Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 13: Zero (3)

Dragon Raja 3

“You know me?” Renata was startled.

“I know a lot about you, actually. You’re quite famous, you know.” The boy stuck out his tongue.

His face was obscured by the iron-wire mask, making it hard to see his expression, but with just those lively eyes, he conveyed a lot to Renata. There was a sense of closeness in his gaze, along with a hint of pleading, as if hoping she would stay and talk to him a little longer.

“What’s your name?” Renata asked, not knowing what else to say since she didn’t have experience talking with strangers.

“Me? I don’t have a name yet,” the boy replied. “I live in Room Zero, so you can call me Zero.”

The nurses usually addressed the children by their numbers, like Renata, who was “Number 38,” and Anton, who was “Number 16.”

“Hello, Zero. I’m Number 38, Renata,” she said.

“What are you looking for?” Zero asked.

Renata hesitated for a moment. “Looking… for a friend.”

She didn’t want to mention the black serpent to Zero; he probably wouldn’t believe something so bizarre anyway.

“If you’re looking for a friend… how about me?” Zero said, his eyes turning expectantly. “We can be good friends.”

He seemed to misunderstand Renata’s words, or maybe he was just too lonely, intentionally misinterpreting what she had said.

Renata hesitated for a long while, then reluctantly nodded. “Sure.”

In truth, she wasn’t ready to accept Zero as her friend; she had just met this boy a few minutes ago. Renata thought a “friend” should be someone you knew for a long time, someone you were close to. She just couldn’t bear to refuse him. Zero’s face seemed sly, and his eyes stayed glued to her, bright black and pleading, almost flattering.

That year, a small seal had wandered into the port. The little creature seemed starving, crouching at Renata’s feet, whimpering, looking at her with similar eyes. Just as Renata reached out to touch its head, the head nurse had struck it with a shovel, grabbed it by its legs, and carried the small seal’s corpse away. That evening, they had an extra dish of fragrant seal meat soup for dinner, but Renata didn’t drink a drop. She went back to her little room, hugging Zorro, crying silently.

Zero’s eyes were just like that seal’s.

The “little seal” in the straitjacket chuckled slyly, “Good friends ought to exchange gifts, right?”

This guy was clingy… Renata remembered reading that good friends should give each other presents. For instance, in Moscow, when the good children Petrov and Panteyev became friends, Petrov gave Panteyev a gold-plated sailboat model, and Panteyev returned the favor with a shell wind chime. But she had nothing to give Zero as a gift; everything here was rationed, and she had no personal belongings—except for Zorro in her arms. But without Zorro, she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. She unconsciously hugged Zorro tighter, worried she’d have to give it to Zero for the sake of this “friendship.”

“I don’t have anything to give as a gift,” Renata said, her hesitation likely obvious to Zero.

“In that case, how about we each share one of our secrets?” Zero suggested. “Good friends should know each other’s secrets.”

“I’ll go first,” Zero generously offered. “I’m actually mentally ill!”

Renata stared at him blankly. Could someone with mental illness be so cunning?

“I really am mentally ill. I always feel like there are two people in my head talking—a good person and a bad one,” Zero said, pausing, his eyes showing a bit of confusion. “One of them says, ‘The thunder that shakes all—level this overgrown earth flat, and let not a seed of ungrateful humanity remain!’ The other says, ‘Without mercy, one is a beast, a savage, a demon!’ And the first one continues, ‘Annihilate all evil, the evil of evils!’ while the other replies, ‘All evil is nothing but the forgetting of forgiveness!’ They argue like this in my head all day long, which is why I’m a bit mentally ill. That’s why the nurses locked me up here.”

“How pitiful,” Renata said, nodding.

She couldn’t understand what the voices in Zero’s head were saying, but she figured it must be unbearable to have people arguing in your ear every day. Later on, when she read some books, she finally understood Zero’s deceitful nature. The profound words he spoke, some of them came from Shakespeare’s King Lear, while others were from Henry VIII. If Zero’s mind was constantly filled with such disputes, then it was as if his brain was like the 17th-century Globe Theatre.

“In fact, we’re all a bit mad,” Zero smiled.

“I’m not mad!” Renata said, a bit upset. “I don’t want to listen to you anymore!”

“Fine, I guess you could tell I’m a bit crazy already, so maybe that doesn’t count as a secret.” Zero thought for a moment. “Then I’ll tell you another one: the girl I like the most here is Khorkina!”

Renata was stunned, unsure how to respond. It was well known throughout the orphanage that the prettiest girl was Number 21, Khorkina. She was a head taller than Renata, with pale blonde hair longer than Renata’s, braided into a single plait. She was a year older than Renata and already had the figure of a young woman. Even in the white robe, her curves were noticeable, and a clear line could be seen at her neckline. Her eyebrows and features were as delicate as a princess’s.

“Why do you like Khorkina?” Renata asked.

“She has beautiful long legs—men love beautiful long legs!” Zero said matter-of-factly.

“But you’re not even a man yet.”

“I’ll grow up!”

Renata nodded. “Alright, I won’t tell anyone your secret.”

“And you? What’s your secret?” Zero asked.

“I don’t have any secrets…” Renata said, troubled.

“Impossible!” Zero persisted. “Everyone has secrets! If we’re good friends, you should tell me your secret!”

Renata thought seriously for a long time. “Then you mustn’t tell anyone—I sometimes wet the bed…”

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