"Two-billion won." Her voice is crisp, easy to recognize despite the mask. I turn to the back of the room, where her paddle is still raised. She's wearing a black lace mask, the kind that fades to butterfly wings at the edges. It matches the off shoulder black dress she's wearing, a dress that fits in at this formal Halloween ball but something she never would have worn in the past.

"Two-billion by Ms. 24. Anyone willing to top that for this one-of-a-kind gold necklace? It is rumored to be a belonging of the last Korean queen of the Joseon era." The auctioneer says to the room. He is in a black suit, also wearing a mask. His is a simple one, a white featureless mask that sits on the upper half of his face. All the employees of the house are wearing one, a waiter comes by in a similar mask to hand me my whisky neat in a heavy crystal glass.

I tip him, nodding at him underneath my white and purple venetian mask. The waiter nods a silent thanks and leaves me to pay attention to the main event of the night.

"Ladies and gentleman, let me remind you, this necklace is supposedly the necklace Queen Joo-Mi was murdered for on this very estate." Of course the auctioneer brought this up, if only to create more buzz for the item. Another paddle goes up.

"Three billion won."

"Three billion won from Mr. 53. Is there a four?" The back's paddle goes back up.

"Five billion won." Her voice, sharp enough to slit one's throat, cuts through the buzz that has built up around the ballroom.

"Five billion won from Ms. 24. Is there a six out there?" The auctioneer is still shouting but he no longer needs to, all side chatter has stopped. I take a sip of my drink, thankful my attendant thought beforehand to cut off the bottom half so I could drink as I desired.

My attendant, Joo-won, knows me better than any other. He has raised me better than he raised his own children, including the one sitting at the back of today's mansion.

"Going once. Going twice- sold to Ms. 24." A smattering of applause goes up around us as Seoul's elite congratulate the startlingly young owner on her latest black market antique. I find her later, starting my second drink and what I suspect to be her first.

"Nana, you seem well." Her head whips around from the floor-to-ceiling window, she'd been looking up at the full moon.

"Who- Prince Lee?" Her eyes widen under her lace mask. The delicate black threads compliment her eyes, bringing out the intensity that I've always known to be there. The intensity that she couldn't hide as a precocious child living in the palace of her father's employer.

"Ah ah ah- this is supposed to be an anonymous function." I hold up the auction paddle that I did not use during the earlier main event. "You may call refer to me as Mr. 1." She arches an eyebrow.

"You're the one who started it," She looks around then lowers her voice, "Why are you here, Mr. 1?" This is a valid question, it's not every day that the prince of the Kingdom of New Korea attends a black market auction moonlighting as a Halloween Party. He checks the clock, there's only a handful of minutes till midnight.

"Is it not for the same reason as you?" I look down at her paddle, "Ms. 24?" I say with the same mocking tone she'd used on me. "Then again, I am not the owner of the cursed necklace." Her eyes widen.

"You know about the curse too?"

"Why would I not? I am one of her descendants." The necklace, the very thing my ancestor died for, is cursed.

And the curse comes alive every Halloween at midnight on the anniversary of her death.

"Why would you buy such a thing? Before midnight on Halloween of all days." I lean in, we're both whispering but I want her to feel my fury, "Why are you willing to play with Death?"

"It is merely a rumor, you do not know the curse is real. Your aunt owned this necklace for decades." It is true, when I donated the necklace to tonight's auction, the intent had been for the cursed thing to travel as far away from the palace and Seoul as possible. The last thing I'd intended was for it to fall into the hands of someone I know.

Of someone I care about. I set my crystal down on the nearby granite bar, it's loud against the hard top. I look down at the necklace, the cursed golden necklace hanging around her neck.

"It is uglier than I remember." I tell her, hoping that would be enough to trigger her. It isn't , because of course it would take more than that to trigger Nana. She squares her shoulders.

"I didn't buy it for its beauty."

"How did you buy it? Where did you get five-billion won?" I ask her. While Nana hasn't lived at the castle for years, her father Joo-won, is still an employee of the royal family. While he is compensated well, employees of the royal family are not nearly wealthy enough to be invited to this yearly event. While the necklace cost a pretty penny, it was by no means the most expensive item of the night. That went to an antique gayageum that was once played in the royal court at the turn of the millennia.

"Are you asking how I was able to hand over the money for your ancestor's necklace?" She asks me plainly. "Are you wondering how it's possible for a twenty-five year old daughter of a widowed castle employee to be able to afford this?" She asks, playing with the lumpy gold charm on the golden chain. There's a small smirk on her face.

She's caught on that I'm curious, I can only hope she can't smell my desperation.

"Well now that you're offering, the royal accountant may want to know your secrets. Tourism money has been light the last few years, he could use a fresh idea for national income." I say evenly, standing tall again as if I'm not at all concerned that midnight is in precisely two minutes.

Two minutes and the cursed necklace is still on Nana's neck.

"You could always rent this mansion out for more than one night a year." She suggest, frustratingly pointing to the tall ceilings of the Victorian inspired structure. "There's so few buildings like this near Seoul, I'm sure it'd be a hit with everyone that wants to know more about the Korean royal family." She looks away from the dark pointed ceiling, where a thousand-piece crystal chandelier hangs from heavy steel chains. Real candles are lit above us, one of the impracticalities of this old mansion. A chill runs across my skin, despite the thickness of my bespoke suit jacket. "I'm sure there's many women who want to know more about the newly engaged prince as well."

Even though I'm two drinks deep, I know I'm not imagining the venom in her voice.

"Hmm, I'm sure many women know that it is in fact an arranged marriage and that the prince had little choice in the matter."

"Is that so? But he's the prince. Surely he had some say in his engagement considering we're living in the modern era." She takes a sip of her drink. "Then again, maybe he's just doing the same as I did and marrying for money."

"You're married?" My eyes zoom in on her left hand, the hand carrying a glass of dark red wine.

There's a ring with an emerald the size of my eye on her left ring finger. It's impossible to miss, I don't know how I didn't see it from across the room.

"Dear, who is your friend?" My stomach drops when I see an arm snake around Nana's thin waist, settling possessively on her hip. Her free hand comes up to naturally rest on his chest, he's wearing a black suit with a pressed black shirt underneath. He looks like Death personified in a minimal black masquerade mask, the two of them make a beautiful pair. They kiss in greeting and I look away for a second, not to give them privacy but because the display makes me unreasonably angry.

Unreasonable because I was the one who broke up with Nana.

"Mr. 1, please meet my husband, Mr. 23." I look back, he's offering his hand. I take it, the man has a strong grasp.

"Mr. 1? What an honor to meet the host. I heard the host family typically does not attend these events." Nana's husband says, nodding to me with reverence. I nod back, remaining calm despite every alarm going off in my head.

There's less than a minute till midnight and I've just recognized Nana's husband as the biggest black market weapons dealer in Asia. There's no mistaking the man across from me as Josh Woo, the face of the last Korean war. He sold weapons to both sides, including the side that killed not just my mother but Nana's mother too when she was part of the armed forces. No wonder she didn't bat an eye at spending five-billion won, he probably makes more than that in a week. He's richer than the royal family, than probably almost everyone at this party.

What is Nana doing married to him? She probably has no idea what he does for real, she probably just knows that he makes money. I want to be angry at her, but I really am no better, my fiancé is only my fiancé because of the size of her family's wallet.

"Not typically, but the necklace was a rare piece. We wanted to make sure it safely found its way to its new owner." I say to him, nodding at the piece of gold hanging around Nana's neck. "Your wife has expensive tastes."

"Really? I never noticed. Nothing is too expensive if it'll make my wife happy." He smiles down at her, and the smile she gives him in return curls my gut. Now I wish I was the owner of the necklace, because I know exactly who I'd aim the curse at.

The curse. I look at the clock, there's only thirty seconds left.

"Nana-"

"Love, may we step outside? I'm sorry, it's a bit warm in here, all the people." Nana fans herself, her face is red.

"Oh, you are turning a shade pink. Yes, let's go out those doors." Her husband nods to the balcony doors a few feet away. "Nice to meet you your maj- I mean Mr. 1." He bows a little, steering Nana to the balcony with the hand still on her waist. I frown.

Nana always turns red from drinking alcohol, she's allergic.

I'm afraid of Josh Woo, as everyone should be, but I'm more afraid of what the curse could do to Nana. It's part of the reason for the low interest in the necklace, that Death follows the wearer. It's what happened to my late aunt, both her husband and her sister-in-law died in the year following her inheritance of the necklace. Before that, her own mother outlived a Halloween night attack that killed her chief of staff.

I inch towards the balcony they've stepped out onto, it's one of the more private ones, really only large enough for two, maybe three people comfortably. Nana is fanning herself and staring up at the moon. The white light casts an ethereal glow on her light skin, dramatically cut by the dark outline of her lace mask. Josh stands at her side, his arm still wrapped around her waist.

"I never knew you had a taste for antique gold." Josh says, looking down at the piece on her neck. "You always seemed to enjoy the diamonds I gave you."

"I do enjoy the diamonds, they're great at bringing out the twinkle in my eyes." She says coyly, she stops fanning herself and looks up at him. "You're so tall, sometimes I wish you were at an easier height to kiss." She looks around. "This balcony is almost barstool height, we should get more barstools."

"Are you saying you'd kiss me more if we had more barstools?" He unwinds his arm from around her waist and moves in front of her, his back to the edge of the balcony. The moon and the stars create a fantasy-worthy backdrop, Josh's dark suit makes him almost look like a part of the night. His teeth are blindingly white in contrast to the darkness of his mask. I inch back so as not to be seen.

"Why don't you test the height and find out?" I look away, still hurt by the flirtation in Nana's voice. I shouldn't be, it's been over two years since our break up.

"This is a pretty narrow ledge, kiss me quick so we-" A shout pulls my gaze back to the balcony, where only Nana's silhouette remains.

She's peering over the ledge, my heart pounds. Josh Woo is nowhere to be seen.

"That was for my mother," her voice is soft, "and for Lee's mother."

I step out onto the small balcony. "You knew who he was." I say, startling her. Nana's hand slips, she's already leaning over the edge of the balcony. Her arms flail.

I grab her, pulling her against the brick building, mercifully close enough to bring her to safety. Against the brick, we're out of sight of the others of the party. Against the brick, I can hold her like the last two years haven't kept us apart.

The prince who chose his crown and the young woman he threw away.

In every story I know I'd be the villain, the man who chose money over love.

But in this story- I pull away and look down at the necklace.

"You saw." She whispers.

"I saw your husband slip and fall over the ledge to the rocks below." I say slowly, still looking at the necklace, "It was terrible and unfortunate, it was because of the curse."