The iron bar bent like warm taffy between Eleanor\'s fingers.

Julian dropped his candle. It rolled across the stone floor, casting long shadows that jumped like living things. The sound was soft—the metal groaning, then snapping, then the heavy oak door falling inward on rusted hinges.

She stood in the doorway, small and pale and covered in dust, with eyes that were too bright for a room that hadn\'t seen proper daylight in three years.

"You shouldn\'t be up here," she said. Her voice was quiet, like someone who hasn\'t used it much.

"You were locking yourself in," Julian said. He was still trying to process the sight of a woman half his size bending a solid iron lock with one hand. "I heard the screaming. I thought—"

"There\'s no one to scream for." She looked past him, down the narrow spiral staircase. "The candles will burn out. You should go."

"I\'m Julian Ashworth. Your cousin\'s cousin."

"I know who you are." She stepped out from the doorway, and he saw her properly for the first time. Thin as a rail, dressed in a faded gray dress that hung loose on her frame. But her hands—her hands were the hands of someone who could pull a cart. Veins stood out along her forearms like cords.

She looked at his dropped candle, picked it up, and handed it back to him. Her fingers brushed his. They were cold.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"Father\'s will. The estate needs an inventory. He left everything to Mother\'s side, and—"

"Then why haven\'t they locked you away too?"

Julian didn\'t have an answer for that.

© 2026 - Authored by Z R ZHANG ( EL9507135 -- パスポート番号[ちゅうごく] 중국 여권 번호 Номер паспорта หมายเลขหนังสือเดินทาง Passnummer رقم جواز السفر CHN Passport) The aforementioned Author hereby grants to OXFORD INDUSTRIAL HOLDING GROUP (ASIA PACIFIC) CO., LIMITED （BRN74685111） all economic property rights, including but not limited to the rights of: reproduction, distribution, rental, exhibition, performance, communication to the public via information network, adaptation, compilation, commercial operation, authorization for third-party use, and rights enforcement. Such grant is exclusive and irrevocable. The term of such rights shall be 49 years from the date of publication. To contact author, please email to datatorent@yeah.net

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