The night in the Knight Mansion was unsettlingly quiet—too quiet.
Rhea stood at the balcony of the west wing, the cold wind brushing her hair back as she looked over the estate. A strange heaviness lingered in the air, like the calm before a violent storm.
She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shake off the feeling.
Behind her, the door creaked.
Rhea spun quickly.
"Adrian?"
No answer.
Only the faint echo of footsteps fading down the long hallway.
Her heartbeat quickened. Since the curse revelation, she had grown used to shadows shifting, to the staff whispering, and to Adrian's unpredictable moods—but tonight felt different.
She stepped out of her room and peered down the corridor.
Empty.
But she knew she wasn't alone.
"Is someone there?" she whispered.
A cold breath brushed the back of her neck.
Rhea jerked around—nothing.
Her pulse hammered in her ears as she backed away, bumping into the wall. That's when she noticed it—a wet footprint on the marble floor.
Fresh.
Human.
But trailing away from her room… not toward it.
Her stomach dropped.
Someone—or something—had walked past her door.
A sudden hand grabbed her wrist.
Rhea screamed—
"Rhea, calm down!" Adrian's voice cut through her panic.
She clung to him, shaking. "There was someone here. Footsteps. A presence. I'm not imagining it!"
Adrian's jaw tightened, eyes scanning the corridor with sharp alertness.
He wasn't brushing it off this time.
Because he felt it too.
"There's someone inside the mansion," he said in a low, dangerous tone. "Someone who shouldn't be here."
His grip on her wrist tightened protectively.
"Stay close. Don't leave my side."
He pulled her with him as they walked toward the footprints.
Rhea's fear grew with every step.
The trail led to the old forbidden wing—the one Adrian had strictly told her never to enter.
The one connected to the curse.
The marble floor was smeared with water… then something darker.
Reddish. Thick.
Blood.
Rhea swallowed hard. "Adrian… whose blood is that?"
Adrian didn't answer. His expression became even more unreadable, almost feral.
He kneeled, touched the stain, and lifted it to examine the color.
His eyes darkened.
"This isn't human blood."
Her breath caught.
"Then whose—?"
Before she could finish, the lights flickered violently—once, twice—plunging the hallway into a suffocating darkness.
A whisper floated through the blackness.
"Adrian… you brought her back."
Rhea froze.
That voice… it wasn't human.
Adrian stepped in front of her, shielding her completely.
"Stay behind me," he ordered.
A shadow moved at the end of the hall. Not walking.
Floating.
Its outline was a woman's.
Her shape twisted unnaturally, as if her bones were bending the wrong way.
Rhea's nails dug into Adrian's back.
"Who is that?" she whispered, terrified.
Adrian's voice was ice.
"Someone who died because of me."
Rhea's heart dropped.
The shadow glided closer.
A cold, broken laugh echoed through the hall.
"You thought your bride could escape our curse? No, Adrian Knight… You brought her to her doom."
Rhea stepped backward instinctively, but Adrian held her hand firmly.
He stood tall, gaze locked on the apparition—no fear, only fury.
"You won't touch her," he growled.
The shadow's form twisted again, louder this time.
"She belongs to the curse now."
The lights went out completely.
Rhea screamed as icy fingers brushed her cheek—then—
Adrian dragged her into his chest protectively, his heartbeat pounding hard against her ear.
"Run, Rhea!" he shouted.
But the door behind them slammed shut on its own.
They were trapped.
With the ghost from Adrian's past.
The curse had finally come for them.