463 Falling Apart
Selma Payne’s POV:
Large teardrops fell from my mother’s eyes. Her legs gave way, and she fell onto the sofa, trembling uncontrollably.
“Heavens, heavens… I’m very sorry, Selma, I’m very sorry…” She bent over, and her hunched body was like a cracked vase that would break into dust with a touch. “I don’t know. Maybe you’re right… Oh my god, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I really didn’t know…”
“Mother, are you alright? Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”
I realized my mother’s situation was not normal, so I carefully patted her back. However, my mother was frightened and pushed me away.
I was stunned. My mother reacted when she saw this, and the guilt in her eyes grew stronger.
“Selma, I… I…”
My mother was in a daze. Suddenly, she ran out like a gust of wind, not even having time to wipe her tears.
“Mother!”
I quickly chased after her. I saw my mother running into my father’s arms when I reached the door. My father looked at my mother’s teary face and asked anxiously, “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
My mother only cried and even began to twitch in a sickly manner. She was about to stop breathing.
My father and I were shocked and immediately called for the doctor. “Doctor! Doctor! Someone come quickly!”
My mother fell into her father’s arms and twitched uncontrollably. Her windpipe was blocked, so her lungs could not breathe any air. Her face was red and swollen from holding it in. She tried to open her mouth, hoping to draw in some living resources. Her tears and snot mixed with a comical and desperate expression on her struggling face, making people feel like their hearts were being cut by a knife.
“Mother, mother…” I was so anxious that I cried and handed my mother over to the doctor, who rushed over. I watched as the doctor began to perform emergency treatment on my mother. My legs turned soft, and I fell into my father’s arms.
“Don’t worry, child. Your mother will be fine. She won’t…” Father consoled me, but his arm supporting me was trembling slightly.
Finally, her mother was out of danger. The doctor said that she was over-breathing because she was too nervous.
Her mother was lying on the soft bed in the accompanying room with a pale face. The snow-white bedsheet set off her ashen face. Her tears that had yet to dry left traces of haggardness on her face that had been blessed by time, like the hideous cracks on a vase.
Mother stared at the ceiling in a daze, her eyes not moving. For a moment, I thought she was dead.
This thought shocked me, so I held my mother’s hand. “Mother…”
My father also silently hugged my mother.
“Selma…” My mother’s voice was as hoarse as a rusty cello. “I’m an irresponsible mother. I’m an unqualified elder.”
I immediately retorted, “Why do you think that way? You’re the best mother in the world.”
“Right?” My mother gave a sad smile. “But what have I, as a mother, done? I lost my daughter and made her suffer for so many years. I had watched her run toward the Rocky Mountains formed by the curse with my own eyes. She had experienced life and death, but I could not help her at all. Someone is trying to take my daughter’s throne away, but I can’t do anything to help her. I can only let her fight against the storm of evil intentions…”
“Mother! What are you talking about? How can this be your fault?” I didn’t know why my mother would think so, but I noticed that my mother seemed to have fallen into a bigoted dilemma. Simply put, my mother had a psychological problem, depression, or some other bad outcome that no one wanted to see.
My mother ignored me and continued to mutter, “And my Little wolf cub, I should have cared for him in every possible way and watched him grow up without any worries. But what have I done? I turned a blind eye to the wolf cub’s illness. I spent day and night with him but didn’t find any signs.
“Perhaps I’m not suitable to raise a child at all. Be it my daughter or my grandchildren, they’ve all experienced misfortune at my hands. Moon Goddess, is this a sin I committed in the first half of my life? Why do you have to punish me like this? Is my family relationship so fragile that my child will suffer an undeserved disaster because of me?”
As she spoke, my mother started crying again. She cried so hard that she was out of breath. She was about to show symptoms of hyperventilation again.
My father anxiously comforted my mother, but she was completely immersed in her sad world. She did not react to her lover’s whisper, let alone to him.
It was as if I had become a time bomb to her, and she refused to even make eye contact with me. She sealed herself in a maze of thorns and poison, and I was the end she couldn’t reach.
“Mother…” I looked at her sorrowfully, not understanding why our family had come to this.
Aldrich’s life and death were uncertain, the little wolf cub’s life was on the line, I had a psychological problem, and now my mother was following in my footsteps.