Veronica stood at the edge of the fissure.
She looked down.
The Underworld was just beneath her feet.
"What are you looking at?" The voice of an elderly man sounded in her ear.
Veronica turned her head to look at the old man who was also standing at the edge of the Underworld.
The ancestor who had imprisoned her for the first half of her life and destroyed the lives of countless women of the Gavin Clan—Butler Gallanty.
Gallanty sighed and began to speak:
"You've grown..."
Veronica interrupted him coldly:
"You're not real, you're not a ghost, you're just a failure. You don't even exist anywhere except in my memories."
After saying that, Veronica turned her head away.
She could no longer see Gallanty.
The basement door was pushed open once again.
The first thing she saw was a pair of short boots and the pale skin between the boots and pant legs.
It was Nellie.
Nellie said:
"I need your help."