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…”
