Tower:

Dracùl Castle in Brașov, January 1462
Elennah:
Justina has already given Vlad a son, and now she is expecting again. I have been asking my husband for months about the possibility of him letting me go and live in the house in Edirne. He doesn't want to hear about it, he refuses to listen to my reasons.
— Have you thought of running away? - Matías asks while we walk through the garden.
—Where would I go?- I reply, crestfallen.
—Haven't you considered going to Transylvania with me?- he offers. I stop walking and look at him in surprise.
—Would you give me asylum? - I ask perplexed.- Would you welcome me in your house?

He takes my hands in his and kisses them, one first and then the other.

— Of course Elennah, you know my feelings towards you. It would be no sacrifice for me to open the doors of my home to you.

My heart widens gratefully, Matías has been a rock of constant support during these dismal years. On multiple occasions he has confessed that he loves me like a sister, he knows that I am the illegitimate daughter of Juan Hunyadi, the man his mother married after his father's death. Matías knows that the late Ladislao and Mrs. Danna Hunyadi were my half-brothers, just as they are his, that's why he treats me like his sister.

—Abandon Vlad and come with me, I am convinced that in Transylvania you will find the happiness that has eluded you all these years. – he promises.

—I will consider it.

***

I made the serious mistake of asking Vlad again to allow me to leave for Edirne, in an unprecedented fit of fury, he took me by the elbow and locked me in the tower of the East Wing of the Castle. I've been here for two weeks, languishing and disconsolate.

Justina came to visit me a few days ago, she came in accompanied by a couple of guards. My captivity had the advantage of preventing her from pestering me, but when she came, the reality of her second pregnancy was a fist against my stomach once more, because my hated rival is already beginning to show that characteristic roundness in her belly that I will never experience.
She came to gloat over my suffering and told me in a speech loaded with arrogance and superiority, that Vlad has declared me a traitor.

My husband discovered the best kept secret of the Hunyadi family, in 1447, while Vlad and his younger brother Radu were prisoners and hostages in the Ottoman Empire, Dracul, his father and his older brother, Mircea, were killed during the invasion engineered by the then governor regent of Hungary, Juan Hunyadi.

Justina confessed that Vlad, being deprived of taking his revenge on my late father and half brother, and knowing that Danna fled to Moldova, has unloaded his hatred on me, making me a prisoner under the same roof which until days ago was my home.
Besides, there was another incriminatory event, the day before he imprisoned me here, someone attempted to poison him. He spent several days abed doe to the after effects of the poison and when a search was conducted a vial with a suspicious substance was discovered amongst my possessions.
I strongly suspect my mother in law and Justina’s involvement in all this. I’m inocente, I’d never attempt to kill my husband, but much as I tried to make my case he wouldn’t believe me .

Matías also attempted to intercede on my behalf before Vlad but my husband doesn't listen to reason, he has sentenced me to remain a prisoner in the tower until the day I die.


Hotel Dracùl Haus, Romania 2025

Eleni:
Vlad is in a stormy mood again. He's been laying off hotel workers left and right for days. Two weeks ago L' Masquerade took place, the morning after the lavish ball Mathew came up to me with a bouquet of orchids and thanked me personally for helping him through his drunken episode. His cousin on the other hand was constantly smiling and commenting every five minutes on how wonderful her experience in Vlad's bed was. They deserve each other, Justine and Vlad are just as poisonous.

Today is Sunday, luckily. It's my day off again and I decided to go for a walk around Bucharest.

I arrived at one of the many shopping centers and was about to eat at MacDonalds when Mathew found me. He sat at my table surprised to see me there, I was even more so.

He explained to me that he owns several clothing stores and even a jewelry store in the mall and that he stopped by to inspect the progress of the business.

We ended up having lunch together, chatting for a couple of hours, and exchanging phone numbers.

He is a very humble person, talking to him is entertaining, I think that he is the kind of man with whom you can discuss any topic.

It’s good for me to have acquaintances or even friends outside the hotel. I suspect that Mathew could become the first of them.

Vlad:
During the morning I received the photographic updates of Elennah's walk through Bucharest, everything seemed to be most innocent, until that damned Corvin sat down at her table in the Mall.

After that, it was quite clear that the pair of lovebirds planned their meeting in advance.

The cobra received him with smiles and kisses on both wrists; then they remained together for a couple of hours.

"Those who do not learn from their mistakes run the risk of repeating them", so teaches an old proverb.

Elennah doesn’t remember a thing of her previous life and therefore she is condemned to travel the same path again, meeting Corvino, falling in love with him and plotting together against me. This time it isn’t my life that is in danger, I cannot be killed, since I died in 1464 during my captivity in Visegrád, Alexandros found me a few minutes from death and offered me a second chance, I accepted immediately.

The alliance between Elennah and Corvino, only brought about her death the first time and I suspect that the same could happen now, the big difference is that on that occasion I was so blinded by jealousy that I did not make the right decisions and I did not paid my due attention to my wife, this time around... I know exactly what I have to do.