Chapter 126



126 The Crossroads of Destiny

Selma Payne’s POV:

I suddenly felt very misunderstood. Although I didn’t feel misunderstood in any specific way, I felt wronged for no reason.

I wanted to call Aldrich, listen to his voice, talk to him, and rest in his warm embrace.

I dialed his number.

“What happened, my dear?” Aldrich sounded a little tired. He had probably been monitoring the troublesome cocoon of light all night.

After hearing his voice, I suddenly couldn’t say anything. I could only remain silent.

“Selma, my dear, are you there?” His tone gradually became serious. “What’s happening? Don’t worry. I’ll come to you immediately.”

I couldn’t let this delay his business, so I quickly refused. “No! Don’t! I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I want to hear your voice.”

“Oh, my lady,” Aldrich murmured. ” I missed you too, babe.”

I sniffed and asked, “Did the mission go smoothly? How’s the light cocoon?”

“Everything is going well, ” Aldrich replied. “This witch’s power is not as ridiculous as Fitch’s. In about three days, we can dissipate the light cocoon completely.”

“You must be careful. Immediately retreat with your people if there’s any strange movement in the light cocoon.” I reminded him worriedly, “Don’t worry about how the school will be razed down. Someone will compensate you.”

“Are you talking about the witch or the Lycan King? ” He chuckled. “If it’s the latter, I think His Majesty’s finance officer will cry.”

Usually, I would join the joke with him, but I was not in the mood today.

He suddenly fell silent again.

There was some noise on the other side of the phone, mixed with the shouts of the soldiers.

I imagined Aldrich was busy with work, but he still diverted some attention to the phone and silently accompanied me.

“… I won’t disturb you anymore. Do your work,” I said.

“It’s alright, my dear,” Aldrich said. “The commander doesn’t need to do the work personally, right? Now, I only need to move my eyes and mouth, and I can give you my heart without any reservation.”

“Adele has gone crazy,” I said after a pause.

Duke Frank had probably already sent a real-time message to Aldrich, so he knew who Adele was.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said in a deep voice. “The southern Duke must be feeling terrible now.”

I buried myself in my sweater and whispered, “I don’t know. I think he’s probably in so much pain that he wants to die. He hasn’t even found Carolyn yet, and his daughter, whom he’d only reunited with for a day, has gone crazy again without warning.

“About Adele… To be honest, I don’t hate her that much.

“She lied to everyone, kidnapped Carolyn, caused a bloody storm in school, and almost hatched the light cocoon and destroyed her pack. But I can’t help but pity her.

“I hate her, but at the same time, I pity her. I’m thinking now, what if my life and Adele’s life were switched? If I was like her, growing up in pain and hatred, and found that someone had long replaced me in my parents’ home and that there was no place for me in this big world, would I have done better than her?

“I can’t help but think about this. Our lives are so similar in so many ways, and it makes me feel that I’m lucky to have met a slightly brighter fork in the road, while Adele, unfortunately, has been immersed in the darkness for most of her life.

“Earlier, for a moment, I even thought that the person lying on the bed was my pale and neurotic self. Was everything just a dream I had imagined?”

I didn’t understand why I would sympathize with Adele. It didn’t make any sense. However, the moment I stepped into the tower, I felt the darkness in the shadows was about to devour me.

The tower was too dark. The dark clouds blocked the only light source, and only the pale white glow of a poor-quality incandescent lamp was reflected.

The light seemed to be mocking Adele’s empty life.

It also reminded me to cherish everything before me. Fate is such a fickle and elusive thing. One second you are flying in the clouds, and the next moment, a thunderbolt may destroy your life beyond recognition.

Aldrich quietly listened without interrupting me. Steady breathing came from the microphone, strangely calming the ripples in my heart.

“Don’t doubt, and don’t deny, ” he said. “Look at the two Majesties; listen to my voice, Dorothy, your friends, Kara, and Tracy. They exist, right?

“Every love you receive, every care you receive, they are indeed as warm as the sun, aren’t they?

“And everything that we have experienced together, dull, exciting, boring, dramatic, no matter what nature they contain, they are all indelible marks left by time.

“So, don’t worry, Selma.”

“Fate is a wild horse that never turns back. It’s unpredictable, and the road ahead is unpredictable.

“But one thing is for sure; it runs on the path of time, and it will never turn back.”