Veretti. Cotton woke up before seven o'clock. She looked at her friend Joanlin, who was still asleep. Pryor, tiptoeing out of bed and going to the bathroom to tidy himself up.

Before the Pryors had gotten out of bed, Veretti returned to Jonglin's room and sat alone in front of the window looking out. There were few pedestrians on the streets, and the morning public carriage ran briskly along the road, and the coachman yawned and occasionally tightened the reins to control the speed of the horse. The bakery across the street has opened its doors, and the owner is busy polishing the windows and setting up the price signs. In the distance, the towering bell tower of St. Samuel's Church stands out.

She stayed at Qionglin's house for a week, still keen to look out the window. In the East End, in her own home, whenever she looks out, all she gets is a gray, choking fog and lifeless, narrow streets.

But this is not her home after all. Around half-past seven, Veretti heard footsteps in the hallway and knew that the Pryors had woken up. After a while, Jan Lin rolled over on the bed, and then sat up slowly, still a little confused in his eyes.

"I admire you, Veretti." She muttered sleepily, "You always wake up so early. I just can't do it. ”

In the East End, you have to wake up earlier, as it takes about an hour to walk to school...... Veretti smiled and said, "Good morning, Jolin. ”

Qionglin replied vaguely, sleepwalked to the bathroom to wash, and came out completely awake. She helped Veretti pack up her things and chatted with each other as the aroma of pan-fried bacon filled the air. Mrs. Pryor called to them in a somewhat shrill voice: "Come down to dinner, good girls!" ”

Fluffy toast is served with butter, cream or jam, and fragrant black tea is used to relieve the oiliness of bacon and sausages. Piette, who sat at the end of the table reading the Beckland Journal. Pryor nodded to them with a smile, and the hostess Merlene, who directed the maid to put an omelette on everyone's plate. Pryor, on the other hand, touched the top of Veretti's hair with great pity.

"Eat more, darling." She pinned a strand of slippery pale blonde sideburns behind Veretti's ear, "You're too skinny, you need plenty of nutrition......"

Veretti hastened to thank Mrs. Pryor for her kindness, and sat down at the table to finish a hearty breakfast. It was Sunday, a day off, and she stayed in the living room with the Pryor family, picking up the newspaper that Mr. Pryor had read before the church bell struck nine times.

Before she could finish reading the investigative report on the "Lily Street Sudden Contagious Disease," the jingling doorbell rang.

The maid greeted the door, and Veretti put away the newspapers, folded them and put them back in place. Qiong Lin approached her with some reluctance, grabbed her arm and muttered quietly, "That 'brother' of yours again?" ”

Veretti knew that her friends, or the Pryor family, didn't have a good impression of her guardian, and that the bad impression wasn't entirely unfounded. She smiled helplessly: "He's my family, Qionglin." Alright, it's time for me to go, see you at school tomorrow. ”

The Pryors and Ryors escorted her to the door with Jonnin. Douglas waited there as promised, fiddling with an old cap in his hand. Veretti couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart when she saw the white gauze bandaged on his forehead. Fortunately, the other party's expression looked good, and the injury didn't seem to be serious.

Seeing them come out, Douglas stopped his superfluous movements, bowed slightly to the Pryors, and then swept his gaze over the two little girls. Jonlin struggled to hold back the movement of leaning towards his mother's side, but Veretti suddenly felt that Douglas seemed to be ...... today Something different.

"Thank you for taking care of Veretti," the man held out his hand at her, smiled slightly, and then turned to the Pryors, "I think she's caused you a lot of trouble......

Mr. and Mrs. Pryor were cold to his polite remarks, and only responded politely. Of course, Veretti knew why, a bounty hunter from the East End would never be a guest of the Pryor family.

And herself, if it weren't for being a friend of Jonlin's and Piette. Pryor, who was their teacher at the School of Nursing, had a good understanding of Veretti's character and intellect, and probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to set foot in this house.

She said goodbye to Jonlin, thanked the Pryors, and left after Douglas, rejoicing that the week's room and board had been settled at the beginning, and that the Pryors would not be happy to count money with a bounty hunter at their doorstep, which would be detrimental to their dignity.

The two walked slowly along the street. Veretti's hand suddenly lightened, and she looked sideways to find that Douglas had picked up the cloth bag containing the book and a few clothes for herself.

She watched in amazement at his actions. The man seemed to be a little cramped by her staring, and quickly turned his eyes away and whispered, "Well, let's not go home first, this commission is more troublesome." I'll open a room in a nearby hostel and you stay for another two days until I can take care of ......"

Veretti tugged at his sleeve and widened his eyes: "Staying in a hotel? No, I can ......"

"Hey, hey." Douglas raised his hand to interrupt her, "Trust me, it's necessary, don't worry about money." It's for your safety...... Veretti. ”

For some reason, she felt that Douglas seemed hesitant to pronounce her name. At this time, Douglas led her into a plainly decorated inn and said to the front desk, "Open a room." ”

The service staff at the front desk looked at Douglas, who had short black hair and hazel eyes, and was obviously an adult, and then looked at Veretti, who was only fourteen or fifteen years old with long light blonde hair and dark green eyes, and asked tentatively, "May I ask you two...... What is the relationship? ”

Douglas was suspiciously silent for a second, and Veretti hurriedly made up a reply before the waiter's face became more exciting: "He's my uncle." ”

The receptionist seemed struggling to convince himself of the answer, but as Douglas pulled out a roll of banknotes with a blank face, he apparently quickened himself and quickly opened them a single room facing the street.

Douglas left two days' room and half a ssoul tip, thought about it, and asked the front desk to bring a breakfast with coffee to the room before taking Veretti upstairs.

The single room wasn't big, and Veretti looked at Douglas, who had pulled up a chair and sat down, and asked, "You don't live here?" ”

The man raised his hand and pressed his temple, and replied with a dry smile, "No, I don't want to be handcuffed to the water pipe at the police station overnight." ”

Veretti approached him, lifted the other party's messy forehead hair to check the wound, and after confirming that it was okay, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, raised his hand and pointed out a few stars on his chest: "Praise the goddess...... Douglas, if, I mean, if this mission was too dangerous, you should have abandoned it sooner. If you spend more money on health care and security than you get paid for the task, it's obviously not worth it. ”

"Of course, basic arithmetic...... I still understand. Douglas grunted and tilted his head back to distance himself from her, "There is only a little trivia left, and it will be ...... in two days Well, we have to clean up the house. ”

"What's wrong at home?"

"Damaged some items......"

"That's why you're not taking me back? Someone found the house? ”

"I'll fix it." The man dodged her gaze and turned his head to look out the window, "It's not safe to leave you alone in the East End. It's much better here, and you're closer to school...... Oh, bats. ”

The last sentence seemed to be a stiff change of subject, but when Veretti looked at it, there was indeed a bat outside the window, hanging upside down and shaking on the protruding eaves outside, and small dark eyes were watching the two of them.

"Are you scared?" Douglas said and stood up, "I'll get rid of it." ”

She immediately grabbed his arm, shook her head and said, "No, wait, what if it flies in when you open the window?" Just let it stay there. ”

"Well, you're right......"

Then the waiter knocked on the door of the room and brought breakfast. Veretti sat on the edge of the bed and watched Douglas gobble down a meal, took a few sips of the cup of coffee, paused for two seconds, and then moved the tin cup away with a subtle expression.

The church bell rang from afar, ten times. Douglas listened to the bell, then turned his head and smiled at her, "I should go." You just stay here, don't go too far when you go out, and lock the door by yourself...... That's right. ”

As if remembering something, he hurriedly took the roll of notes from his pocket, drew a few of them, and stuffed the rest into Veretti's hand.

"It's not safe at home, so I've taken the money out and put it with you. Take it. ”

Veretti clenched the crumpled stack of bills in her hand and watched as Douglas put on his coat and cap and walked out the door. A melancholy of unknown origin rose from the bottom of her heart: this Douglas was standing here, having just spoken to her, and had just shook her hand, but she felt that the man who had picked herself and her brother home, sent them to school, buried her brother with her, and went to the cemetery every year to lay a bunch of roadside wildflowers, was not here.

"Douglas." She couldn't help but call him.

The man stopped by the door and looked back at her. Veretti looked at the familiar, light brown eyes and said tentatively, "I think you're ...... today." Some are not quite the same. ”

The eyes blinked, and the man looked at her, seemingly taking some time to find the right wording: "Oh...... I think that after something big, there is always some kind of change in people's personalities......"

She hurriedly interrupted him: "You can confide in me, I ...... I mean, you shouldn't be hiding it from me at such a time. You're in trouble, aren't you? What's going on? ”

“…… Veretti. Douglas raised his voice a little helplessly, calling her name. He left the door, walked back and gave the girl a hug a little rusty, rubbing the top of her hair with the palm of his hand, "Don't be so excited...... Well, it looks like I'm upsetting you. I apologize to you. ”

He pondered for a moment. Veretti felt the man's fingers run gently down the hair to the ends, and then the hand patted her back with a soothing look. He said, "How about we make a pact?" I'll answer these questions when I'm done and when we get home. I swear. ”

Veretti gripped his wrist, felt the human temperature iron against his palm, felt the secret pulse gurgling between his fingers, and couldn't help but feel shy about the inexplicable panic he had just had. What is she thinking, isn't Douglas just standing here?

In order to hide this embarrassment, she hurriedly nodded indiscriminately, and responded to the other party's words: "Okay, that's it...... I, I just saw you hurt and was a little worried......"

"I understand." Douglas smiled and withdrew his hand, took two steps back, turned and walked back to the door.

The door opened and closed before her eyes. Veretti rubbed her eyes and walked around the room twice alone, not knowing what to do, before finally returning to the window and looking out at the view of Beckland.

At this time, she noticed that the bat that had landed outside the windowsill had flown away.