Chapter 174.2

Chapter 174.2

They met like this every night. The mask never came off despite several attempts, and he still hadn’t managed to trim even a single nail.

Whenever he brought out the nail clippers, the child’s expression would change dramatically, and he would quickly grab the utility knife from the desk to counter.

“With your head still wet behind the ears, you should be holding colored pencils!”

When Yuri frowned and handed him the colored pencils, the child thumped the blunt ends against his palm, giving him a disdainful look as if to say, “What am I supposed to do with this?” Nothing was easy.

One day, he happened to pull out a history of firearms and, in a fit of rage, tore the pages apart. However, Yuri was no longer surprised by such outbursts.

“You need to learn to calm down by yourself.”

Is this what experience is? When he lifted the kicking beast without blinking, the child thankfully stopped moving. In the meantime, Yuri had brought over a fairy tale book he had read as a child.

“Today, I’ll read you the story of Prince Ivan and the Firebird.”

It’s a tale about overcoming all kinds of hardships and adversities to find happiness. Each time he turned the page, he thought of his deceased parents.

He finally understood the feelings of his parents, who would always playfully bite his nose and sulk, saying, “Don’t read thick book, look at picture books instead!” Even while recalling his late parents, Yuri smiled for the first time without pain.

After nearly two months of such struggles, the child began to pick up colored pencils instead of the knife.

Although he bit his lip and painted the entire paper bright red, he was still creating something that resembled a drawing, and he willingly offered his nails as well.

Sometimes he wondered, “Could this be a girl?” but gender no longer mattered.

One day, he placed the child on his feet and taught him how to waltz. The child had good motor skills and quickly picked up the steps after just one lesson. Later, if Yuri made a mistake in the steps, the child would stomp down hard on his feet.

“Ugh…! You again!”

Then Yuri would scoop up the child, who barely reached his chest, and blow air into his belly.

At first, the child would flinch at even the slightest touch, but now he just laughed, curling his neck.

If this black-haired child were truly my younger brother, wouldn’t winter feel a little less cold?

Drawing together, melting and eating chocolate, awkwardly waltzing, and singing lullabies.

Though these were all things utterly useless for catching up to Maxim Solzhenitsyn, the more he taught, the more Yuri found himself healing. He held the child, who had dozed off, gently against his shoulder.

“….”

Things he hadn’t realized had been torn away when witnessing his parents’ death. What the boy was restoring was a love for humanity.

The preciousness of small things.

Affection.

Gratitude.

Inspiration.

Yuri closed his eyes, tightly embracing the child’s unique warmth. It felt as if the ice-like knot within him was finally melting away.

In the morning, as always, the quick little mouse would disappear in a flash.

Tomorrow, he would get new skates. It had been six years since he had discarded his old ones.

Yuri began mixing herbicide and cleaning agents again. When he expressed a desire to go down with the child, the child turned pale and slapped Yuri’s cheek.

It was absurd to have been hit again without being able to dodge, but he thought there must be a good reason for the child’s strong dislike.

So, Yuri has decided to go down once more. This time, he would take the path the child often used, to explore his father Ivan’s room.

There was no more time left. The vacation was coming to an end, and after his fourteenth birthday, he would have to return to school.

If that happened, the child would… His heart began to race with anxiety.

“Can you cut open the beast’s belly?”

Suddenly, a cold voice interrupted Yuri’s thoughts. He gripped the knife his grandfather had given him tightly.

Having come to the forest with Maxim, Yuri looked down at the deer sprawled out beneath him.

Its lifeless black eyes stared blankly.

Moreover, its belly was swollen, almost as if it were pregnant. However, the stitches on its belly looked strange, causing him to frown involuntarily.

What kind of trick is this? A chilling gaze turned toward his grandfather, and Maxim exhaled a misty breath as he kicked the deer’s back once more.

“Why, Yuri? What’s so difficult about this?”

“….”

“Open its belly. Let’s see what’s inside together.”

“I can’t.”

“What?”

“I won’t do it.”

His lips moved before he could even think.