The Devil's Favourite Obsession-Chapter 68: Grim Reaper - 2

"How could you?" Cixi shook her head, unable to force her thoughts into order, unable to accept the reasoning being forced upon her. "How could you punish me for a name? Are you going to hunt down every single woman named Cixi who seeks an escape from her misery?"

Pain burned in her eyes. The whites of her eyes had turned slightly red, thin veins surfacing from the pressure building behind them.

"There is no other Cixi in this world apart from you," the Reaper answered, its voice carrying the authority of someone who only knew how to declare.

Cixi pressed her lips together, fighting the sudden urge to scream until her lungs gave out. Out of all the names in the world... her parents had to choose the name Cixi....

Why would they choose that name when they were not even from Asia? Did they think that by giving her the name Cixi, she would turn into an empress once she grew up?

Her mind almost cursed the day she was born.

"I could not let a human bearing my name fall exactly as I fell," the ex-Empress continued. "You are young and possess a strong will. What you perceive as a curse was bestowed upon you as a gift. Yet you seem to have failed it."

"Failed it?" Cixi shot back, her frustration finally breaking through. "I fail to understand the wisdom behind my being forced to watch massacres night after night. You might find peace in collecting souls over the centuries, but I do not want to witness the blood of innocent people draining every night while I am being helpless."

For a moment, the Reaper said nothing. The eerie silence stretched between them, those glowing red embers studying Cixi’s very soul.

"You only see the trees and completely miss the forest," the Reaper commented.

The words lingered in her mind before meaning slowly formed. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she demanded. "What good does it do me to watch madness every night except making me sick with guilt? Every time I feel like I should do something... and every time I am forced to do nothing." She lowered her voice. "I feel helpless."

"I see your opinion has not changed," the Reaper murmured before rising from the couch. She raised the ancient scythe and struck the floorboards once.

A chilling wave of supernatural energy violently exploded from the iron blade, rippling through the walls of the entire building.

Cixi’s eyes flew wide open. The Reaper striking her scythe never resulted in anything good. "Are you giving me another curse?" Panic slipped into her voice. She could barely survive the first one. "What more do you want from me? I already suffer enough!"

"You do not have to keep cursing me," Cixi pleaded, desperately attempting to negotiate with a nightmare. "Let’s just have a civilised discussion." But she knew with utter certainty that she was already too late.

"You wish to be free from the curse?" the Reaper asked.

Cixi nodded instantly. "Yes."

Wait! So she is not being cursed for the second time? Hope flickered dangerously in her chest.

Was the Reaper freeing her?

Immortality might sound like a blessing to others. To her, it was a lifelong prison.

Would she finally be free?

She opened her mouth exactly as the room plunged into pitch-black darkness. Her lips sealed shut, the oxygen suddenly felt cold and heavy.

Her purse suddenly flew open. The heavy coin drifted entirely on its own between Cixi and the Reaper. Golden light began to glow from its surface, floating between them like a verdict. The only things visible now were the Reaper’s red eyes, the curved blade of the scythe, and the burning coin.

"Listen carefully, Cixi McLore," the Reaper commanded, dragging Cixi’s attention away from the floating gold. "If you truly want to be free from this endless nightmare, you must make Cassian Crown—the owner of the sovereign coin—fall deeply in love with you."

Cixi stared at the glowing eyes in disbelief, the blood suddenly turning to ice in her veins.

"To achieve this goal, you have exactly one year," the Reaper continued mercilessly. "Before twelve months pass, he must willingly confess that he loves you with all his heart."

Horror brutally replaced her fleeting joy. "What?!" The single word ripped out of her. She stared at the Reaper as if the Empress had truly gone insane. Making a crazy mafia boss fall in love? Did that man even possess a beating heart? "Are you insane? What kind of task is that? I am not doing anything like that!"

The Reaper completely ignored her outburst. "If Cassian Crown kisses any other person apart from you before the time is up, that specific person will also be added to your task. You will be forced to make them fall in love with you as well."

A thousand volts of absolute terror crashed heavily through Cixi’s brain, destroying her reasoning mind.

What was that even supposed to mean? The impossibility of the rules rang so loudly in her head that she thought she had accidentally screamed the question out loud.

When silence answered her again, she finally forced her hesitating lips apart. "What in the world do you mean?"

"It means exactly this, Cixi! You were never supposed to kiss anyone while you wandered in your cursed ghost form. It was strictly forbidden," the Reaper explained coldly. "Yet you kissed Cassian Crown with absolute passion, forcefully binding him into the curse."

Cixi’s frown deepened so severely that her forehead ached. "How is that possibly my fault?" She demanded a justification. "You never explained a single rule of this twisted purgatory. Why am I being condemned for something I was never told? You cannot simply hand me a death sentence for granting a dying man his final, delusional wish! Maybe you should have given me a manual instead of throwing me into this madness!" Her frustration sharpened. "This is cheating. This is completely unfair. You cannot punish me for granting someone’s last wish!"

The red embers in the Reaper’s sockets flared. "And how exactly did you deduce that it was his ’final wish’?"

"Because I watched him get shot seven times, and a sword was stabbed in his back!" Cixi snapped back frantically. "I saw him taking his last breath. And—"

"Did you see any Reapers there?" the ex-Empress Reaper interrupted softly.