The woman broke the silence.

"Do you know whose room this is, my lady?"

Evandria looked at her but gave no answer.

"This was the chamber of my lord and his first wife," the woman said.

After a brief silence, she continued, "He did not kill her, as the rumors claim. More importantly… do you wish to know who she truly was?"

Without waiting for a reply, the woman reached into the darkness and lifted a portrait from a dust-covered table. She handed it to Evandria.

Evandria brought the portrait into the moonlight. The moment her eyes fell upon it, she froze. Her eyes widened, chest tightening as her breathing grew heavy. "I–it’s… i-impossible," her voice broke and hands trembling. "She is my elder sister."

"Yes," the woman said quietly. "She was your elder sister, the first daughter of House Gravewood."

Evandria’s fingers tightened on the portrait. "B-but my sister died when I was in my final semester at the academy. So how... how is her portrait here? I think... y-you are mistaken, because... my sister was never married to anyone."

"As I told you," the servant replied, "she was my lord’s wife. And he loved her more than anyone else."

Evandria’s heart shattered with every word.

"My lord is not the one who killed her," the woman continued. "The ones who killed her… were none other than the Gravewoods."

Tears began to fall from Evandria’s eyes, though she did not realize when she had started crying. She stood frozen, unable to comprehend what she was seeing and hearing.

The sister who had loved her dearly. The sister she had always admired with pride and respect. She was the first wife of her husband. And the ones who killed her… were her own family. Evandria remained there, drowning in questions she could not yet answer.

Why did Elion never tell me the truth about my sister?

And why did my family kill her?

Why did he marry me?