SummaryDriven by a need to understand the entity tormenting her, Elara delves into the history of the portrait. Her research leads her to the story of Silas Thorne, a brilliant but impoverished 19th-century artist. He fell in love with his muse, Lady Evangeline, who publicly humiliated and mocked his heartfelt declaration of love, branding him a "laughingstock" for daring to aspire above his station. Broken and vengeful, Silas used his own life force and a dark artistic ritual to pour his spirit into a self-portrait—"The Laughing Portrait"—programming it with a singular purpose: to seek eternal revenge on the proud and