Hajin stared at the girl for a second, taking in the familiar cyan hair, the bright yellow eyes, and the endless field of flowers stretching out around them.

The ring world looked exactly the same as he remembered it, peaceful and quiet, with the gentle breeze carrying the sweet scent of petals through the air.

"I didn’t expect to see you so soon," she said, her voice carrying that same melodious tone he remembered from before.

She kept her hands resting lightly on his shoulders, the steady flow of her warm mana still seeping into his core. "And why is your condition so bad this time? Your mana is practically hollowed out."

He opened his mouth to explain, the words about summoning a second soul and the heavy mana drain starting to form, but then he stopped mid-sentence.

Something about the way she was looking at him felt off. Not her expression, which was genuinely concerned, but the fact that she was asking him at all.

"Wait," he said, his brow furrowing. "Couldn’t you see the outside world? I swore you could see through the ring before, no?"

Her smile faded slightly, her hands stilling on his shoulders as her eyes dropped away from his face. The playful energy she usually carried was completely absent, replaced by something quieter and heavier.

"Not anymore," she said softly. "Ever since we formed that contract and the golden light appeared, the connection between my world and the outside started to fray. By the time you woke up here last time, it was completely gone."

She let out a small, quiet breath, her fingers tightening slightly against his shoulders without her seeming to notice.

"I cannot see anything anymore," she continued, her voice steady but carrying an undertone he had never heard from her before.

"I cannot hear your voice through the ring either. The only time I can interact with you is when your consciousness physically enters this world like you did before. Outside of that, it’s just... silence in here. I’ve been sitting in this field with nothing but the flowers and the sky, waiting for something to happen."

He felt something heavy settle in his chest as the words sank in.

She had been completely cut off from the outside world, trapped in this small, fragmented space with no way to know what was happening, no way to hear him or see anything beyond the borders of her own prison.

He had no idea how long it had been for her. Days, weeks, maybe longer. Time didn’t move the same way in here, but the loneliness in her voice was impossible to miss.

"How long have you been like this?" he asked, his voice quieter than he intended.

She didn’t answer right away, just looked away toward the flower field with a small, forced smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

"I stopped counting after a while," she said. "It doesn’t matter now. You’re here, and that’s what matters."

He just lay there, staring up at her while the weight of her situation pressed down on him. She had been alone this entire time, completely isolated, and she was still smiling at him like it was nothing.

He thought about what she had told him back when they first met, how she had been stuck in this ring for millennia, trapped in the dark and the silence before he brought the golden light.

At least back then she could still speak to him, still see the outside world through the ring, still hear voices and feel connected to something beyond this field of flowers. But now she was fully caged, cut off from everything with no way to reach out and no way to know if anyone would ever come back.

’Is there anything I can do?’ he thought, his mind already running through possibilities. ’There has to be a way to fix this.’

Before he could voice the question, the system panel flickered into view above them, its text appearing in crisp, familiar lines.

[ Ring Spirit Contract Status: Incomplete ]

[ The verbal contract formed during the Ranker Exam was a temporary binding to prevent host death. ]

[ Full contract completion requires two additional steps to permanently anchor the spirit and break the prison seal. ]

He read the lines carefully, his pulse picking up slightly. ’Incomplete? So the contract I made back then wasn’t the full thing?’

[ Step 1: Assign a True Name to the spirit. ]

[ This will establish her new identity and overwrite the forgotten original, stabilizing her existence within the bloodline bond. ]

[ Step 2: Seal the contract with physical contact. ]

[ A kiss on the lips is required to complete the mana resonance and permanently break the prison seal. ]

He stared at the second step for a solid three seconds, his brain completely stalling as the words sank in. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

’A kiss?’ he thought, his face heating up despite himself. ’On the lips? Seriously?’

His eyes drifted down to her face without him meaning to, stopping right on her lips. They were soft and naturally pink, looking incredibly beautiful in the bright sunlight filtering through the flower field, and he felt his face get even hotter as his brain short-circuited for a second.

He shot up to his feet so fast that she actually let out a small, startled scream, stumbling backward while her hands flew up to her chest.

"M-Master?" she gasped, her eyes wide as she looked at him. "What’s wrong? Are you okay?"

He quickly turned his head away, coughing into his fist while trying to force the heat out of his cheeks. "It’s nothing. Just... stood up too fast."

She blinked at him, clearly unconvinced but not pushing it, her hands slowly dropping back to her sides as she steadied her breathing.

He cleared his throat one more time, trying to get his head back on track before dragging his attention back to the system prompt.

Step one was straightforward enough, and it tied directly into something he had been meaning to ask her since the last time he was here.

"Hey," he said, keeping his voice steady despite the lingering awkwardness. "Do you remember your name yet?"

She went completely still at the question, her bright yellow eyes dropping to the grass at her feet. She looked really sad, her shoulders slumping slightly as the silence stretched on between them.

A few seconds passed in silence before she finally shook her head slowly, her voice coming out soft and hollow.

"No," she whispered. "I still can’t remember it."

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little awkward about the silence hanging between them.

"Well," he started, keeping his voice casual. "If you can’t remember it, would you like it if I gave you one?"

She froze, her head snapping up so fast her hair whipped around her shoulders, her eyes going wide as she stared at him like he had just suggested something impossible.

Her hands came up to cover her mouth, her breath hitching in her throat while tears started welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"You would do that?" she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "For me?"