Chapter 104: Soulless

In the bright room, the girl in a white gauzy nightgown lay quietly on the operating table. Her hollow chestnut eyes were half-open, staring lifelessly at the ceiling.

The nun with light green hair gently pried open her eyelids to check the contraction of the pupils.

"What have you done to her?" Theresa frowned at Elara, who seemed to have lost her soul and had a dazed look in her eyes. "Aren't you usually very restrained?"

Noyce, standing beside her, said nothing. His usually calm face was tinged with a hint of anxiety. Everything had spun out of control—Elara, that man, and himself.

He had initially just wanted to know who had violated Elara, but her defiance had ignited his anger, leading him to use excessive force. He had never imagined that he would need to resort to such means to control his Familiar. And, to his dismay, he had failed.

He didn't get the answers he wanted; instead, he had pushed Elara to this state.

"How is she?" he asked with a grave expression.

"There are no external injuries on her body," the nun straightened up and sighed deeply.

"As for the mental trauma she has suffered, I'm afraid I can't do anything about it. I'm not a specialist in mental healing."

Priest's face paled a bit, feeling momentarily bewildered. He hadn't anticipated that the consequences of this punishment would be so severe.

Bishop Timothy had once taught him the method of taming Elara—plugging her body with various tubes and burying her alive for a whole month. When the girl was released, her will had completely collapsed, and she had utterly submitted, becoming Timothy's right-hand woman and never daring to defy him again.

He hadn't intended to keep Elara confined for that long, but he hadn't expected that just two days would cause such great harm.

Theresa touched Elara's lifeless face: "This child has always been very strong. What made you want to torture her like this? Weren't you two getting along well before?"

"I..." Noyce wanted to say something, but the words stuck in his throat, and he didn't know where to begin. He irritably turned his head away.

Elara had indeed been obedient and compliant before, never complaining about any training or conditioning. But this time, she had dared to confront him head-on to protect another man, which made him furious whenever he thought about it.

Ever since returning from Ros, she had become increasingly uncontrollable. He wondered if it was because of Elara's influence.

Just thinking about Elara gave Noyce a headache. He didn't want his relationship with Elara to deteriorate to the same extent as Timothy's with Elara.

"Can she recover?" he looked at the girl on the operating table. In just two days, he had personally turned the girl who used to light up when looking at him into a soulless doll.

"It's hard to say. She might recover on her own tomorrow, or perhaps, she'll be like this for the rest of her life," the nun sighed helplessly again. "Mental wounds can only be healed by mental treatment. Take good care of her for now, talk to her more, and see if you can bring her consciousness back. If it doesn't work... then you'll have to seek the bishop's help and see if he can find some mental experts to examine her."

Noyce lowered his eyelids. It was impossible to let the bishop know about this. If the bishop found out that he couldn't even control his own Familiar, who knows what he would do.

"I understand. Thank you, Theresa," he held the girl in his arms, thanked the nun, and got up to push open the door.

"Hey, heading back?" The tall man leaning against the door greeted Noyce cheerfully as he came out.

Noyce nodded at him slightly and didn't stay any longer, walking towards the main gate with the Witch in his arms.

The red-haired giant man watched the receding figure of the silver-haired Priest and thoughtfully stroked his chin: "I didn't expect it. Noyce, who usually looks so proper, could be so ruthless to his own Familiar."

"You Priests, none of you are good," the nun who followed him out rolled her eyes at the man.

"What does that have to do with me!" Rupert, who was innocently implicated, let out a wail, "I haven't been a Priest for years!"

"Humph," Theresa snorted coldly, turned around, and slammed the door shut, leaving the tall man, who looked innocent and bewildered, standing there awkwardly.

Noyce returned to Elara's room and gently placed the Witch back on the bed, covering her with a thin blanket. The girl lay there like an exquisite doll, obediently letting him arrange her, with no luster in her hollow eyes.

After settling the girl, the silver-haired Priest sighed softly, sat down by the bed, and wearily leaned his upper body against the headboard.

It was already daylight. At this time, he would usually be working on repairing the artifact. But now, with Elara in this state, his mind was in turmoil, and he couldn't calm down to do those things.

The long-lost silence in the room made Noyce feel somewhat unaccustomed.

He was not someone who feared loneliness. Solitary cultivation and meditation were a daily routine for him. But this year, he had grown accustomed to the days when a clingy little creature was always by his side. Now that she lay there quietly, without a sound, he suddenly felt a sense of emptiness.

He didn't know when she had become an indispensable part of his heart.

"What should I do with you, Elara?" the Priest muttered to himself.

Since childhood, he had been taught various methods of controlling Witches, learning how to tame them and turn them into his weapons. But now, all these means had failed. He couldn't control his Familiar and might even lose her.

He bent down, his palm gently cupping Elara's face: "Elara, wake up, okay?"

The girl's eyes were half-hidden in the shadow of her eyelashes, with no response.

He had confined her in a box, and she had closed off her heart. There was no communication, no feedback, no resistance, and no cooperation.

The Priest closed his eyes. The extreme measures had taken their toll, and he had destroyed their original relationship with his own hands. Elara had completely rejected him in her own way, and Noyce now realized that it was he who couldn't bear to be apart from her.

He gently held the girl's hand, determined to bring the lively girl back, no matter what it took.