Chapter 376: The Curse That Silences

All three of them narrowed their eyes at the spirit, and Aliana pressed, "Why is it impossible to find her?"

"Because..." Edith paused briefly. "After I was blessed with a son, I watched him grow, only to see him fall gravely ill after he refused to give his blood as an offering to the D-Devil. I went back to that place to find her, hoping she could tell me how to reverse the curse... but all traces of her had disappeared."

Her eyes grew distant as she looked back into her memories. "Yet I refused to give up. As our family’s wealth grew by the day, I poured vast resources into hiring manpower to comb the lands and the mountains. But strangely... the very people who had introduced me to her in the first place had no memory of her. They spoke as though she had never existed."

Edith swallowed hard. "It was as if she were a phantom of my imagination. She appeared only to give me precise instructions on how to get what I desired, then disappeared without a trace."

Aliana’s brows rose in surprise. "How... how is that even possible?" she whispered.

Meanwhile, Gavriel and Cillian exchanged a silent look.

Cillian gave him a subtle nod as if reading his mind before speaking up. "It seems the woman was not human after all."

All eyes turned to him.

"From what Lady Edith has described," Cillian continued, "....that woman must be exceptionally powerful if she was capable of erasing everyone’s memories of her."

Aliana’s brow furrowed in deep concern. "What kind of supernatural being is she then?"

Cillian’s gaze shifted back to Edith. "Well... that answer, I am sure Lady Edith can enlighten us with."

Edith squirmed uneasily beneath his piercing gaze, while Cillian’s lips curled into a wicked smile. "Since you are in your spirit form, I’m sure that once you recall her, you’ll be able to recognise what she truly was, just as you were able to sense that I am a demon."

Aliana and Gavriel watched the spirit intently as her brows furrowed in deep concentration. She fell silent for a long moment, delving into the depths of her memories, until her white eyes suddenly widened in sheer horror.

Cillian’s smirk widened. "Looks like you figured it out."

"Y-yes..." Edith stammered, her voice shaking. "She... she was-"

Before she could utter another word, violent crackles of red lightning erupted around her apparition.

And a blood-curdling scream tore from her lips, making all three of them rise from their seats in alarm.

"What is happening?!" Aliana cried out in panic, her grip on her husband’s hand tightening as she turned to him. "Gav, do something!"

Gavriel’s expression darkened as he stared at the writhing spirit.

He raised his free hand, and a tendril of darkness seeped from his palm before shooting towards Edith and wrapping tightly around her mouth.

"Do not try to speak of that woman," he commanded.

Utter confusion filled Aliana’s face at his words.

Yet the moment Gavriel issued the command, Edith’s screams abruptly ceased.

Her translucent form flickered rapidly before she collapsed onto all fours, her head hanging low as she struggled to recover from the ordeal.

A heavy, suffocating silence descended upon the study once again.

All eyes remained fixed on Edith.

Aliana, however, was visibly shaken. Seeing her ancestor writhing in agony had left her breathing heavily as her wide, light-grey eyes remained fixed on the trembling spirit.

"What... what just happened?" she asked in a quivering whisper.

Gavriel’s deep voice cut through the silence. "A rather cruel method to keep someone from snitching."

Slowly, Aliana turned towards her husband and noticed the faint, cold smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"What?"

"That woman... for some reason, she chose not to erase Edith’s memory," Gavriel explained. "Instead, she placed a powerful spell upon her soul that forbids Edith from uttering a single detail that could expose her true identity."

When Aliana remained quiet, Gavriel met her question-filled gaze. "If she attempts to reveal anything that compromises her identity, she will suffer the same excruciating agony you just witnessed."

Aliana struggled to comprehend how anyone could do something so barbaric. Just recalling the soul-shredding scream that had torn from Edith’s lips seconds ago sent an involuntary chill straight down her spine.

Questions began racing through her mind.

’Why... why go to such lengths just to conceal her identity?’

And if that was what the woman wanted, then why hadn’t she simply erased Edith’s memories of her?

Why leave her memories intact, only to punish her if she ever tried to speak of the woman?

Aliana simply couldn’t fathom the reasoning behind the mysterious woman’s actions. The more she tried to make sense of it, the more convoluted the entire situation became.

She let out a sharp breath and turned her attention back to Edith, who seemed considerably calmer now.

"Are you alright?"

Gavriel withdrew the dark tendril that had been sealing Edith’s mouth, and the spirit answered somewhat weakly, "I’m... alright now."

Aliana pressed her lips into a thin line, looking between Gavriel and Cillian. "What do we do now? The entire reason we summoned her was to learn about that woman."

Cillian hummed thoughtfully, a playful gleam returning to his eyes. "Since direct questions will fry the lovely ghost before us, indirect questions should work just fine."

Aliana swallowed nervously. "H-How can we ask without triggering the spell?"

"Let’s give it a shot, shall we?" Cillian offered Edith a saint-like smile, earning a wary look from the spirit.

"N-no... I do not want to feel that pain again!" Edith shivered at the mere thought of her soul being torn apart. "It... it was too much!" Her spirit form flickered with every rise of panic.

All three of them could see the sheer terror in Edith’s eyes. Aliana couldn’t even begin to imagine what her ancestor must have felt, so she instinctively looked towards Gavriel for help.

Gavriel remained as calm as a still lake. "Edith."

The spirit looked at him, and Gavriel continued, "You won’t feel any pain as long as you listen to your instincts and don’t force yourself to answer anything that feels difficult to talk about. As long as you don’t try to push past the spell’s restrictions, it won’t be triggered. Besides, we won’t be asking you any direct questions anymore, so you can ease your mind."

Edith’s wide eyes shifted back to Aliana, who gave her a gentle, reassuring nod. "Do not worry, Lady Edith. Just do as he says, and you will be fine."

Somehow, gazing into her descendant’s calm eyes and the sincerity in Aliana’s voice brought a soothing stillness over her frightened soul.

Offering a slow nod, Edith murmured, "Alright. I’ll try my best to answer everything you need."