The Arclight estate had been abandoned for twenty years.
That was what the official records said.
Evelyn found it suspicious.
Especially because the house still appeared in the imperial tax registry.
Someone was paying taxes.
Someone was maintaining the property.
Someone wanted it to look abandoned.
Lucien agreed.
They traveled there without informing the court.
The estate stood at the edge of a forest.
The gates were covered in vines.
The house looked empty.
Evelyn stepped inside.
Dust covered the floors.
Paintings had been removed from the walls.
Furniture had been covered.
Yet everything was preserved.
Not abandoned.
Hidden.
Lucien noticed it too.
“Someone comes here.”
“Recently?”
“Yes.”
They searched the house.
Nothing.
Then Evelyn noticed the fireplace.
There was no ash.
But the stones had been recently moved.
She touched one.
It shifted.
Behind it was a small compartment.
Inside was a box.
The box contained letters.
Dozens.
All addressed to the previous Arclight patriarch.
Evelyn opened one.
The handwriting was familiar.
She had seen it in the book.
Marian Voss.
She read.
The letters described the same conspiracy.
The imperial treasury.
The Black Order.
Lucien’s father.
And something called the First Crown.
Evelyn looked at Lucien.
“What is the First Crown?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s symbolic.”
“No.”
He pointed to a letter.
“It says it was stolen.”
“By whom?”
“An Arclight.”
Evelyn stared.
“My family stole the crown?”
“Apparently.”
“Why?”
Another letter answered.
The crown was never meant to belong to the emperor.
Evelyn read it twice.
Then a third time.
The door slammed shut.
Both turned.
Someone stood in the entrance.
A woman.
She wore a silver mask.
The Silver Crow.
Evelyn recognized her immediately.
“You’re not a man.”
The woman laughed.
“No.”
Lucien drew his sword.
“Who are you?”
The woman ignored him.
She looked at Evelyn.
“You really don’t remember.”
Evelyn felt a chill.
“What am I supposed to remember?”
“Your first life.”
Lucien stepped forward.
“Explain.”
The woman smiled.
“Ask her.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I’ve never seen you.”
“Not in this life.”
The words echoed through the room.
Evelyn’s heart raced.
“What happened to me?”
The woman took off the mask.
Her face was unfamiliar.
But her eyes were not.
They were the same eyes from Evelyn’s dreams.
“You died.”
Evelyn’s breath stopped.
“How many times?”
The woman smiled.
“Enough.”
Lucien looked at Evelyn.
“She’s lying.”
“Maybe.”
The woman turned toward him.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Neither should you.”
She laughed.
“You still think you’re protecting her.”
Lucien’s grip tightened.
“Who are you?”
“My name doesn’t matter.”
She threw something onto the floor.
A small metal pendant.
Evelyn recognized it.
She had seen it in her previous life.
It had belonged to her mother.
Except…
Her mother had died when Evelyn was a child.
The woman said:
“Your family didn’t abandon you.”
Evelyn stared.
“They hid you.”
“Why?”
“Because the people hunting your family were looking for you.”
“Why?”
The woman looked at Lucien.
“Because you are the last heir of the First Crown.”
Evelyn’s mind went blank.
“What?”
The woman stepped backward.
“Ask your husband.”
Then she vanished through the window.
Lucien immediately ran after her.
Evelyn remained frozen.
Last heir.
First Crown.
Her family.
The conspiracy.
Everything was connected.
When Lucien returned, she was still standing beside the fireplace.
He looked at her.
“Are you all right?”
“No.”
He approached.
She showed him the pendant.
“Do you know what this is?”
“No.”
“My mother owned one.”
He stared.
“Your mother?”
Evelyn nodded.
Then she said:
“Lucien.”
“Yes?”
“If I’m the last heir of something…”
He waited.
“Why did I have an ordinary life in another world?”
He had no answer.
Neither did she.
But the pendant suddenly began to glow.
A faint golden light spread across the room.
Both stared.
Symbols appeared on the floor.
Evelyn stepped backward.
The symbols formed a sentence.
Lucien read it aloud.
“The heir will awaken when the villain chooses love over vengeance.”
They looked at each other.
Evelyn’s heart pounded.
Then the symbols changed.
A second sentence appeared.
And when he chooses her, the empire will burn.