If she ever had a child, she thought bitterly, she would na them after an angel instead. Perhaps angels would not take nas so personally.
"Cassian has not touched a woman since the terrace incident," the Reaper stated smoothly, cutting through Cixi’s bitter thoughts with a crucial piece of information. "But he might seek one now. Now that you physically marked him again and bit his lip today, you activated the dormant curse. He might feel the need for physical comfort, especially a kiss."
Cixi’s breath hitched. Her stomach dropped. She stared at the Reaper as though soone had handed her a set of impossible instructions and expected her to build sothing intricate without manuals, blueprints, or even a proper explanation.
And sohow this had beco her fault? Was she the one to bla for it? Did that even make sense? Cixi asked herself bitterly.
She had bitten Cassian’s lip in pure frustration. The taste of his blood rushed back into her mory. If she had known the consequences of such a simple act, if she had known that one mont of anger would begin so supernatural countdown, she would never have left her ho that night.
"What does biting his lip have to do with activating the curse?" Frustration surged through her at once. "And why does it matter now if he decides to be with another woman?" Her fingers caught strands of her golden hair near her temples.
"Stop giving information in pieces," she insisted. "Explain everything properly." A frustrated groan escaped her.
This ti, she deliberately sat cross-legged on the floor, forcing herself into stillness. She would not move again until she understood.
"I want to hear everything about this curse," she said, her eyes steady now. "All of it."
A small pause followed. Cixi clamped her jaw and locked eyes with the monster in her living room. She was ready to hear every horrible, twisted detail of the immortal trap she had dragged herself into without aning to.
"Is there any way you can simply lift the curse right now?" Cixi pressed, refusing to back down. "Without having to do any of this?"
"If it were that easy to lift," the ex-Empress said, lowering herself into a cross-legged position on the bare floor to mirror Cixi, with the heavy iron scythe resting against her skeletal shoulder, "do you think Cassian Crown would have been dragged into this prison?"
Even seated, her presence seed to tower over the room.
"So there is no way out?" The question ca not from hope, but from the quiet instinct of soone verifying the finality of a sentence already passed.
"I will repeat myself one last ti, Cixi McLore," the Reaper stated, her voice stripped of all empathy. "On the terrace, during your intimate mont together, he nibbled on your lips and absorbed your soul’s essence while you tasted his blood in your ghostly form. That is how a new bond was forged and transford into a curse for you. You must ensure that Cassian Crown falls in love with you within a year. And he must say that he loves you. If he kisses another woman before the curse breaks, the chain will drag that person into the fold. You will then be forced to make that person fall in love with you as well."
Cixi simply watched the Reaper, weighing every word carefully. If this thing vanished again for months, she might find herself in trouble all over again.
It would be better to extract every single rule before the Reaper disappeared and left her blind to yet another catastrophic mistake.
"Let ask you a few questions," Cixi said, anchoring her hands against her thighs. "First, what am I supposed to do, or not do, in my ghost form and in my human form?"
It seed unlikely that only one form carried consequences. She was immortal now. Rules had to apply to both states.
At least she had not kissed anyone after Cassian Crown, and he had not, miraculously—
She silently thanked Heaven. She had no intention of creating so reverse harem bound by supernatural contracts.
"You can always comfort the dying," the Grim Reaper stated. "You can make promises to them. But if you do, you must fulfil them. Making a promise places you in a binding soul contract with the deceased. If you fail to keep your word, you will be reborn again and again, living through endless reincarnations until you finally fulfil that exact promise. And it is not guaranteed that you will even cross paths with that specific person in every life."
Cixi clamped her mouth shut, cursing the Reaper under her breath.
A wave of regret hit her for not killing her abusers instead.
If she had taken revenge back then, she would not be dealing with soul contracts and immortal curses now. Or perhaps this bitter ex-Empress would have cursed her anyway, simply for seeking vengeance.
Who knew?
The Reaper was fundantally untrustworthy.
Cixi made a firm ntal note. From tomorrow onwards, she would research every piece of lore she could find about Grim Reapers.
"Furthermore," the Reaper continued, the red embers in her sockets glowing brighter. "You cannot kiss a soul while in your ghost form. Doing so creates an intimate, unbreakable bond with their spirit. If that dying person wishes to never die just so they can remain with you, that sheer willpower will override death itself. That person will revive."
The words caught Cixi’s imdiate attention. Blood rushed loudly in her ears.
Did Cassian wish to survive strictly to be with her? Is this how he survived? Did he feel the pull to stay connected with her?
’Then how did he manage to forget entirely?’
"Did Cassian Crown have that exact thought when we kissed?" Cixi leaned forward, anticipation pulling her chest tight.
"If that were the case, I would not be assigning you the monuntal task of making him fall in love with you," the Reaper replied flatly.
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