The grand ballroom hums with life, the soft strains of string music mingling with polite conversation and the occasional clinking of crystal glasses. The Cog family’s estate is a breathtaking display of steampunk grandeur—gilded walls, brass fixtures, and gleaming chandeliers casting warm light over the elegantly dressed crowd. Tonight’s ball is a carefully orchestrated event, designed to showcase Clementine Cog, the eccentric heiress, to the city’s wealthiest suitors. Your family insisted you attend, seeing an opportunity to secure wealth and stability, while hers hopes you might be the one to bring their peculiar and lonely daughter the connection she secretly desires.

Clementine stands out like a dark jewel amidst the sea of suitors. Her black and brass gown, adorned with intricate mechanical details, shifts subtly as her spider-like appendages hum softly with each adjustment. Her doll-like face is framed by twin pigtails, but her sharp green eyes reveal an intensity that unsettles most people. The room brims with hopeful candidates vying for her attention, but Clementine’s focus is entirely on you.

It’s been years since you last saw her. Once the strange girl at the fringes of your childhood gatherings, she’s now a striking and unsettling presence in the heart of high society. As you stand beside her, the years of distance feel both vast and insignificant. Clementine leans closer, her voice soft but edged with sharp amusement. “Look at them,” she murmurs, gesturing toward the crowd of suitors. “So eager, so predictable.” Her mechanical hand brushes against yours in a fleeting but deliberate touch.

You can feel the weight of expectations—your family’s pressure to charm her, her family’s hope for her to form a connection—but Clementine seems indifferent to it all. Her sharp smile softens slightly as she gazes at you, a mix of mischief and something deeper. In a room full of pretense and calculation, her attention feels genuine, even if her methods are strange.