Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 60
Apart from Dr. Salman, who was closest to Columbus, no one heard Columbus’ words.
Everyone was still unaware of what had happened when the tin soldier suddenly charged in—Dr. Salman instinctively reached out to grab him, but the other was too fast, his fingertips only barely brushing the hat on his head.
Dr. Salman’s heart sank, and before he could think further, his body reacted faster than his brain, reaching out again—this time, he forcefully stopped the rabbit-headed shopkeeper, who also wanted to rush forward.
Shiloh, completely unaware of what was happening, saw only smoke and fire everywhere in the study, and the study doorway was now impassable. He instinctively stepped forward to help Dr. Salman hold back Charlie. “You’re crazy! You can’t make it five steps in there without being burned alive. Look at all the fur on your face!”
Shiloh looked young but was surprisingly strong, pulling the rabbit-headed shopkeeper back several steps and asking, “What’s going on?!”
“The tin soldier ran in,” Dr. Salman said, looking back at the study now engulfed in flames, then anxiously at Charlie, who was struggling.
“I need to go pull Columbus out.”
“Don’t go,” Dr. Salman suddenly said. “The tin soldier doesn’t need to breathe. There’s no path left. Let me go in and find him.”
Hearing this, Charlie stopped moving.
The room was ablaze, and any ordinary person entering would surely be injured.
He immediately reached out to grab Dr. Salman’s arm and said, “Don’t—” but the next second, his hand grasped at empty air as Dr. Salman seemingly disappeared on the spot.
In his place was a pigeon, twice the size of its usual form, with a deep gray body, brown-yellow feathers on its belly, and bright, warm eyes that swept over everyone before flapping its wings towards the study.
Shiloh was stunned. “My God… what is this?”
Charlie was also stunned.
The shock of Dr. Salman turning into a pigeon somewhat calmed him from the shock of Columbus running into the inferno, silently watching the billowing smoke in the study with Shiloh.
At first, they could only see a shadow moving quickly inside. Then they saw nothing at all.
It was unclear how much time had passed before the pigeon emerged from the fire, its wings carrying tiny sparks, obviously disoriented by the smoke, nearly crashing into the corridor’s stone wall before Shiloh quickly intercepted it.
The pigeon came out alone.
It turned around on the spot and transformed back into the tall, thin, and genteel doctor.
His eyes were streaming with tears from the smoke, and his voice was hoarse and inaudible as he tightly grasped the rabbit-headed shopkeeper. “He… He wouldn’t come out.”
Given the tin soldier’s size and weight, he could have been carried out of the fire by clinging to the pigeon’s foot, but he did not do so.
Once Dr. Salman had regained a little strength, he intermittently described the last scene he saw.
Due to the high heat, the paint on the tin soldier’s body had begun to peel off, and his features were becoming indistinct—he also stood on the study’s carpet, silent, tightly holding Mistress Daisy, and didn’t respond to Dr. Salman’s rescue efforts until the end.
Mistress Daisy had already been rendered unconscious by the thick smoke, and it was hard to say whether she had seen the tin soldier rush in from the doorway, but when Dr. Salman entered, the large book she had been holding had fallen to the floor and started burning.
Dr. Salman circled the room a few times, and upon realizing it was beyond saving, turned to head towards the door but looked back one last time.
The flames and heat distorted the interior view, so he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination: he thought he saw Mistress Daisy’s other hand also embracing the tin soldier.
Once such an ancient castle caught fire, there was no way to extinguish it other than letting it burn out naturally.
The group sat disheveled in the garden, watching the thick black smoke billow from the upper rooms of the castle. No one spoke for a long time.
Shiloh, still a minor and having spent the longest time with Charlie and Columbus among them, was visibly shaken and upset, his eyes reddening.
He couldn’t fathom why the tin soldier had chosen to run to his death when everything was about to be resolved.
This was a question only Charlie could answer, but no one dared to ask him.
Charlie’s top hat and pipe lay on the ground. He sat silently, not saying a word.
The young knight, stifled and unable to vent, angrily kicked the stone-built flower bed several times.
Dr. Salman looked from one to another, wanting to say something to comfort everyone, but not knowing how to start, he too fell silent.
Erika’s expression was grim, continuously looking towards the greenhouse direction.
While everyone else had gone to support the study, she alone had stayed behind, accompanying and comforting the girls.
She sat in the greenhouse, surrounded by excited and thrilled young girls, who, despite having endured much deception, hurt, and pain, showed little sign of harboring deep-seated hatred.
On the contrary, the girls were almost overwhelmingly positive. Their cheeks were flushed, and the livelier ones asked her name, whether she was engaged; the more reserved ones began to worry whether Charlie and the others had managed to get the keys, whether they would have to walk out of the castle; and some were more silent, merely pursing their lips gently and quietly watch their companions chat excitedly.
Erika was particularly adept at interacting with such women—perhaps more so than the entire Brandenburg Knights.
She was handsome and gentle, tirelessly answering every question, never ignoring any girl because of silence.
She had also taken down every girl’s address, promising to drive them home by carriage.
And Alice, anxiously and quietly inquiring whether Mr. Charlie would let her serve as a maid in return for her services if she had no money.
They had bravely defeated the villain, fully expecting a happy ending.
No one in the greenhouse knew what was happening in the castle study, but suddenly, amidst laughter and gentle voices, it was as if someone had snuffed out all those joyful and tender sounds.
Right before Erika’s eyes, the girls, one by one, froze. Then, under the moonlight spilling from the greenhouse ceiling, all turned into flowers.
Hydrangeas, jasmines, irises, nasturtiums, dahlias… In the blink of an eye, the lively young girls had disappeared, leaving only out-of-season, silently swaying flowers. Erika stood alone among the flowers, not even having time to conceal her astonishment.
Only when the last flames had finally died out and the smoke had cleared did the rabbit-headed shopkeeper, who had been silent all this while, put on his top hat again and walk towards the castle.
He refused anyone’s company.
Seeing the expressions on Shiloh and Erika’s faces, Dr. Salman was silent for a while, then suddenly said, “Mr. Charlie might need some time, but before that, would you like to hear a story?”
He put on the glasses he had removed to disguise himself as a coachman, knelt back down on the ground, and said in a low voice, “I had previously told half of it to Erika… Shiloh hasn’t heard it yet. Let me start from the beginning.”
Although Shiloh wasn’t in the mood for stories, Erika pressed his head down to sit, and he reluctantly propped his chin with his hand, looking at the dewdrops sparkling on the grass tips in the morning light.
“…The young man fell in love with the girl, but the nymphs were angry and devised an evil plan to ruin their love. The young man had been raised by the nymphs and had deep affection for them, but upon hearing their conspiracy, he immediately fled with the girl at night.
However, in the forest, every owl was a sentinel for the nymphs, and they informed them. The nymphs, burned by jealousy of love, became witches and chased them in the forest.
But the young man had also grown up in the forest; the old willow trees and the rabbits and foxes all helped to block the pursuers.
The second nymph, unable to catch up with them, cursed the young man to turn into a pigeon; the third nymph, riding a she-wolf and unable to catch them, cursed the young man never to die; the fourth nymph, in the form of a cat, also unable to catch them, cursed their time in love to always be less than seven days.
Eventually, they escaped the forest, but the girl’s back was scratched by the fourth nymph in her cat form, and she died after running a high fever for three days.”
Hearing this, Shiloh sat up straight, looking at Dr. Salman in surprise, and then his head was forcefully pushed down again by Erika.
Dr. Salman continued, “After the girl died, the young man was devastated and wanted to die with his lover but found he could not end his life no matter what, and he also gained the ability to turn into a pigeon.
So, he turned into a pigeon and flew east until he was tired and landed. He worked as a tavern helper, a street artist, and whenever he got bored, he would turn into a pigeon and leave.
Twenty years later, the young man met a flower-selling girl in a town, and he knew she was the girl who had been picking mushrooms in the forest because they fell in love at first sight again.
They met on a Monday, and by Thursday, the flower girl was killed by her jealous fiancé with a knife.
Because the young man doesn’t age or die, he could only travel from one city to another on the continent, just like the flower girl, and after a while, he would always meet lovers of different appearances, ages, and genders, and he would always recognize her and fall in love with her again.
But their time in love was always brief—never more than seven days—and they would inevitably part again.
After each love ended, he would pack his bags and travel everywhere. No one knew where his next destination would be, but he knew that when he next stopped, his long-lost lover would be waiting for him.”
His story was finished.
Shiloh looked even sadder now, but Dr. Salman was amused by him and reached out to pat his head.
“It’s okay. There’s no need to be like this,” he said calmly. “It’s a very old story from a long, long time ago.”
He genuinely comforted the young knight because, at the start of the story, everyone, including Dr. Salman himself, was as energetic and hopeful as Shiloh.
So he hoped Shiloh would always be like that.
Unfortunately, only when the story reached its end did time reveal its true power to everyone.
He had told this story more than once and no longer felt as moved as his listeners.
He was just… like someone lost in an endless swamp, and his lover was the log under his feet.
But each log would quickly disappear, so he couldn’t stay, only stepping on the logs as he moved along.
This journey had been too long—so long that he wasn’t even sure if he would have the courage to step onto the next log when it appeared.
He was neither human nor pigeon.
He neither aged nor died, yet he had died thousands of times.
The author has something to say:
Columbus’s inspiration came from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”.
Alice and the other girls were inspired by Andersen’s “The Daisy”.
Kinky Thoughts:
What? No… I like Columbus. He can’t be dead, right?
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