Seraphina hadn't stepped out of her room for three days.
Her father was true to his word, placing her under complete house arrest. Guards were posted outside her door, and all her accounts were frozen. She was, in every sense of the word, a princess imprisoned in her own castle.
But this was exactly what she wanted.
She used the time to meticulously map out her plan for revenge. She knew that Richard and Liliana now saw her as a broken thing. Their condescension was her best camouflage.
Her calm, however, was shattered late on the fourth night by an unexpected visitor.
A storm raged outside, the wind howling and thunder crashing. Seraphina had just finished washing up and was preparing for bed when she heard a faint, unnatural sound from her bedroom balcony.
She was instantly on alert. She grabbed a heavy brass sculpture from her desk and crept silently behind the curtains of the floor-to-ceiling glass doors.
A bolt of lightning tore across the night sky, illuminating the balcony in a flash of stark white.
In that brief, brilliant moment, Seraphina saw a sight that would be seared into her memory for the rest of her life—
A tall man, dressed in a black trench coat, was standing silently on the balcony railing. The fierce wind whipped at his coat and the torrential rain soaked his body, but he stood as still as an ancient statue, a figure at one with the violent night.
And on his face, he wore the same cold, silver mask she had seen countless times in her nightmares.
It's him!
The man from the cave.
Seraphina's heart stopped. The blood rushed from her head, and her limbs turned to ice. Fear, like a thousand icy hands, seized her from all directions, squeezing the air from her lungs.
How is he here?! How did he find me?! What does he want?!
Just as she was frozen in terror, the man leaped lightly from the railing, landing silently on her balcony. He pushed open the unlocked glass door and, step by step, began to walk toward her.
"Who are you?! Stay back!" Seraphina screamed, hurling the brass sculpture at him with all her might.
The man simply tilted his head to the side, easily dodging the heavy object. The sculpture crashed to the floor with a loud clang.
And he was already standing right in front of her.
He was incredibly tall, and in his presence, Seraphina felt terrifyingly small. A powerful, aggressive masculine aura enveloped her, leaving her with no room to escape.
"Don't be afraid," he said. His voice was the same as it had been that night—hoarse and low, yet possessing a strange, calming power. "I'm not here to hurt you."
"Who are you?" Seraphina's voice trembled with fear as she backed away, step by step, until her back was pressed against the cold wall, with nowhere left to run.
"Who I am is not important," the man said, his gaze fixed on her through the mask. His eyes were so complex she couldn't decipher their meaning. There was scrutiny, curiosity, and even... a trace of a pain she couldn't comprehend.
He slowly raised his hand, as if to touch her cheek.
Seraphina flinched away. "Don't touch me!"
The man's hand froze in mid-air. He was silent for a moment before slowly lowering it.
"You haven't been well these past few days," he said. It was a statement, not a question.
"How do you know that?!"
"I know far more than you can imagine," the man's voice was tinged with an omniscient indifference. "I know that you were framed by your own fiancé and stepsister. And I know you were kidnapped and taken to the mountains."
Seraphina's pupils contracted violently.
"I also know," he took another step closer, their bodies now so near she could feel the heat radiating from him, "that in your father's eyes, you are now a disgraceful, mentally unstable daughter. You are a prisoner in your own home, and you have nothing."
How could he know everything in such detail?!
A tidal wave of shock crashed through Seraphina's mind. This man was no ordinary stranger. Who was he? Had he been investigating her? What was his purpose?
"The performance you're putting on for your family... it's quite convincing," the man said, as if reading her mind. A faint, almost imperceptible curve touched his lips. "Playing the victim to bide your time. A pity you're too weak. With your current power, trying to take them down is like an egg trying to break a stone."
Seraphina bit her lip, unable to refute him.
Because he was right. All of her plans were built on a long timeline and immense risk. One wrong move, and she would be utterly destroyed.
"What... what do you want?" she asked, a note of desperation creeping into her voice.
The man didn't answer. He just stared at her, his eyes behind the mask like two bottomless vortexes.
After a long moment, he finally spoke again.
And his words were like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, striking her with such force that all her reason and understanding were shattered into a million pieces.
He said:
"I'm not here to hurt you, Seraphina."
"I am here... to propose to you."