Marvin fell silent.
Jolie’s assessment of Alisa caught him off guard, leaving him a bit sulky. “I’m not afraid of her, but our relationship has been a bit delicate lately. You know?”
Jolie thought, How would I know if you don’t tell me?
“What makes it delicate?”
The delicacy lies in the fact that he used to see Alisa as an enemy. Later, their relationship ceased to be hostile, and they transformed into comrades who could confide in each other’s secrets. Living under the same roof, even though he still slept on the bed under the window in the living room, they had breakfast together, and sometimes he would drop Alisa off at work before heading to the coffee shop for his part-time job. They both gradually adapted to this way of life, as if this relationship was more stable and reassuring than many other relationships he had experienced before.
But it had to be Alisa.
It wouldn’t be strange for anyone else to make him feel uneasy, but it had to be Alisa. If Alisa weren’t so intelligent, a bit less attractive, and not so perceptive, he wouldn’t have these doubts now. He had initially made it clear to himself that there was a line between him and Alisa, a line that should never be crossed.
Yet, that line seemed to have disappeared.
“I used to despise her.”
Jolie had heard this kind of statement countless times before. “I used to hate him, loathe him, wanted to punch him in the face as soon as I saw him.” Similar remarks made her ears practically callous. People are a species that constantly undergoes changes, just like the world. Holding on to the same mindset from the past to the present is a bit foolish.
But she couldn’t say that. Marvin was Aldrich’s brother, and she had to show some respect. Although, sometimes she felt these two brothers weren’t quite smart when it came to handling relationship matters.
“You said it yourself, ‘used to.'”
Marvin wore a puzzled expression. “But hating someone should last a long time. Why did it dissolve so easily?”
Jolie thought, yeah, why indeed. Perhaps because humans are the most unstable species. Any species with desires is full of uncertainty. They want too much and are willing to give too little. They repeatedly hesitate on one thing, act impulsively when they should think carefully, turn simple matters into complicated ones, and in the end, blame the other party for messing things up.
Likes are short-lived, love and hatred are fleeting, just like their limited perspectives.
Jolie doesn’t like people, and werewolves are the same. In her eyes, there isn’t much difference between these two species; their words are never trustworthy. Like Marvin said, he used to hate Alisa, but now that hatred is on the verge of crumbling, leaving only confusion about whether he can cross that line.
“Because she didn’t really make you hate her. It’s just something she did in the past that made you uncomfortable. But you don’t truly hate her as a person. Her whole being is more attractive to you, which is why you hesitate and ask me this question. However, just like love, hatred won’t last forever; they are just momentary emotions and won’t persist.”
“I don’t know. At that time, I really wanted to kill her.”
Jolie went downstairs and ordered a vanilla latte. “Emotions often control people, making them do irrational things, but now I probably understand.”
Marvin was puzzled. “Understand what?”
“Not only do you fear Miss Alisa, but you also carry a hint of guilt towards her because you once harmed her. Although in your heart, you believe she hurt you as well, the degree of harm is not equal. You are aware that you caused her substantial and almost fatal damage.”
The tale of a gray wolf tossing a petite human woman into the flames, only to be saved by an alpha barging in, circulated in the werewolf media for a long time. Nobles didn’t bother with these tabloids; they had their ways of exchanging information. But almost every werewolf knew about the incident where Marvin nearly killed Alisa.
“Every time you see her, you’re reminded that you almost killed her. But Alisa doesn’t hold this against you anymore, or perhaps she just can’t be bothered. However, her forgiveness hasn’t made this matter go away in your mind. You want to do something to make amends, but coming here, you have to rely entirely on her. Your status as the Crown Prince of the Barret family is useless here. You live off her, use her, and your part-time job at the coffee shop barely covers the management fee for that house. You see her striding to work every day in high heels, exuding an air of a powerful woman. As you recall her past flaws, you can’t help but be drawn to her. Yet, you feel completely unworthy of her, so you hesitate.”
“You might say, ‘I don’t want to get close to her; I just want to rectify my mistakes.’ But that’s just an excuse.”
Marvin gaped, and the door of the coffee shop swung open, letting in a gust of wind that found its way into his mouth. He absentmindedly took the cappuccino from Jolie’s hands.
Jolie hadn’t misplaced a single punctuation mark; this was exactly what he was thinking.
He just couldn’t admit that Alisa attracted him.
“Why can you describe it so accurately?” Marvin couldn’t believe it. “It’s as if you have some mind-reading magic. You’ve laid out all my thoughts.”
Jolie chuckled and took a sip of her coffee. “You’re not that hard to figure out. You and the alpha are the same. Despite your stern faces, your thoughts don’t require much deciphering. You’re much easier to read than that prince from the Frost Moon Pack, that unpredictable guy is the trickiest.”
Ethan-Marvin realized it had been a while since he thought about that name. Initially, he had been checking if Ethan infiltrated his influence into the human world, but as time passed, he gave up. He hadn’t thought about him at all lately.
“So, are you starting to like Miss Alisa a bit now?”
Marvin was still lost in thought about Ethan when he was asked this. He snapped back to reality. “I don’t like her.”
Jolie gave a knowing smile.
Marvin blushed a bit; he knew this person had seen through him.
“I do like her a bit. She can offer me a lot of intellectual help, and she can even perceive things about myself that I hadn’t noticed. She’s too sharp, and I like her sharpness, but I’m also afraid of that acuteness. In front of her, I feel like a naked man without clothes, with no thoughts hidden. Aren’t men generally not fond of overly intelligent women?”
Jolie took another sip of coffee, thinking that only unintelligent men liked foolish women. Because men’s foolish pride refused to admit that there were species smarter than them in this world. Women only needed to be beautiful and fertile. If they were too intelligent, what chance did men have to compete?
“I don’t recall you ever disliking Grace,” Jolie remarked.