Since returning from the underworld, Linh Nguyet no longer dreamed.
No nightmares. No memories. No distant voices.
But she knew — the silence wasn't peace.
It was waiting.
One night, under the pale glow of moonlight, she noticed something strange beneath the scar on her wrist.
Something was moving under her skin.
Thin red threads, like veins, twisted and spread from her wrist to her elbow. She recoiled, horrified — but they remained, embedded beneath her flesh like a cursed root system.
Luc Trac appeared beside her, his expression unreadable.
"That's the Mark of the Blood-Bound Soul," he said.
"It's the price of binding your spirit with blood."
"You told me the ritual would save me."
"I told you… it would keep you here." He exhaled. "But I didn't know it would awaken something else."
Linh Nguyet began to feel lighter by the day — but not in peace.
It felt like her soul was slowly slipping out of her body.
A part of her… was no longer human.
That night, in her bedroom mirror, she saw herself smile.
But she wasn't smiling.
The reflection looked straight at her — and in her voice, it whispered:
"If you're you… then who am I?"
She screamed. The mirror shattered into a thousand shards.
Luc Trac rushed in, holding her tightly.
"The mark is opening," he said. "The curse… is feeding on your soul."
"Is there a way to remove it?"
He was silent for a long moment before answering:
"We have to find the source of the curse.
Return to the place you first met me…
…and where you once chose to die for me."
A chill ran through her.
He was speaking of the forbidden hill behind the Luc Family's graveyard — a place whispered about by villagers, where anyone who entered after midnight… never returned.
The next morning, they prepared for the journey.
Before leaving, Luc Trac tied a single red thread around their wrists, binding them together.
"If your soul is pulled away again," he said, "I'll follow you to the end.
But if this thread breaks…
…we'll never find each other again."
Rain fell softly as they approached the edge of the cursed forest.
Each step echoed like a warning from deep underground.
No wind. No birds. No moonlight.
Only a narrow trail leading into utter darkness.
Linh Nguyet gripped his hand tightly. She said nothing — but deep inside, a question tore at her heart:
If what awakens inside me is no longer human…
Will you still love me?