NOVEL NEXT Chapter 280: How Do I Turn Off My Brain?!
"Where did you go after you left the Noctvaris Kingdom?" She finally asked the question that had been lingering in her mind for so long. "Lady Raven couldn't see that part. She said the image just … wouldn't appear."
Edmund's eyes darkened slightly, then he replied, "I don't know." He tilted his head a little, clearly just as confused as she was. "Even my wolf hasn't shown me that memory."
Primrose furrowed her brows. "But ... does he know?"
Edmund went silent for a while, probably talking to his wolf in his head.
Primrose wasn't too sure because she couldn't hear anything, which honestly annoyed her. His wolf often blocked her mind-reading ability, and it was starting to make her frustrated.
"For some reason," he finally said, "my wolf doesn't know either."
Then, in a lower voice, he added, "Whatever I did back then ... I have no memory of it."
[This is strange,] Edmund thought.
[If my wolf is connected to my past self, he should know. But all he saw after I left Noctvaris was darkness.]
[I don't know. I really don't know.]
His mind started drifting toward the worst possibilities. [What if ... what if I did something terrible back then? What if I became evil and—]
"Edmund." Primrose quickly stopped him before his thoughts spiraled any further. "Let's not jump to any conclusions until we know the truth."
She spoke firmly, "And if we never get the answer, then so be it. What matters now is that the past doesn't define us anymore."
"Alright," Edmund nodded. "I won't assume anything ... at least for now."
[But what if—]
"Edmund," Primrose interrupted his thoughts again. "You don't have to imagine the worst all the time. Maybe it's really nothing."
This time, Edmund didn't respond right away. For some reason, his mind suddenly went quiet—Wait, no. It wasn't completely quiet.
It felt more like he was trying really hard not to think at all.
[Empty. My head is empty.]
Primrose narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Edmund, what are you doing? Why do you keep saying your head is empty?"
His eyes widened. "You can hear that too?!"
[I thought my wolf had hidden my thoughts from my wife!]
Then, out of nowhere, she heard another voice, similar to Edmund's but more playful and casual.
[Sorry, Eddie, but your wife's ability is stronger than we thought. I can't hide all your thoughts from her.]
Oh. That must be his wolf.
But … Eddie?
It sounded a bit weird.
Well, alright, nicknames weren't that unusual. Her dad used to call her Rosie, after all.
Still, something about Eddie felt a little off. Maybe she'd get used to it later.
But right now, there was something more important to talk about.
"I'm sorry," Primrose said softly. "I know this isn't fair. I got mad at you before for spying on me with Bunnie and … probably with a bunch of other things too. But at the same time, I've always been reading your minds."
She paused for a second, then admitted honestly, "And sadly ... this isn't something I can stop."
If she had asked Edmund to stop spying, he could've thrown away all the devices.
But if he asked her to stop hearing his thoughts … that was something she had no control over.
It wasn't that she didn't want to stop, but because she truly couldn't.
"No, no … it's not like it bothers me that much," Edmund said softly. "In fact, I think your ability is one of the reasons we're doing so well as a couple now."
[My wife, I'm not upset that you can hear my thoughts,] he added in his head. [But I am an overthinker. Even my wolf keeps scolding me for thinking too much.]
"I know," Primrose replied to his thoughts with a little nod. "I know you overthink things all the time."
Edmund pressed his lips together, then responded in his mind again. [You might get annoyed. Maybe … maybe you'll even have trouble sleeping if you keep hearing everything in my head.]
Primrose frowned. "Edmund, we've slept next to each other so many times, and I'm still able to sleep just fine."
"But ... your sleep isn't that deep," Edmund said gently. "Sometimes, when we're sleeping together, you move around a lot, and sometimes … you even look frustrated in your sleep."
To be fair, he wasn't wrong.
There were times she woke up in the middle of the night, especially when Edmund couldn't sleep and kept thinking way too much.
Even so, she still managed to fall back asleep, so it wasn't that big of a deal.
What was a big deal, though, was how he was thinking about her sleep quality when he'd just found out she could hear all his thoughts.
Shouldn't he be thinking stuff like, 'Oh no, I can't keep secrets from my wife!' or 'Damn, I have no privacy now!'?
But no. Edmund's big worry was that his thoughts might interrupt her beauty sleep.
"Now I get it," Edmund murmured. "That's why you asked me not to sleep next to you after we came back from Moonshadow, right?"
"My thoughts must've been keeping you from resting, but … I also don't want to sleep in a different room from you all the time."
He looked at her, conflicted. "I want to sleep beside you every night … but I also don't want to disturb you."
[Maybe it's better if I don't sleep in her room too often—no, wait, what the hell am I saying?! I want to sleep with my wife so I can hug her and—]
His thoughts suddenly stopped, and then they came rushing back, panicked. [Crap! My wife can hear my dirty thoughts too!]
[Stop cursing in your head, you idiot! Wait—'idiot' is a bad word too!]
[MY WIFE, I'M SORRY! I CAN'T STOP SAYING BAD WORDS IN MY MIND!]
[No, no, no—bad words aren't nearly as bad as my DIRTY THOUGHTS ABOUT MY WIFE!]
Edmund finally realized that every time he had a perverted thought in his head, Primrose could hear all of it.
That realization made him feel like he had done something as unforgivable as destroying a mountain.