°•♡Chapter 95~ Blood on Her Hands

《》Lucien's POV

I don’t know how I managed to move.

But I picked her up—Aria still curled on the floor beside my father's body, her hands slick with blood. Her eyes were wide and distant.

She didn’t even flinch when I touched her.

“I didn’t do it,” she whispered. Over and over. “I didn’t do it. I didn’t—”

“I know,” I said instinctively, even though I wasn’t sure what I knew. I gathered her in my arms. I looked dowm once more at my father’s still body, then at the strange symbol smeared in blood on the wall—sharp lines, jagged curves. I didn’t let myself linger.

There wasn’t time to feel. I had to move.

The estate had turned upside down. Guards were sprinting in every direction, checking exits, searching for the perpetrator. Someone shouted that the gates needed to be sealed. Someone else mentioned tracking scents.

I carried Aria up to our room. Rose petals still lay scattered across the floor. The candles had melted into nothing.

"Get clean towels," I told the maid on duty. "A