Chapter 190

Chapter 190

At that moment, Elijah's happy laughter came from the pirate ship again, and Marianne's lips curved up in a genuine smile. "Looking at Elijah now, I feel regretful for missing Seth's childhood."

Marianne turned to look at Layla beside her and patted her hand. "Even though you two are separated now, and I know you definitely won't take him back, I still hope you can get along peacefully and give Elijah a comfortable environment to grow up in. Let him grow up with double the love from both his mom and dad. I don't want Elijah to end up like Seth, becoming someone with emotional problems."

"Emotional problems?" Layla caught that phrase.

Marianne nodded, "Yes, emotional problems."

"It was probably during his senior year of high school. The school organized a mental health assessment activity. I saw the diagnosis report in his room. Emotional detachment was part of his diagnosis. Basically, it means he can't tell the difference between liking or disliking someone. His attitude toward people is just basic politeness and distance. Don't you think he's sometimes too cold?"

Layla thought back, "Sometimes..."

"Overall, he's only connected to us by blood. He knows we're his parents and that he should respect and be good to us, but actually, he probably doesn't have any real feelings for us. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Layla was quite surprised by this, almost unable to believe it. "How is that possible?"

"You can't tell, right? You just think he's not close to us, maybe because his grandfather raised him?"

Layla was silent for a few seconds before nodding. "Yes..."

Marianne smiled and shook her head, "Only I know about this. His grandmom doesn't know, and Seth probably doesn't know either."

"What?" Layla was surprised again.

"I had depression. That process was painful, and you don't want to expose your weaknesses to others. So all these years I've pretended not to know about his psychological issues, but I know he's been seeing a therapist."

Layla shook her head gently, "I never knew."

"So when he said he wanted to marry you, I was quite surprised. I asked him why he wanted to marry you, and he only said one brief sentence."

Layla turned to look at her, hearing her say, "He just said he wanted to marry you."

Marianne looked at her for a few seconds before asking tentatively. "Violette, have you heard that name?"

Layla's eyes flickered slightly, and her expression finally changed. She nodded. "Abigail's sister?"

Marianne nodded, "So he told you about it?"

Layla nodded too.

"Violette was the first girl he dated, but at that time, his emotional detachment was still serious. Yet he got together with this girl. Honestly, I was surprised when I found out."

At this point, Marianne stopped talking. After a few seconds of watching her and confirming she had suddenly ended the topic, Layla looked away.

But she didn't quite understand why she suddenly brought up Violette.

As the pirate ship slowly came to a stop, Marianne stood up from her chair and said something. "Although I know he's been seeing a therapist, I've never met his therapist. But I saw a piece of paper in his study with the word 'guilt' written on it. I'm guessing this was either a treatment method or a conclusion from his therapist."

Seth's status meant he would lack normal people's pursuits. Whether it was family background, looks, conditions, or money, he had all these things from birth, so his desire for things was very low.

Once a person lost desire, emotions naturally cool and fade.

So she guessed the doctor would work from the emotion of guilt, because whether it was greed, liking, or dislike, he could easily obtain all of those.

Only guilt best reflected human emotion, and it was something he couldn't touch.

Violette's death perfectly demonstrated 'guilt' to its fullest.

Marianne made this guess because she had consulted her own former therapist.

"As far as I know, he hasn't seen that therapist in several years." Marianne was sure that the doctor's treatment plan had been effective. Part of his emotions had been recovered.

But it seemed they hadn't been fully recovered.

Seth came over, holding Elijah, thoughtfully taking out a tissue from his pocket to wipe the sweat from Elijah's face.

Emotional detachment?

Layla really couldn't tell. At most, she used to think he was just naturally cold.

She couldn't help but look at Marianne, who just smiled at her.

Seth noticed the silent exchange between Marianne and Layla and raised an eyebrow. "What were you just talking about?"

"About your past," Layla replied.

"My past?" Seth glanced at Layla, seeming to notice some change in her mood.

"About how you used to be cold and didn't like being close to me, and never begged me to take you to kindergarten."

Seth paused for a few seconds but didn't say anything. He just looked at Elijah and asked, "Elijah, what else do you want to play?"

Elijah looked around and then pointed.

Seth glanced over, then asked Layla, "Do you want to come with us?"

Hearing this, Marianne sat down, "You guys go ahead."

Layla looked at Elijah's expectant eyes and nodded.

Elijah was clearly much happier.

But during the play, Seth was quite certain that Layla had something on her mind.

He glanced at her a few times before looking away.

After they finished, he handed Elijah over to Elizabeth.

After watching Elizabeth and Elijah walk away happily, Seth finally asked. "What did my mom say to you just now?"

Layla turned to look at him and blinked, "Didn't I just say? We talked about when you were little."

"What specifically did you talk about?"

Layla turned to look ahead, "That you were raised by your grandfather from a young age, that you weren't close to your parents, that your mom feels she owes you, and she wants us to get along peacefully to give Elijah a perfect growing process and environment."

Seth stared at her with deep eyes, as if trying to see into her heart. "That's all?"

Layla nodded, "That's all. What else did you think there was?"

Then she turned to look at him, "Or do you have something you can't talk about, the kind you're afraid of people knowing?"

Seth looked into her eyes with heavy eyes. She seemed to just be asking, without any curiosity.

Seth shook his head, "Of course not."

Layla looked at him for a few seconds, then nodded and looked away. "I didn't think you'd have any weaknesses either."

Seth was silent for a few seconds before speaking, "Let Elijah go back to Stanton Manor tonight. My mom misses Elijah."

Of course, Layla wouldn't refuse this request.

Marianne was definitely family to her.

"Okay."

"We're not going home tonight either."

Only then did Layla turn to look at him, "Not going home, where are we going?"

"Beckett just opened a new hot spring resort. Want to go?"