Before the plan, I visited Otto's tower again. I walked through the snow, which had stopped falling, leaving a trail of footprints. When I finally reached the tower my teeth was chattering from the cold and my fingers were numb from pulling my cloak tightly around me.

I walked up the staircase to the tower and then opened the unlocked door, and peered at the figure closely to see who it was. He was sitting on the bed and turned to me.

"It's me."

The deeper, solemn voice told me the answer.

I sneaked in and closed the door behind me. The roomed was warm and bathed in yellow light. He sat up from the bed and turned to face me.

"Oscar." I said. "It's you again."

"Who did you want to see?" He teased. I didn't feel embarrassed anymore.

"I want to see you, Oscar." He frowned.

"Did something happen?" I laughed at his obvious confusion.

"No—but something is happening. Tonight me and Oda will try and catch the murderer."

He stood up.

"You're insane!"

"I'm not." I shook my head. "The Royal Family isn't doing anything. Everything will be buried up at this rate. Like they did to you." He fell quiet.

"How—how are you going to catch the murderer?"

"Don't worry," I said. "There's seven of us in total, my friends and their lady in waitings."

"You are girls!" He stepped forward and held onto my arm. "What can you girls do against a murderer? What if they are backed by by another group, a noble family—or a whole other kingdom?"

His eyes were narrowed and he's scared. For me. It made me feel different.

"Nevertheless, we will try." I took his hand, which were grasping my arm, and held them in my hands. They were warm.

"You told me once, Oscar," I whispered, "that if there was even one person who cared about you and didn't let them do what's they did to you back then that you wouldn't be like this. Trapped. Otto too. And all of us girls." I smiled.

"Yes, I said that," he said softly. He remembered.

"Maybe I'm too late to save you, Oscar, or the two girls who were murdered, but I want to save Otto, and the girls who are still alive." I looked down at our two clasped hands, his pale ghostly ones and my darker ones with frozen pink fingertips. "Maybe, just maybe, I can change the future."

"Karlina," he whispered.

"That's all I have to say." I let go of his hands, slowly, unwillingly. "I'll be going, then."

I turned and started to leave, but then he reached out to grab my wrist.

"Karlina, I want to say—I want to say—" he struggled, his grip growing tighter, until he closed his eyes, lashes fluttering against his ivory skin. "I want to say that I didn't understand love and I still don't—"

I only smile. "I understand. I won't tell you to say it."

"No." He stepped forward to me and his hand is on my waist. He pulled me to him, and hugged me tightly, and my chin rested on his shoulder. For a moment I think I'm dreaming.

"But if someone like me is capable of love, I want to say I love you."

I closed my eyes and smiled.

"You are capable of love." We pulled part, and I touched his cheek. "You made me dare to change myself and the parts of the world I hate. It's all thanks to you."

He bit his lips and his eyes glistened.

"And you were the first one to show me there were people in the world who would sacrifice themselves for others. For your sister, for the contestants, and maybe if we had met earlier—for me." He took a deep breath. "Please live, Karlina."

"I will."

Then he pressed something into my hand. I looked at it in confusion.

"Take it," he said. I hesitated but before I could reject, he folded my fingers around it. "Please."

I left the tower and hurried to gather with Aideen at night. I changed into my thinnest and lightest dress, then concealed myself in a black cloak, before joining up with Aideen at the corner of the Middle Class dorm, making sure to stand as far as possible from where the dim moonlight and starlight hit the floor through the curtains. Other than that, the hallway was almost entirely dark.

By the time my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see the outline of the staircases' railings.

We had decided the moment when we see a person enter a room, Aideen will go up the other staircase at the end of the hall to call for help from the upper floors, and I would call for help downstairs by this staircase.

When we heard the sound of footsteps, both Aideen and I stopped breathing, not daring to move or even look at each other. We pressed ourselves to the wall and twisted our head to look at the person.

It was a lithe figure, a female, who came up from the other staircase. However, she didn't seem to be in a hurry. In fact, she seemed afraid as she peered around the hallway warily before going to a room. Once there she quickly opened the door and bolted inside, closing it silently but quickly.

"Do you think she is a contestant?" Aideen whispered to me, voice small.

"I don't know," I said. "But go to Oda and tell her. Don't return until I go to you and tell you whether or not it's a contestant."

She nodded instead of speaking, and scurried down the hallway to go to the further staircase without the figure noticing.

The moment she left, I felt a weight off my shoulders.

The figure from before could not be the murderer; I recognized it to be Nicolette and her room. She was a Middle Class contestant and had just returned to her own room. She had probably came up from staying at Viola's room. They were often together at nights. I had checked with Oda and both of them had alibis at the time of the murders. The truth was I wanted Aideen to stay with Oda and stall time.

I had to be alone. The murderer would, no matter what, come up the stairs. The murderer was not a contestant, I was sure. Therefore they would come by the staircase I was closer too, because if you came into the Grey Castle, that was the closest staircase. The murderer wouldn't waste time to go to the further one.

When the second figure ascended the stairs, my breath got hitched.

It was a figure dressed in black like me, and they move with stealth and confidence. Like how a cat stalks a prey before pouncing. Their movements blended into the dark and I wouldn't have even noticed if they had not stopped and walked into the hallway.

There was no doubt. It was the murderer.

My heart raced and I bit my lips. I prayed that the figure does not see me. No, they cannot. I could barely see anything but the cloak they are wearing and I had been in the dark for some time. I could only see the cloak's movements, not even the height or built of the person under it. They surely couldn't see me, as I was crouching and hiding in the dark corner.

And they don't. They take slow and careful steps, and then stopped before a room.

It wasn't my room, nor Oriana's, but neither can I remember whose room it is. Priscilla, or the other contestant who had insulted Otto once at dinner and gotten told me? Whose is it?

The figure slipped something into the locked doorknob, and I couldn't only anything but the flash of metal during the movement of the item. There was not even a sound as the lock unlocked and then the gripped the doorknob and turned it.

There was no way the girl would hear the sound of their door being unlocked, opened, and a trespasser entering. There was no way they could sense their upcoming death.

I ran down to the further staircase, my head screaming for me to quicken before someone else is killed. I reached deep into my pocket and reached the matchbox I hid from them. It was my plan. I lit a stick on fire quickly then dropped the matchstick down the staircase, hoping Oriana and her lady in waiting would see the flame and wake up the girls. Marble floors wouldn't catch on fire, but they would see the momentary light in the dark.

I could run upstairs, like I had promised Aideen. I could run upstairs and call for the girls to wake up, and then rush downstairs again.

But then there would only be a bloody body greeting my return.

I gripped the cold silver handle of the knife tighter between my fingers as I run to the room they entered.

I may not be able to change a thing, they may already be killed, or the world may be enveloped in flames—but I will not run away.

"Karina is guilty for it. She feels responsible for the deaths, and the disgust for the Dandelion System. She wants to be the one to end it—even if she dies in the process."

You are right, Oda. Like I knew you better than you did yourself, you knew me better than I did.

If I die, what you will think when you go to my funeral? Would you make the same speech you did at Tristesse and Lorna's funeral? Would you still hold yourself high amidst the gloom and not shed a tear?

Or would you grieve for me, like Catalina called you my friend, would you grieve for me like one grieves for a friend?

Each step brought me closer to the door which the intruder entered. It was slightly ajar, proving it was not their room but they were going to leave once they finished their business. My fingers wrapped around the cold handle, but there is hesitation in my heart.

Oda—I wouldn't be able to face you if I don't enter this room by my own will.

I pushed open the door.

The figure took a step back when they realize someone has entered the room.

"Who—who are you?"

I can't recognize the disguised voice.

"Don't you dare come any closer!" the murderer threatened me.

I don't reply. I stepped forward and pulled the knife out of my pocket. The knife Oscar gave me.

"Please live, Karlina," his voice sounded in my head. "Take it...Please."

I held it out in front of me, but my whole arm was shaking violently. I couldn't do it even if I wanted to. My body felt light again, like I'm about to faint. The knife felt heavy. The dark was suffocating. So was the silence between the murder and I. Everything was quiet. No one was coming. I am all alone.

A million thoughts race through my head. Regret. Fear. Anger. Hatred. Shame.

I couldn't fight. I'm weak. All I ever did was run away. Even if I forced myself to face them, all I can do is stand there. And I even promised Oriana, Annabelle, Aideen, and Oda, I would end this. And I promised to take Otto out one day. And Oscar, too.

The figure lunged, and I stiffened.

Please, please, please—

Don't let this end in a tragedy!

"Karina!"

When I heard the voice, I wondered if I am hallucinating.

It's Oda's voice.

I heard screams and numerous footsteps pound through as they run and blazing flames blind my eye when I turn to the door behind me.

All the girls, contestants and lady in waitings, along with guards, are screaming and shouting as they run to where I stand.

"Karina!"

I am not dreaming.

"Step aside immediately!"

Oda is at the front of the crowd, in her hand a blazing lantern and her face twisted in an expression I had never saw. She ran into front of me, the guards following, and I stepped aside, my knees giving up. I fell and someone caught me.

"Surround the man!" she commanded, but the guards have already. They light up the room with their numerous torches, lanterns, candles. Girls gathered around me.

Aideen, Oriana, and Annabelle grabbed my hands and hugged me while crying. They tried to speak but they only ended up choking on their tears.

"Karina, Karina," Originia wailed repeatedly, her face a vibrant red.

"Oda," Aideen finally spoke, "she told me to get the guards immediately! She knew you were going to try and face it alone!" I brought my hands to her wet cheeks. I try to keep from crying, but I can't. "I shouldn't have left you alone—I'm sorry!"

"I'm so relieved," I sobbed. "I was so scared. I was really scared!"

Annabelle only hugged me, and Oriana joined in too. We cried, like we did before, but this time it is from relief. The long night was over.

It was finally over.