Chapter 71
’...’
I couldn’t take my eyes off of his fond gaze. His grey eyes looked at us with a mixture of sadness, comprehension, joy, respect, concern... even a bit of rage could be found in them. Yet... his love was so evidently driving those emotions inside him that... with every flicker of his eyelids, it renovated that strong glint that expressed said love.
In this world... In these times we are living... I wonder if they know that besides craziness... there are other mental illnesses that not only affect our actions but also our hearts...
Marianne’s Father certainly knows that her ailing... that her condition is not physical. He knows it is something deeper that hides in her heart that has made her like this...
Seeing how much he worries for us, to an extent that shocks me at times, I know he must have searched the whole world for a cure to whatever was causing Marianne’s new behaviours. From the memories she has shared with me, my girl used to be "normal" when she was younger. I’m not sure of how her condition manifested. If it was sudden or gradually... I completely ignore such details... But I am sure her father, would never leave her change, just go as if it was nothing.
The Duke knows that this isn’t a physical illness... and so, he has deduced that it is her heart that is ailing... And I know very well... that there is no magic concoction, medicine or surgery to cure it...
In the times I lived, psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists and other experts existed who treated mental illnesses that also took the heart of the patient’s hostage in their disorders. With a diverse variety of treatments, advice sessions or even indicating certain medications... These people would help other people cope with their... condition.
Cope.
Cope and maybe, in the distant future, heal... However, that "maybe"... That uncertainty was often there in most cases.
The times this novel is set. Medieval times, where I can kind of perceive the lack in progress not only on society or technology... It is obvious to me, that here, the professionals that treated such illnesses... Even the definition I know of mental illness... does not really exist.
I even doubt they know the term entails such a broad spectre...
Regardless, her Father has a slight understanding of this. And knowing how difficult the way must have been in history to get the knowledge my generation had on everything health-related... I can’t believe how brilliant this man must be to be able to discern such ailments occur, that these things happen and are deeply hidden in people’s cores.