Chapter 68

68 Maxine

Selma Payne’s POV:

After an unknown amount of time, I opened my eyes.

The night was dark outside the window. There was no light in my bedroom, only a lot of candles. There seemed to be some herb added to the wax, filling the whole room with a bitter and sweet fragrance.

“Is there anyone... ” I was shocked by myself the moment I spoke. My voice sounded like a rusty saw!

I picked up the cup of water by the bed and took a sip before lying down again. This slight movement exhausted me again.

“Are you alright?” A cold female voice sounded, frightening me.

I looked around but didn’t see anyone.

“I’m not in the room, little fool. I’m in your body.” The female voice was a little impatient. “Are you always sleeping in biology class? How can you not have any common sense?”

“I’m just too tired. I don’t usually do this... ” I retorted subconsciously.

Wait a minute.

I suddenly realized that she said she was in my body. So didn’t that make her my wolf?

My awakening succeeded?

My wolf sounded helpless. “Don’t act like a seven or eight-year-old child who has never seen the world. That’s right. I am your wolf. Stop screaming in your heart. You are so noisy.”

“Alright, I’m sorry,” I apologized softly.

“It’s fine.” My wolf said, “Let me introduce myself again. I am Maxine.”

“Hello, I’m Selma or Madeline.”

“Or?” Maxine sneered disdainfully, “How can a person have two names? Don’t you know who you are?”

I retorted, “I only have two names. ‘Selma’ was given to me by my adoptive parents, and ‘Madeline’ is my real name. They don’t conflict with each other. So there’s nothing strange about it.”

“Really? That’s not what you think, you two-faced little girl.”

“Don’t speak as if you’re the elder. In fact, you were only born a few hours ago!”

I wasn’t as excited as I was at the beginning. Maxine was an interesting wolf, and I liked her very much. However, when I thought about how I would have to spend the rest of my life with such a vicious wolf, I couldn’t help but shiver.

My thoughts couldn’t escape Maxine’s observation, and she bluntly said, “You’re too used to running away. You’ll shut yourself up if someone tells the truth you don’t like to hear. Forgive me for being blunt, but a person who doesn’t accept admonishments with an ‘open mind’ can’t be a good Queen.”

Did she not know that I knew she was telling the truth?

But I couldn’t change it. I didn’t know how to change it. I knew my problem from the start, but at the critical moment, running away seemed to become the easiest way for me. When everything was over, I realized I had messed up everything again.

Just like what he did to Aldrich.

How was he now?

I couldn’t help but think.

I didn’t say we were ‘breaking up’. Back then, what was left of my rationality was still holding on to me so that I wouldn’t be stupid enough to jump off the cliff. But ‘calming down’ wasn’t any better, was it? The only difference between that and ‘breaking up’ was the ver.

Maxine sensed everything about me and said, “Look, you’re regretting it again. Silly girl, don’t you feel tired? She was always competing with herself in the cycle of ‘regret’. If you care so much about Aldrich, why don’t you go to him immediately and talk it out? It’s just a blind date. You saw Aldrich’s attitude. You should understand how much he loves you; he would never have agreed to that.”

I held my head in pain and said, “That’s not the problem! Of course, I know that Aldrich didn’t betray me!”

“So what’s the problem?” Maxine calmly analyzed, “Is it you? You don’t dare to meet him because you hid your true identity?”

I lifted the blanket and wanted to shout to vent my emotions, but in the end, I could only fall back onto the bed.

“... That’s right,” I said. “I’m afraid. I don’t dare to clarify things to Aldrich. It’s funny, right? It’s just an identity and a name. It’s not a big deal. I can’t believe I’m afraid of such a thing.”

“You don’t trust Aldrich, and you don’t trust yourself. Why?” Maxine asked, hitting the nail on the head.

“I don’t know either. If I have to find a reason, I think it’s because I lied.”

“Because you didn’t just lie to Aldrich; you lied to everyone too, right? You’ve hidden your love from others.”

I nodded numbly. “Perhaps from the very beginning, choosing to hide it was a mistake. If I had been bold enough to make it public, Aldrich wouldn’t have lied about being single, and the southern Duke and Carolyn wouldn’t have fallen for him. We wouldn’t have quarreled, and my awakening wouldn’t have had an accident. It’s a chain reaction, and the root of everything is the initial concealment.”

Man created lies, but he could not control them. They were like a sliding ladder that led to an unknown place. Once you stepped on it, you could only go with the flow.