"I don't understand what's so interesting about this scenery. The sun and moon alternately change. In my eyes, it's like the ticking of the second hand. It's boring and dull."
On a peak in the Supuha Mountains, Meredith was lying on a section of dry roots in the cliff, swinging back and forth.
Beside her, there was an abyss on one side and steep cliffs on the other.
Meredith raised her head, looked at the man standing on the top of the mountain, and said, "The longer you live, the less important time will be."
Todd faced the afterglow of the setting sun and said softly: "When you have something to care about in your heart, the flow of time will have meaning."
Meredith lay down and said, "You talked about caring, have I told you about my husband and children?"
Todd said, "I heard you mention it once."
"In the three hundred years since Mr. Scathach turned me into a tyrant, I have tried to have several husbands and more than a dozen children." Meredith's voice slowly dropped: "My first
My husband is a descendant of the Tyro people and an ordinary person. At the beginning, I tried to tell my family about my situation. Guess what happened?"
Todd shook his head and asked, "What happened?"
"My husband and children tied me up in the middle of the night and sent me to the temple, claiming that there was a demon living in my body."
Todd sighed: "You ran away?"
"Yes, I had no other choice but to run away. After that, I never dared to see my family again until their funeral." Meredith paused and then said, "After a long time, I found
I had a second husband, and he was a different species."
"I observed him for a long time, and when I was sure that he would accept everything, I told him my identity."
Todd had an ominous premonition: "You made a mistake? He can't accept you?"
"No, he can accept me, but he is crazy jealous of me."
"envy?"
"My second husband, he is ill due to the side effects of the alien species. He lives in pain every day and is afraid of death every day."
"Tyrants can not only survive for a long time, but also have power beyond common sense. My husband is very eager for this transformation."
Todd asked in surprise: "He wants to ask you how to become a tyrant?"
Meredith smiled bitterly and said: "Not just asking, he used my child to coerce me."
"Coercion?!"
"He put the knife on the child's neck and must force him to find out the whereabouts of the Kingdom of Shadows."
Todd asked, "What then?"
"I told him that a tyrant is never a gift from God, it is a curse from the devil. Not to mention the narrow escape of the tyrant's path, even if he succeeds in becoming a tyrant, he must always suppress his power after that, otherwise he will become irrational.
monster."
"He still hasn't given up?"
"Yes, he thought I was just selfish and wanted to monopolize the tyrant's secret. During the quarrel, he became furious, gradually lost his mind, and finally accidentally killed the child..."
Hearing this, Todd's mood suddenly sank: "Meredith, I'm sorry that this has happened to you."
"This has nothing to do with you. At least I made that stupid person pay the price."
"Did you kill him?"
"No, I brought him to the Kingdom of Shadows and watched him be torn to pieces in the trial."
Todd was silent.
Meredith said while combing the crow feathers on her body: "After that, I tried to start a family several times, but without exception they all ended in tragedy."
"I was tired, I gave up, I returned to the Presbyterian Church, lived underground in the Supuha Mountains, accompanied my father... Sutherland's coffin, and began to be afraid of having any contact with this world."
Meredith stood up from the dead roots, black wings spread out behind her, and with a strong wind blowing, she flew across the canyon, shot up into the sky, and finally landed on the ground.
Meredith walked to Todd's side, sat down, and took off the crow mask she always wore on her face.
With a high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, a carved facial profile, and beautiful and neat hair, Meredith has the face of a very classical Taylor woman.
Perhaps because she has been unwilling to come into contact with the world for many years, her expression did not change much even when she spoke, and her eyes gave people a feeling of loneliness and coldness.
Todd looked at Meredith and said, "About your father... Sutherland..."
Meredith asked, "Which one do you want to ask him about? The father? The hero? Or the monster...?"
Todd frowned and looked at Meredith, thought for a while, and said, "I heard that he is a very wise scholar."
Meredith: "Before he defected to Taylor, he was a respected senator, a learned scholar, and an elder with a high reputation... But he was a failed husband, and even more so.
He is an unfit father."
"He spends a lot of time in the library and in parliament. He meets with MPs more times a month than with his family. He will forget the birthdays of his wife and children, and even forget to go home.
How to go."
Todd shook his head as he listened, and murmured in his heart, as the saying goes, those who achieve great things take things lightly, and maybe it is true.
Meredith continued: "During the great purge of alien species in Taylor City, he single-handedly began preparing for escape years in advance. He saved thousands of alien species at the cost of his life.
Created a peaceful place for them - the Presbyterian Church."
"Judging from this, he may really be a hero."
Meredith suddenly changed the topic: "But, during the purge of alien species, did anyone record the fate of the Sutherland family?"
"My mother, brother, younger brother and sister were convicted of treason by the Tyro Council. They were nailed to wooden stakes and wailed in pain for several days before they died miserably. Has anyone ever written about them?"
Todd asked: "Why didn't Sutherland take his family with him when he was on the run?"
Meredith said coldly: "In order to paralyze the watchers, if we escape from Taylor City, it will definitely attract the attention of the purges, leading to the failure of the escape... In other words, my family and I have become this
The purpose of the escape is to cover the aliens from leaving."
Todd sighed deeply.
"For a long time, I hated my father and his so-called alien group." Meredith looked up at the darkening sky: "But this hatred, after learning of his death,
I don’t know why, but it was slowly diluted.”
"When I came to the mausoleum under the Supuha Mountains and saw the coffin of my father Sutherland, all my original thoughts of revenge were replaced by one sentence."
Meredith turned her head to Todd, and for the first time a sad expression appeared on her face: "I lost the last of my family."