My blood felt like it froze. The room exploded with sound and movement. The woman in front of me swayed and almost fell over before a man caught her and stood her upright. I heard someone next to me yell, "Lady Mana? Who is that? Why do you jest with us? Are we even safe anymore?" My head was spinning at the pace of a whirlpool. I nudged my way into the crowd to look for Klaha. I saw him from far away and he noticed me. We locked eyes for a few seconds as people ran between us. His eyes were guarded and impossible to read. Then he walked out of the room. I feel like I'm going to fall over, I thought.

I pushed open the door and left the ballroom. The last few people strode out and walked down the hallway. I stood alone. I fell to my knees and buried my face in my hands. Why, Father, why? I thought. A tear caressed its way down my cheek and dropped on my dress. This feels like a bad dream. Is this even real? Is this just fantasy? I thought.

I stood up and trudged my way around the mansion. No clue where I was going. I walked past the kitchen and saw the narrow hallway that has always confused me. It's a dead end. Paintings of deceased nobility decorated the walls, but there were no doors. The wall at the end had a painting of my father that started a few inches below the ceiling and went all the way down to the baseboard. It depicted him in military uniform, decked out in medals, and he looked slightly more attractive compared to real life.

Suddenly I saw purple in my peripheral vision. I glanced around. A purple butterfly flew towards me and landed on my right shoulder. "What the hell? How'd you even get in here?" I said. The butterfly flew to my nose and nudged it. "I'm not exactly in the mood to be playing with butterflies," I said. The butterfly landed on my head, and I waved my hand around to get it off me. It took off and flew down the hallway. I watched it without moving. It stopped and floated in the air, then came back to me. I feel like it's leading me down the hall, I thought.

I walked down the hallway with the butterfly until we reached the painting of Father. The butterfly landed on the left side of the frame. Then it landed on my hand. "That tickles," I said. It flew back to the frame and landed on the same spot again. I reached out and touched the frame. It felt like it kept going past the wall. "That's weird," I said. I pulled on the frame gently. Then I heard a clicking noise. The painting started swinging open like a door, with the right side as the hinge. It opened to reveal a stone staircase going down. A torch was lit and hanging on the wall. Someone's been here recently, I thought.

The butterfly flew in front of me and nudged my nose again. Then it flew away. I turned around and watched it. I almost smiled but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Then I looked at the stairs again. I should hurry before someone sees me, I thought. I walked down a few steps and grabbed the handle on the other side of the painting. I closed it. Darkness engulfed the space, save for the fire burning on the torch. I swallowed. "Why did I do this again?" I asked myself. Then I took the torch off the wall and started walking.

After a few minutes I bumped into something hard. "Oof," I said. I felt around and realized that the staircase had ended. Is this a dead end? I wondered. Then I brought the torch closer and realized it was a door. I sucked in a breath and opened it. There was a small room made of stone with no windows. Two torches hung across from each other on the walls. Along the back there was a wooden writing desk without a chair and a dilapidated wooden bookshelf. I stepped inside and closed the door. Then I saw what was on the floor.

Someone had drawn a pentagram in the center of the room. I couldn't tell what the material was, so I bent down to get a closer look. "It's just flour," I said. I stood back up and walked to the desk. There was a book with a quartz crystal glued to it. I also saw a stick of sage incense, and a small dagger. It took me a few seconds to realize that someone was coming down the stairs. I squeezed behind the bookcase. Thank God it's not pushed all the way up to the wall, I thought. I tried to slow down my breath. The door closed and footsteps echoed around the small room.

I thought my heart was going to break through my ribcage. I heard the person get close to me, only to pick up something from the desk and walk away. I glanced out from behind the bookcase. A woman wearing a sapphire blue dress had her back turned to me. The petticoat underneath was black, as were the details on the dress. A black veil covered her blonde hair. She was also wearing black gloves. It's Lady Mana! I thought.

Lady Mana lit the sage incense from one of the torches and waved it around the room. She waved it around the dagger and then snuffed out the flame. Mana grabbed the dagger and stood at the point of the pentagram furthest to the east. "I call upon the element of air to bring forth the winds and aid me in my spell," Mana said in a deep voice. I covered my mouth with my hand to suppress a gasp. Mana is a man! I thought. Then he walked clockwise around the pentacle, stopping at every spot, and calling upon an element. Mana held the dagger with both hands above his head.

"Inanna, I call upon you to aid me in this spell. Let the nobility believe that I am Lady Mana, that I am a woman who is Duke Pitzel's cousin. Prevent the nobility from finding out my true identity."

He paused.

"Thank you, Inanna, for aiding me."

What? Who's Inanna? And why is he doing this? I thought. Mana lowered the dagger. He went around the circle again, this time counterclockwise, thanking the elements for helping him. He walked over to the desk and put the dagger down. In the few moments of silence afterward I felt like a snake was winding around my throat. I shut my eyes and expected Mana to find me, but he picked up the book from the desk and walked out of the room.

After he closed the door, I came out from behind the bookshelf. My legs felt like pudding. I steadied myself on the wall. Is Mana the monster behind the attack and the disappearance of Gardenia? He said, 'to hide his true identity.' Why else would he do that? I thought. And wait, Mana is a man? But father wants him to marry Klaha, I thought. My head was full like a water balloon about to burst.

I walked up the stairs, pushed open the painting, closed it, and walked to my room. After shutting the door, I sighed. I flopped onto the bed on my stomach, then groaned and rolled around, sliding my hands down my face. I don't know who to talk to. Maybe I'll just shut myself in my room, I thought. I lied on my back and memorized the spots on the ceiling. I could hear rain falling outside. I slowly got up and lifted my skirts. Then I took off the hoop skirt and set it aside. Now the dress and petticoat hung limply. I'll go find Abigail and ask for some tea, I thought.

I walked to the door. Someone knocked.

"Lady (Y/n)? It's Count Klaha. I'd like to exchange a few words with you."

I wanted to scream. "Not now," I said in a stern voice. "Please? It will only take a few minutes," Klaha said. "You're persistent," I said. The count lowered his voice and said, "I knew about the marriage." I pulled the door open quickly. It made a gust of wind that blew my dress, which Klaha noticed was missing the hoop skirt.

"My lady...? Is it alright to enter with you dressed like this?"

"Yes, yes, it's fine, just get in here," I said. Count Klaha hesitantly stepped inside and then I slammed the door. I whipped around. "YOU! You...liar!" I fumed. Klaha was startled by the resentfulness in my voice.

"Me?"

"Well, you just said you knew about the marriage beforehand!"

"I did. But—"

"See? You were lying!"

"(Y/n), I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to say. I couldn't even process the information myself, let alone tell you about it."

I paused, then turned around and started pacing.

"But you still lied to me!"

"Yes, I did. And I'm sorry."

I whipped around and stomped up to him. I looked him in the eye. In his beautiful, wide eyes. I could tell his apology was genuine. I have to calm down. I'm making the problem worse, I thought. "I apologize for everything, (Y/n), I even tried to convince your father to call off the marriage," Klaha said. "Really? I'm impressed. He's tough to bargain with," I said. "I know. I found that out when I lost the bargain," the count replied. We stood in silence for a moment.

"I apologize again, and I will apologize for a thousand times if I need to."

I got closer. His eyes analyzed every inch of my face.

"I forgive you."

A current of energy circled around us and between us. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" I asked. Like that you're in love with me? I thought. Klaha blinked rapidly. "No," he breathed. I stepped back. "Did you tell Father about what I saw last night?" I asked. "Not yet. I knew he was getting ready to announce the marriage, so I didn't want to interrupt him with a new distraction," Klaha said.

"Perhaps it's good that you didn't, because I found another distraction."

I used my fingers to air quote the word distraction.

"What do you mean? What did you find?"

I contemplated the situation for a moment.

"Please don't tell Father. You have to promise."

"I promise."

"You swear by it? If you break the promise, you won't be seeing me again anytime soon."

"Yes, Lady (Y/n). That is enough motivation for me."

"I'll just tell you the facts. You can choose to believe me, or not," I said. I told him about my trip to the underground room. He nodded and reacted with his eyes. When I was done, he said, "Perhaps the next time I see a butterfly, I'll have to follow it." Really? That's all he has to say after that? I thought. But he proved me wrong by asking rapid-fire questions.

"Do you know what time it was when you discovered the secret door? Did you check if any of the other paintings are secret doors? Are you sure no one saw you? Do you think you should have brought evidence? So, Mana is really a man?"

I blinked. Hard.

"I don't know, no, probably not, perhaps, and yes," I said. Klaha took a deep breath.

"What do we do with this information?"

"Exactly."

We sat together, two pensive souls, as the rain drops slid down the windowpane. I heard thunder rumbling in the distance. Suddenly I remembered something. "Klaha, last night when you said you were researching something, what were you reading about?" I asked. Klaha clenched his jaw.

"Now I'll be the one to ask you to keep a secret. Is that alright with you, Lady (Y/n)?"

"Yes. I promise not to tell anyone."

"Alright."

Klaha cleared his throat. "I'm reading about cases of strange wounds that seemingly have no cause. Like the penetration on baroness Garnet's neck. And I've found a lead," he said. "What is it?" I asked.

"A vampire has been behind all of this."

I furrowed my eyebrows together. "What is a vampire?" I said. "A creature that survives by drinking the blood of humans," Klaha explained. "And if it drinks your blood, you can become a vampire, as well." "So, Gardenia likely became a vampire," I said. "Yes. We have to find the vampire quickly. The two of us know it is a monster, yet the rest of the nobility think it was a man. I must hunt down the creature alone because no one else will believe me," he said.

"Don't do this alone. I can help you."

"But you'll—"

"I don't care if I'm in danger. I want to help solve the problem, too. I refuse to lay in bed all day and hope that someone else does it for me."

Klaha's eyes became harder to read. "Alright, I cannot stop you from doing what you want," he said. Klaha turned around and checked the time on the grandfather clock. It was eight p.m. and the moon had already risen.

"If it is alright with you, I will go back to my quarters now. I must do more research."

"Of course. But please don't spend the whole night reading."

"I won't."

We stared at each other for a moment too long. Klaha came closer to me. My heart was pounding. He picked up my hand and kissed it before leaving my room. That was bold of him. I really wish I could've returned the gesture somehow, I thought. Once he was gone, I tried to sleep but my mind was awake. I kept replaying my memories of the past twelve hours or so. I sat up and wondered if the door to the garden was still open. Not long after, I was downstairs.

I tried the door, but it was locked. Then I remembered that Father kept a keychain for some of the doors in his office. I quietly made my way down the palace and when I got to my father's office, I looked around. Nobody was there, just me. I slowly opened the door and it creaked. Please don't wake anybody up, I thought. Then I marched over to one of the desks, opened a drawer, and grabbed the keys. I walked back to the garden door and unlocked it. After stepping outside, I tucked the keychain in my corset. I wish I had pockets, I thought.

The moon was almost full, and the garden was easily visible. There was a fountain that ran even at this time of night. A ring of colorful bushes and patches of flowers surrounded the fountain. Behind that was the shrubbery. My father was mostly a boring person, but he loved arranging the shrubs into weird shapes. He even lied to the emperor about what the garden looked like. Some of the shrubs consisted of a boa constrictor, a spider, a candelabra, a human figure, and a unicorn.

I walked up to the fountain and admired the soothing sound of the water. I bent down to examine the sunflowers when I heard the door close behind me. I quickly stood up and turned. Viscount Közi looked at me. He was still wearing his daytime outfit, like me. He slowly strolled forward, and I saw curiosity in his eyes. He stopped about two feet away from me.

"Still being careless, are we?"

I rolled my eyes. "If you're saying I should've locked the door behind me, I already figured that out," I said. His gaze was unwavering, it didn't even reach the fountain behind me. Why does he stare at me like that? I thought. "What brings you out here at this time of night?" he asked. I sighed.

"I can't fall asleep."

"Why? Did something...happen?"

I put up a hostile wall in my mind.

"Nothing happened. Even if it did, it's none of your business."

Közi finally broke eye contact and looked to the left. "Fair enough. I'll tell you why I came out here. To see you," he said. My muscles tensed. "Why do you want to see me? And how did you know I was out here?" I asked.

"I told you: I know everything."

What's with that again? I thought. "Not everything..." I muttered. "Besides, you didn't answer my first question."

"Will you dance with me?"

It took me several moments to process what he asked.

"Dance...with you? Right now?"

"Yes."

Well, I guess I have nothing to lose, I thought. "Okay," I said. "What type of dance?"

"The Mazurka."

"And how exactly are we supposed to keep time without any music playing?" I asked. "Easy. I'll count the beats," the viscount said. I sighed and said, "Okay, fine. Let's do the Mazurka." This better not be some plan to seduce me, I thought. Közi and I stood next to each other, held hands, and he started to count.

"One, two, three, one, two, three..."

We hopped to the right, stepped out, stepped in, then hopped to the left, stepped out, and stepped in. Then we stepped out and stepped in on the same spot. As we repeated the sequence, Közi said, "And what's the other thing I don't know?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "Earlier you said that I don't know everything. Is that true?" he asked.

Then Közi and I held our right hands together and my left hand was on his shoulder. We did the same footwork as before. As we repeated the sequence the third time, I said, "Yes, it's true. But why should I tell you what it is?" "You don't have to if you'd rather not. I'm just trying to make conversation. Trying to learn more about Lady (Y/n)," he said.

Then we got close and held each other's waists. Közi held me delicately, like I was a snowflake about to fall on the ground. This part required us to spin around in a circle, and we repeated the same footwork as before. Then we spun in the opposite direction. "Then why don't you ask something else?" I asked. "Like the state of your love life?" said Közi. I gripped his waist tighter. "Stop messing with me," I retorted. Then we started over again from the beginning of the dance. This time the viscount started dancing towards the shrubbery.

We passed shrubs of a chess piece and a spider. "You know, when your father became the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, the court was worried about his family being a burden," Közi said. "But what they didn't know was that his daughter would turn out to be the most intriguing, extraordinary person in the whole line of nobility." Is he serious? I thought.

"Don't flatter me."

Sometime during our conversation, Közi had stopped counting. I tripped over my own foot, and he caught me by the waist. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Yes," I said while blushing. It feels too comfortable having him hold my waist, I thought. Then he let go of me and both of us stood there. Waiting for the other to make the next move. I stepped closer to him.

"I suppose we're done with the dance now?"

"Your assumption is correct."

"Was I a good dance partner?" I asked with a smile.

"There's no dance partner in the world better than you. I'm happy just to dance with you."

Heat rushed to my face. I brushed a few strands of hair away from my face unconsciously. Is he in love with me? I thought. I examined him. His brown eyes were as unwavering and hard to read as usual. But one of his hands was fiddling with the watch chain that hung from his breast pocket. I feel like he was being genuine, and now he's nervous about my response, I thought.

"Közi, I don't know what I think of you yet," I said. But you really are attractive, I added in my thoughts. Közi blinked rapidly and then stopped fidgeting with the watch chain. "I see. That's understandable. You've only just started talking to me," he said. I could see his forehead wrinkle, and his eyes looked cloudy. I feel bad, but I shouldn't pretend to love him just to make him feel better, I thought. I reached out and held his hand for a moment.

"Thank you for this dance. It was sweet of you to suggest something like this. But if you follow me again, consider yourself degraded in my mind."

The viscount tilted his head to the side.

"I just wanted to talk to you alone. I'm guessing you don't want me bothering you when you're with Klaha."

"Yes, you're right. But you could've talked to me tomorrow. And didn't we just talk this morning?"

"We hardly talked for one minute before we got interrupted. Have you considered investigating who loves Klaha, like I suggested?"

I sighed. "I don't know how to do that while still being discreet. But don't you know? After all, you know everything, right?"

Közi huffed. Then he held both of my hands as he said, "Fine, I'll tell you already. Lady Ernestine, Maid Minna, and Lord Aksel like Klaha. But they're nobody substantial so it won't affect your relationship. And they would get into hot water as well if they became close to Klaha like you have. By the way, I know you found the hidden basement room."

I considered snatching my hands away but decided not to. Instead, I stepped closer. "How do you know?" I asked. "Mana told me," he said softly while