Attending the funeral

After walking for 15 minutes. Anastasia and the others finally arrived at Ronan's mansion where the funeral was going to be held.

When they arrived. They were greeted by Margaret Richardson who was Ronan's current wife.

Margaret had an heartbroken expression on her face like she was truly sad about her husband's death.

But deep inside she was really happy to be freed from her abusive marriage.

She didn't even felt anything when the doctors proclaimed Ronan dead.

Why should she feel sad for someone who gave her nothing but emotional and physical torture?

Ronan used to always beat her because she couldn't produce him any male heir and she couldn't even report his abuse to the police because of his status in the village.

But everything is over now. She could finally live her life peacefully with her daughters by inheriting all of his money.

She was really thankful to the person who killed her husband. Even though the killer might have a bad intention for them. but still, he would be ten times more better person than Ronan.

If he was not dead now. Then Margaret would have killed him by herself. because last night she found out about the affair Ronan had with her maid.

Anastasia looked at Margaret and understood that, all the thing she was doing was just a facade so she could gain people's sympathy.

Anastasia cringed so hard when she saw Margaret shedding her crocodile tears in front of everyone.

Any sane person could understand that Margaret was just acting about being depressed. Cause her acting was so bad that Anastasia started feeling second-hand embarrassment for her.

She wanted to laugh at her so bad but still, somehow she controlled her laughter. Because she didn't wanted to ruin her image by cracking up at someone's funeral.

But Isabelle on the other hand was very sympathetic towards Margaret. Because she knew how it feels to loose your life partner.

Even though Ronan was the worst person anyone could ever meet. But after all, he was still Margaret's husband.

Isabelle could understand her pain. that's why she couldn't find any difference between Margaret's crying and overacting.

"Margaret, Child don't cry. There is a lot of life ahead for you. If you broke down now then what do you think will happen to your daughters? Who will console them? That's why you should stop crying now." Isabelle said while wiping Margaret's fake tears off.

"Thank you so much Isabelle for your kind words. I will keep that in my mind." Margaret said while taking a tissue to wipe her mascara which was running down her face because of the glycerine she applied before she started her awesome act. She doesn't want to look ugly in this event. After all, she wanted to seduce another rich guy to get married later.

While doing that Margaret's eyes landed on Anastasia who was standing beside Isabelle.

After looking at her she got an idea. Her distant cousin's son was looking for a marriage partner and Anastasia looked beautiful and sophisticated. which means she fitted their family's criteria. So how about she takes the chance and matchmake them?. That relationship would also let her gain support from the elders of the village.

"And Isabelle who this pretty little girls over here might be?" Margaret asked Isabelle with a confused tone.

"Ohh! yeah, I forgot to introduce them to you. These are my granddaughters. The older one is Anastasia and the younger one is Emilia." Isabelle said while introducing them.

Anastasia decided to give her regards to Margaret because even if she is faking it. She should at least not act rude by not speaking to her.

"Hello, Mrs. Richardson. I am so sorry for your loss. My deepest sympathy goes out to you and your family. I didn't expected us to meet in this way."

"Aww, what a sweet girl you are. But keeping current things aside. Are you in any kind of relationship?."

Anastasia got confused when she heard this question. "Pardon"

Margaret laughed to hide her awkwardness "I mean, don't get me wrong. I just had a nephew who is desperately looking for a spouse. So if you don't mind then do you want me to talk about your alliance with him. Think about it, he is extremely rich."

Anastasia was dumbfounded. She didn't even knew what to answer for the question Margaret asked.

Like seriously? Her husband just died and she is interested in matchmaking her with someone.

How obvious she is going make people understand that she does not give a damn about Ronan's death.

Anastasia looked at Isabelle helplessly while asking her to help. Isabelle also understood her hint and then she decided to speak on her behalf.

"I really appreciate your concern for Anastasia. But currently, she is trying to focus on her medical school so we really didn't thought about her marriage. I hope you understand." Isabelle's eyes turned dark while saying the last sentence.

Even Margaret understood the warning behind those words. that's why she gritted her teeth in annoyance. She lost her chance to climb the higher ladder in the social circle.

But still, she kept smiling from outside.

"Of course I understand it. But if you changed your mind then don't forget to tell me about it. But anyway, I should get going. Agnes and other elders are inside that room. Sorry for taking your time. But now, please excuse me."  After saying that Margaret went towards other guests to greet them.

"Well, that was odd." Isabelle looked around her and saw Anastasia and Emily laughing. "Enough cracking jokes. I am already very late. If I didn't go now then Agnes is going to eat my brain. So I should get going." Isabelle looked at both of them who were trying to control their laughter "And you two girls. Go outside and wait for me. Don't talk with unknown people. Just sit there till I come. Alright?"

Both of them nodded obediently and went outside of the mansion. Many people have already started arriving there.

Emily sat on the nearby fountain and started giggling. "Anna, mark my word. When we leave this village. I am damn sure that you might be a married woman till then. See? proposal started coming from now on."

"Ha ha ha, so funny," Anastasia said sarcastically and checked her phone and saw that someone had given her a missed call with an unknown number. "Emily stay here only, okay? Do not move from this place. I am going to find a place with range so I could call someone."

"Yeah, whatever" Emily putted on her headphones and started hearing her songs while completely ignoring Anastasia.

"Rude" Anastasia went towards a place where there were not many people and dialed the number of the person who called her.

"Hello, who is this? I got a call from this number." Anastasia said while waiting for a response.

"Hmm?, What? I called you. That's not possible I was asleep." The person sounded like they were drunk. "Oh wait! Anastasia, is this you?" A loud glass-shattering noise came from the other side.

Anastasia finally recognized the voice of the person. "Poppy what the hell? Why did you called me with an unknown number? Are you drunk!?"

Poppy was Anastasia's best friend from their kindergarten. She was also her neighbour, so that's why she was really concerned about her when she heard her sounding like that.

"Okay calm down Missy. Why are you asking so many questions? I am very emotional right now. And the reason why I called with this number is because I broke my last phone."

"You know what poppy? You are just like Emily. She also breaks things when she gets angry. But wait! Why were you angry?"

"I broke with my boyfriend, that asshole cheated on me with his cousin." Poppy started tearing up. "Why are you not here with me? Why do you need to go in your grandmother's village without informing me? If you would have told me then I would have came with you."

"Uggh, that's weird. With his cousin?? I knew that dude was a red flag. But you were too lovestruck to see his bad qualities." She sighed. "But anyway, forget about him. There are plenty of fishes in the sea. You will find someone better." She tried to console her. "And the reason why I didn't informed you is because, even I didn't knew that I was coming here. It was so unexpected."

"It's alright, I understand you. But Anna, have you contacted aunt Claudia?" Poppy asked with concern.

"What? I mean, I got her call but I didn't picked it up. Why are you asking me this? Did something happened?" Anastasia clenched her phone tightly.

"No, nothing happened. Don't be worried. It just, I haven't seen her yesterday and she didn't even went to her office today. Mom told me this."

Anastasia was very worried for Claudia. Her heart was very anxious at that time. Because Claudia didn't looked normal when she came to drop her at the bus stop. "Poppy, if you don't mind then can you please check up on her? What if she is sick? So can you..."

Poppy already understood what she was going to say. "Okay, Anastasia. I got you. You don't need to tell me anything. I was just planning to go in your house with some breakfast for aunt Claudia. You don't need to take any tension. I am here. Just go and enjoy your trip with Emily. Don't think much, okay?"

"Thank you pops" Anastasia was very blessed to have a friend like her.

"Now don't make me feel like a stranger by saying thanks. I don't like it. And I am like your sister too, so stop with the formalities. When you come back, you need to take care of me anyway so till that time have a great day. Love you, take care. bye'

"Love you too," Anastasia said with a low tone and ended the call.

She looked at the area where the people had been gathered and started heading towards them. But in middle, she heard some weird whispering noise of people talking with each other from the crowd.

She first decided to ignore them but something fell on her ear which made her stop.

"Do you know who killed Ronan?"

"I don't know who killed him, but whoever did that to him. Definitely did an amazing job."

"I saw that his body was brutally stabbed by a sharpened dagger. All of his guts were spilling out. It was a marvelous sight to see. After all, he did the same thing with us."

By hearing their talks. Anastasia understood that these people are not human beings but a ghost. A vengeful dead spirits. Who were murdered by Ronan in their past.

"Exactly, that's why the elders of the village are having their meeting. So they could find out who exactly murdered him. But who is going to tell them that the murder was not done by some human being."

"Wait, what do you mean? If he was not murdered by a living person then who did?"

"It was done by a demon and he is not some normal kind of demon. He is one of the high rankings of the hell."

"Omg, what do you mean? Give us full details. Who is that demon?"

"I don't know much about him. But based on what I saw. He had yellow eyes which means he is one of hell's royalty and the evil aura he possessed was very toxic that it was sucking all of my power. I have never seen someone like that in my life."

"Ohh, I think I know. When I was alive my grandmother used to tell me that this village used to be a place where the supernaturals used to live but then something happened 1000 years ago, that made this place cursed. And many people believed that the curse that was put in here was actually a demon and currently he is trapped inside the forbidden forest."

"Yeah I believe in that thing because the forbidden forest was closed even before any of us was born. No one was allowed to enter it that's why they named it forbidden forest. And the people who went inside it never came back alive. that's why I tried to go in it because I am a ghost now. But even I couldn't enter it. Think about it. how much power it must holds.

Anastasia who was eavesdropping on their conversation started sweating because of hearing what they said. If even the ghost couldn't enter in the forbidden forest then how did she entered it with just a key and what about Adrian? Exactly who is he? So is he the demon that these spirits are talking about?