Old Tale

"Love can make you overcome any obstacles and terrors"

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The old lady didn't know what to say.

"Now since I have revealed my secret then it is only fair if you do that too" Severus spoke.

The old lady wasn't fully comfortable to talk with someone who was reincarnated but somehow managed to not cringe away and questioned him, "What do you want to know about?"

Severus knew this was the time for a major breakthrough.

"I want to know everything about this book and you". He said slowly, enunciating each word clearly.

The old lady had goosebumps. The aura she felt for a brief moment was not something a normal man could have.

"Okay so starting from starting. I am Jane Cheya. I am the daughter of May Shey and Aris Cheya. My mother May Cheya was the native of Resen town and my father, Aris Cheya was a native too"

Severus frowned. The thing which she spoke didn't match the information that the twin brothers gave him. He couldn't help but ask," Weren't your father a foreigner?"

The old lady smiled. The smile looked creepy and sent a shiver down Severus' spine.

"My father was no foreigner. However, it was true that he wasn't at home for most of the time and worked outside of the Resen town. Actually…." She paused and swept the tears away that were rolling down her cheeks.

"Do you know about the massacre of Frost Legion and all necromancers?", She asked him cynically.

Severus nodded his head because he too wasn't sure about the whole incident but for finding the answers he needed to pretend.

"Those bastards killed the head of Frost Legion, Cynthia, and hunted every necromancer while slaughtering their families. They didn't spare even women and children. Monsters were there. That day was chaos, the heavy killing intent permeated in the sky with blood everywhere. Everyone thought that all the necromancers died but to their dismay, there were two sole survivors of that massacre"

Severus got a shock. As far as he knew there was only one survivor of that massacre and that too was the kind of Cynthia. No one ever heard about the second survivor.

"Wasn't there only one survivor and that too was a kid birthed by Cynthia", Severus asked in bewilderment

The old lady laughed like crazy. Her laughter was evil that reverberated inside the house.

"No one got to know but there was another child that survived that massacre. He was a 10-year-old kid. At such a small age he saw his parents being killed. All the gore and blood which can freak out anyone was witnessed by that child. I can't imagine how but he survived. He fled from his hometown and survived. Years later he came back as an adult with looks that were average."

"Isn't something wrong with your story? Why would a person who saw such gore and terror would come back? Was he nuts?" Severus chided.

The expressions of that old lady didn't look any good, but Severus ignored them.

The old lady didn't mind and continued her conversation.

"Love can make you overcome any obstacle and terror. That child who was an adult at that time somehow got the news that his friend was going to marry a girl from Resen town. Out of curiosity, the man asked his friend to tell him about that girl but when he got to know about the family of the girl, he immediately packed his bags and came back. He told his friend not to marry anyone from Resen town and immediately scheduled a meeting with that girl. Do you know Severus, that girl was his childhood love? Even after so many years and turns of events, that man wasn't able to let her go. He married that girl with a fake identity and had a baby girl"

Severus didn't utter a word. Although he somehow understood the story, still he wanted to know it from her mouth.

"The second survivor of that massacre was no on but my father, Aris Cheya, and that baby girl is none other than me"

Bam.

Noworry who was quiet the entire time fainted.

Severus panicked and tried to activate his telepathic communication, but it was of no avail. He fretted and was about to rub him when he opened his eyes.

Severus asked him through his telepathic communication," Are you alright? What happened? How come you fainted suddenly?"

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"Acceptance is not forgiveness but it is an act of trusting someone again"

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[Don't worry about me. I haven't eaten anything since the morning, so I am a bit tired.] Noworry comforted Severus.

Severus knew that noworry was hiding something, but he didn't expose him. It wasn't suitable for them to talk right now.

"Is the poor bird alright?', the old lady asked in concern.

"He is alright. Don't you worry", Severus assured her.

"So, you are the daughter of the second survivor of that massacre. But didn't you resent your dad for hiding this truth from you and tricking your mother?"

"Does it matter? Earlier when I got to know about the truth, I resented him and despised him too but later as I thought through I found out that in this world it doesn't matter whether you are honest or not. The only thing that matters is what people think about you. If they think that you are an honest man, then you are an honest man and if they don't feel the same then you aren't. So simple but too painful. I am sure that if he had revealed this secret earlier, he wouldn't have gotten married to mother back then. Whatever it was it can never change the fact that he loved me and my mother very much and we too did. All the resentments and anger vanished as soon as I realized that the love which he gave us, was far greater and blissful than the secret. So, I don't care anymore." The old lady explained.

"What great thoughts you have grandma", Severus praised her.

"However, if you were a loved and pampered child from childhood then why did you choose to be blind for your whole life?" Severus asked the odd question. It truly baffled him, why would a healthy lady opt to live as a blind.

"Well, I am not blind, but I do have weak eyesight and moreover the one who I loved married someone else, so I chose to live as a widow" The old lady explained with a straight face.

Severus"...."

Severus was speechless but nonetheless, he didn't want to comment on someone's personal matter, so he tried changing the topic.

"Tell me about that book"

"Aah yes, that book isn't mine. I mean it belonged to my dad, but my dad never told me anything about it. As far as I remember my father used to treasure it and didn't let anybody touch it."

Severus"...."

"So, there wasn't any backstory about it? Why did you become so hyper when I snatched that book?", Severus asked grimly.

"You know that verse was actually a folklore song. My dad taught me that and its meaning, but I never truly understood it's meaning but later when that monk came and told me about it, I was shocked. Everything which he said made sense. He was the one who told me about the importance of this book and asked me to keep it safe."

Severus lost count of how many times he was shocked today.

"You mean you saw a monk and he told you about this secret?"

The old lady looked embarrassed but still answered him. "Yeah, I too recently got to know about this secret too"

Severus had no words.

"Wow! You are truly amazing" Severus taunted.

The old lady just pouted and didn't say a word.

"Tell what did that monk tell you?"

"Oh yes. That old monk showed me some proof and made me aware of my father's secret. He also made me understand that being angry and despising wouldn't solve anything. Acceptance and forgiveness are the only things which we can give to the deceased so I forgave my father."

"Are you sure? He didn't say anything?', Severus asked in suspicion.

The old lady tried hard to recollect if she missed anything when suddenly she remembered something.

"Yeah, yes I remembered. He asked me to safeguard this book and also told me that someone will come here to take it from me. But then I asked him, how will I know who is the one you want me to give this book, to which he replied that 'He would be that man who would be able to calm my heart '"

"You see I suffer from a disease called try cardiac malfunction. From birth I have a heart that beats faster than a normal heart."