Brick Family, Siblings and Brothers

It was already evening outside.

This was practically a villa. Whateley House was even larger than Hope had imagined.

Whateley House resembled an American farming family's home. Setting wealth aside, the amount of space they possessed would have been unbelievable in a city.

If it had not been only two stories tall, the house's footprint alone would have been enough for a hotel.

Beyond the house, there was no sign of habitation—only vast wasteland stretching in every direction...

Hope had no idea how far it extended. He could not see clearly to begin with. When he counted his hundredth step away from the house, he gave up on the meaningless exercise.

In short, it was huge.

The only thing that made Hope doubt they were farmers was the wasteland. He could not find anything that could be called a crop. This place was practically the middle of nowhere.

When he left the house, he had heard faint mooing. It was low and lifeless, like something on the verge of death.

When the first stalk of corn entered his field of vision, Hope guessed that he had left Whateley House's land and arrived somewhere else.

Children could be heard playing in the sparse fields.

It was a group of boys, playing and roughhousing together.

Boys at play were always so absorbed in their games that they failed to notice their surroundings. One boy wandered in front of Hope and nearly fell, but Hope caught him on instinct.

His face was some distance from Hope's eyes. Hope could not see it clearly, but he could still make out that it was a strange face:

His eyes were set too far apart, his nostrils were black holes facing outward, and he barely had any nostrils' wings.

This...

Hope forced himself not to show any disgust. He tilted his head back, making his vision even blurrier, hoping his expression would be no different from how he treated ordinary children.

0.97, 1.36, 0.92, 0

The first number was not too different from Lavinia's and Wilbur's. The second was a little smaller, the third fell between theirs, and the fourth was actually 0—the one that had changed the most out of all four numbers.

"Are you all right?" he asked the boy.

The boy looked up at Hope.

He should say, I'm fine, thank you, big brother, Hope thought.

Then Hope would reply, That's good. Be more careful next time, okay?

That "okay" would convey gentleness toward a child.

But the boy did not say that. His expression instantly turned terrified. Like a mouse seeing a cat, he suddenly shoved Hope away and ran back the way he had come.

He was in too much of a hurry and tripped, then hurriedly scrambled back to his feet.

Hope saw a spot of red where he had fallen. He had probably scraped his forehead.

What the hell? It's just albinism. It's not contagious.

"He touched someone from Whateley House! He's cursed!" one of the boys accompanying him shouted excitedly.

"I'm not!" the fleeing boy argued. "I touched the Whateley House idiot, not that monster Wilbur!"

"You are! You are!" The other boys made faces and squealed like wild boars.

Idiot... monster... Hope did not know which term was better.

Did Whateley House really have such a bad reputation nearby?

Well, that seemed normal enough.

They did not farm, two of them had albinism, and one was ugly as hell. In a more ignorant age, they would clearly have been witches, wizards, and the goats they kept—fit for the stake.

As he thought about it, something suddenly struck Hope's calf. He crouched down to look and found a small stone covered in dirt. Before he could stand up, another pebble struck his hand.

It did not hurt. The stones had traveled far enough that they had been about to hit the ground anyway.

It was those boys.

"You little bastards!" Lavinia shouted as she ran toward them. Hope tried to stop her, only to discover in surprise that Lavinia was more agile than he had imagined.

Hope rubbed his forehead. Lavinia really was experienced; she ran as though she was not sick at all.

Ever since Hope had nearly fallen down the stairs, he had only dared to walk slowly.

The boys formed a wide circle around them and cheered together, "Monster! Monster! Whateley House monsters! We're not afraid of you! The adults are scared, but we're not!"

Though they claimed not to be afraid, they all backed away from Lavinia as she ran toward them. Soon they scattered and vanished, leaving only Lavinia, deprived of her targets, throwing stones at the air.

"Just wait, you little bastards!" Lavinia said. "Don't let me see your mothers!"

Hope looked up at Wilbur, who was over two meters tall. Wilbur was picking pebbles from his messy curls. Hope did not know which boy had managed to throw one that high.

Wilbur said, "The one closest to you just now was one of the Brick boys. I can't remember his name. The others were his two brothers, one child from the Webb family, and two children from the Courtney family."

Why was he telling him this? So they could remember the names and go complain to their parents with Lavinia?

"Aren't you angry?" Hope asked.

Wilbur looked very calm, completely unlike how he had been around Lavinia earlier.

"Angry? Why should I be angry? They don't know anything yet."

Hope had not expected Wilbur to have such a tolerant side. He felt somewhat ashamed and nodded.

"All right. They're still young and don't know any better... But I'm still a little angry. I really hope Lavinia hit one or two of them."

Wilbur ignored him and continued walking.

If there had been no mistake, the house ahead belonged to the owner of these fields. Its exterior walls had been freshly painted red.

Hope looked inside and saw two blurry yellow patches.

"This is the Brick family. There are only the Brick Siblings inside. The larger one is the brother, and the smaller one is the sister. You've already met their three sons."

Hope recalled the boy he had just seen, with his crooked mouth and slanted eyes.

Those siblings were pitiful too...

Hope looked at Wilbur. "Wait... What do you mean, the Brick Siblings' three sons? You mean the Brick couple, right?"

"They're the Brick Siblings. Everyone called them that long ago. Later, they got married, but people were already used to calling them that."

"Siblings can get married?"

"The government certainly doesn't allow it, but Dunwich residents don't care about that little certificate the government issues."

Inbreeding. No wonder that boy...

This place sounded like some depraved land beyond the law...

Lavinia walked inside. "Brick!" The two heard her voice and came closer. Brick Brother was probably lame, while Brick Sister seemed to have no ears.

"I told you she only knows how to cause trouble," Wilbur muttered.

"There's nothing wrong with chatting with the neighbors, is there?"

Wilbur said nothing more and headed in another direction.

Hope did not follow. He was still hesitating over whether to interrupt Lavinia's chat with the neighbors.

"Keep up!" Wilbur called to Hope. "Leave her alone. She knows the way!"

"All right." Hope shrugged.

He could hear Lavinia and the Brick Siblings deep in conversation. Lavinia's excited voice carried all the way over here.

Hope suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right—Lavinia! Don't forget those boys we met earlier!"

He heard Lavinia's excited voice behind him. The Bria Siblings tried their best to calm her, but she was practically shrieking as she complained.