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[But Grandpa doesn’t understand this point. Even the wisest people can make mistakes on this issue.]
[I have tried my best to stop this. I can only pray that grandpa will not go down another path...]
[The matter of Karasuma Renya still needs to be considered in the long run. 】
"Miss, Miss Karasuma has arrived."
It was some kind of coincidence, but just as Keiko Hatoyama finished writing this sentence, the old butler's voice came from outside the door.
She looked up and saw two figures, one big and one small, outside the shoji door.
Apart from the figure of the old butler whom she was very familiar with, the other slender figure was obviously the young lady of the Karasuma family.
Keiko Hatoyama had some impression of this little girl. They had met once when they were very young. At that time, the unique facial features of this little Karasuma left a deep impression on Keiko Hatoyama, as it was the first time she saw a foreigner.
[It came so quickly...]
Keiko Hatoyama did not respond to the old housekeeper immediately. Instead, she quickly put away the diary, got up and ran to a corner of the room, opened the door of the compartment where she usually kept books, stuffed the diary in, and then quickly ran back to her chair.
[This won’t do! ]
But halfway through her run, she suddenly stopped, slapped her forehead with her hand, turned around and ran to the cubicle, casually picked out a novel, and finally sat back in her chair in a hurry.
Finally, she simply tidied up her messy kimono, straightened the hairpin on her head, opened the novel, and struck a pose that she thought was appropriate, acting like a quiet lady from a noble family.
Everything is perfect.
Except that she herself didn't even notice that the novel in her hand was upside down.
"Well, please come in."
Just like that, Keiko Hatoyama finally spoke and asked the two people who had been waiting outside the room for a while to come in.
"Whoosh."
As the shoji door was opened by the old butler, the heat that had accumulated in the room with great difficulty was instantly released.
The yard was already covered with thick snow, and on the walkway outside the room was a little girl with rare silver hair.
The little girl's facial features were very delicate and three-dimensional. She seemed to be very curious and courageous. Her eyes kept wandering over Keiko Hatoyama's body, as if she was sizing her up.
Hatoyama Keiko gave her enough time to be curious, until the heat in the room had completely dissipated, she finally spoke:
"Why don't you come in? Little sister of the Karasuma family who has come all the way from afar?"
This is the first meeting from Keiko's perspective.
Sure enough, this is where the dream begins...
Of course, it's a nightmare.
Chapter 609 The Girl on the Tower
Kokarasuma was not clear about the purpose of Karasuma Renya's visit to the Hatoyama family.
After meeting the little girl from the Karasuma family, Keiko Hatoyama quickly found out this from her.
This is a very innocent, cute and unsuspecting little girl.
She had no idea the real purpose of Karasuma Renya's visit and just thought it was a normal visit between the two families.
After realizing this, Hatoyama Keiko did not mention anything about Karasuma Renya anymore. The two chatted casually in the small room that was isolated from the severe cold.
From the relationship between hemophilia in the modern European royal family and Queen Victoria, to why the grassroots people were not involved in the revision of the constitution when the United States was founded.
Relying on the huge knowledge base created by reading various books from various countries during her years of illness, Keiko Hatoyama can easily pick up any topic raised by Kokarasuma.
They talked about everything under the sun.
Although there was an extremely embarrassing situation where she accidentally picked up the book upside down in a hurry and was exposed by Kougamaru.
But Keiko Hatoyama wisely chose to forget it automatically.
Is there such a thing?
Absolutely not!
To be honest, if the memory of this meeting could remain here, then this day would definitely become a day treasured in Keiko Hatoyama's memory.
But unfortunately, the established facts will not change according to her personal will.
That day was not a good one.
Instead, it is the beginning of a tragedy that shatters their lives.
"Miss!"
Suddenly, the old butler's voice was heard outside the door again.
"What's wrong?" Hatoyama Keiko stopped communicating with Kogumaru and turned to look at the figure that appeared outside the shoji door again.
The old butler's voice was not as steady as usual, which made Keiko Hatoyama have a bad feeling.
But at this time, she still thought that something had happened between her grandfather and Karasuma Renya.
However, her speculation was soon overturned.
Things suddenly took a turn for the worse in a place and in a way that she had never expected.
"I...have something important to tell you."
The old butler seemed to be concerned about little Karasuma who was also in the room.
Keiko Hatoyama said nothing, she just stood up, opened the shoji door and walked outside.
In an instant, the cold air outside rushed in again, and snowflakes drifted into the room with the wind.
Xiao Wuhuan seemed to have noticed this as well. She did not get up and follow them, but sat quietly in the room, looking at the two of them with a puzzled look.
"It's the Shirakawa family." A rare look of hesitation and reluctance appeared in the old butler's turbid eyes.
"What... happened to them?" His reaction made Keiko Hatoyama's inner anxiety soar.
"The mother... was murdered."
The old butler finally told the truth.
"Buzz!"
In that instant, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Hatoyama Keiko only felt a buzzing in her head, and only vaguely heard the old housekeeper still talking to her about being killed and the Metropolitan Police Department had already dispatched...
Xiaoqing's mother was murdered by criminals. Her eyes were gouged out and her death was extremely cruel.
She subconsciously took two steps back and leaned against the shoji door. Her face, which was originally much paler than that of an average person, was now even paler.
In fact, Keiko Hatoyama had noticed Shirakawa Kiyoshi from a very long time ago.
Because the distance between the Shirakawa family and the Hatoyama family is not far.
A few hundred meters away from the Hatoyama family residence is an old district in Tokyo where Shirakawa Kiyoshi and his mother live.
Therefore, in the past, Shirakawa Kiyoshi would pass by the street in front of Hatoyama's house on his way to and from school every day.
Due to physical reasons, Keiko Hatoyama was basically not allowed to go out when she was young.
But she has a heart that yearns for freedom.
After being fed up with Keiko's numerous attempts to "escape" from his home, Mr. Hatoyama had to build her her own watchtower in the mansion.
It is impossible to let you go out. At most, you can take a look and calm your restless heart.
But under Keiko Hatoyama's insistence, Mr. Hatoyama finally made concessions again and allowed her to go out once or twice occasionally accompanied by the old housekeeper.
In this way, climbing up the observation tower to look at the streets and pedestrians outside the Hatoyama family's house when she got bored while reading became Keiko Hatoyama's only pleasure when she was young.
Unlike the servants at home, she can see new things every day outside.
During this time, she gradually noticed that at fixed times every morning and evening, she could always see a somewhat thin boy carrying a schoolbag walking on the street in front of Hatoyama's house.
This boy is special because he is punctual.
And it was very accurate. The time he walked past her house every day was exactly the same.
Keiko Hatoyama, who didn't believe in superstition, squatted on the watchtower for several days with a pocket watch, counting the time when the boy would come.
It was finally proved that this special boy really walked past her house at the same time every day. Even if there was a difference, the difference was always within half a minute.
Even the time it took the boy to walk past her door was almost exactly the same.
Amazing!
After proving this, Keiko Hatoyama couldn't help but feel shocked.
How can you be so stable? Are you a robot?
From that day on, the young Keiko Hatoyama officially began her twice-daily "squatting", as if she had suddenly discovered some very interesting social observation project. Every day before the boy went to or from school, she would run to the watchtower with her pocket watch, counting the time and waiting for the figure whose name she didn't even know but was already familiar to her.
She just wanted to find out at least one time when this special boy was unpunctual.
It was also during this process that Keiko Hatoyama gradually noticed another special feature of the boy.
He never seemed to smile.
No, that's probably not quite accurate.
It should be said that there never seems to be any other expression on his face.
From the first time I noticed him until now, the boy's face has always had a stern and cold expression, as if he was keeping people at a distance.
Yes.
In the short half-minute that he passed by her house twice a day, Keiko Hatoyama had never seen any expression on the boy's face except this cold look.
Not only that, she suddenly noticed that she never seemed to see this boy have any friends.
Every day, he went alone and returned alone, and no one ever walked with him.
After noticing these abnormalities, the young Keiko Hatoyama suddenly felt sad, and she instinctively didn't want to keep an eye on the boy anymore.
Life must be bad for the boy.
She knew that this was an idea of escape, an escape from some known misfortune that one was powerless to change.
Then, on that day, she finally caught the boy being "late".