At the same time (?), on a grassland in Pantorakon.
"Dad is not coming today." The little boy looked out the window, disappointed.
"Uther also has his work, so he can't come to accompany us every day." Igraine smiled and stroked her son's head, "Okay, continue reading your book, Arthur."
"But... studying is so boring..." The six-year-old boy put down the "Calculus" in his hand and said awkwardly, "If dad doesn't come to accompany Arthur, Arthur won't
I’ve learned it. Anyway, it’s just memorizing a bunch of formulas, it’s boring to death.”
His mother put down her sewing and began to teach her son: "Don't say it's boring. Don't you want to be an excellent scholar? If you don't even understand calculus as a primary school student, how can you be an excellent scholar when you grow up?"
?"
"Arthur never said he wanted to be a scholar. Arthur wants to be a knight like his father." The little boy protested, "A knight only needs to be strong in fighting. What's the use of knowing all this messy knowledge?"
"No." Although the woman was a little angry at her son's speech, she still gently stroked her son's head and persuaded her: "Mom doesn't want Arthur to join the Knights. Arthur wants to be a scholar and can't be so violent.
.Violence cannot solve problems and will not make the world a better place.
The only thing that can make the world a better place is [knowledge]...and a gentle heart."
"Tender...heart?"
"That's right, a gentle heart." Igraine stroked her son lovingly, "Arthur doesn't need to be a great knight, he just needs to be a gentle person and live his life peacefully. My mother is very comforted."
."
"Mom..." He vaguely understood the hidden meaning in Igraine's words. The little boy snuggled into his mother's arms, closed his eyes, and felt his mother's warmth.
At this moment, someone knocked on the door violently, making a noisy "bump, bang" sound.
"Mom, mom?" The little boy was startled by the knock on the door. There were usually no visitors to this cabin. Except for the knight Uther, almost no one knew about this place.
This sudden visitor filled Igraine's heart with an ominous premonition.
Just in case, she pushed her son down and whispered: "Arthur, hide under the bed. Listen carefully, no matter what happens, don't say anything, okay?"
"...Okay, Arthur will keep quiet and won't say a word."
"Good boy." The woman opened a cover under the bed in the cabin. It was originally a small space left by the knight Uther to store sundries when he built the house (because the cabin did not have a cellar), but now it has become
The little boy's hiding place.
After the woman asked her son to hide, she put down the sheets, covered the hiding place, and then opened the door.
The little boy hid in the darkness and waited patiently. There was a burst of noise outside the door. He was wondering what had happened. When he was full of uneasiness, a woman's scream had already caught his nerves.
"Mom..." He slightly lifted the cover of the hiding place and looked out through the crack.
Blood flowed all over the floor. His mother was lying on the ground and stopped moving.
Igraine is dead.
die.
The six-year-old boy didn't know what death was, but he got a vague concept of death from books. When a person dies, he falls asleep forever and never wakes up again.
His mother would never wake up again, never make the little boy's favorite muffins for him to eat, never again caress his head, teach him to read and write, never again accompany him and talk to him.
We went on outings, picnics, and sightseeing trips with his father.
He was horrified. He was at a loss as these [future possibilities] kept disappearing. But what he cared about most was... that his mother would never love him again.
While the little boy was hiding in the dark and shivering, several men dressed as knights broke into the cabin. Arthur could not see their faces, he could only see their iron boots from the gap under the bed.
"There should be another kid, where is he?" a knight said.
"Look for me. We must find that scoundrel." Another knight ordered. From his voice, he could tell that this man was younger than the other knights, maybe just a teenager; but he could tell from his proud tone.
Out, his position is above other knights.
"...No...can't find it anywhere. Could he have gone outside to play?"
"Fast, Eros, go and look for them in the forest. Once you find them, kill them without mercy." The young knight who gave the order said. His cold tone was reminiscent of the frost in January.
The little boy huddled in the dark cell and kept trembling, but tried his best to suppress himself from making any sound.
"...Do you really want it? He is your brother after all..."
"He is not my brother. He is just the offspring of my father and that bitch. It would not be a pity to die." The young knight replied in a vicious tone. His tone was reminiscent of the snakes and scorpions in the swamp.
The little boy curled up into a ball, his pants were soaked, but he didn't dare to move, for fear that a slight noise would reveal his whereabouts.
"Okay. Let's meet here in an hour, Lord Gunther." The knights left the house.
After all the other knights left, the young knight who stayed in the wooden house suddenly sneered.
"You don't have to hide, kid. I can smell the stench on your body from miles away."
The wooden bed was overturned.
Squeak. The cover of the secret room was lifted.
Light penetrated into the small secret room from the outside and shone on the little boy's face. But this was the light that foreshadowed his death. The little boy looked at the thin young knight in horror. This was when the little boy was younger.
The [brother] who kept bullying him.
"Long time no see, Arthur. How come you're hiding in a place like this?" A cruel smile flashed across Gunther's face.
"Gang, Brother Gangse..."
"Shut up!" The young man grabbed his younger brother's hair with one hand and hung him in the air as if he were holding a toy: "How many times have I told you, don't call me brother again!"
The little boy looked at the knight in horror and remained silent.
He glanced at the woman lying aside. The woman's face was pale and her breathing had stopped. She was completely dead.
"It's all because of you, mother and son, that my father has no intention of working. He skips shifts all day long and is constantly demoted." Gunse glared at his brother fiercely, "But, don't worry. From today on, I will be promoted to a knight of heaven."
.I, the celestial knight Gunther, will carry forward the glory of the Pantoraken family and make up for the shame of my father. But you, a scoundrel, who is the fault of the family, die here!"
The little boy felt a shock in his abdomen. The cold knife had pierced his stomach, and warm blood spurted out from the knife's bleeding port.
"Ugh...why...what..."
"No reason. Your birth was a mistake, your existence is full of filth, and hell is the best place for you."
The little boy's consciousness gradually blurred. He turned around and wanted to see his mother again before he died.
"Speaking of [gentle heart], she is really an idiot." Gangse snorted disdainfully, "Gentleness is of no use. Can gentleness stop me from killing you? Can it make the knives you received disappear? Can it make you
Resurrection from the dead? Ha..."
The little boy shed tears of despair. In the next second, Gunser's knife had turned up, messing up the little boy's internal organs. He then cut through the little boy's trachea and cut his throat, killing him on the spot.