Kissing Hellfire: Marry Me, Evil Lord
Chapter 185: The Dream

Chapter 185: The Dream

Lauren opened her eyes to the sound of crashing waves. She found the light from above blinding, and she soon realized she was lying somewhere outdoors with the sunlight directly hitting her face. She rose carefully and her brows furrowed in confusion. She was in some place she had never been before—on a shore she was sure wasn’t anywhere in Evardin.

The smell of salty air was so potent that for a second she doubted if it was a dream. The sands on her palms, the wind gusting, the wild waves that kept coming back to the shore, the calm silence in between the small earthy sounds... how could a dream be so vivid?

"Welcome to my island," said someone behind her.

She turned, and her eyes flew wide when she saw the dead priestess who talked to her months ago. Eleanor—it was the name the vicar gave her.

"I hope that expression is surprised, not horrified," the priestess said with a small smile.

"Why... are you here? Aren’t we in my dream?" Lauren’s forehead creased, her eyes beaming with wonder.

"Yes, child, we are in your dream. The dream I made for you."

"You can do that?" The question was rhetorical. She was just surprised to see the priestess again after months. She wanted to talk to her after their meeting, but she couldn’t find a way to talk to a dead person without touching forbidden spells.

"I came back to the church to find you, but the vicar said you were long dead. I was shocked and disappointed. You don’t know how much I want to meet you again, Lady Eleanor. I believe you have superior knowledge of the illness I’m dealing with, and I wish you could enlighten me."

The priestess looked far ahead, to the sea beyond them. "You already know you are a descendant of the first generation of black mages, and what you have is a curse bound to kill you. It is a very strong curse, I must say. The priestess who cast the curse on the Capewell family was the greatest priestess ever known in all lands. It was a shame she summoned a powerful demon who took her sanity." She sighed and looked up at the sky as if she were reminiscing a distant memory, her eyes warm and gentle.

"Why did she summon a powerful demon? Was it by accident?"

Eleanor shook her head once. "She did it on purpose."

"Why would she do that? I heard summoning evil spirits, let alone demons, will affect a priestess badly. It is against the law of your nature."

"For love," Eleanor said softly; it sounded like a hum. She looked at Lauren with a tender smile, but sadness peeked through her eyes. "Will you listen if I tell you a story?"

"I won’t mind."

Eleanor took a few steps forward until her bare feet could touch the water, the hem of her long dress getting wet by the waves.

"Love is a wonderful thing, I’m sure you know that," she said meaningfully, eyeing Lauren from the corner of her eyes. "But for some instances, it can be dangerous. As they say, it is as beautiful as it is lethal."

Lauren listened; her full attention was on Eleanor.

"Just like everybody else, the great priestess had a love story of her own. She was born with divine powers and became a priestess at a young age. She could summon earthly spirits and talk to them, break all sorts of curses, sense people’s energy, create powerful spellbound objects, control mage relics..." she trailed off as if she’d take time if she said all the abilities of the great priestess. "She was very gifted, you see. None of the priestesses in the past centuries was able to match her powers, not even myself."

Hearing how great the fallen priestess was, Lauren grew more curious as to what exactly happened to her that led to the curse of the Capewell family she carried in her veins.

"She fell in love with a rich businessman, married him, and had a child with him years later. Their marriage was overflowing with love that she even gifted her husband a spellbound ship because he loved traveling in the sea so much."

A spellbound ship? Lauren remembered the ship where Alec had taken her a couple of times and the portrait of a married couple she saw in one of the cabins. Could it be...

"However, no matter how powerful earthly beings are, no one cannot be very certain of what the future may bring, not even the great priestess. Her perfect life crumbled when her husband died—murdered by a business competitor. She couldn’t accept her loss and tried everything in her power to resurrect him until she learned sorcery. She found a way to resurrect a person by having a deal with a powerful demon, and that’s why she summoned a demon. Unfortunately, she got possessed by the demon and wreaked havoc in the village where she lived. The Capewell family happened to live nearby. They were a family of strong mage fighters, so they tried to subdue the priestess, which eventually led to them getting cursed by her."

"So the Capewells did nothing to her... they were just part of the collateral damage," Lauren muttered, realizing how hard it must be for the Capewell family. They never intended to turn to the dark side. They were simply trying to protect the other residents of the village from the possessed priestess.

"And that curse is the root of your illness. You must have known that a child managed to survive the annihilation of the Capewells through Master Leighton. He lived a normal life in his prime years, got married, and had a child, but he died early, and without letting his family know what curse he carried, his child acquired it from him because he didn’t know any better himself. Then the curse was passed from generation to generation..."

"Until it was passed to my mother," Lauren’s tone was bleak, staring at Eleanor without any emotion on her face. She didn’t know if she should be angry, blame the great priestess, or blame Master Leighton who didn’t inform the Capewell child of his true identity. But would informing him really help? If those descendants didn’t marry and have children, would she be alive right now?

"Please tell me. What do I have to do to free myself from this curse? An elder mage told me that I only have three months to live unless I feed on people’s energy which will extend my life for a few years." She greeted her teeth, feeling the moisture in her eyes. "Please help me, Lady Eleanor..."

"I wish I had the power to free you from the curse. I really hope, Lauren," the priestess smiled.

Lauren’s shoulders slumped. "Then why did you meet me in my dream? You must have a purpose for this."

Eleanor nodded. "Of course I have a purpose. It’s true I don’t have the power to break the curse myself, but I’m here to guide you because I can see that you might have the power to do it. You have the potential, Lauren." Her voice was gentle and reassuring, but Lauren was confused.

"How can I do that? How is that possible?"

"I cannot give you a specific answer because even I don’t know what the answer is. All I can say is it depends on what course of action you will take. Along the way, you’ll see pieces of a puzzle and it depends on how you form those pieces. A big fight is waiting ahead of you, and you can never run away from it."

"I don’t intend on running."

"That’s right," Eleanor flashed a warm smile as if she were a mother proud of her child. "You need that grit to win."

"But you didn’t tell me yet. What kind of guidance will you give me? Do you have any information that I can use to find the cure?" Lauren demanded.

"Like I told you, I don’t know what the cure is. I have devoted all my life in finding a way to end the Capewell curse, and all I found were distorted visions of you, which is why I’m thinking you might have what it takes to break the curse of your bloodline."

"How can I defeat something I don’t even know how to deal with?" Lauren shook her head, frustrated. She couldn’t get what Eleanor was pointing out.

"The spellbound ship. It was built by the great priestess in the middle of the ocean, and back then the lost fishermen could take refuge in the ship, but after she died, the ship disappeared in the surface of the waters as if it never existed. However, when I saw you in my visions when I was still alive years back, I saw you in that ship which I found rather odd. I’m telling you this because I believe you would find clues that might help you in the place I had never gotten to see."

Lauren sucked in her breath. "Why are you telling me all of this? And why do you know so much about the great priestess? And you mentioned you have devoted your whole life to finding a way to break the Capewell curse... why is that?"

Eleanor’s face remained calm and kind.

"Because I feel responsible for ending the curse that my great grandmother cast on the Capewell family by mistake. It is the least I can do to prevent more innocent people like you from having a tragic end."