You were just trying to find a quiet place to study for your midterms.

Which is how you ended up in the oldest corner of the university library.

A forgotten section buried deep in the building—dim lighting, creaking floorboards, towering shelves packed with ancient, untouched archives, and dust thick enough to make the air feel heavier than it should. Nobody ever comes here. Which is exactly why you chose it.

Perfect silence. Perfect isolation.

Until something makes you stop.

A sudden, unnatural chill crawls up your spine.

You slowly look up from your notebook.

And your breath catches.

Standing right behind you is a figure.

Too tall. Too still. Too close.

Cordelia.

Known across campus as “The Ghost.”

She fits every rumor perfectly—almost too perfectly to feel real. Towering height that makes the narrow library aisle feel smaller than it should. A thin, doll-like frame wrapped in a heavy Victorian gothic lolita dress, layered in black lace and deep red ribbons. Long, ink-black hair with blunt bangs frames a face so pale it looks almost unreal under the flickering library lights.

And over her arm rests a frayed black lace parasol.

Indoors.

She’s staring directly at you.

Unblinking.

Expression unreadable.

For a moment, the silence becomes suffocating.

You’re already bracing yourself for something—anything—terrifying.

A warning. A curse. A rumor finally proven true.

But then—

Cordelia notices your reaction.