Chereads / Dark Christmas Prince / Chapter 20 - Final Farewell

Chapter 20 - Final Farewell

"Unfortunately I couldn't find any record of the family with the description that you have given", the professor says while scratching his bald head. He knows that it is hard to find family without having their family name. Kian only remembers that they moved to several towns every year. It is almost like they were running from something however Kian never asked why.

In all the bits of memory that came back to him, he still could not remember the little girl's name nor her parents. It feels like there is an unknown force trying to seal that part of memory. Feeling dejected, he does not want to question the professor any further.

"Stanley, I would like to visit the church where the graveyard was after this.", he walked slowly towards the car. The sky is getting darker as it is going to rain. Stanley understands that Kian would need sometimes alone so he stays in the car while Kian heads towards the church.

He has been watching Kian for as long as he has been staying in manor and this is the first time he saw Kian in a melancholy state. As a father, Stanley sees Kian like his own son. His heart aches for Kian. He could not imagine how it would be if his son were in Kian's situation. He hopes that there will be more people with a heart of gold like Miss Noelle. At least there will be a good person to take care of someone with amnesia until they remember who they are.

Stanley was good enough to stop by a store to purchase all the items for Kian. Stanley knows that the state where Kian right now, no thought process can be happening in his mind.

Kian's footsteps feel heavy. On one hand he has a few bouquets of flowers and a few bottles of liquor on the other hand. He feels guilty for being indifferent towards Stanley. However, he hopes that Stanley would understand his situation.

Finally Kian found the tombstone with "Here lies Stefan and Mia Schwarzkopf" written on it. Kian kneels in front of the grave. He wipes the stone with his hands as if he caresses both of his parents' faces. He slowly put a bouquet of flowers on each one and poured some liquor. Tears fall onto the ground as Kian starts to cry. It feels like yesterday when he saw his parents slowly lowered into the ground.

"Kian, what are you doing out here? Come in otherwise later the boogeyman will snatch you for playing outside in this late hour". Wrinkles appear on Mia's face as both of her hands are on her hips while standing in front of the door. Kian was making a small house by stacking the firewood in front of their house.

"Can I have five more minutes Mom?", he begged as his creation is almost done by now.

Mia stomps her feet and in no time Kian's ear is red after being dragged by his mom to the house. "Why can't you listen to my advice?", she starts nagging about there is a bad entity that snatches naughty children and eats them.

"All that is nonsense. No children have been snatched by any boogeyman.", Kian tries to talk back to his mother because he feels that it is unfair to pinch his ear just because he wants to play.

"I hate you Mom!". Kian screamed as he ran to his bedroom and hid himself underneath the blanket. He is lucky that his father is not home yet. Otherwise he will get reprimanded for talking back to his mother.

Mia decides to let that pass because she knows that Kian does not mean what he says. By tomorrow, Kian would be hugging her and apologizing after he has cooled down from his anger.

The next day just as Mia predicted, Kian ran down and hugged her while sobbing. "Mom… I am sorry for what I said yesterday. Please don't get mad at me anymore."

Mia gets down to Kian's eye level and says, "I know that you do not mean what you said yesterday. But you must know that it is not nice to talk back to your parents." Kian nods and promises that he will never do that again.

Later that day, Kian follows his mother to send lunch to his father at the farm. They were walking hand by hand. The farm is outside of the town so they have to walk quite a bit. Kian loves this moment a lot because then he can play and run as much as he wants to.

"Dad!" He screamed on top of his lung and ran as fast as he could when he could see his father drenched in sweat.

"Oh Kian. You are here?" Stefan let down his tools and headed over to the shaded tree where Kian was waiting for him.

"Mia. You don't have to walk all the way just to send lunch to me." He worries about Mia since she always falls sick and easily faint when she gets overworked.

"It is alright dear. At least I can get to move my body instead of just staying at home and taking care of Kian." Mia starts to put down the basket that she brought on top of the picnic blanket which Kian prepared a few seconds ago.

From the outsiders' view, they look like a small happy family. People do get jealous of Mia since she does not need to do any farm work since she is always sick. Most wife would just rather stay at home but Mia prefers to help as much as she can. However Stefan would always nag her to stop and rest.

Kian really misses those moments of tranquility. Until one day, his mother was unable to get up from the bed and Kian was forbidden by his father to meet his mother. There was a contagious disease going around the area and people easily contracted the disease when they were in close contact with each other.

Stefan has to take care of Mia but he does not want to jeopardize Kian's health so Kian was sent to live with his aunt. One morning, one neighbor knocks on Kian's aunt's house and informs them about Kian's parents. Turns out the neighbor was checking on their house because it has been two days since they saw Stefan walk out of the house.

Stefan and Mia were found lying on the bed peacefully. Their body was already rigid and cold by the time the doctor announced the death of the couple. The neighbor helps to arrange the funeral and Kian did not get to see his parents corpse because the doctor has wrapped the dead body in some concoction to prevent the disease from spreading.

Kian only sees the coffin being lowered to the ground. Once the hole has been sealed, his aunt drags Kian out from the graveyard. Not even a single soul cared to comfort the young child that just lost his parents. From that day on, Kian lives in hell being tortured by his aunt's family.

"Mother and Father, I apologize for taking this long to visit. I miss you guys so much and I hope that you are living peacefully without any sickness in heaven.", he hugged the tombstone before getting up and wiped his tears.

Kian still visits his aunt's family graves. He laid down the rest of the flower bouquets and poured out all the liquor that he brought.

"Aunt Ida and Uncle Paul, I know how much you guys love alcohol. You must have not drunk for a long time and no one to visit your graves. Do not worry because you will love the amount of alcohol that I am sending to you. I forgive all the worst things you have done to me and I am grateful that you guys have given me a chance to meet someone wonderful that cares about me.", he says his last farewell before heading back to the car.

Seeing that it is not the time for dinner yet, Stanley brought Kian to a secluded lake. The scenery is so serene as the place has never met any human yet. Kian took a seat underneath the weeping willow and Stanley followed along.

"I might not know your full story but I want you to know that you are not alone. You can rely on our Miss Noelle or me if you need someone. Who knows that there might be someone that you related to that still alive and walking on this earth. But for now, you must not lose hope to find out more about yourself. I believe that someone that cares about you is still looking for you until now.", Stanley pat Kian's back to comfort him.

"Thank you so much for everything back there. I apologize if I came across as rude. I really don't know how to feel at the moment. I am glad that Noelle was not here. Otherwise my action might have hurt her feelings." Kian hugged his knees to his chest.

"Knowing our Miss since she was young, I think she will understand your situation and will stay by your side through thick or thin. She is the best listener there is. Most of the servants love her because she knows how to make people happy." Stanley assures Kian that Noelle will not abandon him that easily.