Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 299 - 11 Miss Lina’s Friends in Real Life_1

Chapter 299: Chapter 11 Miss Lina’s Friends in Real Life_1

"So, what the hell are you two up to?" Pannis fell into deep distress.

Ever since the two female clergies met, things had taken a strange turn. According to the original plan, after reporting to the temple, they were supposed to hold a meeting with the investigation team overnight and start meeting with survivors the next day to investigate the clues. However, plans never go faster than changes. As soon as the two women met, after some minor disputes at the beginning, Cynthia promptly pulled Lina into a small room. They closed the door and carried on whispering, leaving Pannis alone outside, both amused and annoyed, waiting.

It took almost half an hour before the door was opened. Cynthia, her eyes swollen, walked out of the room. Lina, who followed behind, seemed perfectly normal. The smile on her face was as calm and serene as when she interacted with her believers on a daily basis.

"Mr. Pannis," Cynthia said, reverting to the formal manners of the clergy, she slightly bowed and said, "If it’s not too much trouble, could we speak privately?"

"Speak privately?" Pannis looked at Lina, but she just shrugged indifferently, sat aside, and started reading a book. He quickly nodded and followed Cynthia into the cabin they had just left.

"I’m sorry for taking up your time." Cynthia made a gesture for him to sit, "Tea? Water? Juice?"

"Water is fine." Pannis took the cup from Cynthia but just set it aside, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask."

"What do you know about Lina’s situation?" Cynthia asked straightforwardly, "About her past and the matter between her and Betty."

"Betty is her sister, right? She has pretty much told me everything," Pannis scratched his head and recalled, "Well, most of the contents. As for the rest that she didn’t mention, I could pretty much guess."

"Well, in that case, this will be easier. I won’t have to be careful with what I’m going to say," Cynthia said, "I suppose you already know about her current mental abnormality?"

"Of course, everyone close to her knows about it," Pannis answered, "It’s quite evident."

"I have always felt that the event had a great impact on her, but I didn’t expect it to be this huge," Cynthia sighed, "I never imagined, after more than ten years of not seeing each other, she would...she would..."

"Nobody could have foreseen this; it’s not your fault," Pannis reassured, "And right now, it’s not affecting her too much."

"But this is obviously not normal," Cynthia said, rubbing her temples, "I hope you could help me in making her return to normal, rather than being...being...so unpredictable, like she is now."

"Oh?" Pannis responded ambiguously, "How do you intend to do that?"

"The fundamental reason for her current state, I believe, lies in her past with Betty," Cynthia said hesitantly, "I’m not sure how to go about it yet, but I believe that as long as she could move on from the incident, all problems could be easily solved."

"Is that what you think?" Pannis remained non-committal.

"Yes, as I mentioned earlier, I watched her grow up; I know her very well. She’s definitely not the kind of person who would harm her sister out of jealousy. Unfortunately, I was too young and had a low status at the time; nobody took my opinion seriously," Cynthia clenched her fists, "Although Betty lived with us too, I didn’t like her; she was too manipulative and practical, she wasn’t like a child at all. Therefore, if I had to choose, I would definitely choose to believe in Lina rather than Betty. I think we could start by investigating the truth behind the incident, freeing Lina from her mental burden, and completely getting rid of the shadow the incident casts on her. In this way, her mental abnormality should naturally disappear."

"Uh, I won’t deny that you care dearly for Lina and have her best interests at heart," Pannis finally broke his silence and murmured, "However, I must point out that you’ve made a few mistakes, or rather, you misunderstand some things. These misconceptions may lead to outcomes that are the opposite of your original intention. Remember, there are always people who do certain things for someone’s own good but only receive blame and resentment."

"My misconceptions?" Cynthia didn’t refute his claim. She looked into Pannis’s eyes and asked, "I hope you can point out my misconceptions. After all, I’ve been apart from her for more than ten years. The last time I saw her, she was just an eight-year-old child, it’s inevitable that I have some."

"Firstly, you’ve been thinking that her self-exile was due to her harming her sister," Pannis said, "Is that correct?"

"She must have been framed," Cynthia refuted instantly, "When the incident happened, she was unconscious, meaning she didn’t know what happened at all. The only one who knew was Betty; doesn’t that mean Betty can say whatever she wants?"

"Calm down, calm down," Pannis waved his hands and responded with a wry smile, "I’m not saying she definitely did it; I’m simply discussing the reason behind her self-exile. You think it’s because she was deceived into believing she hurt her sister, right?"

"Yes, it must be the reason," Cynthia confirmed firmly, "Someone deceived her."

"That’s your first misconception," Pannis lifted a finger and shook it, "Although I’ve only known her for less than a year, our constant interactions have led me to understand her thinking. When I first heard about her past, I also tried to console her from your perspective, but I quickly realized I was wrong. In fact, whether it was really her doing, or whether someone deceived her, all of these don’t matter anymore. What’s important is that, during the time of the incident, she really held jealousy in her heart; she truly harbored an intense hate for her sister. That’s what she couldn’t forgive herself for."

"Such impulsive thoughts...everyone has them, right?" Cynthia’s voice faltered as she spoke.

"You see, you understand too, not everyone bears such hatred towards their only kin in this world," Pannis said with a bitter smile. "Especially such hatred born out of jealousy, that is her reason for punishing herself."

Cynthia bit her lip hard, the bite marks left on her red lips expressing her inner turmoil, "Even if it’s self-punishment, isn’t this punishment too heavy?"

"That’s the second misunderstanding," Pannis raised a second finger. "She locked herself in the library not only as self-punishment. In my analysis, in her young mind, she is afraid of being controlled eternally by this demon known as jealousy, so she isolates herself completely from the outside world. Maybe she naively believed back then that without the temptation of the outside world, this demon would have no chance to take control of her again."

"What’s the big deal?" Cynthia asked, puzzled. "The psychological state of jealousy, even if isolated from the outside world for a long time, cannot be avoided when it inevitably arises."

"The logic is not wrong," Pannis nodded. "But did you understand this when you were eight?"

Cynthia gently tapped her head, weakly said: "You continue."

"The third misunderstanding, your last one," This time, Pannis did not raise a finger, but looked solemnly at Cynthia and said: "It is also a piece of advice for you, don’t do unnecessary things, don’t make her hate you."

"Unnecessary things?" Cynthia’s eyes immediately widened: "Are you saying that wanting to help her and bring her back to normal is unnecessary?"

"Completely unnecessary," Pannis nodded. "What do you think caused her abnormality?"

"Isn’t it due to guilt?" Cynthia caught Pannis’ underlying meaning: "Are you saying there’s something hidden about it?"

"It has little to do with guilt, she told me herself," Pannis said with a bitter smile. "You should understand, guilt at most would make her choose to dodge and deceive herself, not to this extent."

"Then why?" Cynthia asked.

"Why don’t you think about it for yourself, what would you do if you were thrown into such an environment at the age of eight?" Pannis countered, "A library with no light at all, closed, dark, and huge, ancient architecture, the smell of decay, a quiet environment, and strange noises from time to time, with only a candle or an oil lamp for light. Would you go mad?"

"I should have been with her," Cynthia covered her face, sobbing: "Even with the Archbishop’s Prohibition, I should have stormed in there to accompany her."

"She wouldn’t have accepted it, don’t forget, she chose this path herself," Pannis shrugged, helplessly: "So, there’s no solution to this problem. If she would accept you in there, she would have come out by herself already. No one is stopping her; she’s the one refusing to come out."

"Even so," Cynthia made one last effort: "There is no need to call this unnecessary."

"It is definitely unnecessary," Pannis stated mercilessly: "In her heart, those people, those books, each one of them is her friend, or you can say, everyone is her relative. Every one of her friends have accompanied her through the long, fearful times, all of them have comforted and encouraged her, helping her ease the pressure of her heart. To put it bluntly, you may not be even any closer to her than those nonexistent people. What you are trying to do now is to snatch those relatives one by one from her side under the name of doing it for her good, and even trying to eliminate those relatives from their roots. What do you think she will think? How do you think she will react to you?"

"Then what should I do?" asks Cynthia, at a complete loss. "There must be a way to solve this."

"Let it be," Pannis sighed: "In actuality, the way things are now may not be a bad thing. Moreover, exactly what I recently discovered is that things might not be as you and I imagined. Her current state isn’t simple madness. There may be other causes from her special physical constitution or circumstance. Those friends might not just exist in her imagination. So let her handle it all herself. She is capable."

"So just do nothing?" Cynthia protested.

"Trust her. As her friend, you should have faith in her," Pannis advised. "She can handle it herself. She is only naive and innocent, not stupid, uh, should not be...right?"

"I heard you." The door of the room was opened a crack, and Lina stuck her head in like a ghost: "I heard everything, including that last comment, heeheehee."

"Hey! Didn’t you say you weren’t interested in our conversation?" Pannis exclaimed in surprise: "Aren’t you supposed to be sitting there quietly reading?"

"Yes." Lina nodded vigorously, her smile radiant yet threatening as she showed a mouthful of white teeth: "I was pretending."

"Hey." (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to qidian.com to vote up, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)