Chapter 153: The Devil’s Philosophy
Chapter 152 – The Devil’s Philosophy
It had been raining in London for two days in a row, Arthur was sitting at his desk in his bedroom, dots of water were hanging on the outer window panes of the room, and the inner window was covered with a thin layer of mist.
He reached up and wiped the vapor off the window, and only then could barely make out the maple leaves drifting in the wind in Hyde Park not far away through the water droplets.
Agareth was holding a crystal clear goblet, which must have been worth a lot of money, judging by the crystal bright red body of the wine in the glass.
The red devil is like an exquisite medieval nobleman, first put his nose on the edge of the wine glass gently sniffed the fragrance of the wine, and gently sip a mouthful of sweet wine, and finally a little bit of the wine poured into the throat, until he felt the burning fire in the abdomen, he was satisfied with closing his eyes and slightly breathed out.
Agareth placed the glass of wine beside Arthur and spoke cheerfully, ”Arthur, although I seldom praise others, but I have to say, that fat Frenchman’s taste in red wine is really to my liking. Ever since he lived under the same roof as us, our standard of living is like a huge increase from heaven to hell!”
Arthur rubbed his face, his hair was a mess, he was only wearing a nightgown, and since he had taken the day off from Scotland Yard, he hadn’t properly cleaned himself up since he got up today.
Arthur rested one arm on the back of his chair and squinted at the Red Devil, “According to you, the living conditions in Heaven are not as good as Hell? It seems that there is indeed a problem with the priests’ promises to the believers, after a lifetime of good deeds and virtues, you can’t get a good home after death, it seems that going to heaven is not a blessing, but a curse.”
“Wow! My dear Arthur.”
The red devil covered his mouth as he laughed and pressed his two hands covered with pitch-black nails, as sharp as swords, on Arthur’s shoulders, “You don’t understand, for those good and weak people, going to heaven is considered a good home. But for strong and powerful villains like you, nothing is better than going to hell.”
Arthur looked at the dappled leaves affixed to the window and tapped his knuckles on the tabletop and asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Seeing that it seemed to have piqued Arthur’s interest, Agareth leaned down and lowered his voice, “Because in heaven, the weak still get a bite to eat. Whereas in Hell, you know, the weak eat their brains out, or you can’t even eat shit.”
Arthur sighed slightly when he heard this, “So is that why Baal kicked you out of Hell, so he could have the shit in Hell all to himself? Agareth, I know you’re a good and strong demon, but you can’t eat everything, right? Besides, if you really want to eat that shit, there’s plenty in the Thames. There’s no need to get into this mess with Barr over this little thing.”
When the Red Devil heard this, his expression, which had just been gentle and pleasant, suddenly changed.
“Arthur, fuck you, you can insult me, but you can’t insult my personal taste! Do you think that a gentleman devil like me, who is elegant, graceful, educated, and behaves in accordance with the values of the upper class, will go and eat shit like a guy like Barr who sits on a pile of flies?”
“Yes, yes, yes, I understand.”
When Arthur heard this, he didn’t say much, he rubbed the messy hair in front of his forehead, and distractedly pushed the wine glass that was placed on the table and had been used by Agares outwards, “You’ll drink exclusively from this wine glass from now on, be careful, don’t break it, it’s quite expensive to buy a new one like this.”
Agareth heard, immediately angry head burst into a blazing fire, red devil angry straight jump feet, he pointed at Arthur’s nose cursing.
“Arthur, what the fuck do you mean by that? You don’t believe me? Could it be that after betraying the working class, you are now planning to betray the devil!”
When Arthur heard this, his eyes, which had been scattered, suddenly sharpened, and his neck turned, his black eyes meeting the devil’s red ones.
But it didn’t take long for his eyes to become soft and decadent again.
The red devil’s original stolen pleasure gained from provoking him also dissipated into nothingness in an instant, and Agareth seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you angry?”
Arthur crossed his fingers and leaned against the back of the chair, taking a deep breath and letting it out violently, “Angry, of course I’m angry. In case you didn’t know, the first English sentence I learned was I am angry.”
“Really? Is that what the adults in your family taught you?”
“Not an adult, an elder.”
“Really? And older than me?” Agareth frowned, quite unsatisfied, and lifted his butt to sit on the corner of the desk, “If you’re angry, why don’t you lose your temper?”
Arthur kept his arm propped up on the desktop, holding his forehead, “Because I’m educated, I know that if you get angry at the first sign of hearing an opinion that contradicts yours, it shows that you’ve subconsciously sensed that there’s no good reason for your own opinion. If someone insists that two plus two equals five, you will only feel pity rather than anger.
Agareth, since I want to be angry, it shows that I actually agree with you, and since I do, I have little need to be angry. After all, what I want is a truth that I can convince myself of, not to throw a tantrum at you, which is something only children do.”
“Wow…… what expression should I make? Maybe I should be moved to tears? Oooh …… Arthur, is that what makes you happy?”
The Red Devil clenched both hands into fists and turned them at the corners of his eyes as he faked tears, but in an instant he replaced them with a wicked grin, “My dear Arthur, I advise you to save that for all those ladies and young ladies at the party this weekend. Perhaps you can trick them into bed with these, but Professor Agareth does not intend to forgive you for this speech.”
Arthur shrugged his shoulders, “Isn’t it God’s business to forgive humans? Agareth, I hadn’t realized that you could offer that service as well.”
“God? I could beg you not to mention that elfin old thing again.”
The red devil snorted, “Do you know what the premise is that he is responsible for forgiving everyone? Being able to offer such business as forgiveness is not a good thing for that old thing himself.”
Arthur mulled over the Red Devil’s words for a moment, glanced at him and shook his head, “You’re talking to me in riddles again.” No sooner had his words fallen than he suddenly heard the door to his room being pushed open, and Elder, with one hand on the doorframe and the other gripping the doorknob, opened his mouth with a look of delight, “Arthur, are we going to a scientific lecture this afternoon, or to the theater?”
Arthur turned sideways, he looked at Elder’s enthusiastic face not knowing how to respond.
Elder couldn’t help but whistle when he saw his look, “Why are you looking like you’re dying again, brother? You can’t have been fired by Scotland Yard again, can you?”
Arthur said helplessly, “It’s worse than that.”
“What?”
Arthur scratched his head, he found it a little hard to talk about, but there was no getting around what needed to be said after all.
He sighed, “Don’t you know? I led the Scotland Yard police in suppressing a workers’ march yesterday?”
Elder clenched his jaw and mused for a moment, “Did anyone die?”
Arthur shook his head, “No.”
Elder sniffed and whistled with a raised eyebrow as he gave Arthur a thumbs up, “Bull!”
Arthur was flabbergasted by him, then he cried and laughed, “Elder, I’m not asking for a compliment, I don’t think it’s anything honorable.”
“What then? I can’t scold you, can I?”
Elder couldn’t care less, “Besides, your Scotland Yard police don’t have to do things like this themselves. Workers march for a living, and the police suppress marches for a living.
No one died on either side, and the workers’ demands were passed on, and Scotland Yard highlighted its importance, so isn’t that all right?
So say, are you going to the theater this afternoon or not, I’m afraid I’ll have to go out for sea training again in a while when the ship is repaired, and I must hurry up and spend the money I’ve saved, Arthur, I’m really in a hurry.”
Arthur pursed his lips at that, “I think you’d better go and pick out a suitable new dress this afternoon. I’m going to take you to General Codrington’s private party this Sunday as my science assistant.”
Elder sniffed and his mouth grew so long he could fit a fist in it, “Arthur, my good man!”
Arthur asked impatiently, “What is it?”
Elder was moved to cover his mouth, “Now, even if you killed the workers on the suppression operation, I have to forgive you!”
Arthur sniffed and didn’t know how to respond, he pursed his lips and waved his hand, “Hurry up and get lost, dumbass!”
Elder closed the door with a bang, and silence returned to the room.
Arthur looked at the red devil sitting on the table and spoke, “He said he forgave me, does this mean that even someone who graduated from the Classics Department of the University of London can be God?”
Agareth sniffed and did not respond positively, he just smiled and nodded.
When Arthur saw this look on his face, he just grunted through his nose, “God is really high level then.”
In the past, at times like this, the Red Devil would most likely join Arthur in sneering at God for a couple of sentences, but this time he rarely chimed in and instead turned to speak.
“Arthur, you are too young to understand that those things that are beautiful must not be beautiful. As for beautiful birds, they are not all made of beautiful feathers.”
Arthur looked at him, “What things are you talking about again?”
Agareth flipped the roll of parchment and pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose, “It’s like you used to say, go be their king, not their god.”
Arthur hesitated a bit as he pressed, “Why?”
The Red Devil curled up the corners of his mouth, his eye sockets were filled with scarlet eyes, and reflected in the scarlet pupils were unknown turning gears and secrets sealed behind them.
His illusory figure faded into the white curtains, and after a long time, only the remnants of his voice remained in the room.
“For even if it is the most unscrupulous king in the world that mankind intends to overthrow, they will not act with the same righteous indignation as if they were smashing harmless statues of the gods of old …… Arthur, remember that if you cannot control others, they will control you, and endeavor to free yourself from the domination of others . If you can’t do that, you will soon realize that they are your hell ……”
(End of chapter)