When the Padrone didn't find the gardener in his bed in the morning, he thought he must be in the gallery. Then he knocked on Dada’s bedroom door. No one answered there either, and when he opened the door and found Dada wasn't in her bed either, he became even more convinced that they must both be in the gallery, and he walked toward the gallery humming with a smile on his face. As soon as he entered, he noticed the hidden door left wide open. The Padrone’s vision blurred. He felt a terrible pain on his left side. He clutched his chest, and before he collapsed to the floor, he caught sight of Dada stretched out on the ground, jewelry and all.
The Padrone gathered his strength and managed to stand up with difficulty. He struggled over to the hidden door, closed it, pushed against it as hard as he could with his back, locked it tightly, and collapsed right there.
He was finding it terribly difficult to breathe, and cold sweat broke out on his face. He somehow managed to grab a nearby chair and threw it through the window with all his might. The chair flew into the yard along with the window shards. The servants ran out at the sound of the breaking glass.
Spring passed by cheerlessly. Summer brought no great joy to Dada either. She had long since emerged from her own world, but she continued to live without enthusiasm. She was no longer interested in painting, books, or music. She did not even want to step foot in the gallery.
From time to time, she would visit the servants in the kitchen. She had always loved bustling about with them, though she used to bring them joy and liveliness; now, she would sit at the table with a cheerless look and help the cooks listlessly, sometimes peeling potatoes or picking through herbs. She had the look of someone fulfilling a duty, doing it just to get it over with, though no one forced her—it was simply how she passed the time.
Everything tasted bland to her, and even her once-beloved lemon cake, baked by the elderly cook, no longer seemed delicious.
She didn't even look at her once-favorite rose garden, and the summer passed without her going up to the waterfall even once.
Zeki did everything he could to cheer the girl up, though he didn't even know why she was this way. He was already used to Dada’s quirks, but now he saw that the girl was overdoing it.
Zeki was puzzled; he could not understand Dada’s prolonged gloom, and her cheerless behavior often even annoyed him. The Padrone had warned everyone that Zeki should know nothing about the gardener, and so it was; everyone kept silent.
Zeki did not lose hope. He was convinced that Dada still couldn't manage to come out of her own world, and he did not back down, constantly trying to cheer the girl up, even just a little.
But Dada cared neither for the dawn nor for the dusk; it was as if she were getting up and going to bed only out of a sense of duty. Seeing this, the Padrone’s heart ached.
In some respects, he truly justified Ugo's actions. It was clear that he had been sent as an agent, and he considered that Ugo had acted manfully. Because of his love and respect for Dada, he had done their family no harm and had gone far away. Perhaps that was why his own people had turned against him—because Ugo had refused to carry out the mission.
The Padrone thought about this, and he was partially right. Perhaps in a similar situation, he would have acted the same way.
Days went by, and Dada continued to live the life of an ordinary person, unremarkable in any way. Her originality and her unusually rich world had vanished somewhere.
Several times she overheard the mention of Ugo in the kitchen, but she acted as if she heard nothing. In reality, she learned a lot from the gossiping women. It turned out that the supposedly wretched gardener spent his nights enjoying himself with the servants' wives, and how bitterly deceived the husbands of those servant women were, left by their own wives after work.
"Hmm, perhaps that is why he chose a dwelling far from the house."
Dada fell deep in thought. It was all so terrible to hear. Now, she felt more disgusted by these women than by Ugo. She walked out of the kitchen with a petrified expression and wandered aimlessly through the yard. At that moment, she heard shouting and cheers from behind her. Toward the stables, in the backyard, the men were competing with each other in breaking in newly arrived horses.
Zeki outdid everyone. Among the defeated, Dada noticed the husbands of several unfaithful wives and gave a bitter smile.
At that moment, Zeki led the tamed stallion around the circle; upon seeing Dada, he nearly fell off the horse with joy. It was amazing. Dada was smiling at him and applauding the victorious boy.
From that day on, Dada seemed to have befriended Zeki. They spent much more time together than ever before.
The Padrone did not particularly like them becoming such friends, but he did not interfere either. As long as Dada’s mind was occupied, she could be friends with whoever she wanted. As much as he disliked it, he was just as convinced that Zeki would do her no harm, and on the contrary, would even protect her if necessary.
"Hmm, Zeki the murderer and bandit, and Dada the art-loving dreamer!"
The Padrone smiled sadly.
It was an interesting pairing. Yet, the Padrone did not know that Ugo was no less of a bandit than Zeki.
Zeki was a robber and a murderer; Ugo was a contract killer. There was not much difference between them.
Robbery was in Zeki's blood; he could no longer live any other way. He preferred wandering and roaming about to anything else.
Ugo, on the contrary, was relatively calm and observant. He turned down many clients, agreeing to carry out an assignment only if the victim was as much of a scoundrel and a bandit as the employer. Ugo never coveted another's property; he never touched someone else's belongings. For him, the main thing was to carry out the assigned task honestly, then collect the remainder of his fee and vanish from the area. He rarely showed his true face; he even met clients in disguise, which is why the Padrone had found it difficult to identify him at the time. No one knew a man like Ugo.
The Padrone roughly understood what kind of man Ugo must be. Despite his profession, he remained charmed by his manly behavior.
The Padrone saw that Dada felt happy with Ugo, whereas with Zeki, it seemed as if she were just passing time to escape her bored life.
This was exactly what worried the Padrone, and he looked at his foster daughter with a broken heart.
"I wonder, where could Ugo actually be now?"
the Padrone thought.
"Does he really not miss Dada? Or what was his behavior? A professional killer does not act like this. He could have killed me so easily that Dada would have suspected nothing and would never have known, but why did he stretch out and delay the execution of the order like that?
Could it be that he grew fond of gardening and refused the job?
And because of this, he was almost killed himself, and all for Dada's sake?
And Dada rewarded her chosen one by even teaching him the secret exit from the house...
Hmm... Dada, Dada..."
LEX. Wednesday, March 2, 2016
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