Chapter 499: Leah (II)
Listening to the story Queen Beatrice was telling was like hearing a hauntingly beautiful and tragic story. A story that could make anyone's heart bleed. And the most painful thing was that it was not just some fairy tale being told for the sake of entertainment. This was as real as it got. And it happened to a person who was a family member.
Queen Beatrice took in a deep breath. The story was not over yet, and Evie could not help but hope that the tragedy of this story stopped there. It was painful just hearing about it, how much pain would have it caused to Gideon himself and the people who loved him?
"Dark fae's souls, when their physical body dies, will always go to the realm of the dead. So the only possible reason why Leah's spirit didn't leave was because she must have used a spell to keep her spirit from leaving. I can see her, but I can't communicate with her."
"You can't? Why?" Evie was curious about this.
"Because it's the condition of the spell. Spirits aren't allowed to disrupt or get involved with the matters related to the living creatures. She will disappear if she communicates with me."
"You mean her spirit will be sent to the realm of the dead where she should have gone to in the first place?"
The queen shook her head. "Sadly, no. If she broke the conditions in her spirit state, she would disappear and vanish into nothing. Her spirit would never be able to return to the realm of the dead again as she had rejected her only chance and stayed back in the realm of the living. She knew the conditions and that's why she never spoke or did anything. She simply stayed with Gideon, following him everywhere like a guardian angel, flying with him, hiding with him, sleeping next to him… and that went on for years. And Gideon does not have the slightest idea that this was happening. I always told Gideon that Leah's always by his side but… whatever I say, Gideon does not seem to listen nor believe to anything I say anymore. Thus, I could only keep my silence about Leah as I feared the consequence if Gideon found out about this." Queen Beatrice confessed sadly.
"Consequence?" Gav perked up at the mention of it. Beatrice nodded at Gav when he asked.
"Your father and I have this painful theory on why Leah's body can't be found. The only logical reason we could think of was that Leah choose to incinerate herself when she died."
Evie's eyes widened and she could only look at Beatrice with large, surprised eyes. What? How come? Why would she do that?
"We believe that she did that because Leah didn't want Gideon to revive her. She knew about the story of King Sarion and his wife. And knowing Gideon's love for her and the extent of his dark powers, she must have been sure that Gideon would revive her if he ever found her body. That's why she casted a spell on herself as she took her last breath and incinerated herself. She feared that Gideon would follow in the footsteps of his father and descend into madness after that. If Gideon ever finds out Leah's spirit didn't leave as well, I can't even imagine how he would react. Because… apparently, souls can't stay too long outside the realm of the dead. Meaning, Leah's soul will slowly fade into nothing."
"I was angry at Leah for doing that. Even though I understood that she couldn't bear to leave her beloved, I still think it was wrong for her to do that to herself. But I eventually understood why she did that. Leah started doing something strange. I keep seeing her in the forbidden library that was supposed to be only accessed by the king of the dark faes. Since Belial had long allowed me to go in there as well, I frequented the library often. It was there that I saw her, just standing by the shelves. She could not touch anything nor do anything, but she smiled at me and her eyes seemed to be asking for a favour. I began to read the books she had pointed out to me. I was confused at first, but I knew she was trying to send me a message. So I continued reading and reading and as time went by, I started to understand. She had chosen to stay because she couldn't give up on Gideon. She was trying to go against the world and prove that even death was not strong enough to separate her from him.
"The books she made me read contained the secret solution on how to stop a spirit from disappearing to nothingness. I found out that there is a way and that was to find her compatible vessel that would accept her spirit. However, finding the right vessel was not an easy feat at all. In fact, the possibility was almost zero and it seems Leah knew but her faith was really strong. I could tell it in her eyes. She didn't plan to ever give up. I spoke to Belial about her situation, and we had searched the entire Under Lands but found no compatible vessel. Our hope was getting bleaker as time went by and the time limit of Leah's soul was getting closer and closer. Until she started to become more and more translucent. She was slowly disappearing every time I see her.
"Still, she didn't give up. And she started to go the books about humans. It was then that I realized she wanted to try looking for her vessel at the surface. I realized the dark faes' bodies were too strong for her already fading soul. They must find something that could match the weak soul. But even the youngest dark fae resisted her. So I asked Belial to bring her to the surface, to the humans who are known to be much weaker. I was so worried because I know we're running out of time. So I just sent Belial in the surface without any plan. He took Leah's fading soul with him. When Belial returned, he told me they actually made it. He said Leah's dying soul was accepted by a dying foetus."
"F-foetus?" Evie stammered out.
"Yes. It must be the fates that intervened, but the moment Leah's soul was about to reach its limit, my husband found a woman who was having a miscarriage. The woman was crying at the amount of blood that was spilling out from her. She was weeping and crying out on why her babies always dies. My husband said that it was then that it just happened. It was as if the dying foetus had called out for Leah's spirit. My husband said the foetus's heart had already stopped beating when it took in Leah's soul. We we're unsure if we made it but, later on, when my husband visited that woman again, that woman's belly had gotten bigger. And the baby inside her was growing and healthy. When it was time for the woman to give birth, I sent Belial to the surface again to check. And when he came back, what he told me was that the baby was born a girl with flaming bright red-hair and eyes the colour of the sky that was an exact copy of Leah's."
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