Chapter 4.A family l couldn't trust

For several seconds, nobody spoke. The servant stood near the doorway with her head lowered while the guards waited for Adrian's next command. I tried to remain calm, but the thought that someone from House Vale could be involved made me uneasy.

I had only been in this world for a short time, yet I already knew how dangerous the people around Seraphina could be. In the original novel, she trusted almost everyone close to her, and that trust eventually became one of the reasons she lost everything.

I couldn't make the same mistake.

“Seraphina.”

Adrian's voice brought me back to the present. He was still holding his sword, although his grip had loosened.

“You should return to your room.”

“I don't want to.”

His eyebrows lifted slightly. “You were attacked there less than an hour ago.”

“That is exactly why I don't want to go back.”

Adrian looked at me for a moment before putting his sword away.

“You're not wrong.”

I hadn't expected him to agree so easily.

He turned toward one of the guards. “Double the watch around Lady Seraphina's room. Nobody enters without my permission.”

The guard bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Adrian looked back at me. “You will stay in the west guest room tonight. It is closer to the royal guards, and it has only one entrance.”

I nodded. “Fine.”

As we walked toward the west wing, Adrian became unusually quiet. He seemed to be thinking about something, and I suspected it had little to do with the servant's accusation.

“What is it?” I asked.

“What?”

“You've been quiet since we left the hall.”

He glanced at me. “I'm trying to understand something.”

“About the attack?”

“About you.”

I stopped walking, and he turned toward me.

“What about me?”

“When I first arrived at this estate, you accused me of looking at you as though I knew something. Since then, you've spoken about things you shouldn't know.”

My stomach tightened.

“You mean the Order?”

“The Order, the dagger, the attack last night, and the fact that you recognized the royal crest on that fabric.”

I forced myself to remain calm.

“I grew up in this kingdom. I'm a noblewoman. Why wouldn't I recognize the royal crest?”

“That isn't what concerns me.”

He stepped closer, watching me carefully.

“You also said the attacker was supposed to die three days ago.”

“That was what he told me.”

“But you weren't surprised when he said it.”

I didn't answer.

The truth was impossible to tell him. I couldn't exactly explain that I had read his entire story in another world and knew things about him that hadn't happened yet.

So I chose the safest answer.

“I don't know why I wasn't surprised.”

Adrian didn't look convinced, but he didn't push the matter further.

“Do you remember anything from before you woke up?”

My heart skipped.

I thought about the rain, the headlights, and the sound of my mother's voice through the phone. Then I remembered the impact that had ended my old life.

“No,” I said quietly. “Nothing useful.”

He continued studying my face for a few seconds before finally turning away.

We reached the guest room, and Adrian stopped outside the door.

“Seraphina, whatever happened before tonight, tell me if you remember anything.”

I nodded.

He walked away with the guards following him.

Once the door closed, I leaned against it and released a slow breath. Adrian was becoming suspicious, and that was dangerous. However, there was something else bothering me even more.

Evelina.

I had known her name from the novel, but I had never paid much attention to her because she had seemed like a minor character. Now that I thought about it, several things about her story didn't make sense.

Why had the novel never explained where she went before Seraphina's execution? Why had someone wearing House Vale colors been seen near Adrian's chamber? And why had the mysterious man called me the first key?

I crossed the room and opened the drawer where I had hidden the novel earlier. Somehow, it had followed me into this world, and it remained the only thing that could help me understand what was happening.

I turned to the pages describing House Vale.

Most of the information was exactly as I remembered, but then I noticed a small passage about Seraphina's mother.

I read it twice.

According to the novel, Lady Victoria Vale had once been involved in a royal investigation concerning several nobles accused of helping the Order of the Veiled Moon.

The investigation ended after the Order supposedly disappeared, but the novel never explained what happened to the evidence.

My fingers tightened around the page.

If Seraphina's mother had been connected to that investigation, perhaps House Vale had known more about the Order than the original story revealed.

A knock suddenly came from the door.

I quickly closed the book.

“Who is it?”

“It's me.”

Evelina.

I stared at the door.

After everything that had happened, I had no reason to trust her.

“What do you want?”

Her voice became quieter. “I need to speak to you before Adrian finds out.”

I remained where I was.

“About what?”

There was a pause before she answered.

“About the night you were supposed to die.”

I slowly walked toward the door.

Evelina

's next words made me stop.

“Because I was there, Seraphina.”

I looked at the door, trying to understand what she meant.

“And I know who killed you.”