"Good morning, Professor Anthony."
Audrey Hall removed her hood and lifted her skirt slightly, greeting the elderly scholar across from her with impeccable etiquette.
"I apologize for the inconvenience of my visit today."
"I truly wish I could deny that, but..."
The white-bearded old scholar smiled bitterly. "To be honest, this kind of place is not somewhere a noble young lady like yourself should be visiting."
Behind Audrey, her personal maid Annie nodded in fervent agreement.
A few days ago at a dinner party, this young lady had mentioned her recent interest in psychology.
Out of courtesy, Anthony had casually remarked that he would be seeing patients at St. Elizabeth's Hospital soon and that she was welcome to observe.
He'd only mentioned it in passing, because no matter how he thought about it, a delicate aristocratic young lady would never actually come to a place like this.
Who would have imagined that this noble Miss Audrey would seize upon his invitation, forcibly arrange a meeting date, and then actually show up on that day!
If it only affected his own work, that would be one thing. But what if this esteemed young lady got involved with the treatment sessions and a patient suddenly had an episode and hurt her?
How would he explain that to Earl Hall?
The old scholar thought with some bitterness.
"Please don't worry, I won't do anything to interfere with your work."
As if sensing his concerns, Audrey said with a smile, "I'm only here to observe today.
I've heard about the dangers posed by mental patients and won't approach them closely.
Of course, if you feel that even this is unacceptable, out of respect for you, I will leave."
Her words were very persuasive and gave the old scholar an out. However, having said this much, it was impossible for him to refuse her now.
Sure enough, she was pleased to see him sigh.
"Very well, then please keep your distance from the patients. If you have any questions, consult with me first, all right?"
Anthony said.
"Of course."
Audrey replied.
After receiving her promise, the old professor relaxed slightly. He sat back down behind his desk and signaled to his assistant that they could begin.
The assistant left the consultation room to call in patients one by one in order.
Audrey sat in a corner of the room while Annie brought her a stool.
The hard stool in the consultation room certainly wasn't as comfortable as the leather sofas back at the Earl's residence, but she still appeared full of enthusiasm as she observed each patient who entered.
As expected, their behavior was very different from normal people, but at a fundamental level, they still maintained biological instincts.
Through observing the patients, Audrey gradually gained some insights.
The state of mental patients varied according to the severity of their conditions.
Those with mild symptoms were basically no different from ordinary people, while those severely afflicted showed extremely chaotic speech, behavior, emotions, and consciousness that were impossible to interpret.
Just as I thought, observing those with abnormal mental states helps me understand the psychology of normal people better.
Feeling signs that the potion within her body was being digested, Audrey couldn't help but think that with these gains, this trip hadn't been in vain.
Even though I encountered an unknown Beyonder and experienced some... stimulation.
"The next patient can come in now."
Just as Audrey was recalling her encounter in the hallway earlier, she heard Professor Anthony's assistant call out.
A strong smell of alcohol mixed with cheap, pungent perfume soon assaulted her nose.
She looked up and saw a woman enter wearing a garishly colored dress, heavy makeup, and an expression that mingled numbness with a touch of debauchery.
She looks like a streetwalker.
Audrey could feel the maid Annie beside her frowning slightly, apparently quite displeased with the woman before them.
"What's going on? There are other people here besides the doctor?"
The woman immediately noticed the two of them upon entering and raised her eyebrows with a loud complaint.
Annie's body shifted, as if she wanted to retort, but she held back under Audrey's pointed look.
"Don't make a scene. They're my students. If you have a problem with that, you can find someone else."
Anthony cleared his throat and spoke with a stern attitude that successfully quieted the woman. "What's wrong with you?"
"...Can't sleep well."
The heavily made-up woman scratched at her hair and sat down across from the desk. It was obvious she wasn't very willing to be here.
"Just trouble sleeping? Is that really worth coming here for?"
Anthony glanced at her and continued questioning.
"I keep seeing strange things in my dreams, and after I wake up scared, I can't fall back asleep."
The woman became slightly more cooperative.
"The customers all say I scream in a really creepy way in my sleep, and they don't want to sleep with me anymore.
I'm barely making any money now. I asked a few of the smarter customers, and they said coming here could fix it.
Say, can you give me a discount? Or I could sleep with you for one night..."
So she really is a streetwalker.
Audrey thought to herself.
But what kind of strange illness is this? Terrifying dreams? Frightening enough to make her cry out in a scary way?
"What do you see in the dreams?"
Professor Anthony was quite old and completely ignored the streetwalker's suggestive offer, asking directly instead.
"I forget."
The woman shook her head.
She forgets?
Dreams that terrifying, and she actually forgets them?
Audrey thought in surprise from the side.
"That can certainly happen. It might be related to subconscious avoidance."
Anthony thought for a moment and said, "How about this: I'll try to hypnotize you and help you recall what you saw in the dreams.
Generally speaking, once you know what your inner fears are and address them, your condition should improve."
Hearing this, Audrey couldn't help but perk up.
I get to see a psychologist perform hypnosis!
Of course, ordinary doctors' hypnosis was only based on psychological theory, using verbal suggestions to tap into patients' subconscious minds.
The effects were very limited and couldn't compare at all to Beyonders' abilities.
But for Audrey, even just as a reference, it had some value.
Hearing that this method might cure her, the streetwalker naturally wouldn't refuse.
With the doctor's assistant's help, she lay down and closed her eyes.
"Now you feel very relaxed, very relaxed..."
Professor Anthony spoke in a calm, steady voice, taking some effort to make the woman's breathing become smooth and stable.
"Now, you can sense your inner world."
Anthony guided her. "You're walking slowly, and then you discover the thing that's been hidden in your dreams all along..."
Audrey observed the hypnotized streetwalker and noticed her breathing suddenly become heavy, her expression slightly contorted.
A certain depraved and blasphemous aura was slowly emanating from her body.
Something seems off.
She almost instinctively wanted to activate her "mind reading" ability to probe the woman's abnormality.
But remembering her lesson from the hallway earlier, she immediately stopped herself.
"Tell me, what do you see?"
With his thin spirituality, Anthony naturally didn't notice anything unusual. Thinking his hypnosis had been very successful, he continued asking.
The streetwalker lay on the bed, with a vague expression of pain, murmuring as if in a dream:
"I see... a hanging giant..."
Audrey's eyes suddenly snapped into sharp focus.