Chapter 37 - ​Chapter 37: The Ghost in the Mirror

​Three days later, the news cycle was dominated by the "Tragic End of the Star-Crossed Lovers." Xuan watched through a cracked window as a black-clad procession moved toward the city cemetery—a funeral for empty caskets. He saw Wei Chen standing at the head of the grave, dabbing at his eyes with a silk handkerchief. The sight sent Xuan into an extreme level of jealousy that manifested as a physical tremor in his hands. "Look at him, Ning. Look at the actor taking his final bow," he muttered, his voice dripping with lethal venom. Ning, pale and gaunt but alive, stood behind him, her hands locked around his waist. Her extreme level of possessiveness had only deepened in the fever; she looked at the image of her grieving parents and felt nothing but a cold, hard resentment. "They're burying a lie," she whispered, her eyes fixed on the rival's face. "They think they've won because they've mourned us." The misunderstanding of their "tragedy" was the ultimate joke. She turned Xuan around, her eyes wide and manic. "We should show them, Xuan. We should show them what happens to people who try to own what isn't theirs." The misery of their hidden existence was beginning to transform into a thirst for vengeance. They weren't just survivors anymore; they were the architects of a haunting. Xuan gripped her face, his thumbs pressing into her cheeks. "We'll wait until they think the wounds have healed," he promised, his voice a low, terrifying vow. "And then we'll rip the scabs off."