Back upstairs, the ballroom felt different lighter, almost alive. Liam carefully lifted the piano lid. Something metallic glinted between the strings. He reached in and pulled out a small, heart-shaped locket covered in dust. Emily wiped it clean with her sleeve. Inside were two tiny portraits a young woman in pearls and a man in a station uniform. The initials matched the pocket watch: C.W. and H.B. On the back, a single word was engraved: Forever.

The explorers stood in silence. The sunlight broke through the broken windows, catching the locket’s gold and flooding the room with warm light. “They never left,” Emily whispered. “They stayed together. Somehow.” As they stepped out of the mansion, the forest around them was quiet again, peaceful. Birds sang softly through the mist. Liam took one last photo of the house bathed in morning gold. The truth wasn’t about ghosts or curses. It was about a love so strong that even a century couldn’t bury it.