"Forget it. Take your time reading. I am going out for a stroll," Slytherin said gruffly.
Wade did not even look up, merely waving his hand dismissively.
Slytherin discovered that Wade could still hear him speaking even while immersed in his research, and he could not help lifting his chin in disdain.
If it had been him back in those days, once he entered a research state, he would not have heard a single word from anyone else.
Thinking about it that way, his attitude toward experimentation had clearly been superior.
…
Slytherin drifted through the air, wandering around the castle at leisure.
This was the first time Slytherin's ghost had ever gone out alone for a stroll.
To avoid being recognised by other ghosts, he had put in a bit of effort to disguise himself.
For instance, he had put away his signature long robes and his cane, let his long hair down to cover half his face, and the like.
With those distinctive items hidden and a bit of disguise added, Slytherin now looked like nothing more than an ordinary, thin old man.
Hogwarts had no shortage of ghosts, so neither people nor spirits paid any attention to this seemingly unremarkable elderly ghost.
It had to be said that the entire castle had changed greatly compared to a thousand years ago.
However, some things that had existed back then, such as emergency escape passages, were still there.
While passing through walls, Slytherin even saw two Gryffindor students sneaking out of Hogwarts through one of those old escape routes.
"Hmph. As expected of Godric's students. All of them are like this," Slytherin muttered in displeasure as he emerged from the wall.
"Uncle Salazar?"
An exclamation came from nearby, startling Slytherin.
"You have the wrong person," Slytherin said instinctively, lifting his gaze toward the one who had spoken.
It was the ghost of a young woman, someone Slytherin had never seen before.
"I would never mistake you. You are Uncle Salazar!" the female ghost said excitedly. "Have you forgotten me? I am…"
"Wait," Slytherin said suddenly, finding her faintly familiar.
He stared at the woman for a long while before exclaiming in shock, "You are Helena? Rowena's daughter?"
"Yes, Uncle Salazar!" Helena said excitedly. "Actually… not many people know my name is Helena anymore. Everyone calls me the Grey Lady now. It has been a very, very long time…"
For all these years, Helena's ghost had wandered Hogwarts, always wearing a solemn, unsmiling expression.
This loss of composure was entirely due to her sudden encounter with Slytherin's ghost.
"You…" Slytherin looked at Helena in astonishment, at her youthful face and the bloodstains on her clothes. "How did you die so young? This… were you murdered?"
Slytherin's voice grew furious. "Who did this? What exactly happened back then?"
A ghost's appearance generally remained fixed at the moment of death.
Thus, the silvery blood on Helena's spectral form was particularly glaring.
The delight on Helena's face gradually faded, replaced by overwhelming sorrow and regret.
"I was far too foolish… my foolishness has led to these bitter consequences…"
"Come with me," Slytherin said quickly when he saw someone appear at the end of the corridor.
He had no intention of letting more people know that he had become a ghost.
Slytherin led Helena straight into the Chamber of Secrets.
Wade was startled by Slytherin's furious manner, but when he saw Helena, he immediately understood a few things.
Seeing that there was a student inside the Chamber, Helena was also somewhat surprised. "He…"
"Oh, do not mind that brat. Tell me at once what exactly happened!" Slytherin said impatiently.
Left with no choice, Helena recounted her story.
In truth, the whole matter was indeed a tragedy.
When Helena was young, she desperately wished to become wiser and more esteemed than her mother, Rowena Ravenclaw.
In a moment of foolishness, she stole her mother's diadem, the symbol of wisdom, and fled to Albania.
Later, when Ravenclaw fell gravely ill and wished to see her daughter one last time, she sent Baron Baro to bring Helena back.
Baron Baro had long harboured feelings for Helena, so he agreed at once.
After that, Baron Baro found Helena in Albania.
However, Helena was unwilling to return at the time, and Baro, lacking any sense of timing, chose that very moment when she was already upset to confess his feelings again.
In her anger, Helena said things that provoked Baro, and in the end, tragedy struck.
In a fit of rage, Baro accidentally killed Helena. When he came to his senses, he was overwhelmed with remorse and took his own life with the same knife he had used to kill her.
After becoming a ghost, Helena returned to Hogwarts.
Baro likewise became a ghost, becoming the spirit of Slytherin House. Everyone called him the Bloody Baron…
"Baro? That wretched boy…" After hearing it all, Slytherin felt both furious and deeply guilty.
When Baro first enrolled, Slytherin had not yet left Hogwarts.
Strictly speaking, Baro could be considered one of his students, and one he had held in fairly high regard among the new intake.
And now, Slytherin realised that his own student had killed the daughter of an old friend, preventing her from ever returning to see her mother one last time…
Slytherin suddenly turned to look at Wade.
At that moment, Wade had actually been quietly following the drama on the sidelines, and Slytherin's sudden movement startled him.
"Is there any way for me to give Baro a beating? One that actually hurts!" Slytherin demanded angrily.
Even if he had fallen out with the other three founders back then, they had still been old friends. Since an old friend's daughter had been killed, he had to avenge her.
Even if Baro was already dead, that made no difference.
Hearing this, Wade set down the parchment in his hands. After pondering for a moment, he slowly nodded.
Ghosts could, in fact, interact with one another, but things like fighting were extremely rare, because ghosts had no sense of pain.
If being beaten did not hurt, then fighting had no meaning.
That was why, after recalling Wade's research into the soul, Slytherin had asked him that question directly.
"It is not as if there is no way…" Wade said hesitantly, rubbing his hands together.
"Go on. What benefit do you want this time?" Slytherin said, already accustomed to it.
"What benefit? How vulgar!" Wade said righteously. "I am doing this purely for the sake of Hogwarts' cultural heritage!"
"Very well…" Slytherin turned to look at Helena. "This brat has his eye on your mother's diadem."
Cough~!
"T-That is nonsense! I only want to see Hogwarts' relic returned to its rightful place!"
____
Hm... fever is a bitch.
I just have to post three more chapters, and I'll be fine.. Note to myself: Never tempt fate.
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