Secrets have existed since the dawn of mankind.

At first, it may be just two people who decide to hide it from the other, and before you know it, it has developed to the level of a few people hiding from a group of people, a few people hiding from an entire city, a few people hiding from a whole country, and so on.

The secret itself, has not changed.

However, the act of hiding the secret has a variety of theories.

The act of defrauding the other party in political and military battles, hiding one's own weaknesses and probing the weaknesses of the other party to defeat them is called stratagem, and the act of concealing one's black income by some means is called embezzlement.

On the plus side, human society has produced magicians who act alongside troubadours, who keep their secrets and bring incredible fun. On the bad side, there are also many deceitfuls throughout the Rigal world.

The way human beings call a secret is ever-changing, and the way of hiding a secret has also evolved from scheming to killing others.

......

The wind on the shore of the lake blew gently, and the waves shone on the faces of the two young girls.

Amonica no longer had the inhuman appearance she had before, she sat some distance away from Mira, and did not lean over. "......" Mila looked at her side face, to be honest, it is impossible to say that there is no trace of fear in the heart of the Luoan girl, but compared to these, I am afraid that it is more of an emotion of "care".

"......" Amonica also turned her head, just in time to meet the girl's sparkling eyes, and she immediately lowered her eyes, no longer looking directly at Mira, and then turned her head with a choked sound. "......" Mira clenched her fists, hesitated for a moment, and then "poofed" as if to strengthen her resolve and walked over.

"Whew-" Amonica shook her shoulders, as if terrified of Mira's approach.

"Follow me...... Let's talk about it. The girl noticed this, so she slowed down and stopped. Amonica curled up on her knees and buried her face in the crook of her arm, refusing to look up, and Mira continued, "Tell me what happened." "Hiss......" The blonde girl was indeed crying, and she heard her sniff and then say in a tone with a hint of crying, or rather, "You...... Do you really want to hear it? ”

"If something goes wrong, you have to say it. Luo An's girl, who looked down at each other condescendingly, said with a serious face: "Someone told me such a thing!"

A strong tone of voice can always make the uneasy person subconsciously believe the other person.

Amonica looked up at the white-haired Loan girl, while Mira sat down and took the breeze from the lake with her.

"......" she hesitated for a moment, but there seemed to be no choice for now.

"Remember......" Amonica said slowly, still resisting, but it was at this time that she turned her head and met Mira's sparkling eyes again.

There was no hatred or fear in the blue eyes that reflected the silvery moonlight of the magical moon of Sifink, but only concern for his friends and curiosity.

"Thank you......" The blonde girl sniffed heavily, then continued, "Remember, I told you before, that Joshua saved me—"

As her words spoke, it was as if time had gone back eleven years ago.

......

"What the hell are you trying to do, hurry up if you want to kill me!" said nine-year-old Amonica, who had the same cheerful temperament as she does now, to the man who had taken her captor, but the other party in the long cloak only threw a loaf of bread wrapped in sackcloth.

“...... I don't eat your stuff. Little Lori said stubbornly in a crisp voice, but the other party only showed a disdainful smile at this, and then turned around and walked to the side. For two and a half days, he didn't say a word, and spent the day in the cave on the dirt floor, and in the evening he would go out for a short time, and then return with some necessities.

What exactly the other party wants, Amonica has no idea at all. The last thing she remembered was playing in the woods behind her house, then getting lost, then falling into a coma, and finally waking up again in this place.

While the man was out at night, Amonica had tried it on the first night, but she didn't know the way at all, and the man had stuck a torch high up in the rock wall, which Lori's height couldn't touch.

It was pitch black outside, unaccompanied, and only inside the cave had a hint of warmth. And he always stayed here during the day, and had no intention of going out at all.

"What the hell do you want to do!" she couldn't understand what the other person was asking for, and even if she asked, she wouldn't answer. Only at some point, Amonica noticed that the man would look a little sad - he wasn't going to kill himself, so what the hell was he doing with it?

She couldn't figure it out, but instinctively continued to refuse the other party's food, until she was so hungry that she collapsed that she finally gave in.

"It's so unpalatable!" The bread has a salty and astringent taste, but it fills one's stomach and gives oneself the strength to act. Amonica swallowed it with such thoughts, but she didn't notice the smile on the face of the person next to her when she saw it.

......

"That's ...... Added vampire blood. The lakeside light shone on half of her cheeks, and Amonica said with a hint of self-deprecation on her face: "At that time, I was still confident in accepting this charity from the other party and trying to survive, and then I was sure that someone would come to save my ...... later."

"But it's no longer possible, no one can save me...... He didn't mean to kill me, but he did more to me than he did to me. But that man ...... too."

"After all, he's just lonely......" Amonica said in a very embarrassed tone, she looked at Mira, and her eyes were sad as she remembered it, but there was no hatred in her eyes.

"Immortal, but walking in darkness. Vampires are a kind of creature, although everyone is afraid of them, and thinks they are very powerful. But I think ...... It's very pitiful. Amonica smiled reluctantly, she was a little unaccustomed to being so quiet, after all, the usual blonde girls laughed, making people feel that she was carefree, sunny and cheerful.

"On the fourth day, perhaps because I had eaten bread, he began to tell me......" the blonde girl paused and began to tell again.

......

"Do you, think, immortal, yes, a blessing?" said the man, in a faint, hoarse voice, speaking the lingua franca of the West Coast, but with a rather distinctive accent, clearly not from the neighborhood, and speaking with a distinctly fluency that looked like he hadn't spoken to anyone else in a long, long time.

"......" Amonica didn't answer him, she was still hostile to the man, so she just curled up her little body in a corner of the cavern, crossed her legs, and stared at the other without saying a word.

"It seems that you don't want to answer, me. The man said this in a less fluent voice, smiled at the end of the sentence, and then continued: "Human, always envious, other, race. He said, "Envy, those, longevity, longer than them, race." ”

"Because life is very, short, so human beings are always, coveting, wanting, living longer, for a few years. He looked at Amonica, and the blonde Lori was still glaring at her hostilely, as if if if she did that, the man would back down and let her go.

Children's thoughts are always naïve and innocent, and Amonica feels that she has hidden a little secret from the bottom of her heart. Silently, she secretly hid the bread under a sloping stone near the entrance of the cave, and then decided to go out and explore the surroundings on his next outing, so as to prepare for her escape.

"It seems, you, I hate it, me. The man smiled bitterly, and then continued: "Humans, haven't they always been envious, elves and other long-lived races...... as if he had mastered the knack of pronunciation, and his words gradually began to become fluent: "Although elves cannot have eternal life, humans still envy them very much. ”

"Envy what others have, but you don't have, it's really the commonality of life......" he raised his hand, and Amonica, who was still young at the time, felt more and more that this guy was really inexplicable, not to mention wearing a thick cloak when it was not raining in the hot and humid Soladin region, and wearing a long-sleeved and long-hemped coat that covered his whole body, and black gloves.

Isn't this man afraid that he will be suffocated to death, she thought to herself, and sure enough, it was a strange fellow, and she had to leave him early and go back to the village, and return to Joshua's side.

"Don't you quite understand the meaning of this......" The man turned his head to look at her, and Amonica finally replied once, she shook her head, and then said, "It's okay to live happily, why live so long." The blonde Lori said this, and then suddenly remembered that she had decided to remain hostile to this person, and quickly covered her mouth.

"Hehe......" The man smiled again: "You can say such things precisely because you don't quite understand the meaning of life." ”

"When the time comes, for some reason, people will always want to delay a little longer. Although there will be many people who say that they have no regrets, if they can, many people still want to continue to live. He put it this way: "Even if it's just climbing a mountain that you've never been up to and seeing how the sunset on it is different from what you've been watching, even if it's just going out to sea in a boat and doing something you haven't done before." ”

"It will always add some new meaning to life and leave some new memories. ”

"In the middle of summer, when the trees are verdant, no one cares how many leaves there are, and when late autumn comes, and only a dead leaf hangs alone, they always hope that it doesn't fall. ”

"......" made Amonica hear the words in the clouds, she only felt that it was like a poem, obviously at the moment at Lori's age, she had no way to understand this. The man smiled again, the smile on his pale face, which even the torches could not warm up, but the smile and the words that followed were etched into Amonica's heart, even if it was years before she really understood the content.

"I've seen things you humans can't imagine. ”

"I have seen mighty empires divided by a small, unappreciated bastard, dragons with wingspans gliding over the sky and flying towards the open seas, I have seen the brightest stars in the Heinzwöm meteorite lake, which is called the miracle of eternal night, I have seen countless lives and countless deaths. He looked at his hand, opened it, and clenched it into a fist.

"Because I didn't want to lose, I chose to get the power of the taboo, but on the contrary, I lost more because of the power of the taboo. He looked at Amonica and whispered, "The result of not wanting to lose anything is losing everything." Buried his own secrets and lived carefully, but in the end he could only say goodbye to others again and again. ”

"The so-called eternal life that human beings longed for is nothing more than watching others die alone. He said with a wry smile: "Even in order to keep their secrets, sometimes they have to give up something." ”

"Eternal life is a curse. ”

"Knowing that your time is running out, you can grasp every moment and be liberated on that day. He looked at Amonica, just as Amonica looked at Mira, the blonde girl's face covered in silvery moonlight, she tilted her head again, and then smiled wryly.

"What happened later...... You know, Joshua came running and found me. ”

"He was like the embodiment of a god in the mountains, and he easily led me out of the cave quickly, but ......" Amonica lowered her head again, "How can humans outrun vampires."

......

"You run first, go find the grown-ups!" Joshua, with red hair and low braids, turned around and shouted in a slightly childish boyish voice, as he handed the torch to Amonica.

"But......" said Amonica, who was still holding the bread in her arms, and Joshua couldn't help but stare at her with his piercing eyes, "Hurry up, I'll hold him, don't worry!" he said, Amonica gritted her teeth and took the torch, but the bread in her arms fell out: "Ah!" the blonde Lori crouched down, intending to pick it up. "Run! That guy was fast, almost faster than Panther. Joshua's urging made her stop, and then she turned and ran back and forth, until the boy's figure was swallowed up by darkness, and then she pursed her lips and pressed forward desperately.

The thorns, the sharp stones, the thick leather that served as the soles of the sandals she was wearing, and the stitches that fastened the straps were broken, and the pain she felt when she stepped on the stones made Lori almost crouch down in pain, but she held on to her beliefs, tried to ignore the pain, and ran forward step by step.

Little by little, little by little, in the direction Joshua had pointed out, Emmonica ran desperately.

"Someone!" "Someone!" When she had been running for an unknown amount of time, and when the sky was beginning to glow blue, she saw and saw a little fire in the distance—Amonica thought it was a lamp at first, but then immediately noticed that they could move—it was the adults of the village!

"Here, here!" Amonica waved her hands vigorously, and the torches made a "whirring" sound in the air, which caught their attention.

"Amonica!?What about Joshua?" the adults didn't seem to expect that she would actually be found, and they asked eagerly, and Amonica, who had been running for hours on end, was now on her knees because of her weakness and dizziness.

"Hey, give her water, give her water!" The scrambled adults handed over a bamboo kettle, and Amonica hurriedly took a sip, choking on her throat because of the movement: "Ahem, ahem—" She coughed loudly, and the adults next to her helped to soothe the blonde Lori with concern, but then the girl seemed to see some kind of vision when she closed her eyes.

"Uhh

"You shouldn't have come, she's going to be my man......"

"If you're so confident in your eyes, I'll take your proudest thing. Grabbing him by the neck with his left hand, he lifted him up to the trunk of the tree, dropped the arrow in his hand, and stabbed two fingers into the eyes of Joshua, who was struggling in agony.

"Don't!!" Amonica shook off the hands of the adults next to her, and ran in the direction behind her.

"What's wrong with her?" "Hurry up and catch up!"

In the chaos behind her, Amonica ran desperately forward, she ran and ran, and once again passed the thorny road, and the surrounding environment became brighter and brighter, and finally reached Joshua's side - the man was gone, and Joshua fell to the ground on his back.

"Don't!!" Amonica rushed over, Joshua seemed to fall into a coma, the girl gritted her teeth and burst into tears, and the faint voice of the man behind her rang out again: "That's it...... Is there already a connection? ”

"What a pity, what a pity. The girl turned her head and met his condescending eyes, but there was no madness or anger in them, only a faint calm.

The first rays of light were cast, and the blazing sun shone on the man's body, and he immediately lit a light cigarette, but unlike his face that twitched in pain, his eyes were still calm.

"Boom!!!" the flames burned, the man finally showed an indifferent and relieved smile and then turned into ashes, Amonica felt that a certain connection in her heart had completely disappeared, and today's sun felt extremely conspicuous, she subconsciously covered her head with her hands, and Joshua on the side let out a muffled snort.

"Joshua!" she forgot all about it all as she cried tears of joy as the sound of footsteps behind her rang out, and the adults ran over.

......

"You'll know the rest of the story......" Amonica said in an unusually sluggish tone, "From that day on, the sun became quite dazzling to me, and although it was not lost because of the thinning of the blood, it would also be quite weak in the sun. ”

"Although ordinary human food can also give energy, every once in a while, you still need to suck blood to maintain your sanity, otherwise you will fall into uneasiness, become weak, and may go berserk and attack others......" Mira remembered her previous actions, apparently Amonica was attacking a fawn.

"I don't have any special abilities, and if I am killed, I will die, but I will look like a monster, and I have to do such things to sustain myself. What, even being a monster is a half-ass. ”

"I'm disgusting, right? She looked up and choked up again.

"......" Mira was silent for a while, this matter was also a bit informative for her. But no matter that, no matter all of this, whether or not Emmonica is half a vampire. She understood, she knew very well.

What you should do in this situation.

“――”“！”

- Mira hugged her, and Amonica froze.

"I don't know that kind of guy. The white-haired girl of Loan said word by word, her breath blowing in Amonica's ears, not high, but not wavering.

"The Emonica I know is a girl who loves to laugh. ”

"Although he occasionally cries, he also shows a disturbed expression. ”

"But respect for life, cheerful, sunny, always with positive thoughts, and kinder than anyone, anyone. ”

"So even if there is a monster's bloodline, Amonica is Amonica, and that won't change. ”

"I'll give it back to you, huh. Mira snorted softly, then continued, "I don't want to be the comforted party all the time. As she spoke, Amonica was stunned for a moment, before realizing that Mira was referring to the incident that had happened at the inn earlier.

"Poof...... she burst into tears, then hesitated and hugged Mira.

"Thank you......"

"It's really nice to meet you......"

"But can you keep this secret for me? She whispered, but there was no longer much uneasiness.

"Actually, I don't think even if you told Joshua, he wouldn't mind. Mira said this, but Amonica still shook her head: "No, I haven't, be prepared for that." ”

She said, the two let go of their arms, and Mira took her hand: "Woo wow it's so hot, I was looking for you to take a bath with me in the first place, and now my body stinks." ”

"Well, let's go together. The blonde girl tilted her head again, and in the pale blue moonlight, she smiled softly and said.

......

Somewhere behind him, a tall figure sighed, then turned and walked towards the camp. (To be continued.) )