In the days that followed, Roma and Manet began to understand what kind of place the monastery was.
Not long after Manet was born prematurely, she was forced to get out of bed and work. In the small building next to the cemetery, there are endless clothes and sheets that have been washed. At night, there are only the bells that ring regularly and the whispers of girls in front of the bed. She began to miss the cold stone houses in the south and the orange fire in the fireplace. She once dreamed of becoming a nun, but then she gave it up for Bridge; now she wants to give up Bridge for her family, but Aiken needs her and she can't leave. She also dreamed of living a life as a lord's daughter... These memories were too far away from her at the moment. Her sweet dream has awakened.
She wouldn't have had to come here, if Upton had agreed to Bridge marrying her. She didn't know why her father was so determined. A few weeks ago she had been the beloved girl of her parents, still "Dorothy." She is more likable than her brother Damon, and she has Bridge who loves her. Everything is as it should be. An underground love affair would also come to fruition - now Aiken was born, although it was not something she expected.
It seems inappropriate to say that life is completely smooth. She had had a big quarrel with her father not long ago in order to go to Winnie Watts to meet her lover. The quarrels between father and daughter have become frequent in recent years. The initial disagreement was that she wanted to become a nun of Gaia... a nun! She suddenly realized that I wanted to become a nun. This childhood dream has now become a reality...but it is Manet who becomes the nun, and Dorothy the sinner.
Before she left, her belly was already obvious, and her father gave her two choices: have an abortion or go to a convent. There was nothing to say about abortion, but she had no idea she was pregnant until that day, and by then it was too late. The monastery was the only place to go. Upton said it wasn't safe to stay at home - the only place where a sinner like her wouldn't become a prostitute. Dorothy cried out to marry Bridger, but Upton coldly refused.
"How could you be so cruel?" she asked, "This child was given to me by Gaia, and He wanted me to marry the man I was destined to be."
"You don't have a destined man." The father replied, "This damn bastard is just a punishment given to you by God. Since you want to keep him, I have nothing more to say. I will set off tomorrow. Go to Venice, which you miss so much. Here you go." Her mother burst into tears, but could do nothing.
There were many girls like her in the convent at Venevoise, where she became Manet.
Manet's arrival was not coincidental. Something similar to Bonfire Town had just happened in Veniwaz, and there was also a battle between the Paladin and the mercenary. Gaia's crusaders continued to pour into the city, and then left after the chaos. The chaos caused a sharp increase in the number of unwed mothers in the city, and everyone knew what was going on. However, sinners who committed adultery did not deserve sympathy. After the convent was completely full, the nuns sent them away with the Knights of the Cross. During this period, only her brother Damon came to visit her. The child is still young, but his speech seems to have matured overnight. He came to say goodbye to her.
"Has Bridge ever looked for you?" she asked impatiently.
"No. He didn't go to Upton either—father swore he would break his legs. Mother secretly went to see Aunt Susanna, but father beat her severely."
"How could he do this!" Manai was desperate.
"Are you still thinking about Bridge?"
"What's wrong with me loving him?"
Damon glanced at her belly, which was already obvious by then. "This is wrong. You love him too much. I'm afraid this won't work."
"What do you know!"
"Even if you are a woman, there should always be something much more important than love in your life. You will encounter many traps in your life, among which love is the most dangerous."
At this moment, it seemed that she was the younger sister and Damon was the older brother. "What do you know?" she repeated.
"I know how to listen to my father. I will know more and more, sister. But before that, I need to say goodbye to you."
"Don't leave like this," she blurted out, "I miss you, I miss my mother. Tell me, Damon, please tell me how she is?"
"She's okay and wants to come and see you. But my father won't let her run around for fear of being exposed. Now everyone in the town says that you are sick and dead. I just came to say goodbye to you, Manet."
He called me Manai, which is really sad. She didn't like the name, but now everyone in the convent called her that. I hope the mother won't be sad that the name she gave her daughter has been changed. Fortunately, she doesn't know about it yet. Manet suddenly felt strange and asked his brother how he knew his new name.
"I just know, sister." Damon saw her hatred and changed his name to her sister. Originally he rarely did this. "You are leaving, and Bridge will never see you again. So forget him, sister. Isn't the monastery the place you have always wanted to come to? Here you will find peace. You have always longed for such a peaceful life, that is so."
Unfounded fear seized her. "What nonsense are you talking about? Damon, how come I can't see Bridge? I am pregnant with his child, and he loves me. I am his morning star." But the younger brother avoided her questioning, like a little monkey Jumped and ran away. That was the last time she saw her family, and Damon was right. She was sent thousands of miles to the north. Even Bridge would not know her whereabouts, let alone come to find her. Even if he knew, he was looking for a girl named Dorothy, not Now Manet.
While Roma was staring at little Aiken, she would also listen to Sister Draya chatting with Manet. Sometimes she expressed opinions, but not very enthusiastically: Sister Dérea was interested in Manet's love story, but Roma was completely unwilling to know.
"That guy lied to you." Miss Penelope finally pointed out, "Your father really loves you. I can see that, even though I am not an adult yet."
Manet was offended. "You are almost like my brother." She said dullly. "Life here is not good at all. I have to wash linen clothes and sheets that have been boiled in boiling water more than I have to wash in a whole year." She stretched out her hands, and her skin was already sore. It wasn't just the clothing of the convent that the girls were responsible for. The nuns were ordered by the church to do good deeds, so the abbess chose to collect clothes and fabrics from the entire village that needed to be washed. "If my family still loved me, they wouldn't have sent me here, to this steaming hell!"
Roma didn't know that working long hours would have such consequences, but she understood Upton's intentions. "You may not have to work hard if you stay at home, but you will be hurt elsewhere. I don't think any woman wants to be a prostitute."
"People will not forgive you," Sister Delia also said. She gently applied ointment to Manet's hand. Roma stole this from Dean Barnza's cabinet. The dean locked the newspapers and letters in the cabinet, as well as all the medicines, the door keys to the shuttle station, various repair tools and a stack of blanks. documents to ensure that the girls had nothing to do with the outside world.
"I want to leave here." Manet confided. "I want to go back to Bonfire Town, even Winnie Watts. I want to see him, even once."
"Oh, Manet! Don't say stupid things. Think about little Aiken, what will he do if you leave?"
The church will take him in because that's the rule. After all, the birth of this child was as sudden as the spring blooming overnight in Bonfire Town. I didn't expect to have a baby so early, and I almost died during the birth. She found that after that terrible day, her maternal love for Aiken was gradually fading. Manai didn't know whether Aiken was a bad consequence or flesh and blood to her.
The little lion turned his head sensitively. "You have to feed him," she emphasized. In order to save the daily expenses of the baby, the monastery will let the mother nurse the baby until more than one year. "Are you going to abandon the child too?"
"No mother would abandon her baby," Manet said.
"Of course." Roma's ears twitched. "For various reasons, they will think that their lives will be better if they send their children away from them. Maybe they are right. Just like your mother, Dorothy, why do you think she asked your father to send you away?"
"But they didn't even ask me what I thought."
"That's the reason. They think you don't know what is good, so they make decisions for you." Roma said softly, "Sometimes children hate them, and they don't know. Maybe it's not that they don't know. Adults always have Try to comfort yourself and tell each other that you will understand when you grow up. I don't want to understand at all."
Sister Delia touched her little head compassionately. Manai couldn't say anything to refute, and she realized that the little girl in front of her might have been in the same situation as herself. "I'm very sorry."
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, I have a new family. Although they won't let me do this or that, they will always ask my opinion before letting me do anything." The little lion puffed up his chest and said, "Astrologer Not willing to interfere with other people's destiny...except for that woman Helen, she is a nasty witch. Let me tell you, Dorothy, humans and lion mothers are no different, they are always kind and cruel. If you don't want Aiken , I will also let him live!"
"I won't let him go." Manet changed her mind. She fantasized about her son leaving her for a moment, but found that the feeling far exceeded the pain caused by the wounds on her hands. "Maybe I'm not ready to be a mother, but it's just as difficult for me to be a young girl who doesn't understand the world."
"The goddess is merciful." Sister Delia also consoled her. "Hard work is short-lived. One day Aiken will grow up, he can call you mom, run around the yard, and finally help you with arms stronger than yours. Children are the treasures of a mother's life, you I will always love him, and he will always love you, more than your Bridge." She finished speaking uncertainly.
Nuns cannot be mothers; they swear never to marry. Manet knew the church. She understood that this was the source of Sister Drea's hesitation. She had never felt the responsibility of motherhood, but there was no doubt that she loved her mother.
Aiken suddenly started crying, and Roma jumped out of bed with a cry: "I'm going to get new clothes." The children's clothes were made by these girls themselves, soft and ironed.
