Tenebrous Sovereign

The Night

Jura took out a bunch of keys and unlocked the door with a click.

Dean looked at the slowly opening house, knowing that this would be the place where he would live for some time in the future.

"Dean, come in." Jura took out a pair of adult cotton shoes from the small cabinet beside the door and deliberately shook them in front of Dean as if to amuse him. "These are uncle's shoes. You wear them first. Before the curfew at night, I'll take you to buy a new pair."

Dean was slightly stunned for a moment and then understood. Yes, one of the conditions for adopting a child was that one must be married. That is to say, he also had a nominal father whom he had never met before.

He consciously took off his dirty thick-thread shoes. The rough shoes had left several painful red marks on his feet. When he stepped on the clean cotton shoes, a comfortable feeling spread.

"Come, I'll take you to wash up first." Jura said enthusiastically.

Dean had thought he could take a comfortable bath, but instead, he saw that she just moistened a towel with warm water, wrung it dry, and helped him wipe his face and arms. This way of bathing was exactly the same as in the orphanage.

It was just that the color of the water was much purer.

Dean didn't know that in this world, including the nobility, everyone bathed in this "dry-clean" way. The common perception of people was that water would weaken the body's functions and reduce the ability to resist diseases. Even the cleanest nobility would only take a major bath once or twice a year.

After washing, Jura let Dean familiarize himself with the house on his own, while she went to handle the coarse cloth clothes that Dean had changed out of.

Dean walked around the house. As he expected, he didn't see any items with technological content. Not even a simple wind-up alarm clock. Moreover, he saw an old-fashioned loom that he had only seen in fairy tales. He remembered that the background of that fairy tale seemed to be in the Medieval period in Europe, when the Steam Age had not yet begun.

Although a single loom couldn't determine anything, thinking of everything he had seen in these few months, Dean was already convinced that the civilization level of this post-disaster world should have just developed to the Bronze Age before steam, just learning to utilize metals.

This discovery couldn't help but bring certain thoughts to his mind...

In the evening, as the sky gradually darkened and the air became a bit colder, it seemed it was going to rain again.

Jura was worried that Dean was afraid of the dark and lit the oil lamp early. The dim yellow light flickered on Dean's face. Every time she saw it, Jura had a stunning feeling. It was really too fair, even fairer than her complexion.

"It's going to rain. Hasn't uncle come back yet?" Dean said, looking out the window.

Jura smiled and thought that this was really a good child. She said, "Uncle is rushing to make a batch of goods these days and won't be back at night. Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? I'll make it."

"Whatever is available."

"What a good child. Then let you taste mom's cooking. I guarantee you'll love it." Jura said confidently.

...

...

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Dean had already met his nominal father, named Gray. He was a tall and thin middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance. His personality was like Jura's, kind and gentle. His occupation was a "tailor". The loom at home was his workbench. During the "Black Snow Season", he would bring the goods home to work on. After all, there were no charcoal or coal stoves in the factory.

The matter of Jura adopting a child was obviously something they had discussed. When he first came home and saw Dean, his expression was the same as those adults in the orphanage, full of astonishment. When he learned that Dean had no other problems except being a bit autistic, he was so satisfied that he couldn't stop smiling for several days.

At night.

The common rainstorm during the rainy season of disasters came again. The rain was pattering.

Dean, who was sleeping in his small room, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up abruptly, only to realize that it was just a nightmare. Then he felt that his entire body was soaked in cold sweat and his clothes were sticking to his skin due to the sweat, which was a bit uncomfortable. He shook his clothes and suddenly felt a urge to urinate. Immediately, he gently got out of bed, put on his shoes, and gently pulled open the door. However, he noticed that there was still dim yellow light shining from the c***k under the door of the room of the Jura couple across the hall. He couldn't help but be stunned.

So late and they still weren't asleep?

Dean's heart suddenly pounded twice. His mind didn't know what it was thinking and unconsciously approached.

The building materials in this world obviously didn't consider sound insulation effects. At least not in Jura's house. Subtle sounds came from the room.

"Are you really going to do this?" This was Jura's voice, with a hint of hesitation.

"I know you quite like this child. I do too. To be honest, I'm reluctant too. But this is a rare opportunity. If he can be favored by the young lady of the Ivy family, we can move to the business district. There, we will find better jobs. If you feel lonely, we can adopt another child. Anyway, we can afford it."

"It's not a matter of money. I'm worried that if Dean marries into the Ivy family and this child doesn't like to talk, he will be bullied. They are completely from two different worlds. When I was seeing patients, I saw those children who married into big families. They lived almost like servants. Some were even worse off than servants."

The room was silent for a while and Gray's voice continued, "Jura, you should think this way. He was originally an orphan from the slum area. If it weren't us but adopted by other serf families, his life would be worse than that of a servant. And being able to live a servant's life in the Ivy family, you have no idea how many people would be envious."

"But..."

"Alright, this matter is decided. Whether it will succeed is another matter."

The room fell silent.

The small figure at the door also fell silent. His small hands clenched into fists tightly and then slowly loosened. He turned around and returned to his room as if dragging his body. Even the previous urge to urinate was forgotten.

Sitting on the bed, Dean listened to the pattering rain outside the window and suddenly felt a pain in his heart. Although he had always regarded the Jura couple as nominal parents, the meticulous care of the Jura couple in this month had moved him greatly and added a touch of warmth in his heart. But he never expected that this world once again, like mocking, shattered some of the soft and beautiful things in his heart.

In this quiet night, he suddenly felt very lonely.

He suddenly missed his knowledgeable, strict yet gentle father and mother, and his sister who always liked to pinch his ears.

Why, why was it the incompetent self who was left behind?!

He clenched his fists, but felt powerless in his heart. He didn't know how long it had passed before an idea gradually emerged in his heart. Since... he would never see his parents and sister again, then, let this strange world return to the familiar appearance he once knew!

No one knew that on this rainy night, the gears of history slowly turned forward in the chest of this insignificant little figure in the darkness.