Chapter 25: Do You Not Remember?

Chapter 25: Do You Not Remember? Seraphina’s POV I had just finished the meal Lucien gave me. It didn’t just fill my stomach... it brought a strange warmth to my chest. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten like this, with peace and without fear tightening every muscle in my body. "Do you need something more?" Lucien asked gently. "You can tell me." "I..." I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice cracked. The warmth... it was too much. It broke something inside me that I had kept sealed for too long. In my past life, there was no Lucien. There was only pain. I was locked inside that mental hospital, helpless, harassed, molested, and used by people who treated me like I wasn’t even human. And I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even speak. I had no one to tell and no one who would understand me. "What are you thinking?" Lucien’s voice cut through my thoughts, pulling me back to the present. "No," I said quickly. "I don’t need anything." "Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow at me and nodded toward the maid. "Then go to your room and take a good nap." The maids came in to clear the table. I stayed quiet, avoiding Lucien’s gaze. I didn’t want to talk in front of them. "O... Okay," in the end, I could only say this. I had almost forgotten about the sound I heard earlier in the washroom. But the moment Lucien mentioned the room, that fear came rushing back into me like a cold wave. Why did that sound terrify me so much? What was wrong with me? There had to be something—something I wasn’t remembering. Something buried too deep for me to reach. "What are you thinking?" Lucien asked, watching me closely. "Are you okay?" "I... I’m fine," I replied quickly, forcing the words out. I stood up and turned around before he could ask anything else. "I’ll just go and rest." "Sure," Lucien said as I walked toward the room. "I’ll ask someone to send you some clean clothes. Don’t forget to wash." "Okay," I mumbled, picking up my pace and hurrying to the room. Whatever it was... whatever that sound had triggered... I couldn’t let it control me like this. I wasn’t that scared, helpless eighteen-year-old girl anymore. I was a grown woman in this young body. A woman who had been through enough darkness to know fear—and still keep walking. However, I had overestimated myself. After the shower, I changed into the clean clothes someone had left for me and quietly got into bed. I thought maybe, I could finally get some rest. Just one peaceful night. But as soon as I lay down, I heard it again. At first, it was soft and barely there... but then it got clearer. That quiet sound of water was becoming heinous to my ears. Tip-tap. Tip-tap. I tried to ignore it. I pulled the blanket around me and closed my eyes, hoping it would stop. But the more I tried not to hear it, the louder it became. It felt like it was crawling into my head and messing with my thoughts. It wasn’t just fear anymore. It was something worse—like the sound was breaking me from the inside. I sat up in bed and covered my ears with my hands, trying to block it out. But it kept echoing through the room, growing louder and louder in the quiet night until I couldn’t take it anymore. I lay down on the bed again, pulling the blanket over me. The sheets were soft, the pillow cold against my cheek. For a moment, everything felt still. My body was tired, and my eyes were heavy. The sound that had been driving me mad was finally quiet. Maybe I had won this time. Maybe I could finally sleep. I closed my eyes and let myself drift. But when I opened my eyes again in the morning, I wasn’t in the same room. What was going on? Why does this keep happening to me? Why do I wake up in a different place every time I open my eyes? "Awake?" That cold, calm, and all too familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts. My eyes shot toward the man sitting in the chair just across from the bed. He looked completely out of place in this dim and weirdly dark room, wearing a sharp, polished suit like he had just walked out of some high-end office. "Lu... Lucien!" I gasped, quickly sitting up. My hands flew to the blanket as I clutched it around me as I lot of things started running in my mind. What the hell? Why was I in the same room as him? Why was he watching me sleep? Did he... no—did something happen? My mind started to spiral with the worst thoughts, the kind I couldn’t even say out loud. "Stop thinking rubbish about me!" Lucien snapped coldly as his sharp eyes were locked onto mine. "Nothing happened. Don’t let that twisted mind of yours run wild." His cold words snapped me out of my thoughts, and I froze, my cheeks burned with a mix of shame and confusion. But deep down, I didn’t know whether to feel relieved... or even more afraid. "Now," Lucien said, rising from his chair and walking toward the bed, his voice sharp and demanding, "would you like to explain what that was last night?" I blinked, uncertain. "Wh... What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice barely steady. What had happened last night? The memories felt fuzzy and distant. He stopped just a few inches from me, leaning down so close I could feel his breath. His eyes were cold and unreadable. "Do you really not remember? Or are you just so good at pretending that I can’t even tell when you’re lying anymore?" His words hit me like a punch, and I swallowed hard. I wanted to say something, to explain, but the fear and haze clouded my mind. I didn’t know what to say.