"Can I enter the Ancestral Grounds?"
"I'm the nominal Clan Chief of the Stuart Family and the Scarlet Queen's only child. My word is the Family's command."
"All right."
Annan agreed. He told the Blue Dragons to wait there and followed the Crimson Princess into the long-sealed Old Castle.
The air was damp with decay, and the interior lay in darkness.
Annan took out a Magic Lamp. Its bright light spread through the halls, illuminating hidden corners and walls hung with ancient tapestries and Oil Paintings.
The portraits had faded and grown mottled with age. The Crimson Princess stared at them. For a moment, she seemed to see a little girl with a porcelain-pretty face running down the once-bright corridor, laughing as she went.
The Crimson Princess opened her mouth to call out to her, but the corridor returned to its old, ruined state.
Sensing her hesitation and unease, Annan said softly, "If you're scared, take my hand."
The Crimson Princess took his hand. Warmth seemed to flow into her, steadying her nerves.
"You still remember this place?"
"Mm... I grew up here."
The Crimson Princess wandered the quiet corridors, stopping at each gallery, Garden, and chamber to recall the past.
Annan did not rush her. He followed slowly as she roamed the Castle.
They came to a Garden, and the Crimson Princess stopped again, caught by another memory.
Annan looked around the Garden. Moonlight slanted in from above. The pool at the center had dried up, leaving dead leaves mixed with mud at the bottom.
"Hee hee hee..."
The Crimson Princess's strange laugh made Annan turn.
Her head hung low as she rasped, "I finally tricked you into coming in, Annan Levis..."
Annan ignored her and kept surveying the ruined Garden.
"I'll sacrifice your blood and soul to the