In the rainy, shadowy Blackwood Town of Oregon, 24-year-old biology PhD student Elena is forced into an underground auction to pay off her adoptive father’s huge gambling debt. She is bought by Alistair Thorne, master of the town’s oldest manor. The Thorne family, who hides their ancient vampire lineage behind an international timber business, suffers from a fatal blood decay called “Silver Rot”. Elena is a rare living vessel whose unique blood antibodies can suppress the disease, though a complete cure requires draining her heart blood in a ritual. The two sign a one-year blood contract, making Elena his nominal wife. While enduring Alistair’s cold and possessive obsession, she falls into power struggles set by Silas, the ambitious family supervisor who intends to ruin Alistair by accelerating Elena’s death. Cornered, Elena discovers a lost biological gel formula hidden in her grandmother’s brass pendant, which can trigger deep suspended animation and rebuild the circulatory system. When the ritual blade approaches her chest, the fatal redemption hunt turns into a desperate gamble for two lonely souls to break the ancient curse and defy fate.
