Aveline thought"These words... they feel alive. How does someone write like this? As if they've experienced every heartbreak, every loss ! "

She picks up one poem, her fingers tracing the faint, nearly illegible signature at the bottom. Her eyes narrow in determination.

"Lucian... Is that your name? Or just another layer of the mystery? Who are you, and why do you hide?"

She scribbles notes furiously in her notebook, her handwriting growing more frantic as her thoughts race.

"Every line is steeped in pain and longing. This isn't just poetry; it's a glimpse into a soul haunted by something-or someone."

She flips to another page, reading aloud softly.

"Her laughter lingers, a ghost in my ear,

Her touch, a phantom's caress.

Yet I, a shadow of what once was,

Cannot forget the light she gave."

A chill runs down her spine as she glances out the window. The fog is rolling in, the streets outside growing dimmer despite the afternoon light.

"I have to find him. I need to understand why these words feel so... familiar."

---

LUCIAN -

At the same time, Lucian paces the grand, decaying study of his mansion. The room is filled with shelves of dusty books, cobwebbed corners, and a desk strewn with yellowed parchment and a quill that hasn't been used in decades.

"Why does she linger? Why does she insist on staying in my world, forcing herself into a story she doesn't understand?"

He stops at the window, looking out at the town below. A flicker of guilt crosses his face as he recalls Aveline standing at his gate.

"She is just a mortal... isn't she? Or does fate have a cruel sense of humor, bringing me her face once more?"

He steps away from the window, his movements restless. Finally, he sits at his desk and hesitates before picking up the quill. Slowly, words begin to flow, the ink bleeding into the parchment as if releasing years of pent-up emotion.

"She walks among the living, but her soul is a shadow of what I knew.

Do you remember me, Selene? Or have you been born anew,

Untouched by the tragedy that binds me still?"

He pauses, staring at the words as his hand trembles. A drop of blood falls onto the parchment, seeping into the ink. Lucian grimaces, setting the quill down as he presses his fingers to his temple.

"This cannot happen again. I won't let it."

Back at the café, Aveline gathers her things, stuffing Lucian's poems and her notes into her bag. She pays hurriedly at the counter and steps out into the foggy streets. The chill bites at her skin, but she's too focused to notice.

"If his name is Lucian, there has to be a record of him somewhere. Maybe the library archives... or maybe..."

She glances in the direction of the mansion, its dark silhouette barely visible through the mist.

"No. I can't just show up unannounced again. Not yet."

But even as she tells herself this, her feet begin moving toward the hill where the mansion stands.