Chapter 164 - The Sorrows Of A Father

"Did you know about my daughter having the light element?" My father looked up. There was a hint of betrayal within his soul, yet, Juilam could feel it. Juilam was an expert when it came to souls after all.

"What would you do if I said yes?" Asked Juilam while opening a single eye slightly.

"I don't know... While I feel slightly betrayed, at the same time, I cannot help but blame myself. Am I really that untrustworthy? Did she really think I could not keep a secret? Was she scared I was going to get angry at her?" My father felt a deep pain in his heart area.

This was not a physical injury, this was a mental one...

"While I would love to comfort you and tell you it was not your fault, I cannot lie. While it might not be all your fault, as a father, you are partly at fault." Juilam spoke with a stern voice snapping my father out of his trans-like state.

"What do you mean?" 

"What I mean is, while your wife, your wife's friends, and many other people might have been at fault, you are also at fault. You, as a father failed to gain the respect and reverence of your child. While she might see you as her father, the actions of her mother had caused her to see the whole family as untrustworthy. This simply means that the link between you and your wife is the thing that is repelling her from you."

"While I am not saying that you should split off from your wife, what I am trying to say is that you should not side with your wife. An example of this is when you tolerated the fact that Pandora left home and came here with Olivia. You cannot expect your child to fully trust you if you yourself do not do anything to make yourself trustworthy."

As Juilam spoke, the pained expression on my father's face became worse by the second. He kept asking himself where he had gone wrong, but only now had he realized.

He hadn't done anything wrong per se, he was simply too tolerant.

What kind of father would tolerate watching his 6-year-old daughter leave home without looking back?

And as if adding the final nail to the coffin, Juilam opened his mouth once again and said-

"And to answer your question, yes, I did know about the light element. I had actually taught her and trained her on how to use it. Other than that, I am sure there are many other things you do not know about her, that you honestly do not deserve to know unless she tells you herself"

My father clenched his fist tightly while gritting his teeth. He felt as if he did not have enough face left to even argue back, because, in a way, he knew every single word was true.

"However, this does not mean that I know everything..." My father glanced up.

Know everything? What else can there be that Juilam possibly did not know? How could a single person who had loved for less than 8 years keep so many secrets?

"The thing about Pandora, Atlas, or whatever you want to call her, is that she does not believe keeping secrets is wrong. I can tell with a single glance that she had so many things that she keeps from both me and even Olivia... While she feels like she can't trust anyone seen from how she won't even tell Olivia as much as she had told me even though they are under a contract, she also feels that keeping secrets from us keeps us safe." Juilam showed the closest thing that a wolf could show to a smile.

"What are you trying to say..." Deros grumbled, not understanding why Juilam would tell him all this.

"Haha... What I am trying to say is that it is not too late for you to create a bond between the two of you. She still loves you as her father, and probably loves almost everyone she knows. You have to show her that you are reliable and that you will always be by her side. Only then will she truly trust you..."

***

*-"DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!"-*

Who would have known that at the same time my father and Juilam had a really important and mind-opening talk, I would be drinking irresponsibly a few cities away?

'Doesn't matter anyway since I can't get drunk' I sighed while taking another shot that turned into energy the moment it reached my stomach.

For some reason, after awakening the Absolute-Consumption skill, I had to start eating almost quadruple the amount of food that I usually had to eat. Well, it was either that or manually eating magical crystals straight from the mines.

While the Absolute-Consumption skill gave me the power to eat literally anything that could be swallowed down my throat, I did not know how to use any of the other features. It was almost like everything else was passive!

My body was like a walking black hole right now. Anything that would enter it whether that would be poison through my bloodstream, a sword through my gut, or even spells through my orphosis, would all be immediately destroyed before being converted into energy to run my now extremely demanding body. It is also part of the reason I had become a foodie and started to enjoy Rose's 6 large meals a day.

"Shot number 53" The bartender announced.

While I was completely composed drinking my shot through the removable gap within my mask, the girl that I had already forgotten the name of was struggling to even hold the shot glass up well. Yet, even with all these difficulties, determination sparked within her eyes as she took another shoot, gulped it down, and trusted both her fists in the air.

"Poor girl" Rose shook her head on the side with a sympathetic glance at the half-conscious girl.