notice the folds of the carpet under her feet. The boots suddenly slipped, Anya's eyes became frightened, and her body fell backwards uncontrollably.
"Yeah!!!" Her panicked little hands were waving in the air, trying to grab something to keep her balance, but there was nothing around that she could grab.
