"Did you hear? Father Grandi was burned to death. ”

"Ahh What is the charge?"

"Make a contract with many evil spirits and coerce the nuns to commit sexual immorality together!"

"It's ridiculous. ”

"This is the right thing to do, and those who blaspheme God should be punished!

Estelle and Selene were walking down the street, and today was the day they were found by Sister Chloe on a rainy night, and this day was also recognized as their birthday. They were now walking aimlessly, and although it was a day to celebrate in Sister Chloe's mind, it was no different from an ordinary day for both of them.

"Uncle Legov," said Estelle, who was passing by, and overheard the gossip of the people, and walked up to him, "what are you talking about?"

"Oh, it's Estelle," the pot-bellied man said to Estelle, looking at the brother and sister, "Look, you two will be the best-looking people in the world." ”

After saying that, the man sighed, "I'm talking to Frank about that priest." Do you know, I really don't know what is going on in the world now, a good priest with a bright future actually signed a contract with the devil behind his back, and went to plague the nun!"

Frank was younger than Le Goff, who stood behind him, but Estelle felt that his thin face must have looked meaner in his old age.

"Whoever says it's not, such a demon should be reduced to ashes. Frank chimed in.

"So, was he burned to death?" asked Selene.

"Yes, not only that, but his bones were also divided. ”

"Since he is a friend of the devil, what do people want his bones to do? Estelle looked at the two men in front of him and asked puzzled.

"Who knows," Le Goff and Frank looked at each other, "he's dead anyway." God will not take him in. ”

At this moment, an old lady passing by clucked in her hen-like voice and interjected, "If you want me to say, our Sister Chloe is really good!"

"Yes, yes," the two men looked at the siblings, "Sister Chloe is really good—well-behaved, religious, and raised two angels!"

Estelle and Selene looked at each other and smiled helplessly.

"Good boy, why are you here?" said the old lady, who went up to the brother and sister, "did Sister Chloe tell you to come and buy something?"

Selene shook her head: "It's my birthday today, let's go out for a walk." ”

"Oh, did you hear Frank!" Le Goff shouted in his rough voice, "it's their birthday!

Frank, who was standing behind the stall, nodded, "yes, something should be done." ”

Estelle and Celine looked at each other, realizing that if they continued to argue like this, the quiet afternoon would be in vain. But by the time they realized the problem, it was too late—Frank and Le Goff, and the hen-like Madame Magnon, the three of them spoke loudly more than all the publicity, and the people at the bazaar soon heard the news of the siblings' birthdays.

Although Sister Chloe taught Estelle not to be insatiable, the young man who was not good at words refused in the face of people's kindness. Eventually, the siblings returned to the monastery with gifts they could barely hold.

"Oh, look," Sister Chloe said, knowing that the kind-hearted townsfolk would be celebrating the siblings' birthday, so she didn't blame them for bringing back so many things, "you two are so popular. ”

Estelle put the gifts on the table and smiled back at Sister Chloe: "They are good to us, not because they love us, but because they love Sister Chloe. ”

Sister Chloe laughed and stepped forward to hug her two children: "Probably, this is God's will." Her heart was very touched, because on a rainy night fifteen years ago, she was so young that she had two children in her arms, and now she was holding them in her arms again, and they were already so tall.

The two children also reached out to hug Sister Chloe.

However, it was three months since they discovered their peculiarity, and it was also the best and last three months of their lives—

Early the next morning, Estelle opened her eyes early, as usual. Because the day before was the so-called "birthday", he went into his room to sleep under the watchful eye of Sister Chloe, and could not run to the roof.

The weather outside the window was nice, and Estelle stood by the window, silently looking at the sky. An unnamed long-tailed bird flew past his eyes in a blue arc across the sky. Estelle knew that the bird was looking for Selene, and every day such a beautiful bird flew to Selene's room, passing by his window. Selene likes to be close to life, which is the opposite of Estelle's.

It should be early. Estelle thought so, looking down at his hand. The morning was a busy day, and it always felt like time was running out, and just as Estelle heard the blue bird chirping, the sound of fetching water came.

The boy shook vigorously, imagining the flame burning from his hand. Yet nothing happened. Although it was true that a fire did rise in his hand that night, Estelle could not control it well, sometimes wanting it to burn but useless, and sometimes accidentally igniting it when nothing happened. Fortunately, until now, this unexpected ability has not been known to a third person other than Selene. Estelle knew that if the crowd saw him burning, it would probably cause a lot of commotion.

That's the age when the flames will wane a bit. Before that, the flames were endless. There were wars everywhere—something that seemed negligible from Estelle, and everywhere there were fights against the "enemies of God"—and it was said that because of the efforts of the Inquisition, there were finally fewer and fewer witches. But it seemed to Estelle that the Inquisition's efforts meant "discernment" or "slaughter," which made him wonder many times. Although there has not been a single witch trial in this remote and nameless town, Estelle often wonders why there are so many people allied with demons under the power of God. Of course, he would not ask the nun these questions, even if he maintained his usual attitude, he was already called "indifferent", "ungodly", and "impersonal", so he did not want to embarrass the nun because of those questions.

In what seemed like a tight time, Estelle's mind was in a quick, long reverie, and those thoughts eventually moved closer to the same question: where he and Seline came from.

Just as he was pondering, a somewhat abrupt figure entered his field of vision.

Estelle wasn't sure if anyone else could see the figure, but the nuns who were already in the courtyard walked as silently and fast as ever, even brushing past the figure that was close at hand.

It was a man in a robe, whose sex or appearance could not be seen because of the concealment of the robe. Beneath it sat a dark blue horse, which seemed to be dead, and which walked so slowly and calmly that the person sitting on it could not see the slightest bump, and the figure paced slowly in the courtyard of the monastery, like a lord walking his horse in his own garden.

Estelle looked at the closed doors of the convent, and he concluded that it was an uninvited guest.

Suddenly, as if someone was watching it, the figure on the horse jerked its head up and looked at the window where the star was standing.

When he saw that face, a cold fear made Xingchen hold his breath.

It can't be called a face, because there's not a trace of flesh on it. It was just a skeleton, staring at Estelle with its hollow eye sockets, but with an accurate look.

The skeleton looked up at Estelle, and Estelle looked down at the skeleton.

After a few moments, the skeleton beckoned to Estelle.

The meaning of that action is clear: you come.

At that time, Estelle somehow seemed to rise out of thin air. He looked at the invisible skeleton, and he felt that if he did not respond to his call, the fate of the monastery would be ominous, and their God would be indifferent to it.

Just as Estelle ran downstairs and looked directly at the figure that was only a few steps away from him, Selene's voice rang out behind him.

"Estelle!"

Estelle looked back, and Selene stood behind him. Fear and surprise were also written on her face. Even with her extraordinary talents, she still couldn't trust the skeleton to walk freely on horseback.

The skeleton beckoned to them again and tugged at the reins of the horse. The dead horse, rolling its eyes, swung its head and turned around, dragging its lifeless cyan body towards the door.

The brother and sister could see that the horse and the skeleton in robes had walked straight through the huge iron gate as if they were false illusions.

Estelle stepped forward, but Selene grabbed him from behind.

"Don't go," Selene could feel, the skeleton wanted Estelle, "I don't think it's normal." ”

"Hey," said a mean-looking nun who looked at the siblings, a little older than Sister Chloe, but who was more than a little older than the nun, "where are you going? There's still a lot of work to be done later, so I can't let you go like this!"

Estelle looked at the nun expressionlessly: "I'm sorry Sister Emma, maybe we have to come back later." ”

With that, he walked towards the gate. Outside the door, a skeleton on horseback politely waited for the two.

"You ......" The nun tried to stop her, but she didn't know how to speak, so she could only watch Estelle and Erin hurry out.

Estelle and Seline followed the blue-gray horse, not knowing what the skeleton was trying to do. The horse walked very slowly, and the skeleton looked very leisurely, as if it was not in a hurry to do something.

"Oh!"

As the two followed the figure to the market, not far from the church, the voice of the old lady of Magnon came from in front of them.

"Estelle, and Selene," said Madame Magnon, calling their names, as she hurried to this side, and walked squarely past the illusory horse, "you get up so early, and you see, there is no one around, and there are fewer people sleeping in old age, so I always get up so early......

Just as she was greeting the two of them, the shadow of the skeleton in the robe suddenly loomed over the old lady who knew nothing from behind. Out of nowhere, the cyan horse raised its front hooves high, and the skeleton straddled the horse and raised its sickle towards Madame Magnon.