Chapter 179: Constant dread
Silas listened to his mother very intently, but despite that, there were parts of her story that didn’t quite make sense to him. Namely the segment where Persephone claimed it was him that saved her from the stifling clutches of grief.
"I don’t particularly recall saying anything that would have had that effect," he stated.
"Well, that is mostly because you did not say a thing. Not at first," that absent minded smile her features displayed persisted. Understandably, considering she was still rummaging through shelves of long since gone yet well conserved memories, "When you realized I wasn’t responsive to any words of comfort, you... exited the room then came back a while later, carrying a piece of wood and a carving knife, sat down and just sculpted there for hours and sometimes you’d describe your work to me. I cared not for the meaning of your words back then, but your voice remained consistent. I clung to it until I found my way back,"
"Well, I am not her son and since she is no mother, I doubt I’ll reignite any motherly instincts in her if they were never there to begin with," he averted his gaze, his traits hardening as though confronted with a dead end.
But his mother’s reaction immediately brought his attention back onto herself, "Goodness, Silas! How much clearer do I need to be with you?"
"I still fail to understand,"
"I can see that," she glared at him while slowly nodding to her own words.
Persephone took a deep breath before similarly exhaling a long one, "Since her arrival, there were only four people she built any sort of meaningful link with: Ada, Katherine, Edgar and you. Ada has failed despite spending most of her days with her, Katherine... I don’t even know what’s going on with that girl, and as for Edgar, she refuses to even leave her room so seeing him is a bit difficult, which leaves you," she marked a short pause before continuing, "I wholeheartedly believe that your attempts will make more of a difference since you are not a servant that was tasked to spend time with her. You own this place thus any time you spend simply sitting by her side, keeping her company will mean a lot more than the others,"
Silas took those words, tossed and turned them, spun them round and round and... Still couldn’t grasp the practical side of it.