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SummaryAs Elara uncaps the turpentine to destroy the portrait, Silas Thorne strikes back. The painting doesn't just defend itself; it retaliates by pulling Elara physically into its world. She is dragged through the canvas into the memory of the Granville ball, but this time, she is not Silas—she is herself, a ghostly observer. The spectral crowd turns on her, mocking her failures and her "quaint, unmarketable" life, led by a vengeful Silas. Trapped inside the painting, Elara realizes this is his ultimate revenge: to make her the permanent laughingstock of his eternal memory.---The Laughing Portrait: Chapter 9The Gilded CageElara’s thumb