The mansion smelled of old roses and extinguished candles. Portraits lined the corridors, each bearing the same family name, while every painted face had been carefully scratched away. Only one portrait remained untouched, displaying a figure dressed in mourning black.
At the end of a forgotten road stood a mansion where every window remained sealed and every garden rose bloomed black. Locals called the place cursed, but the real mystery was the piano that played every night despite the house having no living occupants.
A letter bearing no signature arrived one morning, inviting its recipient to claim an inheritance within the mansion. Inside the envelope lay a brass key and a warning written in elegant script: 'Whatever happens, never open the room beneath the staircase.'