After listening to what he said, Cesare also felt a little shaken in his heart. He would have to travel with these people for at least one or two days. If there were any hidden dangers in this convoy and he was completely unaware of it, it would be too dangerous.
As for whether or not to take the stick away when getting off the bus, it won't be too late to make a decision based on the situation.
Cesare looked at Anya to seek the girl's opinion. She just put her hand on her chin and tilted her head, as if she had completely left the decision to Cesare.
"Okay... I promise you, I will try my best to find a way to get you out of here, but I will only do my best."
"Oh! That's good, that's enough! I can't thank you enough." Polonius wanted to express his inner joy, but he couldn't make any body movements except his expression.
"I don't know your name yet. No matter whether this thing is successful or not, I want to be grateful for your kindness for the rest of my life. Can you let me know your name?"
"Cesare..." Cesare paused hesitantly, but since he had already chosen trust, he didn't want to hide anymore. "Cesare Hunyadi."
"Hunyadi!?" Polonius's eyes shone brightly when he heard this surname, and he was very excited.
"I know, no wonder you appear here! You want to go back to your family's castle, right? That's great... You will get off the car in the field, right? Put me in the field, just put me in the field. Okay, this is the best!”
I don’t understand why Polonius suddenly became excited, but it has nothing to do with Cesare.
"Now can you tell me about this circus? Who is this dead woman? Why did you make her body look like this?"
Cesare hugged his shoulders, while Anya sat on the captain's exclusive bed, looking sideways at Polonius, waiting for the story to begin.
"Don't worry, don't worry, this tragedy... must start from the childhood of our leader, Claudius DiMagino."
Hearing this name, Anya seemed to think of something.
"The DiMagino family? Isn't that a vassal family of the Orsini family? I haven't heard that name for a long time."
"How do you know this?" Cesare asked Anya.
"Isn't this common knowledge? Except for the three major families in the Papal State, all other family forces are vassals of the three major families." Anya stretched out her finger and gestured something in the air.
"For example, your Hunyadi family is a vassal family of the Borgia family where our current pope belongs, while my Laurian family is a vassal of the industrial giant Cloner family, and this Dimagino is a vassal of the Orsini family. As a vassal, I went to the DiMagino family’s dinner when I was a child, and I still remember that the family was a group of traditional and old-fashioned guys, but I seem to have never heard of Claudius’s name.”
The relationships between these families sound more complex than the mechanics of a steam engine, and Cesare only picks out the highlights.
"So you are saying that the leader of the group, Claudius, is a noble? No wonder..."
No wonder he can use magic. Cesare just thought about it without saying it. This matter became more and more weird. Why would a nobleman ignore all the glory and wealth and not enjoy it, insist on holding a circus performance, and now wander around? status.
Polonius the human stick nodded. "Yes, our leader was originally born into a noble family. His father is Felipe DiMagino, and his mother is Bella DiMagino."
"Ah? But I remember these two people..." Anya exclaimed.
"You remember correctly, these two are brother and sister, so that led to our leader Claudius being abandoned since birth because of his physical deformity..."
He paused and continued, "The DiMagino family is extremely discriminatory against the disabled. They believe that natural disabilities are punishments sent by gods to people with dirty hearts. They often deliberately hire disabled people from the countryside or cities to come here." In their homes, for no other reason than to endure their insults and ridicule as a form of entertainment.”
As Polonius spoke, he twisted his neck and looked at the portrait of the regimental leader.
"For the DiMagino family, it is unacceptable for a person to be born with a disability in their family. They do not want to admit that this is a punishment from God for their family's long-standing behavior, and they do not want to become someone else's mouth because of this child. They first imprisoned the young Claudius in a dungeon like a monster, and then..."
"What happened next?" Anya looked like a loyal listener. "Later, scandals spread. To prevent the incident from being exposed, Claudius was blindfolded and thrown into the river, thus denying his birth and existence."
Cesare thought of the red scarf that Claudius, the leader of the regiment, wore all the time, perhaps just to cover up his disability, and something seemed to start to make sense.
"That's too much... What happened later? Did Claudius die after he was sunk into the river?" Anya's mind was completely brought into the story, while Cesare frowned and looked at him like he was an idiot. Anya, how on earth did this kind of question filter out of her little head? Did she not even think about it before asking the question?
"Of course not, but it can be considered that he is lucky. The river is very remote, and there are bears looking for food nearby. It is said that a wandering team of magicians discovered him when they passed by the lower reaches of the river and saved his life. He even took him wandering around begging for food.”
Polonius seemed to miss the situation at that time, "Claudius also learned some magic and divination tricks at that time. After parting ways with those people, he began to have the idea of forming his own circus."
Hearing this, Cesare estimated the time in his mind, worried that Claudius would come back at any time. "I don't hear anything wrong with this. He recruits you disabled people from all directions to form a freak circus, because he is also a freak himself, but why would you want to escape? Is it because he is cruel and ruthless and always abuses you? "
"No...that's not the case. Our leader was not like this originally, but he also lied to us..." Polonius's tone was trembling, as if he was getting to the point.
"What do you mean? I don't understand."
"Originally we didn't know the origin of the troupe leader. He kept it secret from us. He only said that he had a dream to open a circus... and that he could shine with useless people like us."
"There were only three or two of us from the beginning, but with his outstanding personal charm and performance skills, he attracted more and more audiences. He was very popular wherever he went. Even if he was laughed at, we were very happy to follow him. Claudius made a lot of money, and later..."
"We can afford to take care of child labor, and we have smuggled lions, leopards, and elephants from the south. There are more and more actors, and the fleet is getting longer and longer. Everything is developing in a good direction until..."
Polonius sighed. "Until we were invited to attend the banquet of the DiMagino family, as I just said, those people like to make fun of people with disabilities like us. Although it is very unpleasant, who wouldn't want to make money if they have money? ...But none of us thought that...the leader we have always relied on for trust...has actually been lying to us all along."
There was an uncontrollable cry in his words, and his body began to tremble involuntarily, as if he was about to collapse and explode, but because of his physical defects, he only looked extremely pitiful.
"He never thought about us freaks from the beginning... All the steps he took to make a name for himself were just to get back to his family as a circus... and we were still in the dark. While performing with great enthusiasm, he quietly killed his biological parents behind the scenes to complete his revenge... He also snatched his mother's body and alerted the guards..."
Polonius' pupils trembled, and the uneasy memories shocked every nerve in his body.
"We were suddenly massacred by the guards. We had no idea what was happening. He escaped with the lucky ones. The rest were either killed on the spot or captured and hanged. After that..."
"He pulled out the tongues of those child laborers and whipped the rest of us repeatedly to prevent us from escaping and betraying his whereabouts... He made his mother into a specimen and made her into a freak to satisfy his desire. The twisted desire for revenge! It’s the corpse next to you!”
He roared uncontrollably, and both Cesare and Anya couldn't help breaking out in cold sweat. They instinctively looked at the specimen, and saw that the woman kept the look of screaming before she died, ferocious and unwilling, confused and angry. Do the eyes replaced by glass still bear Claudius’s terrifying smile when he succeeded in his revenge?
"We were chased into this forest by the guards... You don't understand... I must escape, and you must leave here as soon as possible... Claudius is crazy, and his revenge is far away There is no end,...as long as he saves enough money again, he will make new plans, and more people's blood will be buried with him in his childhood!"
After learning the truth, Cesare had no time to react besides being shocked. Birds chirped outside the carriage. They flew around the carriage, and the birdsong sounded like a song. The music that messes up the beat makes people upset.
Anya jumped up from the bed and quickly tugged on Cesare's sleeve. "Someone is back, it's time to run away."
Regardless of whether he believed those cardinal friends or not, Cesare didn't want to stay for more than a moment, so he softly said "Yes", and the two of them quickly began to restore the original appearance of the carriage, regardless of whether Polonius was still there. Trembling, Cesare directly picked him up and dragged him back to the original position, pulling the portrait and hiding him behind.
Anya also covered the woman's specimen with a white cloth again. The two of them looked around to make sure that no traces were left, then quickly stepped out of the carriage one after another and hid sideways in the shadows.
Under the bright stars and the bright moonlight, a figure wearing a tall hat could be vaguely seen slowly walking out of the forest in the distance. He seemed to be in a good mood, playing a tune, and shaking the blood from his whip into the grass. .
Fortunately, he came out in time. Cesare took Anya in a large circle in the forest before going back to their tent in the opposite direction. I can’t remember exactly what they talked about with Anya that night. I only remember Anya. He also made some wisecracks that had nothing to do with the current situation.
I was really too exhausted. After the adventure, I felt relaxed and relaxed with my eyelids drooping. The two of them lay facing each other in the tent, recalling the experience and the information they had just obtained. They were talking about something one second, and the next second they were talking about something. They just felt very tired and fell asleep one after another.
