The voice was so familiar that Roxanne couldn’t forget it for the rest of her life. Instantly, a hint of anger appeared on Roxanne’s face. She coldly rebuked, “Yuliana, you never grow up. Do you think this is still ten years ago?”
The person on the other side of the phone was at a loss for words. After some time, Yuliana continued, “So what if you’re living a good life now? The fact that none of your family attended the wedding made you a laughingstock. Roxanne, how could someone like you deserve happiness?”
Roxanne had intended to argue back at Yuliana, but as she looked at the children running and playing around, something inside her suddenly calmed down, and her anger dissipated.
It appears that I don’t need to respond to challenges from people I don’t like. Therefore, Roxanne put on a composed tone and responded, “I don’t see how you could consider you people to be a part of my family. Whether I’m happy or not has nothing to do with you. Please refrain from bothering me in the future.”
With that, Roxanne hung up right away.
After packing the picnic blanket, Lucian turned and asked, “Was that Yuliana?” Roxanne nodded, and a small smile appeared. on her lips. “Don’t worry. I can handle her. She no longer has any power to bully me.”
“Okay.” As matter of fact, Lucian wasn’t worried. After all, his wife’s state of mind had changed completely. Roxanne’s individual abilities were strong enough to make her powerful, even without the backup of the Farwell family.
After packing everything up and returning to the manor’s living room, Roxanne noticed Sonya and the chefs were busy preparing dinner and decided to lend a hand in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Archie and Benny were chatting with Lucian about the interesting things that happened at school. Estella, on the other hand, was preoccupied with designing a gown. Not long after dinner, James suddenly arrived at the manor in a hurry.
Lucian’s heart sank as he saw the anxiousness on James’ face, and he quickly asked what had happened. James looked crestfallen and dejected. Seeing that there were no outsiders around, he decided to speak up.
“Lucian, my mother’s hysteria has been getting worse lately. She’s been displaying violent behavior, and I don’t know what to do anymore. I came here to ask Roxanne if she knows of any way to help my mother!” James explained.
After hearing James’ explanation, Roxanne and Lucian exchanged surprised glances. They were surprised because they had never heard James mention anything about his mother having hysteria. Even Elias and Sonya rushed over to ask about the condition of James’ mother, Yennefer Thompson.
“What do you mean? Why didn’t you tell us about your mother’s hysteria before?” Elias asked, his expression turning angry as he realized he was not aware of the situation. “It seems like you and your father have been. keeping this from us for years. Why would you hide something like this?”
James stayed silent, but his lack of response was an admission in itself. Afterward, James gave a brief explanation about the illness Yennefer had been suffering from all these years.
Hysteria was often regarded as a mental illness, as it was a mental disorder that usually occurred when someone experienced significant emotional trauma.
The symptoms of hysteria often include dissociative and adjustment disorders. During a dissociative state, individuals may experience a sense of losing their identity and had severe doubts and unclear speculations about themselves. In other words, they didn’t know who they were. On the other hand, during an adjustment state, an individual’s temperament may suddenly change, appearing entirely different from their typical self.
“My mother’s illness manifested about a decade ago. We managed to keep it in check through therapy and medication, and she was able to lead a fairly normal life. At one point, we even thought that she had fully recovered. Unfortunately, during a recent trip to Alendor with my parents, something unexpected happened and triggered my mother’s illness and made it uncontrollable again.”
Lucian could feel his heart lurched. No wonder James looked weird when we picked him up at the airport that day.
Roxanne was also taken aback by the news. It reminded her of Lucian’s previous comment that he never expected James to become a psychologist. It seemed that the root of his choice was his mother. Perhaps he became a psychologist because of his mother’s illness.
“What exactly happened in Alendor?” Sonya pressed on with her questioning. Everyone was curious about the kind of severe trauma that would trigger Yennefer’s mental disorder.
James’ expression suddenly became gloomy, and he started blinking rapidly as if trying to avoid recalling the events of that time. After hesitating for a few seconds, he finally decided to tell the truth. “It was me. I killed someone!”
Everyone at the scene was shocked after hearing that. Since Sonya and Roxanne were both women, they took some time to process the information and remained stunned for a while.
On the other hand, Elias was quick to snap out of it and immediately asked for clarification. “Please explain everything clearly. Under what circumstances did you have to make such a decision? It must have been a dangerous situation, right? If you had killed someone maliciously, would you even be able to come back now?”
His words were actually directed at Sonya and Roxanne. Sonya and Roxanne snapped out of their daze and turned their attention to James, anticipating his response.
“Yes, it was a robbery! My parents and I were on a trip to the grasslands to see wildlife when we were robbed by some local thugs. We cooperated and gave them all our money. However, the leader of the thugs wanted to kidnap my mother. So, in a desperate situation, I had to use my gun…”
As James recounted the events, Sonya and Roxanne didn’t display the same look of shock as before, but they felt a sense of unease for the family.
Alendor was a place of chaos and housed many unforeseen dangers. Due to the safety issues of the country, people were allowed to bear arms.
Therefore, it was permissible for James to carry firearm at that time because it was a means of self-protection against the extremely ferocious wild animals in the grasslands in the event of an uncontrollable situation.
Little did he expect that this trip would result in a situation where he had to take a life in self- defense. The happenings at the time instantly shocked Yennefer, and her hysteria began to take over due to fear, causing her to speak incoherently.
Finally, the local authorities arrested the thugs and quickly took Yennefer to the hospital for emergency treatment. However, the hospital at that time did not even meet basic hygiene standards, let alone equipped with any facilities for mental treatment.
Fortunately, James, being a psychologist, was able to use hypnosis to induce sleep in Yennefer, and his father, Jones, promptly took Yennefer out of Alendor.
“After my mother returned, I invited all the well- known psychological experts I knew to our house. The treatment process lasted for more than half a month. Meanwhile, I was trapped in Alendor dealing with the whole thing and was only released afterward. When I returned home, I worried that if my mother saw me, she would remember the scene of me firing the gun. So, I lied to Lucian and didn’t go home directly.”
After James finished speaking, Lucian felt a surge of anger in his heart. Hence, he cast a cold glance at James. “How could you try to hide such a serious incident from me? You’re really foolish!”
James didn’t dare to argue with Lucian, and his face was full of apologies. Of course, Lucian wouldn’t really blame him. He immediately looked at Roxanne.
“I understand. You are aware of the urgent situation at home, but you’re uncertain whether Mrs. Lann would become more agitated upon seeing you. Therefore, are you considering letting me try instead?”
Roxanne looked at James, waiting for his confirmation. James nodded. His eyes were full of hope.
“I can do that without any problem. Lucian and I will go to your house to check things out now. You don’t have to worry too much. You’ve mentioned that there are plenty of psychology experts at your house, so it shouldn’t be a big problem,” Roxanne reassured after agreeing to help James without hesitation.
Lucian also stood up, approached James, and patted him on the shoulder. “You learned this from Jonathan, didn’t you? I’ll forgive you this time, but I don’t want the same thing to happen again in the future,” Lucian warned in a serious tone. James pulled the corners of his mouth into a wry smile and nodded. “Okay, I’ll take note.”
Since there was no time to lose, they immediately headed toward James’ house. James drove, and after half an hour of speeding, they arrived at the Lann family’s mansion.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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