Seraphina’s POV
I didn’t react to his concern.
Who the hell was he to worry about ... after letting die like this?
The mories surged through , sharp, fast, and uninvited.
Asher, my third brother.
A soldier. Composed and heavily respected. He never liked , but he tolerated . Because everyone did! But I was still an eyesore to him.
But lissa always showed sympathy to , and he did too.
She was the youngest. Their sunshine. Their jewel. She was like a fragile glass doll, which might break if they used any harsh words on her. And in return, she loved them with all her delicate, untouchable heart.
Even Asher, their quiet, conflicted third son, loved her more than anything. And sohow... She loved him back, too.
? I was always the outsider. The mistake soone forgot to throw away.
But I stayed.
When Asher was accused of anti-national activities—when the entire Lancaster na was dragged through the filth—I stayed. When the eldest lost his position, when the second was spit on in courtrooms and dinner tables, I stayed. And so did they. For Asher.
But lissa?
She vanished.
No goodbye. No explanation. Not even a damn phone call. The precious one was gone just like that, when it mattered the most.
We tried to rebuild from scratch. But no one wanted to be seen with the na Lancaster. No job, no dignity, just shadows and sha were left for us.
Asher couldn’t take it. One night, he drank poison.
But my brothers found him and rushed him to the hospital. Thankfully, he was saved in ti.
That day, he cried in my lap like a child. Told he was sorry. That if there were a next life, he would cherish . That he would protect from anyone who tried to harm .
I believed him.
So I worked. I sold my pride, my body, my dreams—whatever it took to put food on the table. Even for the family who never once called theirs.
And in the end? What did I earn?
Cancer.
Malnutrition.
A slow death in silence.
When my brothers found out, they broke down. They wanted to fight for , for once. Begged to rest, to let them try. But I couldn’t. I had watched them suffer too long. So, I ran away from them, not wanting to be their burden.
But they found again. And they stayed.
Held through every pain and scream. They promised to et again. That next ti, we’d choose each other from the start.
And now I am here.
Alive again, sohow—and pitied by the sa brother who scoffed at and hated but the way he was looking at now was strange.
Don’t look at like that.
I don’t need your concern.
I need to know why I am still breathing.
Even though they promised to find again in the next life, I never wanted to see them.
I didn’t want to et anyone in this cruel world, where everything I ever loved was stolen, piece by piece.
The world had already made suffer enough.
And now, trapped back in ti, I was about to relive it all.
The pain. The loss. The slow, suffocating end.
All the while forgetting the only thing I once held dear—the final monts before death.
And I was happy with those mories and was content to die in peace and never co back here!
"Tell , are you fine?"
I was still lost in my thoughts when my third brother’s voice interrupted .
"I am really worried. Can’t you say sothing?"
Really?
He wanted to say sothing? Didn’t he hate ? Why was he even here?
Brother, I can’t bear your hatred anymore—after all the tis you doted on , this... please just leave! That’s what I wanted to say, but no words ca out.
In the end, I just nodded.
"Let’s go ho then," Asher said, taking my hand. "You stabbed the driver and tried to kill soone. The police are after you!"
What?
My body froze.
How was that my fault? Why were the police after ?
"You keep making ss after ss! Can’t you just go to the ntal hospital and stay in peace there?" He rambled on.
If this had been before, his harsh words wouldn’t have hurt . But after seeing his caring side—the years we spent together—the way he was before... this broke my heart.
"Why?" I asked quietly.
Asher raised his brows, looking at like I had just said sothing strange. Well, it wasn’t his fault—I hadn’t spoken to him in the two years since I ca back ho. I was scared of him. And, maybe worse, I admired him from afar.
"Why do you... think that I... stabbed him?" I asked, staring at the bloodstains still visible on my hands.
Asher imdiately pulled his hands away and scanned from head to toe.
"What do you an?" he asked in a sharp voice.
"You... you ca running to ... because I stabbed soone?" I stamred, still unable to speak freely around him—maybe because I was trapped in my eighteen-year-old self, where I was still afraid of him.
"Be... because that soone was lissa’s biological brother?"
Asher’s glare hardened, like he never expected to hear sothing like that from .
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