Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 9

On the night Matteo Valenti subjected me to a Memory Trial, almost every member of the Valenti Family’s inner circle gathered at the estate.Black-clad bodyguards formed a security perimeter, while cameramen recorded the entire process.I was barely alive.The torture in the underground prison had already destroyed my organs, and only IV fluids and pain medication kept me conscious.Even so, I was still treated like a condemned traitor awaiting execution. I was dragged out roughly and thrown onto the cold metal trial platform.At that moment, a man broke through the security line and rushed toward me, clamping one hand around my throat.It was my cousin Vincent.“Sera! Why are you helping that murderer?”“You traitor! You destroyed the Valenti Family! How dare you still cling to life?”Suffocation closed in, and patches of darkness slowly spread across my vision.The courtyard was filled with furious voices, and the overwhelming hatred surged toward me like a wave, completely drowning

The hum of the machine suddenly grew louder.The probes inside the helmet drove deeper into my skull, and electric currents surged through my brain. The pain forced my back to arch, and a strangled rasp tore from my throat.Blood slowly seeped from my nostrils and the corners of my eyes.The screen flickered violently, skipping through fragments of my memories.The three of us reading together in the library, lying in the garden under the sun, running to the docks to welcome Matteo home when he returned from overseas...They were all moments from before the incident.Except for that rainy night.The people below the platform began to grow restless.“What’s going on? Why are they showing nothing but these old memories?”“What about the night Lia died? She was there, wasn’t she? Why isn’t it showing?”Matteo frowned and looked toward the control panel.“Why is there no memory from the night of the incident?”The operator wiped the sweat from his forehead, his voice trembling.“Don Valent

The images on the projection screen continued playing one scene after another, and a chilling sensation spread through everyone present.The probes inside the helmet were still trembling slightly. Waves of unbearable pain attacked my nerves and spread through my bones, but I could no longer care about any of it.Everyone saw it.In the memory, I was kneeling in the mud, tightly gripping Lia’s wrist with both hands.Her face was half-buried in the water beside her. The wound on the back of her head had dyed the rainwater a faint pink, and her body had already grown cold.I raised my head and stared toward the edge of the forest.A man wearing a black raincoat walked out from the shadows of the trees.He stopped a few steps away from me, and his voice traveled through the rain, hoarse yet filled with hatred.“Miss Sera, long time no see.”It was Leo. The only son of the former Don. The child who had supposedly died in the fire twenty years ago.A commotion broke out below the platform, a

When Flora came to see me, she brought an old box with her.She stood at the doorway, looking somewhat uneasy, no longer as bold and energetic as she used to be.“Can I come in?” She asked.“Come in.”She walked inside and placed the box on the bedside table.It was an old wooden box with intricate patterns carved into its surface. It belonged to Lia.“Everything inside is hers.”She opened the box, revealing hair clips, necklaces, and several diaries.“After what happened, I put them away. Now... they should belong to you.”I looked at the things inside the box, and a sharp pain twisted through my chest.Flora suddenly spoke, her voice low.“That day at the trial platform, I was blinded by anger. I watched everyone curse at you, and I joined them. I even slapped you.”She raised her head and looked at me, her eyes red.“Sera, I’m sorry.”I looked at her.We had grown up together. Although we were cousins by blood, we had always been closer than sisters.We used to sneak into our mothe

I held the umbrella and turned around, walking slowly down the mountain path.I had not gone far when I saw Matteo rushing toward me with his men, his face filled with anxiety.Only after he confirmed that I was unharmed did he finally relax. He took off his coat and placed it over my shoulders.“How did it go? Did he hurt you?”“It’s over.” I said softly. “He won’t come back.”Matteo froze for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh, as if he had finally been relieved of an unbearable burden.In the days that followed, the estate gradually returned to peace.The turmoil caused by the Family Council was forcefully suppressed by Matteo, and several of the most aggressive members of the branch families were stripped of their authority and removed from the family’s inner circle.My mother confined herself to reflect on her actions and moved to the suburban estate, spending her days in the small chapel there and no longer involving herself in family affairs.My father completely handed ov