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Chapter 175: The Cradle of Shadows (P 2)

Author: QuillWhisper
last update Last Updated: 2026-01-14 23:40:17

Panni looked at her husband, then at her daughter. She realized the true nature of the "Forbidden Love." It wasn't just about two families who weren't supposed to be together. It was about the Resonance of Choice.

She walked toward Grace, her own "Master Key" blood singing in response to the Cradle. She didn't try to fight the pressure. She let it in.

"Grace," Panni said, her voice soft, cutting through the roaring wind. "You remember the cottage? Before the Vanes found us? You remember the song I used to sing when you couldn't sleep?"

Grace’s golden eyes flickered. The swirling silver leaves slowed. "The song about the river," she whispered.

"It wasn't a song about a river, Grace. It was a song about Silence," Panni said, stepping into the circle of pillars. "The kind of silence you choose. Not the one Silas forced on the world, but the one you find when you're safe in your father's arms."

Lucien roared, drawing a silver-plated pistol. "Enough! If I can't have the Source, I'll liquid
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  • TIME TO FALL IN LOVE   Chapter 185: The Great Synchronization (P 2)

    Jinyan looked at Panni. She was staring at the pendulum, her face a mask of exhaustion. The "Contract of Necessity" was failing her. Without the anchor of her love for Jinyan, the subsonic hum of the mansion was beginning to pull at her, enticing her to let go, to stop the pain, to become a quiet note in the Chorus."Panni, don't listen to him," Jinyan pleaded, his voice breaking. "Stay with me. Stay loud.""Loud hurts, Jinyan," Panni whispered, her eyes fixed on the silver blade. "The silence... it’s so much easier. You told me I was a liability. Maybe the Archive is the only place where I’m not a burden."The clock began to strike eleven. The chorus outside began to hum, a sound so pure and terrifying it made the windows rattle.Annie moved to the control panel behind the pendulum, her fingers flying over the brass keys. "Jinyan! The pendulum isn't just a clock—it’s a Biometric Scalpel! It’s going to strip the emotional layers from your DNA until only the 'Contract' remains! If you

  • TIME TO FALL IN LOVE   Chapter 184: The Great Synchronization

    [The Great Synchronization]The Aeolian Isles did not smell of the sea. They smelled of ancient parchment, heated brass, and the sterile, metallic scent of a world frozen in 1782. As the silver transporter touched down on the marble docks, the sound of a thousand synchronized heartbeats vibrated through the hull.Panni stood by the exit, her hand clutching the iron key—the "Master Deed"—so hard the rusted edges bit into her skin. Through the promenade windows, she watched the Chorus. Hundreds of couples, dressed in the high-collared silks of the 18th century, stood in eerie, rhythmic perfection. They didn't speak. They didn't move. Their eyes were fixed on the sky, glowing with a faint, charcoal-grey light that mirrored the pulse now dormant in Panni’s own neck."They aren't people anymore," Annie whispered, her voice trembling as she gripped the railing. "They’re resonators. Caspian Panni didn't just expatriate the debt; he turned the debtors into a biological network."Jinyan stood

  • TIME TO FALL IN LOVE   Chapter 183: The Expatriation of Debt (2)

    "Mama?" Grace’s voice was small, but it carried that bell-like clarity. Her eyes opened—they were sapphire again, but they were filled with a terrifying wisdom. "The man in the clock is hungry. He wants to eat the minutes of our lives."Jinyan turned to Panni, his expression one of desperate resolve. "We have no choice. If we stay, he kills everyone to get to us. If we go to this 'New World,' we fight him on his own ground.""I'm not going anywhere with you as my 'protector' after what you did today," Panni said, her voice cold and sharp. "If we go, we go as partners in a Contract of Necessity. No more 'Sweet Love.' No more lies. You are my guard, Jinyan. Nothing more."The words cut Jinyan deeper than any iron staff could. He flinched, his obsidian eyes shimmering with an unspeakable pain, but he nodded. "If that is the price to keep you and Grace alive, I will pay it. I will be your shield. I will be your shadow. I will never ask for your heart again."A low, subterranean roar shook

  • TIME TO FALL IN LOVE   Chapter 182: The Expatriation of the Debt (Part 1)

    [The Expatriation of the Debt]The air in the melting vault felt like a drowning man's last breath—heavy, humid, and thick with the scent of ozone. The obsidian phone in Annie’s hand continued to vibrate, a mechanical purr that seemed to pulse in time with the flickering lights of the dying Highlands facility.Panni stood like a statue carved from grief. She held Grace tightly, her arms aching from the weight of her sleeping daughter, but her eyes were fixed on Jinyan. The silence between them was no longer the comfortable quiet of a shared life; it was a vast, icy canyon. The echoes of his "Heartbreak Protocol"—the way he had looked at her with such convincing, lethal coldness—still rang in her ears."The New World?" Jinyan’s voice rasped, breaking the tension. He stepped toward Annie, but his eyes never left Panni, searching for a spark of the woman who had trusted him blindly only an hour ago. All he found was a wall of frost."It’s not a metaphor," Annie whispered, her thumb hover

  • TIME TO FALL IN LOVE   Chapter 181: The Heartbreak Protocol (2)

    "Panni! Shut down the emotional centers!" Jian’s voice was frantic now, losing its synthesized calm. "The heartbreak is causing a neural cascade! The ledger is being corrupted by 'Traumatic Dissonance'! You must remain... Executive... Calm...""He... he’s leaving me," Panni sobbed. The pain was so intense it bypassed her motor cortex. She wasn't just a ledger; she was a woman whose world had just collapsed.In that moment of absolute, soul-shattering agony, the "CEO" lost his grip. The logical pathways Jian had built were flooded with a tidal wave of grief—a biological surge that no corporate algorithm could index.Panni let out a scream that wasn't a note or a frequency—it was a raw, human sound of loss. She lunged forward, not toward the door, but toward Jinyan, her hands grabbing his coat."LOOK AT ME!" she shrieked. "You can't do this! You can't leave us!"Jinyan didn't turn. He remained a statue of ice.The charcoal pulse on Panni’s neck suddenly surged, then turned grey and dull

  • TIME TO FALL IN LOVE   Chapter 180: The Heartbreak Protocol (Part 1)

    [The Heartbreak Protocol]The wind howling through the Eiger’s jagged peaks felt like the screaming of ghosts. Below the north face, buried under tons of ancient ice and granite, lay the Boardroom of the Highlands—the final, sanctified vault of the Original Family.Jinyan carried Panni through the blinding sleet, his boots crunching over frozen stone. Beside them, Annie struggled against the gale, her face a mask of terror. Panni was limp in Jinyan’s arms, her eyes open but vacant, staring at a world only she could see. The charcoal pulse at her throat throbbed with a sickly, rhythmic glow, casting long, rhythmic shadows against Jinyan’s jaw."He’s coming for the child, Panni," Jian’s voice whispered inside her skull, a cold wind that chilled her more than the Alpine frost. "Jinyan is a liability. He is the dissonance that threatens the merger. If he reaches the Altar, the Board will authorize a total purge. For his own safety, you must let him go.""I won't... leave him," Panni’s voi

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