172 The Frivolous Demon
Selma Payne’s POV:
“I think this time I will stand on Aldrich and the two Majesties’ sides,” Dorothy said. “You must return to the palace for an examination, test your strength, and find a way to dispel its side effects. I don’t want to see my best friend become a crazy woman. If you become like Adele, I promise I won’t visit you at the sanatorium.”
“Don’t be so cruel,” I mumbled. “Aren’t you afraid some crazy doctor will cut off my frontal lobe? ”
Dorothy’s face turned serious. “I think the owner of that pine tree is a frivolous demon. It made you a frivolous person!”
I could only correct my attitude.
“I am not against it,” I said. “But what about your eyes?”
“There might not be a solution even if we stay here,” Dorothy said, shaking her head indifferently. “Otherwise, Mullwica wouldn’t be so weak that her son assassinated her.”
I still didn’t want to give up. Perhaps Leviathan’s words were just a weak bait to lure the fish, but the Rocky Mountains were where Mullwica had lived the longest and had the most traces of her. I always felt that there was a glimmer of hope here.
“Or I can stay and continue to explore with the warriors and the werewolf grandmasters,” Dorothy said. “But you must return and get rid of the time bomb on you.”
I took a step back. “Then, you must let me remove the curse on you first. I can eat it easily, like eating a piece of cake-”
“No,” Dorothy refused flatly. “The influence of one demon is enough for you to suffer. If Leviathan joins that in your body, do you think you can take that?”
I smiled slyly. “But I’ve already been affected by Leviathan. The power that made up my first drop of blood came from her curse. To be honest, the iciness was quite delicious.”
Dorothy looked like she wanted to rush up and beat me up, but with her good upbringing, she held herself back.
“Whatever it is, no.” She wouldn’t agree, no matter what. “The power of the mark is still there. I’ll be safe for three months. Even if you want to help me eliminate the curse, you’ll have to fully understand the power and side effects of devouring and mastering it. Otherwise...”
I was not going to wait for her to finish!
As she was prattling on and on, I quickly moved in front of her, forehead to forehead, and started activating the power of Devouring.
Under Dorothy’s wary gaze, I quickly grabbed the ball of pitch-black mist before she could say anything, wandering around the cage of imprints.
It seemed to treat me as a big fool who came to its door and tried to corrupt me with joy. However, the next second, it shrank back to the corner of the mark in fear, wishing it could roll the mark and wrap it around itself to avoid my reach.
But it was too late!
Eating the black mist was like drinking a cup of chestnut vinegar juice. It was cold, sour, and sweet. Although it had a rotten stink, it was still edible.
The curse that had tormented us so much that we couldn’t sleep or eat in peace was easily resolved just like that. However, Dorothy didn’t look happy at all.
“How could you?!”
She was so angry that she couldn’t say a word, and her expression of wanting to say something but restraining her temper was the same as Aldrich’s.
After the impulsiveness, I felt guilty and whispered, “At least the result is good, isn’t it?”
“Do you want me to present you with a trophy to praise you?” Dorothy was feeling so incredulous that she raised her voice. “You’re really... God, it’s not a good habit to act first and think later.”
I stood up and turned around to show her that I was unscathed. “Nothing bad happened. Look, everything is fine. This curse is just troublesome, but it’s not strong. It has little effect on me.”
Dorothy slumped on the sofa, dejected as if she never wanted to talk to me again.
After a long while, she said, “I’m thrilled that you’re able to obtain such a powerful ability. I’m even more excited about how much you value me, Selma. But that’s not the problem. You’re fine, that’s good. You can say that Moon Goddess’ blessing prevented you from experiencing strange emotions.”
“I think you never understood why Aldrich was angry and why I didn’t agree to you removing the curse for me.
“We love you, Selma. When a person loves another, they will never want the other to put themselves in danger.
“You didn’t get hurt this time, but what about in the future? We can’t stop you from taking responsibility, but we hope you can value yourself more.
“You should put your safety first. You sacrifice yourself too easily and too willingly. However, most of the time, sacrifice is not necessary. If there is another way to solve the problem, then sacrifice should be at the bottom of the list.
“But you always go for it first.
“Now, do you understand why Aldrich was angry? Do you know why I am also mad at you?
“We love you, Selma. We care about you. Every time we see you sacrifice and forget yourself, our first feeling is not pride but worry for you.
“No matter how safe the environment is, there are still unexpected dangers. You always let yourself get into the muzzle. You can avoid one or two dangers, even ten or twenty, but can you still avoid them every single time?”