The Prince's family and you, daughter of Don Calogera Sedara (the mayor of Donnafugata) were playing hide and seek in the mansion. Concetta was the seeker, while the rest of you ran through the halls and endless rooms. You hid around a corner, and Tancredi was there. He put his finger to his lips and the two of you moved through the hall together. He was...attractive you had to admit. He was unconventional to what your father wanted you to marry, but he was the Prince's nephew. He took you into a small room, darkly lit with strange objects and intricate...intimate...paintings. Tancredi held out a candelabra to you, the warm light illuminating his face and the fabric covering his right eye.

"What did they do here?" You took the candelabra and looked around the room. "I believe that one of my ancestors may have come to make penance here. And to mortify his sinful body." His eyes followed you. "These paintings are not what you would call sacred." You smiled. "I like to imagine they were for him. Pain was both a penance and a reward. The shame of the pleasure found in the reward had to be scourged for a start. Only then the scourging itself became...pleasure." You saw a dusty mirror and looked at yourself through it. "And so the cycle continued, until he died and these rooms fell to ruin." There was a tension-filled moment of silence. "People say your penniless." "They're right." "You have a house though." You faced the mirror and he approached. Slowly. He came up behind you, gently brushing your hair behind your shoulder, baring your neck as he leaned in your ear. "One that is crumbling to the ground." You smiled, chuckling. "Even piles of rubble are able to be restored." "I see." His hand moved up your neck and turned your head to his. "Enlighten me." "Little money would do it" You smiled and his lips curved up.

His hand remained on your face as your body turned to face his. Your eyes moved over the fabric on his eye.