The secrets were finally spilled. All the Dandelion System contestants were sent back to their families, or, in Annabelle's case, to a temporary residence. News spread throughout the kingdom, of the mentally unstable Queen, news of the deaths of Tristesse, Lorna, and Priscilla, and news of Prince Otto's imprisonment. The only thing that the public didn't know yet was the death of a certain boy from twelve years ago.

I was to go home, but I wanted to visit Otto and Oscar one last time. I packed my trunk and had it sent back first. My room in the castle was now bare as it once was. I could no longer walk through the Grey Castle without thinking of that night.

I left the castle and wandered around the palace grounds, now almost perfectly empty, with all the important officials as well as Oda, the leader now, in a meeting in the conference hall, as they are every moment expect for sleeping and dining. But before I left, I wanted to see one place one last time.

Oscar's room.

I opened the door to the accursed room before cautiously stepping into the dark, then reached for the curtains and casted it open. When the light streamed in, I felt a sense of melancholy for the huge room I didn't feel last time when it was clothed in moonlight. In the sunlight I could see how faded everything was, the once white sheets yellowing and hanging like funeral palls over every piece of furniture, the walls devoid of any painting and the marble ground empty without ornate carpets.

I closed the curtains again, and decided to go to the tower. Once below the tower I peered up at the window to see if Otto or Oscar was inside, but it was dark. The door were now unlocked, so I opened it and walked up the winding stairs slowly. Before the door to their room my heart beat loudly.

I had wanted to see him so much, but I never knew until now.

I opened it.

"Karlina!"

At the sound, the voice I recognized and knew was his, I broke down. He took a few steps before I ran to his arms.

"Oscar! Oscar!"

I buried my face in his chest and tears fall without my control. I hadn't even cried that night. I hadn't even realized how scared I was.

I never showed my weak side—I never allowed it to show.

Not in front of Catalina, who I always tried to protect after the incident, nor Oda, nor Aideen, and less so Oriana and Annabel, who I promised to save.

But truth was I've always wanted someone to protect me.

"I was so scared," I whispered. "That night, I was so scared. And ever since then, I've felt so empty, so lost. In the castle, at home—I feel so sad."

He held my trembling shoulders and looked at me. His hair was long now. He had his hair cut in autumn and now it was spring. It fell in front of his eyes and through it his blue irises looked at me.

"It's all right to be scared, Karlina. You've been brave for a long time." I laughed and shook my head.

"No, I haven't. When I first met you, I remember how scared I was. Isn't that funny?"

"I remembered." He wiped away my tears. I always cried when I was with him. "I'm sorry for scaring you." I shook my head.

"It's in the past. It doesn't matter. Everything is over." I clutched at his hands again. "Tell me, will you be able to stay in Otto's body now? Queen Sonota can't do anything anymore. You can leave the castle, I'm sure, we can have Oda arrange something. She understands you."

He froze.

"Oscar?" My heart fell. "What's wrong?" He shook his head slowly.

"Oda has really changed! I'll talk to her!" I argued.

"No, it's not that," he whispered. "At this rate Otto will disappear." My eyes widened.

"No. No!" In the midst of my happiness I had forgotten someone else I cared for. Guilt flooded me. "Why?"

"He doesn't want to come out. He thinks the murders are his fault because the Queen did it for him." Otto was delicate. He would definitely blame himself.

But it wasn't his fault.

"I will talk to him! Can he hear me? I'll bring Oda too, and she'll explain to him."

"It's useless. He won't listen." Oscar looked different. His face was heavier. Tired, and his expression mature. I couldn't understand him. I felt far away from him. "He's deep inside, somewhere were he can't even hear me. And I finally understand."

"Understand?" He nodded.

"I need to help him. And to help him, I need you, Karlina. So please, please save him." He smiled. "For both Otto and I."

I didn't know why, but I didn't like the way it sounded

"For both Otto and I."

It was almost as though he was asking me for a request that he knew I wouldn't like.

Something self-sacrificing.

"What can I do?" I asked.

"Sometimes, just sometimes," he said, "he appears. Two or three days a week, now. If you keep coming to the tower and visiting, I'm sure you'll see him one day."

"And what do you want me to do?" I asked warily.

"Take him outside, will you."

He held my hand and pulled me towards the window. We both stopped before it and he opened the glass. The wind, still chilly, blew in. I looked at his profile. He was smiling, and his white hair was flying behind him like he was flying in the sky himself.

Although I'd been in the tower a handful of times by now, I never looked out the small, square window that was more like a hole left for breathing than a window. It was barely big enough for both Oscar and my head to peer outside.

"Ever since we were locked inside the tower," he told me, "Otto has always been looking outside. Not at the castle, his previous home, nor the beautiful skies or trees, but the town."

"The town?"

"Yes." He squeezed my hand. "One day he'll live outside of this tower, maybe rule the land, or maybe leave it. But he's never even seen it yet. Please, Karlina, give him some happy memories of Taraxac."

His voice fell.

"After all, he's only had sad ones too."

I was so scared.

Why was he asking this of me?

"Oscar?" He turned to me. "You said it was for Otto and you—what did you mean by that?"

He chuckled again, his familiar laughter and crinkled eyes putting me at ease.

"Oh, that's something personal. I simply wanted to see the town where you grew up. What life you had. Your sister, your house, where you ate your favorite food, where you saw pretty flowers or heard birds sing."

"I'll do it." His eyes softened. I wanted to do it, too. Show him my life. A life different from theirs.

"Thank you, Karlina."

I returned every day of that week, but I didn't see him. We talked and I feared that Otto gave up, but on the last day I saw him.

I opened the door to see him sitting on the ground with his flute in his hand. It had to be Otto.

"Otto," I said.

He raised his head.

"Karina," he replied slowly. "I was so afraid everyone left—Mother, Oda, Aideen, and you."

"We didn't leave you," I said, crouching down to look at him. "We are just busy at the moment."

"I heard," he said, eyes dead. "Mother killed the girls at the dinner for my sake. I've killed them."

"That's not it!" I noticed his hand was gripping the flute so tightly that blue veins popped up under his white skin.

"Otto, you haven't done anything wrong. What done is your mother's fault, and hers alone."

"Then is it wrong of me to still love her?"

He looked at me, and a tear rolled down from his eye wordlessly. Then another. Soon he bent over, hair matted to his face an sobbing uncontrollably. I realized that was what was bothering him. His hand was still holding on to the last remnant of his mother—the flute.

"Can I still love her?"

My vision blurred. That woman was monster. She killed Oscar, and she killed Tristesse, Lorna, and Priscilla. She would've killed anyone for Otto.

But I remembered Aideen running towards her that night. I took a deep breath.

"We all love in our own ways," I whispered. "That is why it's like this now. Your mother wanted to protect you in a different way from Oda and I, so she harmed others, but she loves you. And, of course, you can love anyone you wish to."

"But people have died because of me! Oscar, too!" My blood is cold. "Doesn't he hate me?"

I wished I could say that no, he doesn't, but I didn't know. I didn't know what the brothers truly wanted to say to each other, and it wasn't my place to speak for them.

"Nothing that happened—none of the deaths—were your fault." I said instead. "Otto, let's go outside today." He shook his head.

"I don't want to. Everyone at the castle is scary."

"When did I say we are going to the castle?" He looked at me and then his eyes grew wide. "We are going outside to town. This will be your first time, Otto, so look forward to it."

"But I can't. They don't let me." I smiled.

"Then it'll have to be a secret!" I stood up and pull him up. "Now, first of all, we need to find you some less extravagant clothes. How about my cloak? And a turban to wrap your head with—white hair would draw too much attention."

He wore my cloak and then watched as I went through his wardrobe until I found a piece of cloth to cover his hair. I laugh at the sight of him frowning in his new outfit.

You can see me, right, Oscar? This is my revenge on you, I think and smiled at Otto's confusion.

"If I'm wearing your cloak, Karina, you should wear this!" He rummaged through his wardrobe and then handed me a luxurious coat, a dark blue embroidered with silver. It reminds me of the one Oscar put over me that day I fell asleep in his room. I still had it.

I wore the cloak and it fell halfway down my skirt. It was extremely heavy but when I see his eyes shine I swirled in it. He finally smiled a bit.

"Let's get going, then," I said. We ran down the stairs, more like Otto running and I trying to keep up. Once we were outside, Otto gasped.

He looked at the scenery, now fully spread in front of him. There were brown trees sporting a few green leave. The ground was still a bit muddy from the occasional rain-showers common in spring. Then he threw his arms wide open and closed his eyes. He inhaled deeply, as thought to take the whole world in and treasure it forever.

When his eyes opened again, he turned to me and gave the saddest smile I saw.

"I never knew," he said. "I never knew the world was this beautiful."