Chapter 1805: Summer in Fools' Village (18)_1

Talya caught the frown on Merkel's face in her peripheral vision. His displeasure was evident, and Talya knew what irked him.

This was a remarkably luxurious estate, every detail insinuating a higher social stratum, and yet she made her entrance by diving from the rooftop into the gardens. Any caretaker of such an opulent estate would be justified in taking a shotgun to uninvited guests like her.

Yet Shiller welcomed her at the door and even served her wine and food. He opted for the conventional small talk familiar within high society, discussing mutual acquaintances.

In this context, every action of Shiller's seemed perfectly normal, even tolerant and patient. However, Talya's behavior came off as insane, as if she was suffering from paranoid delusions, making random accusations and hitting the roof for no apparent reason.

No matter how loud her instinctual alarm rang, no matter how her killer instinct warned her of Shiller's potential danger, no matter how many scenarios Talya imagined in which Shiller killed her, in the real world, Shiller did nothing, right?

This made all of Talya's various extreme emotions incredibly inappropriate, highly undignified, and downright rude and reprehensible.

Talya made an utmost effort to tamp down her rage, but despite this, she couldn't manage to bring herself to apologize to Shiller with a smile.

After all, why should she apologize when Shiller was the one ignoring her?

Talya sat there, her face impassive, unheeding the red wine stains on her hand and the table, she grabbed the glass and took two gulps of the cold red wine. It helped clear her head a bit.

"Are you going to accept my father's offer?" Talya's voice sounded harsh and menacing, even to her own ears.

Merkel had fully stepped inside the room now, assuming a defensive posture as if wary of Talya's further outbursts. Still, Talya found this less irritating, she even understood why Merkel was acting this way.

After all, he was just a butler who knew nothing. Talya thought, it was understandable that hearing a guest speak to his master in such a manner, he might speculate that her next move would be an outright threat. If things escalated to that point, Merkel would need to kick out the impertinent guest to save his own job, right?

"To call it an offer is a bit premature, Miss," Shiller replied with a graceful gesture as he set down on his chair again. He gently moved his handkerchief back into his pocket, spoke in a calm tone, "We merely exchanged some views on the world. Conversing with your father is greatly beneficial for me, he is a well-learned man. If possible, I may visit him."

"You can't go!" Talya raised her voice instinctively.

Shiller seemed startled again and gazed at Talya with a puzzled look.

A flicker of triumph flashed through Talya's heart; finally, she had caught this cool-headed man off guard. She was sure Shiller was now wondering why she was opposed to it.

"Don't worry, Miss," Shiller said, "If it bothers you, I'll endeavor to avoid mentioning you in my conversation with your father."

How dare Shiller choose appeasement?!

Rage flooded back into Talya's veins. It was clear that Shiller had chosen from the very beginning to ignore her logical reasoning, hoping simply to pacify her emotions instead.

Such situations occur typically when adults try to calm a child's tantrums or a barking pet. There is no point in trying to reason with a young child who can't think autonomously or a dog with which any communication is impossible.

People tend not to think why dogs enjoy playing outside or playing with a frisbee, they just know it makes dogs happy, then decide whether or not take the dog out when it starts barking. If they decide not to, they don't ponder why the dog can't understand that it can't go out because of the bad weather, they simply choose to soothe the dog's feelings and hope it calms down quickly.

Everyone knows that saying something such as "it's bad weather so you can't go out" to a dog has no practical effect; it's just a way to express an attitude and soothe a pesky pet.

But with business clients or life partners, people would do everything possible to explain just how bad the weather is, and why they couldn't go out.

The reason why the phrase "calm down" tends to make the other party angrier is because it feels demeaning and dismissive, as if equating them with a dog, and inferring that the speaker refuses to reason with them as they don't consider them an equal, intelligent being. In these situations, trying to soothe one's emotions often backfires.

The correct action would be to reciprocate, that is, to focus on understanding the other's thought process, ask them "what do you think" and "why do you think so".

Of course, there will always be people who can't articulate their thoughts clearly. In such a case, all one needs to do is play the role of a parrot, continuously repeating "Could you say that again? I didn't understand." until the other person gets exhausted and gives up.