"I don’t fully understand the specifics yet, but the Lord has clearly told me that Sister Ella isn’t dead." Vay explained again, he trusted Black Earl’s words, at least in this matter, the Earl had no reason to deceive him.
Black Earl also timely spoke: "His sister Ella is accompanied by my tongue. Since my tongue possessed her, Ella rarely speaks, probably because she feels awkward psychologically, never overcoming the shadow."
Vay then confirmed the Black Earl’s words, the Black Earl avatar following Ella is indeed the tongue.
Everyone imagined briefly, if their tongue were sacrificed and replaced by someone else’s tongue, an uncontrollable one, it would be quite revolting to think about.
Moreover, Ella, a witch, replacing with a tongue of the opposite gender, would likely cause psychological shadows.
Nevertheless, they actually all misunderstood.
Black Earl didn’t tell them that the tongue’s ability actually relates to "speech."
It can be understood as speaking of good things not effective, speaking of bad things coming true.
Not every avatar of the Black Earl has a character as steady as the nose; the tongue’s personality is an exception, somewhat wild, and particularly annoying, often talking about unlucky things.
Previously, when Ella had her talent ability, she wouldn’t intentionally say "bad things," so she was still quite normal.
But Ella sacrificed her talent, and after the Black Earl’s tongue possessed her, even though talent slowly returned, the tongue’s case of annoying speech didn’t change.
To avoid the tongue hurting those around due to speaking annoying things, Ella chose to live isolated, not speaking even when returning to the family, enduring not to speak even when Vay visited her.
This was actually to protect Vay.
But Vay misunderstood, thinking Ella turned into a living dead puppet.
It’s layers of misunderstanding piling up.
About this, Black Earl is actually quite aware, but he didn’t intervene nor explain.
Black Earl’s possession wasn’t without purpose; he sought his transcendent state. As for specific how-to, it’s a secret the Black Earl won’t share externally.
But what can be said is, he has some requirements for these descendants, but wouldn’t really deceive or harm them. Even if the Black Earl transcends into a Legend, the harm to the descendants won’t be significant, nor will he deceive and kill them. After becoming a Legend, he might even benefit them in return; overall, it’s a matter with both pros and cons, but the pros far outweigh the cons.
And for the object of possession, Black Earl is selective, only those with potential and willing to break through between life and death are truly worth possessing.
If you continue to stay home, avoiding unknowns and obscuring the path forward, then it’s better to let such people continue to misunderstand.
Now, the Noah Clan is divided into two groups: one group has been possessed, knows everything, but won’t share the truth; the other group remains unaware of the truth, using the "home" approach to avoid and firmly believe in rumors.
Vay was once the latter, but this duel forced him into the former group.
It also opened the door to his new world.
This is also why the Black Earl specifically wanted Vay to duel; since the first battle, the Earl has noticed Vay’s sharpness hasn’t completely disappeared, his potential remains, his decisiveness remains. So, the Black Earl gave Vay a chance to make a choice between life and death.
But even the Black Earl didn’t anticipate how ruthless the opponent would be, even using the Ancient Gaze against Vay, leaving him no choice.
Either die or be possessed.
In this situation, Vay had no choice but to choose possession, after all, having been raised by the Noah Clan, he was willing to contribute a little before "dying".
But the result was unexpected for Vay.
Being possessed wasn’t death, but the beginning of another journey.
Although Vay mostly made a forced choice to be possessed, he eventually embarked on this path. Perhaps this could also be considered... luck?