Chapter 203 Halloween Night of Bizarre Love
When Belinda was a child, she never heard her mother Freya Broll talk about the magical world, but little Belinda Broll had the idea that her mother was probably a witch.
Because Dad only came to the small apartment where she and her mother lived when she was sick, and every time he would just look at her and then quarrel with her mother, but as long as Dad drank a little tea or ate a biscuit handed to him by Belinda, Dad and Mom would immediately love each other.
There must be some love magic in my mother.
Sickly little Belinda would think so every time, then close her eyes and snuggle into her mother's warm arms, enjoying the cozy time as a family of three.
It would be great if my mother could always be so warm and I wouldn’t be sick so often.
Belinda Broll lived with Freya Broll, who was a slightly paranoid madwoman most of the time.
She didn't mistreat her daughter, but she never looked at Belinda, only staring into those amber eyes.
"He used to look into my black eyes like this and call me the English Rose," Freya would talk about her past love with Eleta over and over again when looking at Belinda. "I have never seen such pure amber, nor such strong emotions."
Freya said this every time, and then, as Belinda's gaze gradually became numb, she would blush and hold her soft black hair to her face, making an intoxicated gesture, as if Aleta was gently stroking her cheek as she did in the past.
Freya always said how much Eleta loved her, but Belinda always only saw how much Freya loved Eleta.
"But there is a barrier between our love. He made a mistake before he met me—" When she said this, Freya's face would turn redder and she would keep breathing out of her nose. At this time, she would briefly see Belinda and kiss her daughter tenderly, "So Belle must be here, and we will have a family."
It's so pitiful. She was abandoned by a fickle man and can only accept reality by distorting it.
Little Belinda knew that her father was the source of her mother's abnormality, but she always hoped that her father would come over, because only her father could make her mother normal, and only her father could let her mother see Bellinda.
So little Belinda was willing to be sick under her mother's expectant gaze.
The last time this trick was played, my mother, who was exhausted by "love", finally fell ill and collapsed immediately.
Little Belinda watched her father send her mother to the hospital evasively and reluctantly, watched her mother always following her father's black eyes in a morbid manner, and handed biscuits to her father.
How pitiful! My dad, who only has a pretty face, only has cheap and ugly love, but my mom enjoyed fake love before she died.
Because Dad showed in public how much he loved Mom, the truth could no longer be concealed. In order to restore his little sense of responsibility in the public's mind, little Belinda was taken into his real home.
Mr. Aleta kept it a secret at home. Before the truth came out, his wife never knew he had more than one mistress, and his three children never knew he had another child.
Belinda is the evidence of Mr. Eleta's infidelity and the sharp blade that pierces the harmony of the Eleta family.
But Mrs. Aleta was a very good and well-educated woman, and she had three very good and well-educated children. None of them abused or bullied Belinda, but they couldn't get along with her normally, so they adopted a strategy of polite ignorance.
Belinda never showed up after Mr. Aleta returned from a business trip. They didn't call her and always put her little gifts in her room. Belinda never sat at the table to eat by herself. They didn't call her and always left a meal in the kitchen that was the same as the one on the table. Belinda never showed up on holidays. They didn't call her and always decorated her room the same as other rooms.
Belinda never showed up. She only sat quietly in a corner listening to the laughter of Aleta, her mother and her two children when they were performing their usual performance and singing at the piano.
From being never seen to being ignored after being seen, at least Belinda survived this process.
Belinda Eleta sometimes felt lonely, sometimes she thought of the brief warmth Belinda Broll had received, and finally, she drew comfort from the thought that "Belinda was seen."
But there were also people watching Belinda, watching Bellinda, who was like a doll and only picked out the good points of her parents, and watching her being ignored in the Eleta family.
The beast in Olga's mouth tentatively expressed his love to little Belinda, thinking that he could get the love-deprived child by just making a sweet promise, but little Belinda ignored him.
Belinda's lack of love does not mean that she is gullible. She has the love she wants, but that love is permanently missing. It is impossible for her to be immersed in self-deceiving love like Freya.
But the reason why the beast is a beast is that it can never control its dirty desires. When it finally couldn't help but attack the lone Bellinda, Curtis, who had begun to grow taller, used trembling hands to beat the beast away with a stone, and immediately took Bellinda, who was frightened and crying by the violence, to her mother.
After carefully examining Belinda and confirming that she only suffered minor skin injuries, Mrs. Eleta first breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately asked Belinda nervously, "Did that person do anything to you before?"
"He expressed his love to me, ma'am," Belinda looked intently at Madam Aleta's concerned eyes at that time. Tears were still flowing, but the expression on her face slowly calmed down. "I refused several times. Today is the first time he did this."
"You should have told me the first time!" Mrs. Eleta said with fear and relief. After noticing that Belinda lowered her eyes silently, she remembered that the whole family had tacitly ignored Belinda, and she was one of them.
Mrs. Aleta was silent. She looked at Belinda, who had never caused any trouble since she came home and had never even shown herself in front of her husband. She held Belinda's cheeks with both hands and lifted her little face towards her.
"Belinda, it's impossible for me not to hate your father and mother, so I can't face you normally, but before that, I will always be an adult with a conscience, and I can't just stand there and watch a girl get ruined. Do you think you deserve to be ruined?"
With an incorrect origin and an abnormal past, Belinda didn't know how much she was broken, but Mrs. Aleta's increasingly harsh tone made her realize it clearly, "I don't want to be ruined, ma'am."
Belinda said this and began to cry again. She looked at Mrs. Aleta's serious and concerned face, and she didn't want to break down. So she asked, "Can you love me, madam?"
The little crying child spoke soft words of pleading in a tone full of longing.
This was a difficult scene to refuse, but it was impossible for Mrs. Aleta to accept her husband's betrayal so calmly.
"I can't love you, Belinda. Maybe you will never find love in the Aleta family," Mrs. Aleta said, hugging Belinda for the first time, "but that doesn't mean you don't deserve to be loved, and you have to love yourself first."
Belinda heard that Madame Eleta refused to love her, but at the same time, Madame Eleta gave her the warmth she had longed for. Belinda realized from a young age that language was deceptive, so she believed that Madame Eleta already loved her.
Mrs. Aleta did not whitewash the incident just because Bellinda was not injured. She took Bellinda to the police and consult a psychologist. The lawyer they hired at the time was Olga Jiménez.
To be precise, her alias in the Muggle world is Jimenez Olga, and she specializes in the legal field of women and children's protection. This wizard who chose to become a Muggle lawyer was hired as a professor of Muggle Studies at Beauxbatons because of her rich practical experience.
Olga met with Belinda alone in her office and listened patiently to Bellinda's talk about the current case and her hidden past. She immediately heard from Bellinda's childish words her distorted views on men and women.
The men that Belinda saw were bad, and the women that she saw were deceived by badness.
Bellinda's opinion actually made sense, and it covered most of the cases Olga had handled. However, Olga never wanted to see people who had been hurt always in pain, so she also held Bellinda's little face in her hands and said, "Men are not all bad, and women are not all good. People are complicated, and gender is never a reason to explain human nature. You are just unlucky to meet a bad man, and lucky to meet a good woman."
"But no matter what, Belinda, you are always worthy of love."
Worthy of being loved? But who will love her?
The Aleta family began to see little Belinda, and the incident that almost led to tragedy made them realize that ignoring is also a kind of harm.
Mr. Aleta began to look for opportunities to give gifts to Bellinda personally. Mrs. Aleta invited Bellinda to sit at the family dining table. The brothers and sisters decorated the room with Bellinda.
Belinda came out from her corner and joined the merriment at the piano.
Belinda gradually got better, and she thought Belinda was loved.
Then Olga appeared again, bringing her Beauxbatons acceptance letter, and she was leaving home to go to school.
When she received the acceptance letter, Belinda went to see Mrs. Aleta almost immediately and accurately read the relief and relaxation that flashed in her eyes.
Belinda was not loved, she just met a very good woman and a very good adult.
Belinda went to see her brothers and sisters again. There was reluctance in their eyes, but there was always a trace of pity in their amber eyes.
Belinda was loved, but those who loved her only saw that she had been bullied in the past and therefore should be protected forever.
Belinda realized that in her last few years, Belinda had not been seen either.
Belinda came to Beauxbatons and became a witch like her mother. When the first person who was attracted by her beauty stammered that he liked her, Belinda was not shy. She just smiled and asked:
“Why not love?”
Yes, why not love? Who loved Bellinda?
If there is father's love, will mother see Belinda and love her?
What would Belinda be like if she had her mother’s love?
If there is the lady's love - the lady shouldn't love her, it would be too cruel for a betrayed woman.
The mother who should love her doesn't love her, and the mother who can love her shouldn't love her.
Belinda deserves to be loved, but she never gets the love she wants.
But it doesn't matter, Bellinda can define the love she wants for herself.
First, we must see Belinda and love the real Bellinda, not the imaginary Bellinda. Bellinda will never conform to other people's expectations, because Bellinda will not be "possessed" to become someone else's Bellinda. Bellinda will only be Bellinda - Bellinda is never forced.
Second, Belinda will see the truth of others and does not expect others to conform to Belinda's ideas. When there are disagreements, Belinda will not ask others to change, because Bellinda does not want to "possess" others. But at the same time, Bellinda will only be Bellinda - Bellinda never forces others.
Third, Belinda wants to be a good adult and a good woman, so Belinda will not join others in hurting another person, and Belinda also looks down on the love of such people - Belinda never gets involved in complicated relationships.
"Hmm..." Belinda, who was sitting on the bench leaning on her brother's shoulder, moaned and finally woke up from the dream brought to her by alcohol. She opened her eyes, and everything in front of her was blurry. She could only vaguely see three people who came towards her with concern.
Her brother was closest to her, and Della held her hand and sat next to her. Zhou Yushi sat behind Della, farthest away from her, but she was wrapped in his blue cloak.
People who saw the Belinda they wanted to see, people who saw Belinda, and more and more people saw Bellinda.
Love from family, love from friends, love from lovers.
Bellinda was not loved when she should have been loved the most, but the people who did not love her gave her a creed that she would stick to for the rest of her life:
Belinda is always worthy of love.
Just like now.
"How long have I slept?" Belinda rolled up a corner of her blue cloak and placed it under her eyes. She gently pressed upwards along the contours of her eyes to wipe away the moisture in her eyes. After all, no matter what, Her Majesty the Queen shouldn't let her makeup be ruined by crying.
"Not long," said Della, looking into Belinda's amber eyes and being completely stunned by the spirit in them.
It was probably a confident and determined look, but it was different from all the confident eyes Della had seen before. It was filled with vigorous emotions that Della could not understand.
She didn't understand, but she felt a yearning for it for no reason.
Della is a natural superior who wants but does not necessarily need love, but when she classifies love as non-essential, she lacks the awareness that she is worthy of being loved.
And on this night where the love of family, friends and lovers are intertwined, after the school dinner ended, the manor party ended, and people in the neighborhood returned home, Sirius returned to the dilapidated Shrieking Shack.
He sneaked into Hogwarts, vented his emotions passionately, but returned empty-handed. However, on the way back, he picked up a few candies that were carelessly dropped by that student.
"Trick or treat," Sirius said, taking out a candy and placing it on the doll on the couch, "Miss White."
The puppet's eyes, which were recovering better and better, moved downwards, and while Sirius was eating the candy and complaining about the Fat Lady's unreasonableness, he stared at the small candy on his body.
There are some things that quietly sprout in its heart.