Everyone in the Titanus region would have heard the older generation tell them this—during sky burials, the vultures wouldn't eat the corpses of people who'd committed heinous crimes.

My husband is the sky burial practitioner who buries me. The vultures circle my corpse in the air above the burial site, but they don't prey on me.

My husband frowns at the sight. "It looks like this person must have committed crimes when alive. They deserve this."

Suddenly, I remembered him pointing at me, his eyes ablaze with flames of rage as he shouted, "Nancy wouldn't have lost her baby if not for you! Someone like you doesn't even deserve to get a sky burial!"

It looks like his words are coming true. But later, he falls to his knees before my grave and weeps. He begs me to forgive him.

My corpse was set aside as the sky burial practitioner—my husband, Gideon Slater—removed the ring on my finger. He squinted at it and scrutinized it before casting it aside.

Another sky burial practitioner asked, "Why does she have a ring, Gideon?"

He wiped his blade indifferently. "I don't know. Maybe her family forgot to remove it."

Soon, he would disassemble my body and mix the parts with flour so the vultures could have me. I watched with mixed feelings as I realized he didn't recognize my corpse. He didn't even recognize that the ring he'd cast aside was our wedding band!

My chest throbbed dully. Only then did I realize that even the dead could feel heartache.

One of the other sky burial practitioners asked, "Why doesn't she have a head?"

"Yeah. Where is it?"

Someone said, "She's Emperian, so maybe her family is keeping the head for a ground burial."

Gideon faltered when he heard the mention of the body being someone Emperian. Then, he composed himself. "I don't know why these Emperians want sky burials."

In the past, I'd joked with him that I wanted him to perform the sky burial for me after my death. At the time, we'd been on good terms, so he'd frowned and told me he wanted to die before me. He said he would follow me in death if I were to leave him alone in the world.

I'd only been joking then, but it had come true now. The only issue was that Gideon hadn't recognized me.

He and the other sky burial practitioners disassembled my body and mixed it with flour before placing it on a platform. One of them, Connor Stone, looked around. "Why isn't her family here?"

Gideon scanned the area. Sure enough, there weren't any unfamiliar faces around. This was a rare occurrence. The kin of the dead would usually gather for sky burials.

"My family is around, though. Gideon is my family," I said, but no one could hear me.

The mulberry incense had already been lit, and the smoke attracted several vultures. They were already waiting to feed on the corpse. However, they gathered around before dispersing without touching my body.

The sky burial practitioners were surprised by this. "The vultures aren't eating the corpse!"

They exchanged looks. "Only those who have committed evil deeds are forsaken by the vultures during a sky burial."

I looked at the vultures who hovered, unwilling to leave yet also not eating my corpse. A bitter smile painted my lips.

It seemed Gideon had been right all along. I was an evil person who didn't even deserve to have a sky burial.

The sky burial practitioners looked at my body, feeling distressed. Gideon said helplessly, "Let's collect the corpse and contact her family to pick her up. Since she's an Emperian, she can always opt for a ground burial."

Everyone collected my corpse after that. They stored me in a freezer before disinfecting themselves. Then, they changed and got ready to head home.

Gideon pulled out his phone. I floated beside him and watched as he asked Nancy Catrall whether she was feeling better.

I'd already been missing for half a month, yet Gideon hadn't noticed. It was clear he didn't care about me. I clutched my chest, feeling like I'd been stabbed by a thousand needles.

"Aren't you heading home yet, Gideon?" his colleague asked, patting his shoulder.

He stiffened. "I will in a while."

The colleague smiled. "Are you and Madeline still fighting? Come on. Be a real man and give in when the time is right."

With that, he left. Gideon sat alone in the spacious hall, his phone screen glowing dimly. The loneliness swallowed him, yet he refused to head home.

"Go home. I'm not there," I said. I gave him a complicated look, but he couldn't see or hear me.

…

I was an Emperian who'd traveled to the Titanus region. One night, I'd returned to my hotel a little too late and had run into some hooligans. Gideon, who had been passing by, had helped me chase them away, and I'd fallen for him at first sight.

His chiseled features and tanned skin made him look particularly handsome. After exchanging numbers, I would frequently invite him out. We soon started dating and later got married.

We got along swimmingly after marriage, but at some point, we'd started arguing incessantly. Then, Gideon had stopped coming home.

In hindsight, it had started after Nancy's divorce. She would ask for his help with things every now and then, which hadn't been much of an issue initially. Then, she'd started asking him to head to her place in the middle of the night because she was scared.

Gideon didn't think it was an issue. Nancy was his childhood friend—there was nothing else between them. I was just being paranoid and irrational.

Gideon's phone rang. He answered it to hear Nancy's coquettish voice on the other end of the line. "Come over to my place for dinner, Gideon."

"No, thanks," he said hoarsely.

"Come on, I know you better than that. It's fine—she didn't mean to push me. She was probably just too angry then," Nancy said gently.

If not for me being the person she was talking about, I would've found her kind and understanding. After all, she had come to me and said smugly, "Gideon's just too anxious over me. He came over immediately when I told him my belly felt a little uncomfortable. He's just so worried about me and the baby."

I had curled my lip mockingly. "Anyone who wasn't in the know would think you were pregnant with his child."

"Now, now. You can't put it like that—Gideon is just caring for me because we're childhood friends."

I'd frowned and looked away upon seeing how pretentious she was. She even rubbed her belly, which was still flat.

Without warning, she'd tugged on my hand. I'd shaken her off, and she'd fallen down the stairs. Because of that, she'd miscarried.

Nancy had wailed in the hospital about wanting me to pay for her baby's life. I'd stared dazedly at Gideon when he'd arrived at the hospital. "I didn't—"

He'd looked at me coldly without saying a word. Then, he'd brushed past me and entered the ward.

A wave of bitterness had surged in me seeing him so anxious. My explanation became lodged in my throat; bitterness was all I could taste.

Gideon and I had gotten into a cold war after that. To be accurate, he ignored me. I'd explained everything to him over text, but he didn't read them or reply. I had no choice but to give up.

Gideon didn't seem to want to talk about me. His expression was gentle as he said, "Let's not talk about her. Have your dinner and get some rest. Don't overthink things, okay? I'll visit you tomorrow."

I watched him dazedly. He wasn't even willing to talk about me anymore. Did he hate me so?

…

The following day, Connor said, "We can't reach the body's family."

"Is there a phone number or address?" Gideon asked.

"There's no address. We only have a number."

Gideon seemed to think of something. He frowned and asked, "Do we know the corpse's identity?"

Everyone exchanged looks, their expressions turning worried. Generally, for sky burials, the dead's family would wait to watch the burial.

Yet yesterday, no one had been around. That itself had already been odd, and the fact that the vultures refused to eat the body made things weirder. Today, no one could reach the dead's next of kin.

Connor sounded afraid as he asked, "Could something have gone wrong?"

"Let's wait a little longer. We'll call the police if we still can't contact the next of kin," Gideon said. He was prepared for the worst.

After a couple of days, they still couldn't reach my family. Left with no choice, they called the police. A forensic doctor arrived with the police.

When he saw my disassembled body, he immediately said, "The body shows signs of corrosion—the skin is red and has boils. This is death caused by strong acid poisoning! The victim is a woman between 23 to 27 years old. She even had a manicure."

Connor looked at my nails. "Madeline likes getting her nails done in this color, too. Doesn't she, Gideon?"

Only when everyone looked at him did he realize he'd said the wrong thing. He hurriedly backtracked. "I was talking nonsense! Forget I ever said anything."

Gideon didn't look bothered. "It's fine. Plenty of people have their nails done in this color."

The police took my disassembled body with them, and everyone had their statement taken.

To my surprise, Gideon went home that night after leaving the police station. Perhaps it was because of the manicure. I looked around the apartment nostalgically—this was my and Gideon's home. Everything was still how it had been before our argument; there were memories of our past everywhere I looked.

The air was musty. It had only been half a month since anyone had entered the apartment, yet it already felt abandoned. Gideon didn't seem to notice, though. He headed to the master bedroom and pulled out a box storing his documents and identification.

There was also a ring inside it—his wedding band. Due to his job, he wasn't allowed to wear rings. So, he rarely wore it and usually stored it in the box. He picked it up and scrutinized it, feeling a little doubtful.

"This ring looks a lot like the one on that body…" he mumbled. Then, he shook his head. "It can't be her. I'm overthinking this."

He retrieved his ID from the box and sat on the couch, seemingly waiting for me to return. His phone rang, breaking the silence. He answered it and heard Nancy say, "Gideon, I'm scared. I saw on the news that a female corpse was discovered a few days ago. I'm terrified there are bad people out there."

He said soothingly, "You'll be fine, okay? Don't be scared. I'll be right there."

"Can't she go to the cops?" I mocked. This was something I'd done whenever Nancy had asked Gideon to go to her. It was too bad he couldn't hear me anymore.

It wasn't that I wasn't disappointed in Gideon. It had never occurred to him that I would also be scared whenever Nancy was scared, that I would also need help when she needed it.

He'd never once chosen me. Sometimes, I couldn't help wondering whether he would've chosen to marry me if Nancy hadn't married someone else. Then again, I was already dead. I didn't see any point in obsessing over these things anymore.

The night I'd died, I'd called Gideon for help, telling him that I felt like there was someone in the living room. I'd asked him to return to check whether someone had broken in.

Yet all he'd told me was to stop being unreasonable. He'd sounded tired and hoarse as he'd said, "Nancy just had a miscarriage, Madeline. She needs someone by her side."

That had made me break down, but I still hadn't dared to raise my voice. "I need someone by my side, too! I can seriously hear someone in the living room!"

"Stop it! Can't you go to the cops?" Gideon had hung up after that. I'd stared at my phone, feeling devastated. My husband had chosen to stay by another woman's side when I needed him most.

I didn't remember what happened after that. When I next opened my eyes, I realized I'd turned into a ghost and could only follow Gideon. I supposed that meant I'd died.