On June 21, the fifteenth year of Wanli, Wang Jingyi ate her first filet mignon in her life. The juicy and fresh taste made her feel like she was in the clouds, and she smiled more flatteringly at Cologne.
After realizing the beautiful girl's complete surrender to him, the prosecutor gave up the idea of "disposing" her - just like all the girls he had dealt with before, the so-called "disposal" meant killing or throwing her out of the city.
Maybe she could become a good apricot slave. Colon looked at her admiring eyes and felt that this beautiful girl was his biggest gain from coming to Manila. He then arranged for his servant to find a Spanish tutor for her, whom he named Blanca. 【Note 1】
On June 29, Blanca, who had finished her Spanish course, played the "No sir" game with Colon for a while. Later, due to Father Lopez's late-night visit, Colon sent her out of the bedroom.
"I have told the housekeeper that you can move around, but you cannot leave home." Looking at Blanca's clear and confused eyes, Colon felt that even though he said it simply and added gestures, she still didn't listen. Understood - but he had no intention of explaining, just waved her away.
Blanca adjusted her skirt and walked out, the smile on her face not diminishing by half. In front of her small room at the end of the corridor on the first floor, she met a servant who happened to come down from upstairs. It was the native who had followed Cologne that night with a lantern.
Blanca bent her knees slightly, smiled and said: "Buenas noches!"
The native remained silent. There was no expression on his face, he just quietly walked around her, opened the small door at the end of the corridor, and left the huge two-story building.
Blanca stood silently. She thought for a while and then tried to push the door that was usually locked. The door opened and she entered the garden. At this time, the sound of the door opening was heard in the distance, and the guests, led by the housekeeper, entered through the front door of the house.
Because the attack on Manila by the Ming Dynasty's sealing fleet had stopped for a long time, the sound of chaos outside the high wall disappeared, and the whole city fell into silence at night.
She looked up at the starry sky and the dazzling Milky Way, and an imperceptible sob came from her throat.
Blanca stood quietly, breathing in the fragrance of the flowers in the garden. The stone house was located in the middle of the garden, diagonally across the garden from her position. At the end of the stone corridor was the iron gate that gave her freedom, but Blanca's feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, motionless.
After a long time, the main door of the house opened, and Colon saw Father Lopez off. No one noticed Blanca standing in the corner of the garden.
After a long time, the lights in the house went out. Blanca quietly took off her shoes, held them in her hands, and slowly moved towards the corner of the house. Her movements were so slight that even the midsummer breeze could hardly detect them.
As soon as she turned the corner of the room, she held her breath and was too frightened to move. She saw a wooden ladder beside the high wall behind the house, and a man was climbing up the ladder. He looked like an indigenous servant from Cologne.
She took a breath slowly, slowly. Turned around and walked away.
Blanca's tutor is the wife of a Spanish city defense officer named Felicia. Her alcoholic and gambling husband squandered all his military pay, so Felicia had to work to support the family. Because she often went to the north bank of the Passi River to buy bargains, she learned some simple Quanzhou dialect, which was perfect for training Blanca.
The ugly middle-aged woman was very fond of the mulatto. Because Blanca always loves to laugh and is about the same age as her daughter.
In the past few days, she had sensed the unspeakable relationship between Colon and Blanca. Colon hired her in the name of the professor's adopted daughter, but the relationship between Blanca and Colon was obviously not a father-daughter relationship.
But the Attorney General of Cologne has no family in the Philippines, and it is normal to have a bed-warming girl - this is what all high-ranking people in this city who do not have families do.
Although Blanca is too young to be a mistress, Felicia can't do much except sympathize with her and give her the best care she can.
Throughout the next day, Blanca kept asking Felicia a lot of questions, and Felicia was exhausted from her entanglement. In the evening, when Mr. Colon came home, the tutor went to his room to rest, almost as if fleeing for his life.
After having dinner with Prosecutor General Cologne, Blanca listened to Cologne telling the housekeeper a lot of things - she really didn't understand this time. Immediately, the housekeeper accompanied Colon to the study and motioned for her to go back and rest.
Still with a flattering smile on her face, Blanca returned to her room. She tried to keep her sleepy eyes open and waited quietly.
But it started to rain in the middle of the night in Manila during the rainy season. Amidst the pattering sound, she, who was still growing, failed to defeat the Sandman and fell asleep at some point.
Later in the night, a loud noise woke Blanca. She sat up suddenly from the bed and punched her still-drowsy head in annoyance.
First there was a commotion in the whole house, and people were running in the corridor. Blanca's ears pricked up, as if she heard the Cologne prosecutor leaving the mansion.
Although no one paid attention to her at this time, Blanca did not dare to go out of the room, so she could only light the whale oil candle and wait quietly.
At dawn, the whole city was in commotion. When she was at a loss, her door was slammed open, and a disheveled Felicia rushed in.
"Oh God! Get out of here quickly! The Seris people have entered the city!" A shiver of happiness rushed into his body and mind. Blanca stood up suddenly and asked: "What did you say?"
"Stop talking and come with me." The tutor looked around as if looking for something valuable. "There is no one in the entire mansion, they have all escaped!"
"." The girl was about to speak when suddenly a nightmare-like cry came, "Blanka!! Blanca!!!"
It was the voice of Cologne's prosecutor general. Blanca turned around and pulled out from under the mattress a table knife that she had stolen in the kitchen. Felicia looked at her in horror and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Amidst the shouts and neighs of people throughout the neighborhood, Blanca could still clearly hear the messy footsteps coming from the floor. She pushed Felicia away and yanked the door open.
The Prosecutor General of Cologne, followed by the indigenous servants, was running towards this side from the other side of the corridor. "Quick! Get out of here with me!"
Felicia rushed out of the room in surprise, "Mr. Cologne, my Philip—" Before she could finish asking, she saw a scene she would never forget:
The indigenous servant carrying the whale oil lamp raised a long dagger behind the Cologne Attorney General and stabbed him in the back.
Colon let out a scream, turned around and struggled with the native. At this time, Blanca stepped forward quickly, and while Cologne was cursing, she stabbed Cologne's back with the knife in her hand with all her strength.
The whale-oil lamp shattered on the ground, and the floor burst into blue flames. Colon was hit hard twice and staggered to the ground. The expressionless native stabbed him several times in the chest.
Colon looked at Blanca with a self-deprecating smile on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but only spit out a bunch of blood foam. Seeing that he had lost the ability to resist, the native looked fiercely and walked toward Felicia, who was so frightened that she lost the ability to move.
Felicia spoke a few syllables in a hoarse voice: "Please! Please! God."
Note 1: Blanca means purity in Spanish.
(End of chapter)
