Chapter 45 - No One Can Replace You In My Heart

"Andres!" He heard a familiar voice call him. "Andres, are you off to Medellin now?"

It was Franklin Storitz. His university classmate here in Berlin.

"My ship will be in a few hours." He felt himself say, with a bright smile. They were in an orchard. "My Mama misses me very much, and I managed to have my benefactor allow me to visit."

"Give her my warmest greetings." Franklin said. "Oh, and give her this as well...."

Franklin took out a pouch clinking with the many gold coins inside, a very hefty sum, yet he gave it away easily. He was even smiling giddily as he handed the bag to Andres' meaty palm.

"Oh, Franklin! You must absolutely not feel obliged to do something like this every time I leave the city... You give me more money than my scholarship benefactor, that is enough to make a man ashamed of himself."

"Why should you be ashamed? This is just gifts between friends." Franklin assured him. "Or as you say, amigos. Compadres de corazon."

"Heh, you really are a dear friend of my heart. I have never met someone as compassionate to a friend as you." Andres smiled.

"There is really no need for thanks." Franklin fixed his hat for him. "I do not want you to miss your ship. Bring back any good sweets for me, meringue or anything with queso would do."

"Of course, my friend." Andres tipped his hat to him, and went his way.

As he tipped his hat, you can notice the tattoo on his wrist.

A bull's head.

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Stein woke up with nodes attached to him again, his chest bare.

Not only that.....

His chest was cut open.

'Franklin', who now has large bags under his eyes and looking at his opened chest and internal organs a bit, sighed. When he fixed his glasses over the bridge of his nose, he met eyes with Stein.

"My love.... Your heart is not doing well." 'Franklin' smiled sadly. "You lost consciousness during our picnic. I tried to revive you using electricity, but it took longer than it should have."

"I found that it could not handle the shocks anymore. You need a new one."

"A new heart?" Stein asked. Seeing his chest open like this, it reminded him of one of the visceral images haunting his mind at night...

"Yes, but it is not easy. This time, we cannot settle for any ordinary heart. We need someone with a thick aortic wall and generally some kind of deformity that can make them withstand constant electrical pressure."

"How do we find such a thing?" Stein observed the slowly moving organ floating in midst of crimson red and agate blue splattered around the hole.

He had the childish urge to poke it and see what happens, but restrained himself.

"Absolutely not here in London. I have a reputation to uphold, and the patrolmen are increasing around our area since some latest increase in criminals." 'Franklin' walk up. "We need to go back to where I harvested all of your body parts."

Stein was never revealed this much about his body before, and it is his first time back in the experimentation room. The beating object in his chest pumped more blood in loud and faster thumps.

"Your hometown. You have mentioned it before, but never told me where exactly it is located."

"Do you have any hunches?" 'Franklin' asked.

"Based on your last name, as well as your external features, and the fact that you have thought me several languages of the continent, it must be somewhere here in Europe."

Stein was beaming. He is going to see where his creator has been created, where he was born, and learn about his background, his family, his past.....

This is the hole in the wall he was waiting for. Though it is pitiful that he would have to obtain it at the expense of his own heart.

He will get a new one, eventually. He believes in Franklin.

Heart.... Corazon..... Compadres de corazon.....

Stein was close to remembering his dream, as he looked at his right arm that has dark ink that eventually had been blurred through the years, completely indiscernible. He was so close to recollecting the person's name.....

"You are correct. I was indeed from Germany." 'Franklin' smiled, taking his sewing set to stitch back the dissected chest close again. "It had just been declared an empire when I left. I heard that my city, Berlin, is being developed into the metropolis for all kinds of foreigners to dwell in and put Germany into their memories forever as one of Europe's greatest, trying to rival England itself."

"Are we going to Berlin, then?" Stein asked.

'Franklin' grinned as pierced the needle through the hardened skin. "Yes. Your first trip outside the country, and on a ship. I can tell you must be thrilled."

"I am." Stein smiled back, but he had also noticed that momentary look of sadness in his eyes for a while, disappearing as quickly as bubbles.

Stein's hypothesis was that it must be because of his worry for his life. Or unlife, more specifically. He must be afraid to lose him, his creation and his lover, if they were not able to find a new heart in time.

What he did not know is Zhe Chouhen was worrying about something much, much deeper than that. But he cannot spoil Stein of his own fate without suffering terrible consequences thanks to the third party.

He had already told him about the story of Glasseye. It is up to this MC to piece everything together and hopefully break away from his scum ML.

Besides, there was also THAT character coming soon.

The second male lead. The one who could save Stein from what is in store for him by his insane creator.

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"All aboard!!!"

The bells rang as the steam-powered vessel sailed the seas. After manning the steering wheel and ordering his crew, the captain made his rounds, and then conversed with the passengers for a while.

He had bright friendly eyes, and loves to talk, but he does enjoy keeping to himself with a good book. His platinum hair was coiffed and hidden under his hat. When seen from behind, you would assume he must be just another copy of those potbellied sailors we see often.

But this captain is nothing of the sort. In fact, his belly is flat and chiseled. He has a handsome face as well.

Captain Walter Clerval may just be one of the youngest ship captains you would encounter in your life. But that was because he wasn't really a sanctioned travel captain that just drop off people from trips across the sea.

He used to be an explorer. Still is, though secretly for the time being since he got some trouble with the law for these 'unsupervised expeditions'.

And now, he had to gain the queen's favor and act like a good boy so he could be the new Marco Polo, and explore a place no man dare to explore yet: The Farthest North. Or what we now know in modern times as the North Pole.

He wants to sail as far as he can in the icy wasteland and map it, earning fame greater than any traveler had in his tender age of 28.

With these ambitions in mind, he tried to gain the attention of any upper-class-looking individuals on his baby, his ship: The Snedronningen. The Snow Queen in English. He mingled with them, had wine, but none seems to have good prospect enough to serve as his ticket to the Queen Victoria's grace for the Farthest North expedition to come true.

Almost losing hope, he suddenly encounters a servant boy.

"Oh, apologies, sir." The servant boy just lowered his hat as he carried around his master's possessions to the room.

Calling him a boy would be wrong. He is massive, like those Jotuns in Norse myths! Frost giants!

But he does have the face of a boy, which Captain Clerval found strangely appealing in a way. The incongruity.... Having a large man's physique yet such a genteel face. It is very perplexing.

"It is alright, boy. What is your name and which room are you off to?" He asked, giving him an up and down scan.

Everything about this man is just fascinating. The longer you look at him, the more strange things you took notice of, and the more intrigued you become. The most important of this....

Was his eyes. Both blue, but one was like the sea, and the other the iceberg floating on top of it. Immediately, that is when Captain Walter Clerval fell enchanted with those blue orbs.

"Uh..... Stein. My master is at Cabin 404." He replied briefly, uncomfortable by the intensity of Captain Clerval's stare, and hurried off and left.

With a raised thick eyebrow, the ship captain called out a crew member. "Tell me who is at the cabin numbered 404."

"Uh..... Let us see." The crew member checked the papers with a cigar in his mouth. "Dr. Franklin Storitz and his servant, sir. Only two of them, ages 29 and 25 respectively."

"How come these youngins are traveling on their own? And unmarried, hm?" Captain Clerval asked hypocritically, because he himself is even younger than this Dr. Storitz and a bachelor only married to the sea.

One of the crewmates holding some cargo overheard and became interested. "Oh, I heard the doctor's some kind of famous scientist in the city, captain!"

"A famous scientist, eh?" Captain Clerval was much more intrigued now. "Why don't you invite them for dinner in the upper decks, my usual table?"

"You think the doctor could be our best shot for a connection with the royals, captain?" The crew member asked.

"I just have a feeling....." The captain shrugged.

Actually, he has more than a feeling.

This is a fated meeting. Everything was just right, like how aurora was formed in the sky.

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As the two gents were sat down, Captain Clerval observed them both. First the doctor, then the servant, and back and forth once more, before speaking with an amicable smile. "How are you like the Snedronningen, lads? Do you find her a beauty?"

"A truly wonderful vessel, Mr. Clerval." 'Franklin' took a sip of the tea in front of him. The sun was setting behind the white-haired captain, and they were the ones who have a good view.

The captain doesn't need such a view anyway, he had seen it many times. What he needs is a good view of these two interesting individuals.

"What about you, big boy?" Captain Clerval grinned at Stein. "Surely, the ventilation and the heating equipment are working well?"

"Uh, yes?" Stein blinked.

"Then why are you wrapped up like a cocoon?" The captain chuckled. "And wearing gloves as well? I've never met anyone who had a nice pitcher of ale while wearing gloves! Haha!"

"We are not here to drink, Mr. Clerval." The smartypants-looking doctor with those large ostentatious glasses pushed back the mug away from his servant, almost protectively.

He added with a fake smile. "Though we thank you for the hospitality. We are here because you ask for a meeting with us, and we want to figure out if it is worth our time."

The captain regarded Franklin the same way he regards a nearby iceberg: a pain in the ass. But still interesting to look at. He was obviously an upper class, a blind man can still see it. Not that the doctor is trying hard to hide it from all the luxuries he is wearing.

"Then I will have all this for myself, thank you!" Captain Clerval took what was supposed to be Stein's mug, and chugged it. "Now..... since you two seem to be impatient when it comes to pleasantries and niceties... Or at least, the master is."

He gave Vladstin a calculating glance. Though he would much rather speak with the servant, it is the master who will give him the money he needs. And so, he must act amicably. For now.

"Lord Storitz." He began with his proposition.

"Just doctor would do." 'Franklin' said.

"Well then, Dr. Storitz, if you truly earned such a title..." Captain Clerval wiped the ale from his lips. "I am about to present you an opportunity of a lifetime..."

Zhe Chouhen said in his head, smiling. (Oh, of course, you do.)

He regarded this captain the same way a poker player would look at a good deck of cards in his hand: silently cheering for his luck.

(You are my opportunity to get out of here and reunite with Daoist Panda.)