are you doing lingering around here, Mademoiselle?" one of them asked, alertly eyeing Edith.
"What have you done to him?" she asked dazedly.
The militiaman shrugged impatiently. "We''re just following the committee''s orders."
Edith lowered her gaze to the corpses strewn about in disarray. Her mind was foggy, and it took a while for her to realise their intention - to obliterate the appearance of these executed, preventing their advocates from recognising their remains.
"There''s nothing left! Even his head was not left for me!" she murmured expressionlessly to herself.
She wandered home like a ghost, searching everywhere for anything related to Andre. Yet all she found was a small notebook left behind by him in the study of the Percys.
This notebook, with its cover of red leather, was always kept in his jacket pocket, serving as a vessel for recording impromptu messages and musings. His splendid youth was so fleeting, just as the fate of this republic of liberty, that this thin notebook was not yet filled with words on every page.
The front page was inscribed with a few neatly written words: Love, Compassion, Liberty.
Most of the inner pages contained notes on military and political affairs, interspersed with occasional jottings on the conception of the system of republic. The penmanship was particularly earnest, with some entries capturing discussions and dreams they had shared, while others he had never mentioned to her.
"Those who beat women, children, and the elderly should be forever deprived of their liberty."
"The oath of peace must be promptly fulfilled. Public morality must be swiftly restored."
"Degradation due to hunger is not a guilt. It is the law that is guilty of them. The republic must close the brothels."
"All children should receive proper education. The responsibility of education should rest with the state. It is necessary to teach children to love liberty and abhor oppression."
...
The final pages remained blank, but at the very end was a small line of pencil writing, already smudged and faded, indicating that it had been written a long time ago. Each letter was bold and alive, revealing the profound happiness and fervor of the