Chapter 426: No Way Out
Wen Nuan slowly walked toward the gravestone. Both Ye Feimo and the girl in white stood still, leaving her to walk alone. The area was silent except for the rustling of leaves in the wind. The air felt heavy.
The words on the gravestone became clear: **Tomb of Long Xiushui**.
Just a few simple words. Based on the date, Wen Nuan could figure out that Long Xiushui had died more than ten years ago. It was a coincidence that she had died when Wen Nuan was four years old. Wen Nuan frowned.
She was dead, but there was no photo on the gravestone, only an inscription.
The lilies were still fresh and beautiful, with a few drops of dew on them. Wen Nuan thought that her mother must have placed them there.
Her mother came to visit Long Xiushui every year. It seemed they were close. But the only person on the island was the young girl. Her mother hadn’t come back last night. Where did she stay? Did she stay on the island?
Was her mother not afraid of this eerie island?
Wen Nuan was completely baffled. Her attention was quickly drawn to the inscription on the gravestone. It said that Long Xiushui had only lived to be 27 years old. She had died so young. Was she really her mother?
Wen Nuan suddenly wanted to see what she looked like. She wanted to know if they looked alike. Maybe a mother and daughter could tell just from their appearance.
Wen Nuan stood in front of the gravestone for a long time. Then she bowed and paid her respects.
Ye Feimo watched her from a distance. His eyes scanned the surroundings and then landed on the girl in white. The girl seemed emotionless, just staring at Wen Nuan’s back without saying a word. He couldn’t find any human expression on her face.
After paying her respects, Wen Nuan walked back. Ye Feimo reached out, and Wen Nuan took his hand. He pulled her to his side and asked softly, "Are you okay?"
Wen Nuan shook her head and smiled. "I’m fine."
But her heart felt even heavier.
Long Xiushui was dead. The one clue she had was now gone. Besides Du Di, she had no one to rely on. Only Du Di knew how to help her and how to save Feimo. The thought of Ye Feimo made her hands sweat, and her body felt cold.
The girl in white started to walk back. Ye Feimo and Wen Nuan followed behind her, the blood-red spider lilies in full view. Wen Nuan thought for a moment and asked, "What is your relationship with that person?"
"No relationship," the girl in white said coldly, as if she knew who Wen Nuan was asking about.
Wen Nuan didn’t believe her.
If there was no relationship, why was she living alone on the island?
"Does my mother come here every year and you’re the one who greets her?" Wen Nuan asked again. The girl didn’t answer and continued to walk in silence. She walked gracefully, almost like a flying swallow. From behind, her white dress and black hair fluttered in the wind, making her look very beautiful.
She wasn’t giving up. She said to Ye Feimo, "Feimo, I have a few things to ask her. Can you go ahead?"
She didn’t want Ye Feimo to know about the Long family.
She especially didn’t want him to know about the curse.
"What is it that I can’t hear?" Ye Feimo shot back. He would never agree to leave Wen Nuan alone with the girl in white. What if something happened?
Wen Nuan said calmly, "It’s about my mother. I don’t want anyone else to know. I’ll be fine. You can wait for me up ahead."
It was almost a plea.
Ye Feimo looked at the girl in white and then at Wen Nuan. He nodded. He only agreed to step back a little, not too far. Wen Nuan had to be within his sight; otherwise, he wouldn’t feel at ease.
Wen Nuan knew about Ye Feimo’s worries, so they both took a step back. Ye Feimo was dozens of feet away from them. Wen Nuan asked the girl in white, "What is your relationship with Long Xiushui? Or rather, what is your relationship with the Long family? Are you a member of the Long family?"
The girl in white gave a strange smile. "Miss Wen, why do you need to know?"
Wen Nuan shook her head and smiled. "Of course I need to know. Because I am also a member of the Long family. That’s my husband. The Long family curse will affect him, so I have to find a way to break it. I thought Long Xiushui was my only hope, but I didn’t expect her to have already passed away. If you are a member of the Long family, you must know more about the curse. Can you tell me a little more about it?"
The girl in white had a pair of peach-blossom eyes that were very similar to hers. Wen Nuan was just taking a shot in the dark, hoping she would get some information.
The girl in white didn’t seem surprised to hear that Wen Nuan was a member of the Long family. Her face remained as still as a puddle of water. Wen Nuan felt a sense of oppression and discomfort but didn’t say anything, waiting for her to answer.
She seemed to think for a long time, or maybe she wasn’t thinking at all. She said, "The curse cannot be broken. Even if Long Xiushui were alive, she couldn’t help you."
Wen Nuan’s fear deepened. The girl looked into Wen Nuan’s eyes. "You came to the wrong place. If Long Xiushui could help you, why couldn’t she help her own husband? Go back. This isn’t where you belong. Your arrival will only bring bloodshed to the Aegean Sea."
"I don’t understand!" Wen Nuan said sharply. "Why do you say that my arrival will bring bloodshed to the Aegean Sea? What did I do wrong? I want to save my husband. What’s wrong with that? I’m not afraid, even if there’s only a glimmer of hope or if it’s dangerous."
The girl in white sneered. "Why go through all this trouble? Just leave him."
Wen Nuan was stunned. If it were that simple, why would she have gone to all this trouble to come to Athens? Why would she have risked Ye Feimo’s discovery to come to the Aegean Sea? Was she just a troublemaker?
"I don’t believe that there’s no way," Wen Nuan said in a low voice.
The girl in white said, "Believe it or not, it’s up to you. I can only tell you that the curse is unavoidable. You should go find the Du family. The Long family is born to belong to the Du family. Don’t fight it. The price is too high."
"If I could get a divorce, I wouldn’t have come here," Wen Nuan said. She mumbled to herself, "Why is there such a wicked curse in this world? Why do I believe in it? Why am I not a daughter of the Wen family? Why was I born into the Long family?"
She asked a series of questions, but the girl’s face remained still.
She only said one thing: "You had no choice."
Wen Nuan knew that was true. She had no choice.
She couldn’t choose to not be born into the Long family.
"Are you also a member of the Long family?"