A Heart Plundered Dry

[My remaining lifespan: 36 Hours]

I didn't cry when my own mother branded a death pact into my chest.

I didn't fight back when my brother kicked me into the mud using the very leg I gave my life force to heal.

But when I opened my bedroom door to find my husband thrashing in our bed with another woman—and he smashed my bleeding head against the floor just to shut me up—something inside me finally snapped.

With 12 hours left, my in-laws shatter my bones.

With 3 hours left, my husband hands me a poisoned drink.

They think they are getting rid of a useless burden by tossing me into the World Rift.

They have no idea they are sending me to the very place where my powers will awaken.

And when I return, hell is coming with me.

Agony.

Pain that rips my soul apart spreads outward from my collarbone.

The metallic tang of iron mixes with the stench of scorched flesh, flooding straight into my nostrils.

I am pinned hard against a rough, cold oak table. Thick hemp ropes dig into my wrists, drawing fresh blood.

“Hold her still! Arthur, don’t let her thrash! If the brand slips, the Elderwood won’t recognize the bargain!”

My mother Martha’s shrill voice echoes through the cramped room. There is not an ounce of mercy for her own daughter in that tone—only ravenous greed.

“Damn it, this brat’s stronger than she looks!” My brother, Arthur, snarls. His burly arm locks my shoulders like an iron vice. He plants one leg firmly on the floor, muscles coiling as he bears down.

That leg—the same leg I traded a Heartbeat Petal to the Elderwood to repair when gangsters broke his bones at twelve.

Now he stands on that leg I saved, shoving me toward my doom.

“Please… Mom, I beg you… Brother, let me go…” I sob hoarsely. Tears and cold sweat splash onto the tabletop.

Sizzle—

The scorching dark-red branding iron slams unannounced against my left chest, directly above my heart.

“AAAAHH—!!”

A piercing scream tears out of my throat. My body thrashes like a fish gasping for air out of water. This is no ordinary branding iron.

It is a Covenant Seal, forged from black muck from the edge of the World Rift mixed with the ashes of the dead.

When the iron pulls away, a charred mark shaped like a withered tree is burned into my chest.

The instant the brand settles, a hollow, emotionless voice, as if rising from the bottomless abyss, booms inside my skull.

【Sacrifice Subject Detected. Covenant Established.】

【Target Requirement: One Heartbeat Petal, to cure Lily Campbell’s organ failure.】

【Bloom Grace Period Activated. Countdown: 48 Hours 00 Minutes 00 Seconds.】

【Warning: If the petal is not surrendered before the countdown hits zero, the sacrificial subject will be consumed by Elderwood Black Vines. Your soul will become fertilizer.】

I slump limply over the table, gasping raggedly. My whole body burns with icy cold, as if submerged in glacial water.

Why?

Why me?

I drag my eyes sideways to stare at Lily, my younger sister, standing in the corner. Clad in a pale white nightgown, she presses a handkerchief to her mouth and weeps softly. She is Mother’s treasure, the apple of my family’s eye.

Yesterday, the doctor said her rare organ failure would kill her within three months.

Just one week after Father died in a car crash, Mother and Brother wasted no time tying me down and forcing me to strike a death bargain with the ravenous Elderwood.

“Quit sniveling! It’s an honor for you to sacrifice yourself for Lily!” Mother strides over and wipes her hands disgustedly on a tattered rag. “Your father’s gone. No one’s left to protect you. You’d better grow that petal fast. Lily doesn’t have time to wait!”

I stare at her cold face, and abruptly break into wild, hysterical laughter.

I laugh until tears stream down my cheeks, until the brand on my chest screams with every movement.

“What are you cackling about? Have you lost your mind?” Brother frowns and kicks me hard in the stomach.

I curl into a ball, coughing up blood-flecked saliva.

“A petal?” I wheeze, my voice thin as a ghost’s whisper. “Do you honestly think… I still have one left?”

I only have three Heartbeat Petals in my lifetime. These crystalline fragments of life form from a mother’s love, a father’s devotion, and pure, selfless kindness at the moment of birth.

When I was eight, Mother was diagnosed with end-stage breast cancer. I snuck alone to the Rift, cut open my young chest, and traded my first petal to save her life.

When Brother turned twelve, gangsters shattered both his legs, leaving him facing amputation. I gave up my second petal to give him his working legs back.

My final petal went to Chloe, my husband David’s disabled infant sister born with cerebral palsy, three years ago.

My Heart Seed is long drained, nothing but barren wasteland inside me now.

“Don’t play helpless!” Mother grabs fistfuls of my hair and yanks my head upward. “Your father and I loved you when you were born! You must still have petals! You’re just selfish. You want to watch your sister die!”

“I’m not lying to you…” I gaze at her in utter despair. “Mother, I truly have none left. If you force this offering, the Elderwood will tear me apart.”

“Then die!” Brother cuts me off coldly. “Your worthless life is a fair trade for Lily’s.”

【Countdown: 47 Hours 55 Minutes.】

The voice rings inside my head again, paired with a sharp, stabbing cramp in my heart. I can feel the Elderwood’s curse creeping through the brand into my veins, cold worms writhing beneath my skin.

I have to save myself.

One slim loophole exists within the Elderwood’s rules. During the Bloom Grace Period, if the sacrifice receives sincere, genuine care and affection from blood kin or a beloved, the drained Heart Seed stands a minuscule chance to sprout a new petal.

If I gain even one petal, I survive. Or at the very least, I can calm the Elderwood’s wrath.

I stagger upright from the table, ignoring my torn, ragged clothes, and stumble toward the doorway.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Mother snaps sharply.

“I’m going to find love…” I murmur, eyes hollow. “I’ll grow a petal… I’ll give you the petal…”

As long as I live, as long as this soul-rending agony stops, I will do anything.