Chapter 14.The night that was supposed to begin

The room remained quiet after the stranger disappeared.

For several seconds, none of us moved. The silver light that had surrounded him was gone, but I could still see its faint reflection in my mind. Rain continued to fall outside, tapping softly against the windows as though nothing unusual had happened.

I looked down at the pendant in my hand.

It was strangely warm.

I turned it over, running my thumb across the smooth silver surface. My name was engraved on one side, while the other carried the date of my accident and the words that had been haunting me since I first saw them.

The second life begins tonight.

I wished I could stop thinking about them.

Unfortunately, my mind had never been very good at leaving frightening things alone.

"Give me the pendant."

Adrian's voice brought me back to the room.

I looked at him.

He was still standing where the stranger had left him, his sword lowered but not completely sheathed. His expression was controlled, although the tension in his shoulders told me he was more disturbed than he wanted to show.

"Why?"

"I want to examine it."

I hesitated.

Not because I thought Adrian wanted to hurt me, but because the pendant suddenly felt more personal than it had a few minutes ago.

It belonged to me.

Or at least, it belonged to the girl whose life I had inherited.

That distinction was becoming harder to make.

I finally placed it in his hand.

Adrian studied the pendant carefully, turning it beneath the light. His fingers traced the engraving without touching the center.

"This isn't ordinary silver."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure."

I sighed.

"Of course."

His eyes lifted toward mine.

"You're disappointed."

"I'm tired of hearing people say they don't know."

He gave the faintest smile.

"I understand."

"No, you don't."

The words came out more sharply than I intended.

Adrian didn't react defensively. He simply waited.

I looked away.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize."

"I do when I snap at people."

"Then I'll accept it."

I glanced at him.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Despite everything, I almost smiled.

My father, however, wasn't amused.

"Can we focus on what happened?"

His voice carried the familiar authority I had grown up hearing from him, but tonight there was something different underneath it. Fear.

Not for himself.

For me.

I turned toward him.

"You knew him."

Richard's face became still.

"I recognized the clasp on his coat."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know."

"Then answer me."

My father looked toward the window before returning his attention to me.

"I knew Victoria had once dealt with people who wore something similar."

"The Order?"

"Possibly."

I shook my head.

"Father, please don't give me another answer like that. I need the truth."

He seemed to struggle with what to say.

"I don't know who that man is, Seraphina."

"Did Mother know him?"

"I don't know."

"You keep saying that."

"Because sometimes it is the truth."

His voice was quiet, and somehow that made me feel worse.

I had spent so much time believing my father had all the answers. Even when he refused to tell me something, I assumed it was because he was protecting me.

Now I wasn't sure whether he was protecting me or protecting the secrets he had kept from me.

I sat down slowly.

"Tell me about Mother."

Richard's expression changed immediately.

Adrian stepped away from the table, giving us a little space.

My father remained silent for a while.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything you can remember."

He lowered himself into the chair opposite me.

"Your mother was stubborn."

I blinked.

That wasn't the answer I expected.

A small smile touched his face.

"She hated being told what she couldn't do. If someone told her to stay out of a room, she would find a reason to enter it."

I laughed softly.

"That sounds familiar."

Richard looked at me.

"Yes. It does."

For a moment, the tension in the room disappeared.

I imagined Victoria walking through the estate with that same determination, refusing to accept an answer simply because someone important had given it to her.

"What was she like when I was young?"

"Protective."

His answer came without hesitation.

"She worried about you constantly. She worried about your health, your safety, the people around you. Sometimes I thought she was worrying too much."

"Until I fell."

Richard's smile disappeared.

"Until you fell."

The silence that followed felt heavier than before.

I looked at my hands.

"Was she happy?"

My father took a breath.

"Before the accident?"

I nodded.

"Yes."

He looked toward the window.

"She loved you. She loved this family. She loved the life we had built."

"And after?"

His eyes became distant.

"After you woke, she changed."

"Because I didn't remember her?"

"Partly."

I waited.

"Your mother blamed herself."

"For what?"

"She believed she should have known someone was watching you. She thought she had ignored signs that were right in front of her."

I felt a strange ache in my chest.

I had never known Victoria, not really. Yet every time someone spoke about her, I felt as if I was being introduced to a person I should have known all along.

"Did she ever blame you?"

Richard gave a quiet laugh without humor.

"Many times."

"Why?"

"Because I disagreed with her."

"About the Order?"

"About how much danger you were in."

I looked at him.

"And you regret it."

"I regret a great many things."

His voice was so quiet that I almost missed it.

I wanted to ask him what those things were, but Adrian spoke before I could.

"We should leave soon."

My father nodded.

"The palace?"

"Yes."

I looked at Adrian.

"You really think going there is the right thing?"

"I think remaining here without knowing who else has access to this estate is dangerous."

"That doesn't mean the palace is safer."

"It isn't."

His honesty caught me off guard.

"Then why go?"

"Because there are resources there that we don't have here."

"What kind of resources?"

"The royal archives. The palace physicians. The people who study magical disturbances. And security."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Security didn't stop someone from attacking you."

"No."

"That isn't very reassuring."

"I wasn't trying to reassure you."

I laughed under my breath.

"At least you're honest."

Adrian looked at me for a moment.

"I'm trying to be."

Those words were simple, but they stayed with me.

Trying.

That was probably the most anyone could promise me now.

I stood and walked toward the window.

The rain had nearly stopped.

Beyond the glass, the garden looked washed clean, with droplets shining on the leaves beneath the moonlight. Somewhere in the distance, a servant was giving instructions to the guards.

The estate had always been home to Seraphina.

Yet standing there, I realized I didn't feel completely at home anymore.

Perhaps because I knew now that the walls had once witnessed something terrible.

I turned around.

"When do we leave?"

"Within the hour," Adrian said.

I nodded.

"I need to change."

Richard rose.

"Take only what you need."

"I know."

He looked as though he wanted to say something else.

Instead, he simply nodded.

I left the room with Adrian following behind me.

We walked through the corridor together.

For once, he wasn't surrounded by guards, and there was no immediate threat forcing us to move quickly. Without all the tension, I became more aware of how tired he looked.

There was a faint shadow beneath his eyes.

His right hand remained close to his side, where the wound from the earlier attack was still healing.

"You should rest too."

He glanced at me.

"I'm fine."

"You're injured."

"I've survived worse."

"That doesn't mean you should keep pretending you're invincible."

He looked amused.

"You sound like my physician."

"Your physician probably says the same thing because you're difficult."

"That's possible."

I smiled.

Then the smile faded.

"Adrian."

"Yes?"

"I need to ask you something."

He slowed down.

"What?"

"When you saw me after I fell..."

He waited.

"Did you think I was dead?"

His expression became serious.

"Yes."

The answer hurt more than I expected.

"Did you see me before they carried me away?"

"I was there."

"Why?"

"I had been visiting your family."

"Was that the first time you saw me?"

"No."

I frowned.

"You knew me before that."

"Of course."

"But after I woke up, I didn't remember you."

"I know."

There was no accusation in his voice.

That surprised me.

"What did I say to you?"

Adrian looked ahead as he remembered.

"You asked me who I was."

I almost laughed.

"That's embarrassing."

"You were eleven."

"Still."

He smiled.

"You were frightened."

"Of you?"

"Of everyone."

I looked down.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not remembering you."

He stopped walking.

"Seraphina."

I turned.

"You don't owe me your memories."

His words settled somewhere deep inside me.

"I know."

"No, you don't."

His voice softened.

"You keep acting as though every missing piece is something you've done wrong. It isn't."

I didn't know what to say.

He stepped closer, but kept a respectful distance between us.

"Whatever happened to you when you were eleven wasn't your fault."

My eyes burned.

I looked away before he could see too much.

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me."

"I don't."

I looked back at him.

"I don't pity you, Seraphina."

His gaze held mine.

"I'm angry that someone hurt you."

My throat tightened.

I hadn't expected those words.

For so long, I had been trying to survive. Every new discovery had become another problem to solve. I had barely allowed myself to think about what it meant that someone had tried to kill the girl whose body I now occupied.

Hearing Adrian say he was angry on my behalf made it feel real.

"Thank you," I whispered.

He nodded.

"Come on. You need to get ready."

I followed him down the corridor.

When I reached my room, one of the servants was already waiting.

She helped me choose a simple dark-blue dress suitable for traveling. I didn't want anything elaborate. I wanted clothes that allowed me to move easily and wouldn't make me feel as though I was preparing for some royal ceremony.

While she worked on my hair, I watched myself in the mirror.

Silver hair.

Violet eyes.

Seraphina's face.

Sometimes I wondered what the girl in the mirror would think if she could see everything that had happened since I woke up.

Would she be frightened?

Would she understand?

Would she blame me for living in her place?

I touched my reflection.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

The servant looked at me through the mirror.

"Did you say something, my lady?"

I quickly lowered my hand.

"No. Nothing."

She continued arranging my hair.

"Will we be gone for long?"

"I don't know."

"Should I pack more clothes?"

I thought about it.

"Yes. But only a few."

She nodded.

When she left, I opened the drawer where I had hidden the novel.

It was still there.

I pulled it out and sat on the edge of my bed.

The cover looked exactly as I remembered.

I turned through the pages until I reached the part of the story describing the palace.

I read it slowly.

The palace had once been described as beautiful.

Grand halls.

Golden chandeliers.

Long marble corridors.

Royal gardens.

Everything sounded almost romantic when I had read it from my old world.

Now the thought of entering those halls made my stomach twist.

In the novel, the palace was where Seraphina's downfall eventually began.

She had entered it believing she was safe because Adrian was there.

She had been wrong.

I closed the book.

But this wasn't the same story anymore.

Adrian had arrived early.

The Order had appeared before it should have.

My childhood death had been different from what the novel described.

And I was alive.

Maybe the palace would be different too.

I placed the novel into my bag.

If the story was changing, I needed to stop treating the old ending as something inevitable.

A knock came at the door.

"Come in."

Richard entered.

He looked at the bag beside me.

"You found it."

"Yes."

"Are you taking it with you?"

"I think I should."

He nodded.

"Your mother used to keep that book?"

I looked at him.

"No."

The answer almost slipped out too quickly.

Richard studied me.

I corrected myself.

"I mean, I don't remember her keeping it."

He seemed satisfied enough.

"I wanted to speak with you before we leave."

I put the bag aside.

"What is it?"

He sat beside me.

"I owe you an apology."

I hadn't expected that.

"For what?"

"For keeping things from you."

I remained quiet.

"You thought you were protecting me."

"I was trying to."

"But it still hurt."

"I know."

He looked down at his hands.

"When your mother was alive, we promised each other that if anything happened, we would keep you away from the Order."

"That didn't work."

"No."

He gave a tired smile.

"It didn't."

"Why didn't you tell me about the accident?"

"You weren't ready."

"How could you know that?"

"Because I watched you wake up without knowing your own mother."

His voice shook slightly.

"I watched you look at Victoria as though she were a stranger. I couldn't bear the thought of putting more fear into your mind."

My eyes filled with tears.

"I wish I had known her."

"You did."

I looked at him.

"Even if you don't remember everything, you knew her."

He reached into his coat and pulled out a small folded piece of cloth.

When he opened it, there was a tiny dried flower inside.

"Your mother kept this."

I touched it carefully.

"What is it?"

"A flower from the garden. You gave it to her when you were six."

I smiled despite myself.

"She kept it?"

"For years."

I looked down at the flower.

Something about it hurt.

Not because it was tragic.

Because it was ordinary.

A mother keeping a little flower her daughter had given her.

A tiny thing that had somehow survived everything else.

"I wish I remembered."

"I know."

Richard stood.

"Perhaps one day you will."

I carefully placed the flower inside my journal.

"I'll keep it."

He nodded.

"We should go."

When we returned to the main hall, Adrian was already waiting.

He had changed into a dark traveling coat, and several royal guards stood outside.

The sight of them reminded me that this wasn't a simple journey.

We were leaving because something was wrong.

Because someone had been watching me.

Because I had begun remembering things that had been hidden for years.

I walked toward the doors.

Adrian stepped beside me.

"Ready?"

"No."

He looked at me.

I smiled faintly.

"But I'm going anyway."

"Fair enough."

The doors opened.

Cold air entered the hall.

I pulled my cloak tighter around myself and stepped outside.

The carriage waited beneath the covered entrance.

As I climbed inside, I looked back at the estate.

This place had been Seraphina's home.

Mine too, apparently.

For the first time, I wondered whether I would ever be able to look at it without thinking about the balcony.

Richard entered after me.

Adrian followed and took the seat opposite us.

The door closed.

A moment later, the carriage began moving.

I watched the estate slowly disappear behind us.

The road was quiet.

For several minutes, nobody spoke.

I rested my forehead against the cool window.

The darkness outside was almost peaceful.

Almost.

"You're thinking too much."

I glanced at Adrian.

"How do you know?"

"Because you've been staring at the same tree for the last minute."

I looked outside.

The tree had already disappeared behind us.

"I wasn't staring at it."

"You were."

"Maybe I was thinking."

"About the tree?"

I gave him an annoyed look.

He smiled.

It was the first time I'd seen him look genuinely relaxed in days.

I shook my head.

"You're irritating."

"So I've been told."

Richard cleared his throat.

"Both of you should sleep."

"I'm not tired," I said.

"You've barely rested since yesterday."

"I said I'm not tired."

Adrian leaned back.

"She's tired."

I looked at him.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Your father's."

I stared at him in disbelief.

He looked completely serious.

Then the corner of his mouth lifted.

I laughed.

The sound surprised me.

It had been a long time since I had laughed without forcing it.

Richard watched us with an expression I couldn't quite understand.

Maybe sadness.

Maybe relief.

Maybe both.

I looked out the window again.

The road ahead stretched toward the palace.

My thoughts returned to the novel.

There was a time when I had believed knowing the story gave me an advantage.

I knew who would betray Seraphina.

I knew who would die.

I knew who would eventually turn against Adrian.

I knew how the story ended.

But now those memories felt less useful with every passing day.

The person I had feared most was sitting across from me.

The man I had believed would eventually order my death had protected me more than once.

My father, whom I had assumed was simply a loving parent, had been hiding secrets about my childhood.

And my mother, a character who had barely mattered in the novel, had apparently spent years investigating an organization powerful enough to threaten the royal family.

Nothing was as simple as I remembered.

I closed my eyes.

For a moment, I imagined my old life.

The sound of traffic.

My phone in my hand.

Rain.

A novel open on the screen.

My mother's missed calls.

The thought made my chest ache.

I wondered whether she had ever known what happened to me.

Whether anyone had found my phone.

Whether anyone had waited for me to come home.

I had spent so much time trying to survive here that I rarely allowed myself to grieve the life I had lost.

Maybe that was why the memories felt so confusing.

I had lost one life before gaining another.

And somehow, both seemed connected.

I opened my eyes.

Adrian was watching me.

"What?"

"You looked sad."

"I'm thinking about my old life."

He didn't ask questions.

That was one thing I appreciated about him.

He didn't force me to explain things I wasn't ready to explain.

After a moment, he said, "Do you miss it?"

I nodded.

"Sometimes."

"Then you should remember it."

I looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because it was yours."

His answer was simple.

I looked down at my hands.

"Sometimes I feel guilty for missing it."

"You shouldn't."

I swallowed.

"Even though I live in someone else's body?"

Adrian was quiet for a moment.

"I don't know what happened to you before you woke here."

Neither did I.

"But I know the person sitting in front of me is the person I've been speaking to."

I looked at him.

"Does that matter?"

"To me, it does."

My eyes burned again.

I turned toward the window before he could see my face.

The carriage continued along the dark road.

Eventually, the lights of the capital began appearing in the distance.

The palace was still far ahead, but its towers were already visible against the night sky.

My stomach tightened.

I had seen those towers before.

Not with my eyes.

In the pages of a novel.

I remembered the scenes that came later.

The ballroom.

The accusations.

The cold throne room.

The final judgment.

I had once thought those things were unavoidable.

Now I knew better.

The story had already changed.

Perhaps I had changed with it.

Adrian looked toward the palace.

"We'll reach the gates soon."

I nodded.

Richard adjusted his coat.

The atmosphere inside the carriage changed.

Whatever small comfort we had found during the journey disappeared.

We were approaching the place where everything had begun to unravel.

I reached beneath my cloak and touched the pendant.

It was warm again.

I pulled it out.

The silver caught the faint light from the carriage lamp.

I looked at the inscription.

The second life begins tonight.

For the first time, the words didn't frighten me as much as they had before.

Maybe because I was beginning to understand something.

My second life wasn't something someone else had written for me.

It was the life I was living now