He Holds a Rose from the Abyss

Chapter 11 – Stay away from me

The pub was lit with oil lamps, and the dim light spilled on the old stained wooden tables. There were not many people, mostly students from the magic academy, gathered in twos and threes.

When night fell completely, a magician at the table next to Chi Lang started singing. He carried a hand-cranked organ with him, plucking the strings as he hummed softly.

The song was so melodious that it gradually drew everyone’s attention to it. Dana listened sideways for a while and said with a smile: “It’s ‘Dream in the Clouds’, the courtship song that was popular in the academy back then. You sang it better then.”

When these words came out, Joyce’s expression became strange, with a kind of indescribable sadness. Chi Lang silently bowed his head and drank his wine, pretending that he did not hear anything. When that magician finished singing, Dana ran over and borrowed the hand-cranked organ, cleared her throat, and sang a song as well.

Dana’s voice sounded clear, and the song had a kind of ethereal feeling that was far away. I don’t know what kind of song she was singing, but although her voice was beautiful, it also sounded sad.

“What song is this?” Chi Lang’s head was already a little dizzy when he asked this, he thought he had drunk too much fruit wine earlier.

“A song from our hometown, I don’t know the name. Sheffield, do you know the name?” Dana looked at Sheffield.

Sheffield shook his head.

Chi Lang asked them, “Are you guys from the same place?”

Dana picked up her glass and took a sip: “Yes, sort of grew up together.”

After that, Dana sang a few more songs, all of which were very good, and Joyce still looked deeply hurt.

Chi Lang drank one glass of wine after another, and whenever the glass was empty, Sheffield would fill it up for him again.

Chi Lang thought it was very strange. He usually thought Mrs. White’s wine was not very tasty, but today he couldn’t stop drinking it.

When Chi Lang picked up the wine glass again, his hands shook a bit, and then the wine spilled on his sleeves. He wanted to get up to get some paper to wipe it, but he was a little dazed and confused, and the action of getting up several times all failed.

Sheffield stood up first, he took out a white handkerchief, leaned over, and wiped the wine off Chi Lang’s sleeve, from the sleeve to Chi Lang’s hand.

Chi Lang saw that the white handkerchief was stained with wine, and he had an inexplicable feeling in his heart. He really wanted to say, brother, you don’t need to wipe it, I’ll just go find some paper myself, but the thoughts in his heart, in this drunken state, could hardly reach the action.

After Sheffield did all this, he asked him, “Are you drunk?”

Chi Lang couldn’t hear what he was saying, or he heard it but his brain couldn’t feed back the information, so he just looked at Sheffield with a dazed look on his face.

Sheffield smiled and said to Dana and Joyce, “Then I’ll take him back first.”

Dana’s expression was a bit surprised as she watched Sheffield help Chi Lang up, leaned in to listen when Chi Lang was slurring, and then watched the two of them walk out of the pub.

“I didn’t think Sheffield would…” Dana muttered, “He doesn’t seem like such a person.”

Joyce asked her, “Are you still drinking?”

Dana turned her head to look at him, “Drink.”

——read at moonlightnovels.com

After walking out of the pub and being blown by the cool breeze, Chi Lang sobered up a little and he could feel himself half leaning on Sheffield.

It was holiday time, there were not many people in the academy, and it was very quiet at this time. The stars filled the sky and the road looked bright and desolate.

Chi Lang: “Sheffield, why don’t you go home for the holidays?”

Sheffield: “My home is too far away.”

Chi Lang said earnestly: “You have to go home even if it is far away. I used to be far away from home when I was in school, but I looked forward to going home every day.”

“Micah,” Sheffield stared at him, “where is your home? How long does it take to get there from Zefnar City?”

“It’s far, far, far away.” Chi Lang was a little frustrated, “I don’t know how long it will take, I don’t think I’ll ever get there.”

Sheffield stood in front of him, with the starlight behind him, he smiled slightly: “Can I be lucky enough to know your name?”

Chi Lang had not been able to fully grasp the meaning of the words, nor had he understood his situation under the effect of alcohol.

“Name?”

“Yes, your name.”

The breeze slowly brushed by, Chi Lang heart vaguely felt that he should say another name, but he could not remember what the other name was at all.

So he slowly, slowly replied, “Chi… Lang.”

Sheffield repeated the pronunciation of the two words, and he smiled and asked, “Are you from the East?”

Chi Lang nodded.

“Why do you want to come here?”

Chi Lang answered honestly, “I don’t know. I had a dream and came here.”

“What kind of dream?”

“A rose, a beautiful piece of rose.”

Sheffield froze for a moment, then the smile on his face faded a little.

He let go of his hand, turned, and walked a few steps forward, then stopped again.

At this time, they walked to the sculpture in the academy again, the sculpture of the “God of Magic”. Sheffield looked at the sculpture as if looking into the distant past through it.

Chi Lang trotted a few steps and followed, he saw Sheffield’s gloomy expression.

In the case of drunkenness, Chi Lang spoke completely with his heart: “Sheffield, why do you look in a bad mood every time you walk to this sculpture?”

He had found this problem long ago, just did not ask Sheffield.

Sheffield did not answer him, Chi Lang’s previous answer about the dream stirred up some bad memories in his mind.

Chi Lang leaned over, extended his hand, and then poked Sheffield in the face.

The whole world was silent.

“Smile,” Chi Lang muttered, “I don’t dare to talk to you when you’re not smiling.” Chi Lang thought he had found a very good reason.

Sheffield grabbed his hand that hadn’t moved away and asked him, “Chi Lang, what kind of person am I in your mind?”

“Very good person. Look at you, you are good-looking, you have good grades, and most importantly, you are willing to help others,” Chi Lang said earnestly, “I like being with you very much.”

Sheffield smiled: “What I told you before about the Demon Lord is true, not a joke.”

Chi Lang was not quite able to understand the meaning of this statement.

“So, don’t think of me as a good person.” Sheffield smiled softly. “It is only out of curiosity that I would want to be near you, but you’d better stay away from me, understand?”

“Or you will be very unfortunate.”

Chi Lang nodded intuitively, although he didn’t understand why he was nodding.

Sheffield suddenly felt a little disappointment in his heart. He didn’t expect Chi Lang to agree so quickly, but he quickly suppressed this feeling of disappointment.

On the surface, he still habitually maintained his smile.

The sculpture was still standing under the starlight, and Sheffield took another look at the sculpture: “As long as you understand, then let’s go back.”

Chi Lang dawdled and slowly approached Sheffield, then quickly stretched out his hand and poked Sheffield’s face again: “You still look good when you smile.”

Then he quickly retracted his hand, took a few steps back, stood upright, and urged, “Go back, go back.”

Sheffield took a step towards Chi Lang, Chi Lang took a step back, Sheffield took another step towards him, and Chi Lang took another step back.

Sheffield stopped, he smiled helplessly and said, “It’s not like I’m going to do anything.”

Then he asked, “Are you really drunk right now?”

Chi Lang nodded, although he felt very awake, his brain would occasionally flash some thoughts that were inappropriate, but these thoughts quickly disappeared in his drowsy brain.

Sheffield tried to take another step in his direction, but Chi Lang stepped back quickly.

Sheffield stopped, he turned and walked towards the dormitory, but Chi Lang ran over to follow him.

“Sheffield, I want to sing a song for you.” He tugged on Sheffield’s sleeve.

Chi Lang once complained about Joyce’s drunken singing voice, but his own wasn’t much better. He’d sung a song out of tune.

Sheffield could only stop and ask him with a smile, “What are you singing?”

“A song from my hometown, sing it to you.” Chi Lang solemnly introduced the song to Sheffield, “You may not understand it, it’s called “Angel Devil”, all the other lyrics are unimportant, only one line suits you.”

“That’s what I just sang – ‘you are an angel among the devils.'”

The night sky was sparkling with rivers of stars.