Chapter Seventy-Two: Soul Bodies and Phantoms

"No, you have always done your best to fulfill your duty in raising me. It’s my own fault for not living up to expectations..." Helena sobbed as she heard Lady Ravenclaw’s words.

"No, it’s that I set the bar too high for you," Lady Ravenclaw replied, shaking her head with a gentle smile. "I always hoped you would surpass who I once was, so I set goals that were far too lofty and ignored the order, progression, and individual differences in education. I should have nurtured you step by step, in stages, and according to your unique gifts. Regrettably, I was impatient at the time and ended up placing an unbearable weight upon you."

"I once believed that extraordinary wisdom was humanity’s greatest treasure. Only after you left did I truly understand that a loving family is just as great."

Hearing this, Helena was already weeping uncontrollably. Luminous tears traced down her delicate cheeks, each one vanishing into the air.

"There now, you’re almost a thousand years old and still such a crybaby?" Lady Ravenclaw laughed, rising from her bronze chair and opening her arms to Helena.

Seizing the moment, Steven released Helena’s left hand and gently nudged her toward Lady Ravenclaw’s embrace.

As they touched, Lady Ravenclaw’s pure white marble form began to shimmer with a radiant glow, and Helena’s ghostly body was, for the first time, able to truly feel her mother’s presence!

In that instant, the mother and daughter finally bridged the millennia-old rift in their hearts.

After a long while, Lady Ravenclaw let go of Helena and turned to the restless ghost, Steven, who was floating nearby. She spoke, "And you, sir ghost, it seems you haven’t introduced yourself yet?"

"Oh, of course!" Steven gathered his wandering thoughts and, for the umpteenth time, recited the well-practiced introduction. "My name is Stephen Strange. I hail from an ancient civilization in the East. Loving to travel the world, I became acutely aware of the burdens of the flesh, and so I chose to..."

"Hold on a moment, Mr. Strange," Lady Ravenclaw’s wise gaze swept over him as she said softly, "I believe a little more honesty is called for between us. There’s no need to repeat that story with me, is there, Mr. Strange?"

Steven was struck to the core, staring at Lady Ravenclaw in astonishment.

With quiet confidence, she smiled and continued, "In truth, I never studied souls extensively, but Salazar was an expert in such matters. I learned much from him about the soul’s mysteries."

"Ordinarily, a ghost is not a complete soul, but a fragment lingering in the world through sheer obsession. Such a soul is incomplete, unable to absorb new knowledge or skills, and will gradually forget much of its former life. Just as Helena is now." At this, she looked at Helena with compassion. "That’s why no one considers ghosts a form of true immortality."

"Yet your state seems quite different, Mr. Strange. I can see your soul is wholly intact. Even now, you unconsciously draw the ambient magic in the air around you."

"Even if one could voluntarily abandon the body to become a ghost, in order to roam as freely as a true ghost, one would have to discard part of the soul’s weight for the sake of a single obsession. But that would also strip away the ability to learn and grow. So your current condition cannot be explained by that reasoning."

"Thus, I can conclude you are not simply a ghost, but a genuine soul in its entirety!" Lady Ravenclaw fixed Steven with a gaze full of wisdom, her tone utterly certain.

"Stephen, you..." Helena looked at Steven in disbelief, her shock rendering her speechless.

"I suppose this is what it means to be Lady Ravenclaw," Steven sighed heavily, forcing a wry smile. "I’m sorry, Helena. I lied to you."

"No, I don’t believe it!" Helena shook her head, unwilling to accept that after the joy of reuniting with her mother, she should now suffer the pain of betrayal by her companion.

"That’s what I meant, Helena—you’re too quick to trust others," Steven sighed.

He knew there was no point in further deceit, so he began to reveal his origins slowly: "I come from another world. I was raised in a place called Kamar-Taj, a sanctuary for the study of sorcery. Because my soul was out of harmony with its universe..."

He told them in detail how his incompatible soul had crossed the multiverse and was finally accepted by this world. He also explained his connection to Steven Rosier.

"The multiverse..." Lady Ravenclaw listened, her expression tinged with longing, but in the end, she could only sigh with regret.

Helena, on the other hand, let out a breath of relief after hearing Steven’s story and said with conviction, "So you never really deceived me. You just didn’t tell me everything!"

"You did live in the East in your former world, you truly had a great teacher, and your childhood illnesses were real! So you never lied to me at all!" She looked at Steven with a proud, almost defiant expression.

"Ah?" Steven was completely taken aback, beginning to doubt whether he had actually deceived Helena.

Lady Ravenclaw chuckled softly before asking her curious question, "So, after arriving in this world, you were accepted by the body of Steven Rosier, is that correct?"

"That’s right," Steven nodded.

"And what of the body’s original soul?" Lady Ravenclaw’s gaze was sharp as she pressed him.

At her question, Steven could only shake his head with a wry smile. "I wish I knew. When my soul entered this body, there was no trace of any original soul within. As far as I know, that shouldn’t happen, not even with newborn infants!"

Lady Ravenclaw considered for a moment, her expression turning grave. "In that case, it’s very likely that someone intervened before you arrived, targeting the infant with soul-erasing dark magic. I know of more than one such spell!"

"What?" Steven’s eyes widened in outrage. "So someone had set their sights on the Rosier family long ago—shamelessly attacking even a newborn?"

"If that person hadn’t done so, you would never have gained this new body. You ought to thank them, in a way," Lady Ravenclaw said, half amused, half serious.

"It’s not the same!" Steven shook his head. "If acquiring this body meant the cost of a living soul, then I’d rather have not taken it!"

"Besides, it was Sandrine who first made me understand a mother’s love. Deep inside, I have already accepted this new identity. The past, present, and future of the Rosier family—I will protect them all. That is the fate I accepted the moment I gained this body!"

Steven’s eyes grew steadily more resolute.

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