"Are you threatening my family and me?" Emily’s whole demeanour changed. The little softness she showed to Cixi now vanished from her face so completely that, for a moment, she seemed like a different woman altogether.

A girl with no support had walked into her office, sat on her couch, and was now speaking to her as though she had the right to corner her in her own space.

Did Cixi not know who she was speaking to?

Did she not know what she could do?

"Do not ever threaten me again." Emily’s gaze turned sharp like a double-edged knife. "Take that as a final warning."

Yet Cixi did not flinch. If anything, a cold little laugh rose inside her.

What was there to fear? This curse would not even let her die. There was nothing left in her that trembled at the thought of loss, the way it once had after she was almost choked to death by her neighbour.

She held Emily’s stare and answered with a steadiness that surprised her no more. "I am not threatening you. I am speaking for the people who might come after the baby and me." Her fingers settled protectively over the curve beneath her dress. "Think carefully, Emily. If anything happens to me or to the child, and if Cassian comes back—and I know he will, no matter how long it takes. I know he is out there — somewhere... What do you think he will do when he learns his fiancee was killed while carrying his child because the Crown family failed to protect her?"

The words fell like a death sentence that sent goosebumps on Emily’s body for some reason. Why did her heart shiver at what Cixi had just said?

Emily simply stared at Cixi, trying to understand where this woman got her confidence.

And as per Cixi, from time to time, she had witnessed what Cassian did to people who tried to harm her. She had seen enough to know that the coin he gave her had not been some meaningless gesture. It was a promise. A dark one. But a promise nonetheless.

"He will kill you all," she went on, and something eerie entered her voice without her meaning it to. "Every last person carrying the Crown surname, if that is what it takes to wipe out the bloodline. He will do it. And I think you know perfectly well that Cassian is capable of it."

Emily’s controlled defiance wavered.

Not much... However, it was sufficient for her to consider Cixi’s statements with the seriousness they warranted.

Yes, there is a possibility of his return. And no one knows how he would react if he came back. But if what Cixi was saying was true, then Cassian would look for the woman who had claimed to be his fiancee. And if that woman had died while pregnant with his child...

Emily looked away first. She closed her eyes, gathered herself, and only then looked back at Cixi. The flare of anger had not vanished, but it had retreated behind calculation.

"I need to speak to my family," she said at last. "Once I have their answer, I will send you a message."

Cixi nodded once. "I will be waiting tomorrow," she replied. "With my bags packed."

Then she rose slowly, carefully, one hand resting against the curve of her stomach for support.

Thank God she had paid attention over the years to the way pregnant women walked and lowered themselves. That was why she could imitate it now without overdoing it.

And just as she had entered Emily’s office with that same measured care, she walked out of it the same way.

The moment she sat inside the taxi, all the strength drained from her shoulders. She fanned herself with one hand and let out a breath she had been holding too long.

When she glanced at her wristwatch, it was already half-past eight. She still needed to get home before ten... before she slipped into unconsciousness again.

Looking out the window, her thoughts drifted, against her will, back to the news of the family massacre that had spread across the country that day.

At once, her eyes began to moisten. But before she could sink once more into the image of that family being slaughtered in their sleep, she yanked her mind elsewhere and forced it towards Cassian instead.

That morning, when she had woken in his presence, she had not felt the usual heaviness she felt after waking up from real nightmares. Something had been different that morning. So different, in fact, that her eyes widened now as the realisation struck her all at once.

The city blurred past beyond the taxi window, but her gaze no longer saw any of it.

"What had I witnessed that night...?"

She tried to reach back into her memory, back to the night she had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion in Cassian’s arms.

"Which murder had I seen?"

"Where had it taken place?"

She frowned, thinking harder.

Nothing came.

No matter how hard she tried, the memory of that night’s killing remained just beyond reach.

That did not make sense at all to her.

Ever since the curse had begun, she had never forgotten a murder—not the faces, not the blood, not the place, not the way it happened. It always stayed inside her with terrible clarity, as if a photograph had been burned into her mind.

She did not possess a photographic memory. And yet, in that ghostlike state, the curse dragged her into each night, and she remembered everything.

The night Cassian had been near her.

"How was that possible?" she whispered.

"Did you say something, ma’am?" the driver asked, glancing at her in the mirror.

Cixi blinked and shook her head. "No. Nothing."

Then she fell silent again and looked out of the window, though her mind was no longer with the passing streets.

She pulled out her phone and dialled Cassian’s number at once.

He picked up on the third ring.

"Cassian, where are you?" The question leapt from her before she could soften it.

"In your mind, for the moment." His voice came through the line with that same nonchalant ease, as if nothing in the world had ever truly pressed upon him.

Cixi closed her eyes in irritation. "Could you be serious for once?"

"Very well." His tone changed at once, flattening into something colder and more focused. "Did you meet Emily?"

The sudden seriousness in his voice was so abrupt it almost sounded absurd, as though he had asked whether she had reached a business target.

"Yes. I met her. She said she would let me know tomorrow whether I can move in or not."

Then, almost lazily, "And how exactly did the scammer scam, Emily?"

Cixi’s mouth fell open. "So when it comes to other people, you can be serious, but when it comes to me, you turn everything into a joke?"

"Blood would spill, Lousy Kisser, if I ever took you seriously."

That silenced her at once.

Cixi stared at the phone as though she could glare through it and reach him.

There he was again. Always talking about blood. Always speaking of killing people in her name like that was some grand romantic offering.