"Heaven Truly Knows That..."

The dance of the two slowed down and they moved from the door to the right from the entrance door, where even less people could prick up their ears. Sylvia gazed around which made Eugene squeeze her hand tighter. It seemed like she scanned the area for unneeded attention, whether from other guests, her parents or even the Cormorant themselve. After a while, however, she turned back to Eugene and nodded.

Eugene leaned towards her, but hesitated for a moment, but after seeing her brows slowly going down, he whispered the whole story, "Alright, after I left your household Vincent drove me back to my apartment. Inside, Jessie's painting was missing and the phone wires were cut. Nothing else seemed to be missing, but more importantly, both windows and the door were shut tight. Then, I went to Monso Rooster in case Arnold called me. There, the display window was shattered and Arnold's painting was also gone with only Cormorant's figure displayed instead of it. As Arnold and Jessie told me, there were tons of people present at the time, some of them were art students. Oh, also Vera called me first in the morning, and the phone was fine, but then during the day. My neighbour heard strange noises in my apartment and informed Vera about it. This happens often, she is quite paranoid ever since Christopher moved out, however, this time her fears were justified, because Vera could no longer reach out to me."

After Eugene stopped talking, Sylvia looked behind him, but after the man followed her look, he realized that she rather spaced out in thought. He also observed surroundings a little and barely recognized Maurice who stood beside the snack table, talking with an older gentleman. There were strange looks surrounding him, which was not surprising considering the mask of his choice being the one reminiscent of cormorant. Some would indeed be suspicious, but some careless as ever, just like a young lady dancing with a glass of champagne in her slim hand and pheasant's mask that was half tilted from her face. Jessie found her way to cormorant's business and Maurice's irritation was visible by frequent foot taps he made whenever Jessie got closer to him.

Suddenly, Eugene felt sharp pain in his shoulder, Sylvia squeezed it with her sharp nails. Eugene squeaked and angrily whispered, "What the hell was that for!?"

"Why, to get your attention! Who else was present at Monso Rooster besides those art students?"

"I do not know, some art students remained in the cafe when the front glass was shattered and were later interviewed by the police. That's why I even know about them, everyone else left even before I arrived at the scene."

"Do you know who shattered the display window?"

"As Jessie said, it was some kids whom Arnold tried to catch, but ultimately failed. The chaos emerged after it all happened."

"I see, and who are your accomplices in infiltration?"

"Will we have trouble with the police if I tell you?" wryly smiled Eugene, to which Sylvia grinned, "You might have if you try to lie to me."

"Alright, I got you! I went here with Maurice, Lawrence, Jessie and Cossette. Our other accomplice was Sophie, but we did not use her help."

Sylvia tilted her head, "How could she help you anyway?"

"Well, she prepared a door to the castle itself opened for us, but we got inside with the help of the servant, who happened to find us. Currently, Lawrence is with her, trying on some new clothing."

"Why would he need new clothing?"

"Because his was a total mess after we squeezed through that manhole in the back of the castle!" giggled Eugene, to which Sylvia sighed, "Of course you would choose the rear entrance. The guards are not too diligent at the front gate, so you know."

"Well, too damn late for that! Maybe we could workout an escape plan. Anyway, are you with me? Will you help out with Cormorant's identity?"

Sylvia suddenly stopped and Eugene was able to follow her lead, even though he tried to hide the embarrassment of nearly stepping on her foot. He glared at her with his burning gaze, while the woman simply looked at the ground in thought. At once, she jerked her face and replied, "Yes, I will. I have a general idea of who Phantom Cormorant is."

Eugene's smile shone wide and he exclaimed, "Alright! That's great! And who is this?"

But before she could tell him anything, the whole place was enveloped in darkness. For a good few seconds, no words could be heard around and as one person dared to speak into the dark void, so did more and more people. Overtime, simple questions from place to place turned into incomprehensible noise. Eugene held Sylvia tight and shook his head in search of the tiniest glimpse of light.

"What the hell has happened!?" he exclaimed in hopes to hear an answer, but besides howl of scare there was nothing to be taken into consideration.

Fortunately, the blackout did not last for long, after a good minute of panic, the lights were back on with the whole place being a mess. Some people were lying down, some stood beside the wall. Eugene ended up near the entrance door, his hands were still enveloped around Sylvia's waist, but soon enough he was pushed away.

"Alright, what the hell was tha-!?" said Eugene, but he was abruptly stopped by the surreal view that rose in front of him. His eyes were on the entrance door and over time more and more people came closer to observe what was present on it. Eugene could believe what he was seeing, his head was overflowing with rage and sorrow, fear and fascination.

Previously empty door now had a huge painting displayed on it, the one well familiar to Eugene and many of the people here. "Prussian Attack at Plancenoit" under the authorship of Adolph Northen hung up from the nail and was half inserted into the wooden door. But it was no longer the same painting, in fact, it was barely recognizable as the town's famous word. It contained multiple cuts, several pieces of paper were missing from here and there, but more importantly, it was completely ruined by a sizable inscription at the centre of it.

The writing on the painting stated, "Thou art false as hell!"