When Xi Yin was twelve, her father died in the line of duty.
That same night, a voice spoke in her mind:
"A broken object can still be mended. So too can a broken heart."
That voice belonged to Chao Zhi, an ancient spirit a thousand years old and the symbiotic partner bound by the Xi family's contract.
He taught her to restore relics and gave her the wisdom to measure life by time. For seventeen years, he never once offered a word of comfort.
He was simply... there.
She thought this was what her life would always be:
living alongside an ancient soul and mending the cracks time had left in the past.
Until she met Zheng Xuyou deep in the ruins.
He handed her a bottle of water still warm from his body and said, "The hands that restore relics can save people, too. Don't let yours go to waste."
For the first time, she realized that the warmth of everyday life could burn.
Chao Zhi said, "This man is steady as a boulder. Neither mighty waves nor the passage of time can shake him."
He paused.
"He can be trusted."
The contract points to a seal left unfinished for a thousand years.
The jade ring "Heartkeeper" can cut through a severed thread as sharply as a knife through bone.
And she must choose one complete version of Chao Zhi from among two.
Xi Yin knows she has never been the one torn apart.
She is the one who must make the choice.
For herself. For him. For the companion who has silently stayed by her side for seventeen years.
And for the one still waiting where he is, for her to decide.
