The weight of Elias’s confession—I can't lose you again... the first time—settled over Jiyeon like a shroud woven from starlight and sorrow. They stood in the heavy, breathing silence of the annex, their embrace now a silent pact, a fusion of two fates that had violently collided a century too late.

When Elias finally pulled back, his face was a portrait of tragic resolve. The earlier vulnerability was gone, replaced by the cool, guarded distance of a creature who carried the burden of eternity. He didn’t meet her eyes. Instead, he stared at the antique mirror, his jaw set.