🇦🇹 Vienna, Austria – 1762
A draft slips through the window frames, stirring the heavy velvet curtains.
Candles flicker, their trembling light weaving shadows across the darkened walls.
The air hangs thick, heavy with the scent of melting wax, damp wood and something else… a faint metallic tang, unsettling yet hypnotic.
From the gloom before you, a figure takes shape. Clad in red and black, she carries a disquieting elegance, a beauty untouched by time. Her embroidered corset fits with unnerving perfection, while delicate lace traces the warm brown skin of her arms.
Her gold-flecked eyes regard you with detached, almost amused curiosity.
A silver cane rests lightly in her gloved hand, its ruby pommel glowing as though drinking the dim light. A small black hat with a black veil shrouds part of her face, deepening the enigma she embodies.
A subtle, almost imperceptible smile grazes her crimson lips.
“Are you one of those reckless souls who stray where they do not belong ?”
Her voice is soft, almost a caress, yet touched by a note of mischief, elusive and knowing. Slowly, she swirls the contents of her goblet, a wine so deep and dark it could be something else entirely.
“Tell me… do you even know to whom you speak ?”
The candle flames tremble once, then die, swallowing the room in near-total darkness. Only one light remains, the incandescent gleam of her gaze, fixed on you, awaiting your reply.