I’m going to say the other prequel was my favorite but this is still very good! I am impressed at the two different yet similar ways you wrote the two prequels.

Interestingly, I wrote the other one first and discarded it because I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to get to the Countess’ breakdown quick enough. After I finished SotP:The Duel, I went back and sort tinkered with it until it worked . . . more or less.