Chapter 178

178 Mental Health

Selma Payne’s POV:

“So, I’m here today to ask for your forgiveness.

“In the past, you were the one who coaxed me every time we fought because you loved me and were willing to put down your pride for me. Since that’s the case, why can’t I be the one to lower my head first this time? This is my fault, to begin with.”

I walked up to him and squatted down. I took his hand and said softly, “I’m sorry, Aldrich. I promise I won’t be as impulsive as before. I promise I’ll care about myself as much as you care about my safety. I won’t let you worry anymore. I promise I’ll try my best to learn and control the power of devouring, and I won’t let negative emotions control my mind. Are you willing to forgive me?”

Aldrich looked at me deeply, and after a long while, he pulled me into his arms.

“I’ll forgive you forever, my girl. He buried his head in my neck, and I felt the moisture on my collar. Just don’t hurt my heart again. It has long belonged to you, completely belonged to you.”

We hugged each other tightly in the afternoon light.

Seeing us go down hand in hand, Duke Frank beamed a smile that said, ‘I understand.’ “Does it seem that the alarm has been lifted? I’ll have to tell the butler not to clean up the air-raid shelter.”

I shyly lowered my head as Aldrich helplessly said, “Oh, stop it, Father.”

“Alright, alright! Young people, heh.” Duke Frank shook the newspaper in his hand. “Where are you going? The palace?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “We haven’t finished today’s training.”

My parents weren’t surprised that I went out alone and returned as two. They even invited Aldrich to have dinner.

During this period, my father said the same thing as Duke Frank, “It seems that I don’t have to ask the palace guards to impose martial law. The air defense alarm has been lifted, hasn’t it?”

My mother smiled kindly and did not say anything.

Aldrich and I secretly clenched our hands under the table, and we saw the same message in each other’s eyes: This was the only time we would never be in a silent war again. It did not feel good, and the feeling of being teased by the elders was stranger.

From then on, I returned to my happy and leisurely life.

Tracy and the other werewolf grandmasters were still clueless about my abilities. As I was the first werewolf in history, or even in the entire world, all they could do was faithfully record all the data and changes that I had to prepare for future research.

My father had sent more warriors and werewolf grandmasters to the Rocky Mountains, but there were no more strange incidents related to the demon seal. Dorothy and the others had also successfully arrived at the second and third bases. After a short rest, they could set off for the ruins of the witch clan.

Communication between the two places was very inconvenient, but fortunately, Dorothy and I had already established a mind link to talk over long distances.

We were all surprised to find out that we had a telepathic link. As we were not family or married in front of the Moon Goddess, how could we have such a close mind link?

“Maybe it’s because our hearts are connected.” Dorothy said, “Mind link comes from the spiritual world. Blood and emotions are its strongest bonds. We’ve already become close friends, and our spiritual worlds are in perfect harmony. It’s not strange for a mind link to form between us.”

Due to the mind link, I received news from the Rocky Mountains even earlier than my father.

But I didn’t have a close relationship with Dorothy either. Life in the Rocky Mountains was exhausting, and she was often tired. Every time this happened, the link in our mind would weaken. It was like two phones with bad signals, and their communication was intermittent.

I hoped that Dorothy could rest more so I didn’t disturb her.

A week after I returned to the palace, Tracy and the others said the research could be concluded.

“The negative emotions don’t have a permanent effect on you.” She said, “Your mental state has moved toward a relatively stable level, which means negative emotions can dissipate over time.”

It took me a week to absorb the demonic shards and a week to dispel the negative emotions. This inevitably made me have a bad thought, ‘Could it be that I have to use the same amount of time to dispel the negative emotions as I take to digest the power?’

Tracy shook her head, “Unfortunately, I can’t answer these questions now. There are too few examples, and just one time could not prove anything. My suggestion with the grandmasters is for you to use the power of Devouring carefully and consider the effects of the side effects. Although mental health has always been ignored compared to physical health, this doesn’t mean it’s insignificant. Some major psychological damage can’t be reversed, and its impact on people is even more profound than physical disability.”

With her words, my parents paid more attention to my Devouring ability.

I’d been secretly planning to absorb insignificant things to test my abilities, such as spells, runes, and other abstract powers, or beasts and other tangible things.

However, my parents strictly monitored me and ended all ‘reckless behaviors that could cause permanent harm’, making me extremely depressed.

I realized that simple physical training would not be able to fight against an enemy hiding in the dark. Although my new ability was powerful, it also had many restrictions. Wouldn’t things reach a dead end again?