The Borrowed Womb

As soon as I got home, I quickly messaged @HollowBranch.

They replied almost immediately. "Did your friend give you anything else today?"

"No," I typed back. "She didn’t give me anything."

"Did she touch you at all?"

I thought about it carefully. The only thing she’d touched was the fake charm.

I explained everything, and @HollowBranch responded right away. "Check the charm. See if there’s anything stuck to it."

I picked it up and examined it closely. After a while, I finally noticed a faint red mark.

"That’s it," @HollowBranch said. "She smeared blood infused with a spell onto it. She must’ve realized it was fake, so she came up with another way."

My fists clenched. I hadn’t expected her to be this vicious. She wouldn’t even give me a single day of peace. She’d already taken too much from me. If this kept going, I’d have nothing left.

I asked @HollowBranch for help again. After a long pause, they finally replied, "I do have a way, but I don’t know if you can handle it."

"I can," I replied without hesitation.

They explained that while I’d hung the charm on the sow, all it did was make the sow carry Jayde’s child instead. Now that Jayde had realized something was off, she would definitely try other ways to come after me.

If I wanted to change the situation, there was only one way: to swap the functions of the two charms.

However, since Jayde had used her own blood to cast the spell, breaking it would require something steeped in extremely heavy energy.

"Put simply," @HollowBranch wrote, "you need to let something possess you."

I hesitated for a moment, then typed back: "Okay."

Following their instructions, I bought a large number of white candles and arranged them into a strange pattern in my home.

Soon, midnight arrived. I lit each candle one by one, then stood in the center and pierced the skin between my brows.

I let the blood drip onto a sheet of yellow paper. Following the instructions, I drew a strange symbol on it, then held it over the flame and burned it.

Just then, my phone lit up. It was a message from Jayde.

"Good thing you didn’t come today. The client went crazy and insisted on a second round. I already finished a whole bottle, and I’m still here singing with them."

There was even a photo from a karaoke room attached.

I let out a cold laugh. 'Pregnant and still drinking an entire bottle? Counting on me to carry your child, aren’t you?'

I set my phone aside, mixed the burned ashes into water, and drank it down in one gulp while gritting my teeth. An overwhelming stench surged up my throat instantly, making me gag uncontrollably.

Before I could recover, I suddenly saw one of the candle flames flicker despite there being no wind. Then all the flames began to move, swaying in a strange, rhythmic pattern.

A sudden chill flooded my entire body, seeping out from deep within my bones. I started trembling uncontrollably.

Shivering, I tried to move, but my body no longer felt like it belonged to me. I couldn’t move at all. My scalp prickled as if I’d fallen into an icy abyss, and I gradually lost all sensation.

Just as I hesitated over whether to continue, my phone lit up again.

"Colette, the contract’s signed! A $2-million deal! I’ll treat you to coffee when you get back."

$2 million.

My teeth chattered—whether from the cold or the rage, I couldn’t tell.

I didn’t hesitate anymore. I began reciting the incantation @HollowBranch had given me.

The moment I finished, that icy force surged straight to the top of my head, like it was about to split my skull open.

Before I could react, it rushed down to the soles of my feet. My feet went numb with cold, and a thin layer of frost formed across the floor.

My hands lifted on their own, moving through the air as if tracing something unseen. Then they pressed against my stomach, my lips murmuring words I didn’t consciously speak.

I had no idea how long it lasted. Just when I thought I might die, suddenly, every candle in front of me went out at once.

The cold vanished instantly. Control of my body returned.

I quickly reached for my stomach. It had deflated like a punctured balloon, the heavy pressure gone completely.

I let out a long breath, relief washing over me. I hadn’t felt this light in a long time.

Just as I was about to rest, my phone rang.

Jayde’s panicked voice came through.

"Colette, are you not wearing the charm? Why did my stomach suddenly get so big? It hurts! There’s so much blood!"