Amishia's light footsteps echoed on the old wooden floorboards of the room, her green eyes scanning the place as if searching for a trace of the past. She murmured softly:
"My mother said... Korgami hid the key beneath the cloth, on top of the bed."
She moved towards the bed and lifted the cloth, but found nothing. She searched with visible anxiety, shifting the cloth once, then tracing her fingers over the cold wood again.
At that moment, Korgami felt something small in his hand... He slowly turned and looked at her.
*The key.*
It was still in his grasp. He'd forgotten it after returning the pictures to the drawer. A rare moment of confusion struck him... How could he return it without her seeing?
He tried to pull his hand back subtly, to place it... but hesitated. If she saw any movement, she might suspect.
Amishia approached the drawer, distracted by her attempts to open it. Korgami seized the opportunity.
With a touch of his darkness, he silently lifted the cloth on the bed and, in a swift motion, returned the key to its hiding place.
But...
The cracked mirror on the drawer caught a flash—a reflection of a shadowy figure and a ripple of energy... Amishia suddenly whirled around!
Time froze for a moment.
She looked toward the corner, toward the bed, toward the mirror... but there was no one. Nothing. Only dust... and the old cracks in the walls.
She hesitated, then shook her head as if convincing herself she'd imagined it.
---
After a few more moments of searching, Amishia stood in the middle of the room, empty-handed, confusion deepening on her face.
"Strange... Mother was sure the key was under the cloth..." she whispered.
She looked back at the bed, as if a vague feeling drew her toward it. She approached slowly. This time, she wasn't searching like a child carrying out her mother's wish... but like someone suspecting another had been there first.
She knelt beside the bed and calmly reached out. When she lifted the cloth this time...
The key was there.
Her green eyes widened.
"I'm sure... I looked here just moments ago..."
She slowly withdrew her hand, the key resting in her palm, but her expression froze.
Then she turned toward the cracked mirror. Something about it unsettled her.
Was that residual energy? Or just clinging dust?
She rose cautiously, turning toward the room's corners. Her eyes grew more alert. The quiet felt unnatural... the silence deeper than normal.
"Who's there?" she said in a faint voice, closer to a whisper, as if expecting no answer... but ready if one came.
She heard nothing.
She contemplated the room for a long moment. Then she muttered, as if talking to herself:
"This house... it's breathing again."
She moved toward the drawer, but her head kept turning intermittently toward the corner where she saw nothing... yet felt *something*.
---
As Amishia opened the drawer, her gaze still stole toward the corner. She felt something was off... the room's breath, the air's scent—it all resembled an undead past.
And in the unseen corner where Korgami and Ragnar merged with shadows, Korgami watched her.
His violet eyes narrowed slightly.
"Oh... Is she starting to suspect?"
Then he smiled.
"Did I scare her? Well... heh..." He murmured lightly, whispering so softly Ragnar barely heard:
"Let's see how much courage she has left."
He flicked his finger subtly, weaving a thread of dark energy through the air... making the window curtain sway slowly, as if a sudden breeze had entered.
Amishia froze.
"There's no wind today..."
She instantly looked toward the window, then spun around abruptly.
Nothing.
But her heart pounded violently.
She whispered, "I know this feeling... this kind of pressure... I've felt it before..."
Korgami, meanwhile, began laughing quietly, covering his mouth with his cloak's sleeve:
"Still as sharp as ever..."
---
While Amishia stood rigidly staring at the window, Korgami spoke without lowering his voice much:
"Ragnar..."
The other whispered without turning:
"Yes?"
"Think of something simple... just a little thing to scare her."
Ragnar was silent for a second, then said flatly:
"A cockroach."
Korgami's left eye twitched, and he smiled as if a child within him had awakened. He murmured:
"Beautiful... rare, and effective."
With his fingertips, he wove tiny shadow threads, gathering and intertwining them until they formed a palm-sized creature.
A dark cockroach, its limbs gleaming like remnants of an old dream. It shone faintly and moved with confidence, as if knowing its path.
"Go..."
Korgami whispered, releasing it lightly.
The cockroach darted lightly over the wooden floor, rose slightly… onto the bed… then…
Landed softly on the back of Amishia's dress.
She was bent over the drawer, focused on a small lock, trying to pick it with a small pin she'd pulled from her hair.
She felt nothing.
But the cockroach… began its task.
It crawled slowly, tiptoeing over the white cloth with green stripes.
It climbed a fold, then slipped over the hem of her dress, as if her gown had become a field to traverse.
Then... it climbed confidently toward her shoulder.
Korgami watched like a child stifling laughter, his eyes glinting violet.
Ragnar said coldly:
"It's in her hair."
Korgami bit his lip, containing his explosion, as the cockroach crept into her black locks and clung like a shadow-tree in a storm.
And suddenly...
Amishia's hand stopped moving.
She froze.
Then slowly... she raised her right hand to her hair, touching something strange... sticky... moving.
Her eyes widened instantly, and in one moment:
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
She jumped, dropped the pin, and stumbled back. She began hitting her head, frantically messing with her hair, spinning around the room like a small storm.
The cockroach scattered like a fading shadow.
Korgami burst out laughing, leaning against the wall to keep from falling, covering his mouth with his hand:
"Ah... her face! Such a funny expression.."
Ragnar merely nodded and said tonelessly:
"If the nobles knew one cockroach nearly toppled the Lady of the Third House from her dignity..."
Amishia was still examining her hair, feeling over her body in confusion, looking at the floor, then the ceiling… her eyes filling with pure suspicion.
But suddenly... she stopped.
She looked toward the drawer.
The key.
A faint glimmer had fallen from it during her panic.
She approached.
Picked it up slowly.
Stared at it for a long time… then at the mirror.
Silence hung thick.
"No one leaves something here… then vanishes…" she whispered, but her voice held a new sharpness.
Then she turned toward the corner… that corner that seemed darker than usual.
Only then… did Korgami smile a long smile and say lightly:
"Oh, Amishia… Nothing's changed. Still so naive.."
---
Korgami whispered as he watched his sister still struggling with the drawer, his voice calm yet laced with finality:
"Playtime's over... Time to leave."
He turned to Ragnar, his eyes gleaming with that mysterious violet light:
"Our destination... The Continent of Beasts."
And before his features dissolved into shadows, he cast one last look at Amishia—a look holding neither hatred nor longing... only a silence fit for a farewell beyond return.
"Goodbye... Amishia. We won't meet again."
He and Ragnar vanished into the folds of shadow, as if they'd never been there.
But the words... those final whispers... lingered in the air, clinging to the old walls.
Amishia suddenly lifted her head, her green eyes widening.
"Huh?"
She looked around anxiously—toward the corner, the ceiling—then whispered:
"Am I... hallucinating?"
But something in her heart refused to believe it.