Luce lay stock still in their bed, looking up at their hand, which had that black mark lined across the top of their nail, running halfway down. Luce blinked, hand limply falling to their side, a faint sigh escaping their lips.

A large rhinoceros beetle shambled over to Luce, climbing onto the bed, almost stumbling as it pulled the sheets back from the weight of its own body. Luce's face lit up, turning his body to give room for the bug. "Hi, Pierre, did ya wanna see me?"

Pierre, the rhinoceros beetle, appeared to hold curiosity in its movements, clambering over to the previously concerned Luce.

"Hey lil' bud, how are ya?" Luce held a finger out for Pierre to cling to.

Pierre used its front legs to wrap itself around Luce's finger before heaving itself over Luce's hand, sort of just lying atop it silently.

"What do I do? At this rate, the family will fall apart... We'll all hurt each other..." Luce paused. "Maybe I should've spoken up."

Pierre used its front legs to clean off its head.

"If only I were a kid again. Had that old confidence that I used to have... I was so energetic back then."

A beat.

"Maybe I'll go back to normal one day. Put this sicknessbehind me." Luce narrowed his gaze, "For now... I'll sleep. It's all I'm good for at this rate anyhow."

First thing in the morning, a scream could be heard in the Servant's Quarters. A significant chunk of the family gathered to see for themselves what had occurred only to find the corpse of the maid who participated in the ritual yesterday, body locked in horror and pain, the black mark on their nail seemingly spreading like some sort of infection or disease to the heart, killing the woman. It looked to be a painful death as they seemed cognisant and aware as they were losing their life to whatever affliction had overcome them.

Antonio quickly sprang into action, looking for a pulse, performing CPR, and the like, commanding the others to call the ambulance for the poor woman in a desperate attempt to save their life, but it was too late. It was 8:30 in the morning, whilst her official time of death was 5:40 in the morning, which was multiple hours-- something like that, so much time having passed after the time of death, well... it's impossible to revive someone at that rate.

Now, the main concern amongst the family was who was next. If any of the rest of them had the potential to die such a painful death.