Aria's words made our tigers tremble. We had thought Luís' appearance might turn things around, but she still hadn't let go of her grudge.
Killing the entire village had become her deepest obsession!
"Do you want to hug Luís?" Luna suddenly asked beside her.
Aria froze for a moment, then nodded frantically. She said she wanted to—she had dreamed of it. Luís was her favorite person. If she could hug him again, she wouldn't mind vanishing into smoke.
Luna continued, "If you want to embrace Luís, you have to put down the butcher knife. You can't hold him until your resentment is gone."
Aria froze. She looked at the Fulu talismans pasted around the well wall, her expression unreadable as she wrestled with her thoughts.
Just then, Luís's Sound Soul began to flicker, growing fainter as if it might disappear at any moment.
"Aria, be happy!" Luís flashed a smile as his Sound Soul slowly faded away.
"Aria, turn back! Uncle Er definitely wouldn't want to see you like this. Put down the butcher's knife and find peace!" Orwell was already in tears, his gaze shifting between the fading Uncle Er and Aria, who had become a vengeful spirit. No one had suffered more than him.
"No… I need to hug you, just once. Don't go—no matter what, I need to hold you one last time." Aria watched Luís slowly disappearing and grew desperate.
"Ah—!"
Aria threw her head back and let out a horrible shriek. A cloud of black smoke surged toward the sky, and all traces of her ghostly form vanished, transforming her into the sweet girl-next-door she once was.
At the same time, the Fulu on the well wall faded away, and the last golden light dimmed, as if it had fulfilled its final purpose.
Aria, now wearing a clean white dress, slowly stepped out of the well. Her vengeful aura had dissipated, the malignant energy gone. We were no longer afraid of her.
"Luís!" With tears in her eyes, Aria leaped into his arms.
But at that very moment, Luís's Sound Soul vanished. Aria stumbled forward, clutching at empty air.
"Aria, be happy!" Luís's voice echoed one last time before disappearing completely. The Equinox Flower tattoo on Orwell's body darkened, its leaves withering strangely—yet the flower bloomed as if alive. Stein, Luna, and I stared in disbelief.
"Luís…!" Aria sat frozen on the ground, cradling the fading remnants of his Sound Soul. "I'm sorry…"
Finally, Aria smiled—a smile of total release. She gazed up at the sky and vanished into a wisp of black smoke.
Things always leave regrets. Lovers never became lovers, and even their final embrace went unfulfilled. Yet Aria let go. The matter of the Siberian weasel's graves also became a thing of the past.
It was an unexpected turn—one even I hadn't foreseen. I'd thought Aria would go on a killing spree after emerging, especially since she couldn't even get that one hug she longed for. But perhaps she truly saw through everything in the end.
After Aria disappeared, Luna's eyes suddenly rolled back, and she fainted. I rushed to catch her, but strangely, Orwell didn't follow. By the time we reached the highway, we realized he and the Siberian weasel had stayed behind on the mountain.
Back at the store, I called Stella to bandage Luna's wounds. Since it was a ghost injury, Stein warned that the lingering yin qi made it untreatable by ordinary doctors, so we avoided the hospital.
Stella arrived and treated Luna's wounds with yellow Taoist talismans and other remedies before finally wrapping them up.
The next morning, my account showed a new deposit of $150,000—Orwell had kept his promise. But he never returned to my store. The next time I saw him was years later, on a street. His eyes were lifeless, and he sat grinning like a fool, begging on the ground. He no longer recognized me.
I knew this wasn't Orwell anymore. Perhaps… he was already gone. Living an extra thirty years for him meant thirty more years of suffering. This must've been the village chief's foolish son.
I didn't say a word. I just tossed two hundred dollars into his bowl and walked away. As for the Siberian weasel, I never heard of it again. Maybe it remained on the mountain forever.
Back in the present, Luna woke up. Seeing her bandages and fresh change of clothes, she instinctively hugged herself tightly, her face flushing red.
"Roger… was it you who bandaged my wounds last night?" she asked shyly.
I decided to tease her. "Yeah, there was no one else here. Stein's arms are too short—couldn't exactly let him do it, right?"
Luna bowed her head, embarrassed. "Thank you, Roger! But… the clothes I'm wearing…"
"I changed those too. Had to—your dress was covered in blood," I continued, curious how she'd react.
"This…" Luna's face turned even redder. "So… Roger, did you… see…?"
"Well, yeah. Couldn't be helped."
"See your mom, you bastard! Still trying to harass my sister?!" Stella's voice cut in from behind me. A sharp kick to my backside nearly sent me sprawling.
Damn it—how can two people from the same mother have such different personalities? That kick almost killed me. She hits way too hard.
"Don't listen to him. I was the one who did everything last night. These are still my clothes - don't you recognize them?" Stella glared at me with a look that could kill.
Now the two sisters sat together, looking identical as if cast from the same mold. If not for their vastly different personalities, I truly couldn't tell them apart. The key was that both were like delicate flowers carved from jade, breathtakingly beautiful. If one could embrace them both at night, it would be worth dying for.
Alas, my life was bitter. I could have had twin beauties like these... Damn you, God, you son of a bitch.
"Sister, how can you be so rude to Roger? Thanks to his tattoos, we were freed from our curses," Luna said.
Stella had been suffering from recurring nightmares, so I tattooed her with a Baku. Luna was under a curse that kept her from daylight, so I gave her the Mitsume ga Tōru tattoo. I'd perfectly solved both girls' problems.
"What's the big deal? It's not like he worked for free. Hmph! Why should I respect this bastard Roger when he was just trying to take advantage of you?" Stella snorted coldly.
I quickly explained, "Hey, you've got it all wrong! I was just teasing Luna."
"Oh? You call my sister 'Luna girl' but call me a tigress? You're just begging for a beating!" Stella raised her fist to hit me again, but Luna stopped her.
"Sister, don't be so rough. You're still a girl, after all," Luna intervened.
"Hmph!" Stella stamped her foot angrily and rolled her eyes, but she couldn't lose her temper in front of Luna.
"Just wait until my sister leaves. Then we'll see how I deal with you," Stella muttered under her breath.