Seraphina’s POV
I had just finished the al Lucien gave . It didn’t just fill my stomach... it brought a strange warmth to my chest.
I couldn’t rember the last ti I had eaten like this, with peace and without fear tightening every muscle in my body.
"Do you need sothing more?" Lucien asked gently. "You can tell ."
"I..." I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice cracked. The warmth... it was too much. It broke sothing inside that I had kept sealed for too long.
In my past life, there was no Lucien. There was only pain. I was locked inside that ntal hospital, helpless, harassed, molested, and used by people who treated like I wasn’t even human. And I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even speak.
I had no one to tell and no one who would understand .
"What are you thinking?" Lucien’s voice cut through my thoughts, pulling back to the present.
"No," I said quickly. "I don’t need anything."
"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow at and nodded toward the maid. "Then go to your room and take a good nap."
The maids ca in to clear the table. I stayed quiet, avoiding Lucien’s gaze. I didn’t want to talk in front of them.
"O... Okay," in the end, I could only say this.
I had almost forgotten about the sound I heard earlier in the washroom.
But the mont Lucien ntioned the room, that fear ca rushing back into like a cold wave.
Why did that sound terrify so much?
What was wrong with ?
There had to be sothing—sothing I wasn’t rembering. Sothing buried too deep for to reach.
"What are you thinking?" Lucien asked, watching closely. "Are you okay?"
"I... I’m fine," I replied quickly, forcing the words out.
I stood up and turned around before he could ask anything else. "I’ll just go and rest."
"Sure," Lucien said as I walked toward the room. "I’ll ask soone to send you so clean clothes. Don’t forget to wash."
"Okay," I mumbled, picking up my pace and hurrying to the room.
Whatever it was... whatever that sound had triggered... I couldn’t let it control like this.
I wasn’t that scared, helpless eighteen-year-old girl anymore.
I was a grown woman in this young body. A woman who had been through enough darkness to know fear—and still keep walking.
However, I had overestimated myself.
After the shower, I changed into the clean clothes soone had left for and quietly got into bed. I thought maybe, I could finally get so rest. Just one peaceful night.
But as soon as I lay down, I heard it again.
At first, it was soft and barely there... but then it got clearer. That quiet sound of water was becoming heinous to my ears.
Tip-tap.
Tip-tap.
I tried to ignore it. I pulled the blanket around and closed my eyes, hoping it would stop. But the more I tried not to hear it, the louder it beca. It felt like it was crawling into my head and ssing with my thoughts.
It wasn’t just fear anymore. It was sothing worse—like the sound was breaking from the inside.
I sat up in bed and covered my ears with my hands, trying to block it out. But it kept echoing through the room, growing louder and louder in the quiet night until I couldn’t take it anymore.
I lay down on the bed again, pulling the blanket over . The sheets were soft, the pillow cold against my cheek. For a mont, everything felt still. My body was tired, and my eyes were heavy. The sound that had been driving mad was finally quiet.
Maybe I had won this ti. Maybe I could finally sleep.
I closed my eyes and let myself drift.
But when I opened my eyes again in the morning, I wasn’t in the sa room.
What was going on?
Why does this keep happening to ? Why do I wake up in a different place every ti I open my eyes?
"Awake?"
That cold, calm, and all too familiar voice pulled out of my thoughts. My eyes shot toward the man sitting in the chair just across from the bed. He looked completely out of place in this dim and weirdly dark room, wearing a sharp, polished suit like he had just walked out of so high-end office.
"Lu... Lucien!" I gasped, quickly sitting up. My hands flew to the blanket as I clutched it around as I lot of things started running in my mind.
What the hell?
Why was I in the sa room as him? Why was he watching sleep?
Did he... no—did sothing happen?
My mind started to spiral with the worst thoughts, the kind I couldn’t even say out loud.
"Stop thinking rubbish about !" Lucien snapped coldly as his sharp eyes were locked onto mine. "Nothing happened. Don’t let that twisted mind of yours run wild."
His cold words snapped out of my thoughts, and I froze, my cheeks burned with a mix of sha and confusion. But deep down, I didn’t know whether to feel relieved... or even more afraid.
"Now," Lucien said, rising from his chair and walking toward the bed, his voice sharp and demanding, "would you like to explain what that was last night?"
I blinked, uncertain. "Wh... What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice barely steady. What had happened last night? The mories felt fuzzy and distant.
He stopped just a few inches from , leaning down so close I could feel his breath. His eyes were cold and unreadable. "Do you really not rember? Or are you just so good at pretending that I can’t even tell when you’re lying anymore?"
His words hit like a punch, and I swallowed hard. I wanted to say sothing, to explain, but the fear and haze clouded my mind. I didn’t know what to say.
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