Chapter 89: Yuria and the Strange Doctor (4)
"Unaware that Yuria was quietly eavesdropping with her ears perked up, Crowd and Alice were having a conversation that was clearly out of the ordinary.
Why had he concluded that Yuria might be cursed? The reason was simple—she was, in many ways, remarkably healthy.
Typically, people who are unable to speak fall into two categories of conditions: aphasia, caused by brain damage, and mutism, stemming from psychological factors.
However, aphasia involves issues in the brain's language processing areas, resulting in symptoms that manifest broadly. This was far from Yuria’s case, who had no problems hearing or reading language despite being unable to speak.
As for mutism, there were no signs of accompanying anxiety or stress that would normally follow such a condition. Yuria’s psychological state was so calm and serene that merely observing her could feel healing.
It was almost as if she was deliberately refraining from speaking or forcibly holding herself back. However, Crowd, being both a doctor and a Fixer, was more than capable of seeing through such patients.
Thus, there was only one possible explanation for Yuria’s condition: her ability to communicate verbally had been forcibly taken from her by a curse.
“Alice, you mentioned earlier that Yuria showed signs of momentarily losing consciousness while trying to write?”
“Ah, yes! Greg saw it clearly with his own eyes. She dropped the pen from her hand and later couldn’t even remember it happening....”
“Hmm. I’ve seen a patient exhibit similar symptoms before. Forbidden magic—a type of spell that imposes restrictions on the target’s actions. Of course, I couldn’t sense any magical traces from Yuria, but...”
“If it’s a curse that leaves no trace of magic... are you saying something similar might be possible?”
To be precise, it wasn’t exactly a curse but rather a form of sorcery associated with curses. Crowd narrowed his eyes as he supplemented Alice’s statement.