Robert was surprised to notice the change in him. He was satisfied with Herbertâs change. âHow good is this? I donât like crying children.â
Herbert really stopped crying.
After that, when Robert stitched up his wound, Herbert didnât even grunt again. When he really couldnât take it anymore, he frowned.
Robert was extremely satisfied with this.
After a week, Herbert became more and more composed and obedient. He would do anything Robert asked him.
Robert praised him for being a good boy. Every time, after what Herbert had told him last night, he would take a chocolate out of his pocket and hand it to him. Herbert took it and thanked him obediently, but he would not eat the chocolate.
Because behind every chocolate was a dead soul with nowhere to seek justice.
âHerbert, Iâm going to work. Help me get rid of this garbage.â
Robert instructed Herbert and left the basement.
Herbert nodded. After Robert left, he put the chocolate in the manâs pocket.
Robertâs request was for him to throw this personâs corpse into the sea, but Herbert did not plan to do anything. If the corpse sank into the sea, there would be no evidence, right?
He had to leave evidence.
Herbert buried people in places no one else knew about.
......
After doing all this, he was a little tired. He returned home and saw that the starry sky was beautiful. He hugged a sense of guilt and walked to the lawn beside his house to lie down. He lay there for a while when he heard footsteps approaching. Herbert opened his eyes and saw a girl standing beside him.
The little girl bent down and sized him up.
The little girl had blonde hair and fair skin. She was wearing a black princess dress. At such a young age, she already looked quite elegant. Seeing that Herbert was awake, the girl smiled at him. She said very familiarly, âLet me guess who you are.â
Herbert stared at her in silence, his eyes cold.
The girl, however, did not mind his coldness. She tilted her head and smiled very sweetly. She said, âI guess youâre Herbert Felloyd, my new neighbor.â
Herbert stared at the little girl and guessed her identity.
âYouâre Juliaâs sister?â
âHello, nice to meet you. Iâm Clarice.â Clarice lay down beside him, crossing her legs to prevent herself from being exposed. She was so young, but she had good etiquette. Herbert tilted his head and looked at the little girlâs innocent face. He felt envious.
âThe starry sky here is so beautiful.â Clarice looked at the sky and thought of something. She tilted her head to look at Herbert and praised him. âThe boys here are very good-looking too.â
Herbert was stunned.
âHow old are you?â Clarice asked, as if she could not sense Herbertâs resistance to her.
Herbert said coldly, âSeven years old.â
âIâm six,â Clarice said again. âMy sister is almost eight.â
âYeah.â
âYou look like your sister.â If Clarice hadnât been a little taller than Julia, Herbert would have thought they were twins. âWe were born from the same mother,â Clarice said.
The same mother?
âWhat about your father?â
âHaâ¦â Clarice smiled sarcastically. She said,â Herbert, let me tell you a secret. My sisterâs father is actually my uncle. â
Herbert was stunned. He thought about it carefully before clearing the relationship.
Clarice was saying that she and Juliaâs mother were the same person, but Juliaâs father was her uncle, and her father was Juliaâs uncle. So their fathers were brothers! Herbert subconsciously asked, âBrothers?â
âYeah.â
This was rare.
Herbert thought about it and asked, âIs your uncle dead?â If her uncle was dead and her mother later married her father, that made sense. It was not unheard of.
In the end, Clarice said, âNo.â
âHuh?â Herbert was shocked.
âHeheâ¦â Clarice asked Herbert. âDo you think itâs ridiculous?â
Herbert did not know what to say.
âMy grandfather and grandfather are cousins.â
Herbert was speechless.
What kind of messy relationship was this?
If her grandfather and grandfather were cousins, then wasnât her mother and father cousins from three generations ago? âIsnât this marriage between close relatives?â Herbert was smarter than ordinary children and already understood what close relatives were. He also knew that close relatives were not allowed to get married.
Clarice was surprised that Herbert had figured out her family relationship. âYouâre quite smart.â Most children of this age could not understand her words. He actually understood immediately.
Herbert did not reply after being praised for being smart.
âItâs not good to get married.â Clarice pulled a long face and said, âMy mother and my uncle gave birth to my sister. In the end, there was a problem with my sisterâs genes. She had congenital heart disease. The doctor said that my sister would not live past twentyâ¦â
At the mention of this, the little girl was very sad.
âBecause the children my mother and uncle gave birth to were unhealthy, then they could not give birth to healthy children anymore. Hence, my mother and father gave birth to me.â
Herbert could not understand this.
âDonât you have to be with your lover when you give birth?â Was the knowledge he accepted wrong?
âYes,â Clarice said with a pout. âThatâs cooking for your ordinary family. In our family, no one is allowed to find outsiders to marry. We only allow family marriages for our noble bloodline.â
Clariceâs tone was cold when she said the last sentence, especially the words ânoble bloodline.â
Herbert roughly understood Clariceâs family situation.
Her family should be very rich. Their family valued bloodline and looked down on outsiders, so they were all married within the family. âBut wouldnât it be easy for problems to happen to the children born like this?â It was said in books and on television that it was easiest to give birth to children of poor quality when close relatives got married. For example, high blood pressure, schizophrenia, brainlessness, and congenital heart disease were all very likely to happen.
People like them who had been married in the family were more likely to give birth to unhealthy children.
âYes!â Clarice said. âOur family has more than ten children in our generation, but there are only two who are really healthy. Iâm one, and so is my cousin.â The others more or less had health problems.
Herbert really did not understand what the parents of Clarice were thinking. âWhy are you doing this when you know itâs dangerous?â
A cruel smile appeared on Clariceâs small face.