The corridors shook with the echo of the scream.
Adrian pulled Rhea behind him as they rushed toward the forbidden wing. His steps were swift and deadly silent, his posture tense—like a man prepared to face the darkest part of himself.
Rhea clutched his arm, trying to keep up.
"Adrian… Who screamed? It sounded human—"
"I know," he said sharply. "That's why we have to move fast."
They reached the entrance of the forbidden wing.
The heavy wooden doors—always locked, bolted, and sealed—were now…
Wide open.
As if something had forced them from the inside.
A cold draft slid through the opening, carrying the metallic scent of blood.
Rhea's stomach twisted.
Adrian stepped in first, his eyes scanning every corner.
The corridor inside was dim. Old portraits lined the walls, their painted eyes watching. The air smelled of damp stone, old wood—and something else.
Fear.
Rhea whispered, "Why is this wing forbidden?"
Adrian inhaled deeply, jaw tightening.
"Because this is where the curse began."
Before she could respond, another sound drifted from the shadows:
A low, broken sob.
Rhea's breath caught. "Someone's crying."
Adrian pressed a hand behind him in warning.
"Stay behind me," he murmured.
He walked deeper into the darkness.
The sobbing grew louder—painful, raw.
They turned a corner.
And froze.
A young maid—Lina, the quiet girl who served tea in the mornings—
was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, her hands shaking violently.
Her eyes were wide with terror.
Her uniform shirt was torn across the shoulder…
revealing a glowing red mark on her skin.
A birthmark.
Rhea gasped.
"No… no, this can't be."
The mark looked identical to Rhea's.
Adrian stepped forward, horrified.
"How long have you had that mark?" he demanded.
Lina looked at him with trembling lips.
"I… I didn't have it until tonight," she whispered. "I felt something burning through my skin… and then—"
Her voice broke.
"The ghost… She touched me."
Rhea felt the blood drain from her face.
The ghost was spreading the curse.
Adrian knelt beside the maid, his jaw clenched with fury.
"She chose another?" he muttered. "No… that's impossible."
Lina squeezed her eyes shut.
"She kept saying… 'Another substitute for the bride.' She said someone must take her place."
She pointed shakily toward Rhea.
"Her place."
Rhea felt sick.
"She wants someone to replace me… to die instead of me."
Adrian stood abruptly.
"No one is replacing you," he growled. "Not now. Not ever."
But Lina was trembling uncontrollably.
"Master… I think she wants more than that," she whispered. "She said the curse is angry. It wants balance. It wants… blood."
Suddenly—
Lights flickered violently overhead.
The wind howled through the sealed windows.
And before anyone could react—
The portraits on the wall began dripping with black liquid, as if the painted figures were crying ink.
Rhea stumbled back.
"Adrian… it's starting again."
The maid shrieked suddenly, clutching her marked shoulder.
"It burns—! It burns—!"
She convulsed, her body arching painfully.
"Lina!" Adrian grabbed her shoulders to steady her.
But then Rhea saw it—
The mark on Lina's skin was spreading.
Slowly.
Like crawling veins of molten lava.
"Adrian, her mark—" Rhea started.
"I see it," he hissed.
But he looked more confused than afraid.
"Why would the curse mark her?" he whispered to himself. "It has never chosen two at the same time."
Rhea swallowed.
"Unless…"
Adrian looked up sharply.
"Unless what?"
"Unless it wants to force you to choose," Rhea said, voice trembling. "It wants you to pick who dies and who lives."
The silence that followed was brutal.
Lina sobbed. "I don't want to die—please—please save me—"
Adrian pressed a hand to his forehead, his expression twisting with rage and helplessness.
"I won't let the curse choose anyone," he said through gritted teeth.
But before he could say more—
All the candles in the hall extinguished at once.
Darkness swallowed everything.
A whisper slid through the air:
"Choose… Adrian Knight."
The ghost's voice.
"Choose… your love or your guilt."
Rhea's breath caught.
Lina screamed.
The mark on her shoulder pulsed bright red—
Then it exploded into a burst of burning light.
Rhea shielded her eyes.
When the light faded—
Lina lay unconscious on the floor.
Her mark was gone.
Completely.
Rhea stared in shock. "It disappeared?"
Adrian knelt beside the maid, checking her pulse.
"She's alive," he exhaled. "But the curse didn't mark her. Not truly."
Rhea whispered, "Then what was it?"
Adrian turned to Rhea slowly, his face pale.
"It was a warning."
His voice dropped to a chilling whisper.
"The curse isn't choosing someone else."
His eyes locked on hers.
"It's telling me that if I don't break it fast enough…
it will take you."