Leonardo stood at the base of the grand staircase, staring upwards at the mirror that loomed ominously at the top. The stairs twisted and turned, leading into the hidden depths of the mansion. A shiver ran down his spine, though the air was warm. He sighed deeply, adjusting his outfit once more, nervously brushing off imaginary specks of dust from his neatly pressed shirt.

  "Okay, just go up there and tell her: 'I lied, ma'am, your husband is still alive. I just did it to get out of that situation.'" He repeated the words under his breath, almost like a desperate mantra. The weight of his actions pressed heavily on him. Who wants to die in a bathroom, with nothing but a white shirt to cover themselves?

  He began to ascend the stairs, each step feeling heavier than the last, as if the mansion itself was resisting his progress. As he reached the top, he realized that the upper level was a mirror image of the one below, only reversed. Tall windows lined one side, offering a clear view of the meticulously maintained training grounds below. She had been there, not here, but on the other side of the mansion looking at him below. He paused to take in the view, his eyes scanning the grounds, half expecting someone down there to glance up and see him lurking above.

  "I wonder what they'd think if they saw me up here… 'Who is that?'" Leonardo muttered under his breath, a hint of paranoia creeping into his voice. He remembered Anna's stern warning not to be in this part of the mansion, her words echoing in his mind like a relentless drumbeat. But if she found out what he had done to her mother…

  He gulped, feeling a knot of anxiety tighten in his chest. "I don't even want to think about it. Maybe Elara would freak out, too."

  It had only been three days since he arrived, three days filled with tension and unease. He doubted they trusted him enough to overlook such a lie. The hallway stretched out in front of him, lined with heavy wooden doors on one side and those expansive windows on the other. His sword hung at his side, more of a comfort than a necessity in this place, a constant reminder of his own vulnerability. He walked past the windows, where the artificial light outside filtered in through the tall, crimson curtains that brushed the floor like silent sentinels.

  "How fast is this woman?" Leonardo sighed, his eyes darting down the seemingly endless hallway. Another staircase appeared in the middle, a yawning descent into yet more of the mansion's Obsurdity . But beyond that, it was just more doors, an endless procession of closed-off spaces.

  "Why so many doors? The maids have their own houses," he mumbled, opening one of the doors at random, hoping it might provide a clue or, at the very least, a distraction.

  "Huh?" he muttered, stunned into silence. The room was filled with dolls. They were everywhere—crowding the shelves, scattered across the floor, even piled in haphazard heaps in the corners. There were dolls of every size, shape, and color. One of them was almost as tall as he was, a towering figure with lifeless glass eyes that seemed to follow his every move. Who on earth needs so many dolls? he wondered, stepping further into the room, his path impeded by a large mound of plush toys that looked as if they hadn't been touched in years.

  There were no windows in this room, just the dull hum of something mechanical, a low, persistent noise that sent an uncomfortable chill through the air. He turned his gaze upward, noticing a strange, boxy contraption mounted on the wall. It emitted a stream of cold air that filled the room with an almost unnatural chill.

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  "What is that?" Leonardo said aloud, his voice breaking the eerie silence as he climbed onto a nearby shelf to get a closer look. The device was mounted just out of his reach, but he stretched his hand towards it, feeling the icy air biting against his skin. The cold was sharp, stinging in a way that seemed out of place in the otherwise cozy mansion.

  "A machine that spins really fast?" he speculated, trying to make sense of it. But a fan alone wouldn't explain the intense cold that filled the space, clashing with the mansion's otherwise warm atmosphere.

  "Maybe if this thing were in the bathroom, it could have saved me from some of Adalaide's... skill," he mused, recalling the suffocating heat that seemed to radiate from her during their encounter. He shook his head, trying to focus on the task at hand.

  "Text, how does this thing work?" Leonardo asked, his voice echoing slightly in the doll-filled room, the sound bouncing back to him like a taunt.

  [Has information on an older model. Still need information?]

  "Yes, Good, it's telling me if the information it has is outdated" Leonardo replied, rubbing his hands together for warmth, his breath visible in the frigid air. "Wait, does that mean the information on the cars was wrong too?" he added, curiosity tugging at the back of his mind.

  [Slightly wrong,] the text responded.

  "Okay, I'll figure that out later. Just explain this thing to me; it's better than nothing."

  The text began to elaborate:

  [An air conditioner operates on the principle of heat transfer, using a refrigeration cycle to remove heat from inside a space and release it outside.

  Compression: A compressor pressurizes the refrigerant (a special fluid), turning it into a hot, high-pressure gas.Condensation: This hot gas moves through condenser coils, where it releases heat to the outside air and cools down, becoming a liquid.

  Expansion: The liquid refrigerant passes through an expansion valve, which rapidly reduces its pressure. This causes it to expand and become a cold, low-pressure gas.

  Evaporation: The cold gas flows through evaporator coils inside the room. A fan blows warm room air over these coils. The refrigerant absorbs heat from this air, cooling it down.

  The cooled air is then circulated back into the room.The refrigerant, now a warm gas, returns to the compressor to begin the cycle again.]

  "I was right about the fan, but what's this fluid you mentioned? Explain that part," Leonardo said, settling onto a pile of plush dolls, his interest piqued despite the strange setting.

  [Refrigerant Properties:

  Phase changes: Refrigerants can easily change between liquid and gas states at relatively low temperatures.Low boiling point: They have very low boiling points, often below room temperature.Heat absorption: When changing from liquid to gas, refrigerants absorb a large amount of heat.Heat release: When changing from gas to liquid, they release heat.]

  Leonardo paused, a small smile forming on his lips. "So, this thing is basically moving heat around. Interesting... Could this be made? Like, could we build one of these?"

  [Yes, it can be—]

  Before the text could finish, the room was suddenly plunged into darkness, the light snuffed out as if on cue.

  "Well, that'll be useful later," he murmured, standing up and brushing himself off.

  Leonardo stepped back into the hallway, the vast emptiness of the mansion pressing down on him like a physical weight. The dolls, the cold, the strange devices—all reminders that he was in a place where the usual rules didn't apply. He steadied himself, glancing down the corridor.

  "Alright, let's find her and set things straight," he said to himself, his voice firm but edged with anxiety, his resolve wavering at the thought of the confrontation to come. But as he moved forward, a small, nagging thought lingered in the back of his mind: What if she already knows?