I stand in the dim backstage light, the scent of wax and wood polish thick in the air. My fingers trace the grooves of the orange tree—a symbol of a love thought lost. The audience murmurs beyond the curtain. Fifteen years I waited. Fifteen years of silence, of travel, of perfecting every gesture, every illusion. Not for fame. For her.

Sophie. Duchess. Fiancée of a monster.

Tonight, I summon her spirit. Not to haunt, but to speak. To point a ghostly finger at the man who thought he could bury her and still wear a crown.

The curtain rises. I step forward. The nobles sneer. The Crown Prince smirks. And then—her voice. Her face. Her eyes, filled with sorrow and strength.

'The one who killed me sits among you,' she says.

Chaos erupts. Uhl storms the stage. I let him grab me—then vanish. My body, intangible. A spirit? Or something more clever?

Later, in the alley, a boy hands me a package. Inside: my old notebook. The trick he never solved.

And in my pocket—Sophie’s locket.

She’s alive. And so am I.

But how long before Leopold realizes he was fooled?