Great Aunt Hyomin's funeral was held a few days later. A coroner and his team had done their best to recreate the woman’s skull, but it was obvious, to Baekhyun at least, that it didn't look right. Society’s finest came out to pay their respects, dressed to the nines in the latest fashions.  Even though Baekhyun hadn't really gotten along with his great aunt, he despised this society and how they had turned a tragedy into a social event. 

The enormous wake after the funeral, however, provided Baekhyun with an excellent opportunity to snoop unsupervised. The gathering was held in the grand ballroom – the only area big enough to hold all the guests from all over the country – so the rest of the house was practically deserted. 

Getting away from the party – and his ever-watchful bodyguards – proved difficult as always, but Baekhyun was starting to get good at giving them the slip. This time he recruited Kyungsoo to help him. He knew that Yifan had a sweet tooth, even though he would never admit it, and it only took Kyungsoo walking by with a tray of his famous chocolate cake to distract the bodyguard enough for Baekhyun to duck behind a portly politician and escape the ballroom.

The rest of the house was empty for the most part, all the servants having been pressed into service for the wake. Baekhyun encountered no one as he climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. The fourth floor was mostly unused, but the attic above it was even less used. He reached it by way of a narrow staircase hidden behind a little inconspicuous door that nearly matched the wood paneling of the walls. He figured the attic was his best chance of finding old heirlooms from his ancestors. 

He flipped on the switch by the door and the bare bulbs hanging from the sloped ceiling flickered loudly into life.  The attic was enormous, probably stretching half the length of the manor, and it was crammed full of everything from old furniture and clothes to toys and workout equipment.  Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, but, luckily for Baekhyun, nobody seemed to throw anything away. There must have been generations of old stuff there for him to go through. 

Not knowing how much time he had before Yifan and Zitao found him, he grabbed the nearest box and opened it. It was full of dusty old books, stacked neatly on top of each other. They were almost all in other languages, so Baekhyun barely glanced at the titles as he sorted through them. The last time he'd had a vision, all it had taken was him touching the hairbrush, so he figured as long as he touched each book he wouldn't miss anything.

Unfortunately he got to the bottom of the box and found that it was just an ordinary box of books. He tried not to be too disappointed as he stacked them back the way he had found them. It was only the first box he had tried, after all.

Six more boxes in and his disappointment was harder to keep at bay.  He knew he was running out of time until someone found him, and if word got back to Madame where he was and what he was doing, she'd definitely find a way to stop him. He wouldn't put it past her to destroy everything in the attic just to put an end to his endeavor, and then he'd never get any answers.

He pulled one last box to him, telling himself that he'd call it a day afterwards no matter what he found, and opened it up.  Dust billowed out from the top, causing Baekhyun to cough and rub at his eyes.  When the dust settled, he saw that the box was filled with little knickknacks. Most of them looked old, over a hundred years at least. There were lace handkerchiefs, faded jewelry, worn leather riding gloves. Baekhyun sorted through all of it with a rushed sort of caution, careful not to damage anything.

At the bottom of the worn cardboard box was a little bronze box, round and quite tarnished. Curious, Baekhyun picked up the box and lifted the lid, the old hinges creaking.

He barely had time to take in the cracked mirror on the inside of the lid and the extraordinary amount of white dust in the basin before his surroundings started spinning. It was just as disconcerting as it had been before, but at least this time he was not caught off guard. Outside the tiny, dusty attic window, time turned backwards. It went on and on, longer than the last time, Baekhyun was sure.

When things finally settled again, the attic was almost unrecognizable. Instead of a great room stretching half the length of the house, it was a small, square room. It was also mostly empty. The box in Baekhyun’s hand was no longer tarnished and empty. It was bright and new, the mirror intact. The basin wasn't just dusty anymore; it was filled with white face powder and a puff with which to apply it.

Unlike his last foray into the past, he didn't immediately see anything of note. He was alone in the suddenly tiny attic.

After standing uncertainly for several minutes, waiting to see if any ghostly figures made themselves known, Baekhyun cautiously descended the attic stairs into the main part of the house. Like the attic, the fourth floor no longer held an air of disuse. It was bright and clean, the windows open to let bright summer sunshine in.

The hallway was also empty, so Baekhyun slowly made his way down it. He was pretty sure that nobody could see him, but he was still cautious as he opened door after door, looking for the owner of the powder box he still clutched in his hands. He found a few servants in some of the rooms, but nothing of note.

Feeling a bit lost, he began to wander downward. He eventually found himself in a part of the house he'd never been in before. He knew it was near Madame’s apartments though, so he could only assume he was looking for the rooms of the family head. After checking every door along the way, he reached an ornately carved wooden door. Taking a deep breath, he reached out and turned the knob.

Beyond the door he found an elegant sitting room, not unlike the one in his own apartments but nicer. Finding it devoid of human life, he pressed further into the apartment. Beyond the sitting room was a bedroom with beautiful paneled walls and an elaborate chandelier hanging above an enormous four poster bed. This room was also empty so Baekhyun turned to go, but a noise from a back room caught him before he could.

Making his way back, he found himself in a small, dark room. He supposed it was a bathroom of sorts, but it was so primitive he wasn't sure he'd be willing to use it. Still, there was a beautiful wooden vanity there with a large mirror, the light from an oil lamp reflected to light the room.

A beautiful young woman sat at the vanity, brushing her long, dark hair. She was wearing a dark colored hanbok made of the finest silk, the skirt spread out over the short stool she was sitting on. She obviously didn't notice Baekhyun standing behind her.

While he stood and watched, she leaned forward and patted her cheeks thoughtfully. She was still carefully examining her reflection when someone knocked on the door behind Baekhyun, making him jump and nearly drop the powder box.

It was a second woman, a bit younger than the first. She was dressed sedately, carrying a polished silver tray with a traditional tea set on it.

“Your tea, Madame,” the servant girl announced.

The woman at the vanity barely glanced up, still engrossed in her own reflection. “Go ahead and taste it for poison,” she instructed carelessly.

The servant didn't seem surprised by this command; apparently making sure food and drink were safe for consumption was a normal part of her job. She set the tray down on the edge of the vanity table and carefully poured steaming tea into the cup. She waited a moment for it to cool, then brought it to her lips and took a sip.

“The tea is safe, Madame,” she announced.

The seated woman waved the servant away dismissively and returned to her mirror. The girl bowed and left the dressing room, pulling the door closed behind her. All was quiet and still again.

Baekhyun watched for a few minutes with an ever-growing sense of impatience. He expected to see someone die – most likely in a gruesome and unnatural manner – and the fact that his whole foray into the past was blasé was very off putting.

Then – and it was so slight that he might've missed it – there was a sudden ripple in the tea even though there had been no movement that might have caused it. He stepped closer to examine the tea, but the ripple had faded by the time he stepped near, leaving it as smooth and undisturbed as it had been when the maid set it down.

The woman at the vanity gave her cheeks a final pinch, then, seemingly satisfied with her appearance, she reached for the teacup. Baekhyun started to warn her but remembered at the last second that she couldn’t see or hear him. And besides, the whole point of being there was to see her die.

Madame – Baekhyun wondered briefly just how long the lady of the house had gone by the moniker – took a sip of the tea, and he watched with bated breath.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then she paused, screwing up her face as though she had tasted something nasty. “Girl!” she shrieked suddenly, her face growing quite red.

There were hurried footsteps behind Baekhyun, and then the maid re-entered the boudoir. “Yes, Madame?”

The seated woman flung her cup of tea at the maid, who cried out as the scalding liquid burned her exposed hands and stained her clothes. “This is absolutely-!” Her words caught in . Her eyes bulged from their sockets and she clutched at with pale hands.

The maid watched in horror, her burned hands forgotten, as the woman gasped helplessly for air. She let out a wild shriek and started screaming for help, dropping to her knees in an attempt to help the poisoned woman. There were more footsteps from the hallway, and then several servants burst into the tiny room. Baekhyun pressed himself back against the wall, trying not to get in anyone’s way. He knew they couldn’t see or hear him, but he wasn’t entirely sure they couldn’t feel him.

He tried to keep an eye on the woman, but it was difficult to see through the crush of bodies that now surrounded her. Everyone was shouting different orders, trying to help her. Through a gap in the bodies Baekhyun could see that the woman had slipped from her stool. She was now writhing on the ground, clawing at her face and throat desperately. Her skin had turned a mottled sort of green, and she began to vomit.

There was more thrashing – the vanity was knocked over and the mirror shattered – and then the woman lay still. It wasn’t until the servants backed away, terrified, that Baekhyun saw the way the woman’s face was frozen in a contorted grimace, vomit trailed down her face and body.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in an elegant and very modern bathroom. It took him a moment to realize he’d been transported back to present day, and even longer to realize that he’d ended up in a different place than where he’d started.

Stepping out of the bathroom, he realized he must have been in Madame’s private quarters. Knowing just how furious she would be if he was caught there, he quickly made his escape.

Just in time, too. He ran into Madame as he was going down the stairs. She was being helped back to her rooms by a servant, leaning heavily on his arm. She stopped when she saw Baekhyun, eyeing him suspiciously.

“What are you doing, boy?” she barked. “Why weren’t you at the wake?”

“I didn’t feel well, so I had a bit of a lie down,” he lied smoothly. “I was just returning to the wake.”

Madame seemed to buy his story; it seemed like nobody was feeling well around the house those days. She waved her hand dismissively. “The wake is over. There’s no need for you to go back.” She had passed him and was almost around the corner when she stopped. “Don’t forget that your engagement party is next weekend. I expect you to be on your best behavior.”

Baekhyun, who had all but forgotten that he was technically betrothed to some girl he’d never met, was about to protest, but Madame was already gone.

“How on earth can I marry someone I don’t even know?” Baekhyun complained the evening of the party. Yixing was helping him dress in a tuxedo – it seemed awfully complicated.

Yixing hummed thoughtfully as he adjusted the cufflinks. “Well, you know she’s probably quite beautiful. Old, rich families like hers always go for plastic surgery.”

Baekhyun shot him a grumpy look. “It’s not about looks, Xing. It’s about personality. It’s about knowing someone.”

“Could it be there’s already someone who’s caught your eye?” Yixing teased.

Baekhyun flushed crimson. “T-that’s-I mean…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he huffed.

Yixing only laughed.

Like all other social gatherings at Westfield Estate, the engagement party was held in grand ballroom and it was attended by the who’s who of Korean aristocracy. As soon as he entered the room, followed surreptitiously by his bodyguards, Baekhyun was led over to where Madame stood with a regal-looking couple and a young woman with dark hair and heavy eye makeup.

“Baekhyun, this is Mr. and Mrs. Shin, and their daughter Yujin,” Madame said graciously. “This is my grandson, Kim Baekhyun.”

“Byu-” Baekhyun began, but then after realizing the futility of it – plus the sharp look from Madame – he switched tact. “It’s very nice to meet you.” He offered Shin Yujin his hand. “Would you like to dance?”

Madame looked surprised – and suspicious – that Baekhyun was being so polite, but Baekhyun just needed to get this girl away from their parents.

She accepted at once, and the two of them stepped away to join the throngs of couples dancing to the string quartet playing on a raised platform at the end of the ballroom.

Baekhyun had planned it all out. He was going to tell this girl – however nice she might be – that there was no way he could marry her. He opened his mouth to start his well-rehearsed speech, but Shin Yujin beat him to it.

“I don’t want to marry you,” she blurted. Then she smiled a bit sheepishly. “Look, it’s nothing against you or anything. I’m sure you’re a super nice guy. But, the Kim family…”

Baekhyun chuckled. “You don’t want to die from the curse.”

She laughed, still sheepish. “It sounds silly when you say it like that. I mean, I’m sure you don’t even believe it in it but-”

“Oh, I definitely believe in it,” he interrupted her, sweeping her around the ballroom. “I’ve seen it firsthand. There’s definitely a curse and you’d probably die if you married me. I think we should call the whole thing off. I don’t want anyone to die because of me.”

Yujin frowned. “How are we going to convince them to call it off?”

“I’m not sure,” Baekhyun admitted. “You wouldn’t by any chance want to get pregnant or anything, would you?” He smiled ruefully. “Surely they wouldn’t make us get married if you were pregnant by someone else.”

“Honestly, I’d be willing to go that far if I thought it would work,” she muttered. “But I think my parents would just make me get an abortion and sweep the whole thing under the rug. I don’t think that’d work.”

“We’ll think about it then,” Baekhyun promised. “We’ve got to be able to come up with something.”

Yujin smiled as the dance ended. “I’m really glad we’re in agreement on this.”

“One hundred percent,” Baekhyun agreed, kissing her hand the way he’d been taught.

He glanced up at the front of the ballroom, where Madame and the Shins were watching with approving smiles. He smiled back. They didn’t have to know that there was no way he and Yujin were ever going to get married.

Okay, so it's been over a year since I last updated, which is crazy. But, you know, life happens. Trust me, I wish I had more time to write and play around on the internet, but life with a baby is extremely busy. 

But my little one is a year old now (13 months, actually, which is super weird because I feel like she was born yesterday haha) and now she's into playing by herself for short periods of time, so I'm FINALLY getting a bit of free time! Hopefully this means I'll be able to update more frequently. I've made that promise before, though, so maybe don't hold your breath OTL