Before the curse, there was a bride. Anika, the first saffron bride, walked these halls with hope in her heart and vows on her lips. But love betrayed her, and what followed left a stain upon Serpent's Embrace that no prayer could cleanse. Her story is one of devotion turned despair, of choices that birthed a legacy of sorrow. To know Anika is to know the beginning-and the inescapable end-of the house's dark inheritance.