A Noble Marriage - Chapter 66

Chapter 66 – I Love You Now and Forever (2)

The man’s eyelashes trembled, and his thin lips opened and closed. “Nikolai was seven years older than me. He was very handsome. My mother once said that Nikolai was the most like her among us children. And my father also praised Nikolai the most. At my coming of age, Nikolai had begun to enter the society with my parents, and my father’s family friends were full of praise for him. ”

When recalling these past events, Karenin’s speech was very slow, which was quite different from his usual handling of government affairs.

“In addition to homework and social activities, Nikolai’s riding was also very good. When I was old enough to learn this skill, my father wanted to hire a teacher for me. But Nikolai decided to teach me himself. It took me two months to master this skill. ”

“Did he teach you badly?” Anna whispered.

“Not at all.” Karenin shook his head. “I must say that I am not really good at sports. On the contrary, Nikolai was a very patient person.”

Karenin had a distant look in his blue eyes, he said all of this lightly, without showing a trace of jealousy.

“Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time together and we were not too close to each other. But both me and my elder sister, we all loved Nikolai. There was a charm in him.” He shook his head lightly and continued. “After my parents died, Maria and I were fostered in my uncle’s house. Nikolai stayed there for half a year, and after he became an adult, he was sent abroad. He only stayed there for a year and a half before he died because of a common infection. He never talked about it. We received a letter saying that he had been ill for quite some time. ”

Karenin paused, and swallowed. The next time he spoke, his voice was calmer.

“He never talked about anything bad in his letter. I told my uncle and we left soon after. By the time we got there, his body was very weak. Within a week, he died. He died abroad, and I took his body back. It is always difficult for people like him who died of illness to return to Russia. But I had to let his soul go back to his hometown. After he was buried, I told my uncle that I would go this way. In this way, I will go to today’s position and have a deep relationship with Nikolai.” Karenin whispered.

He remembered that Nikolai’s body had to be brought back to Russia at that time, but it didn’t go well. He remembered that his brother’s body had to stay in that cold place because he had no right. Russia’s winter is so cold, but there has never been a moment, like that time, which made Karenin feel numb and unemotional.

Anna looked at him. Her eyelids were a little red, but she didn’t shed tears. She just stopped walking and wrapped her tall husband in her arms, gently stroking his back with her right hand.

“It’s all over, Alexei. You are very brave. I really think that both you and Nikolai are very good people. If you are not really so good. At that moment, I will only hear a person who is jealous of his brother and talks about each other with narrow eyes. If you’re not really strong enough, you won’t be the one that moves me. You can’t love others after experiencing so much.” At last, Anna smiled softly and whispered, “We all know that love is greater than hate, don’t we?”

Karenin had always stood upright, but with his wife’s words, he bent down slowly, and in the end, his wife didn’t need to tiptoe any more. Karenin hugged Anna back tightly.

“I don’t like riding, but Nikolai said he would teach me more when he came back from public school next time. Sometimes he made his own decisions, even if I refused. However, he always abided by the agreement, although sometimes he made decisions unilaterally. But then my parents died, and this matter was not mentioned again. Nikolai died before long, I always think of it. It took me half a year to forget it. ”

“That’s because you love him and miss him deeply.” Anna said softly.

Karenin was silent for a moment. His thoughts seemed to pass through a heavy fog, passing through the pages with frost and dew in the forest. He once didn’t understand, and even spent half a year to calm down his good mood. At this moment, he understood because of his wife’s gentle and affirmative words.

As if through the fog, Karenin whispered, “Yes, you are right.”

After a long time, the cold wind makes people wake up from some sentimental memories.

Anna smiled and said loudly, lifting the cloak of silence, “Well, let’s make an agreement.”

“What?”

Anna let go of his hand, looked up at his blue eyes, and the corner of her mouth lifted.

“The second child will be called Nikolai, and the first child, if he is a boy, will be called Seryozha.”

“Seryozha will be a good brother and he will take good care of Nikolai. If they ever agree to teach each other to ride horses, they will remember. If someone forgets, we can remind them.”

Karenin listened to his wife’s gentle words. When she mentioned children, the pictures of the future and the past overlapped. Finally, he smiled.

That smile was just an arc of his lips gently pulled by the corners of the mouth, but it was precious to Anna. There was a feeling of fullness in her heart, because tonight, she had touched a memory of the younger Alexei.

Anna gently wrapped her arms around Karenin’s waist again.

“Don’t forget, I love you the most now and forever, Alexei.”

Karenin’s throat closed, for a long time, the dry hand stayed on his wife’s hair, and his fingertips gently stroked against the soft hair.

He kissed his wife’s black hair, and then whispered, “I love you too, Anna.”

Sound cannot propagate in vacuum.

It propagates at room temperature with the speed of 340 meters per second.

If you use metal and other objects, such as iron bars, it will reach 5,200 meters per second.

I love you. It had been 76 days, 15 hours and 32 minutes since Anna met Karenin, and the sound had finally reached Anna. She had imagined many scenes for this, but it was not until now that she realized that it was the luckiest thing in the world to get the same response just as she loved him, and it never mattered in what way. So, she didn’t cry, she didn’t continue to ask for more sweet words, she just smiled proudly and replied: “I knew it!”

I have always known that you love me, otherwise, how could I love you so much?