Over the next two months, no matter how Ma Sheng'ai tried to persuade her, whether through gentle coaxing or force, he could not restore her will to return to a normal life. Malena still remembered refusing food and water every day back then. Within days, all color had drained from her face. Had her father not ordered an Elemental Healer to force a bowl of elemental medicinal soup down her throat each day to keep her alive, she would probably have starved herself to death.
She erected gravestones for her dead husband and daughter, and etched the face of the Elementalist who had stabbed her husband to death firmly into her memory. She swore that as soon as her strength returned, she would find him and kill him with her own hands.
The elemental medicinal soup that kept her alive contained a special herb that suppressed an Elementalist's elemental power for a certain period. That was why Ma Sheng'ai could tolerate her brief refusal to eat or drink. With Malena rendered too weak to put up a fight, even ordinary guards could stop her from escaping.
In the third month, things began to change a little. Perhaps Malena had realized that continuing like this would never avenge her dead husband and would only hurt herself, so she began to change of her own accord.
She ate normally and behaved with perfect calm, gradually earning her father's approval. He believed she had finally emerged from that abyss.
It was probably around then that Malena learned the art of flawless deception.
After the fourth month, she was allowed out of confinement for the first time and left the Temple Capital. Her father accompanied her, however, so she did not carry out her planned actions. Instead, she toured the area and returned with