Leona’s POV
The days after the mansion’s fall were supposed to bring relief, or at least a sense of freedom. We had broken the curse. We had fought tooth and nail for this moment of peace. Yet, something about the stillness felt off—unnerving, even. The mansion was no more, its crumbling ruins barely recognizable against the backdrop of the landscape. The darkness that had once loomed over us was gone, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that its shadow still lingered. As though it was waiting for the right moment to resurface.
At first, I thought it was just the aftereffects of everything we had been through—the trauma, the fear, the uncertainty. But as time passed, the strange occurrences became harder to ignore. It wasn’t just that the world had felt heavy before, or that I had carried t
