Seraphina's POV
"I love you," Lucien said, his voice breaking, full of raw feeling, agony, and fear. fought within him, showing in his eyes.
"I know I'm too late, but I was scared to tell you, scared you'd laugh or turn me away because you only loved Elias. You always saw him as the perfect man, while I… I was just troubled within me, the one everyone feared and avoided."
His confession hit me like a storm; tears blurred my vision. All this time, I had been blind and foolish, chasing someone who never deserved me, while the one who truly loved me had stood quietly, waiting and hurting in silence.
I remembered that night when a maid tried to warn me about Elias; images flashed in my mind as memories of that night came running back, and the pain I felt for firing the old maid.
I remembered coming home early, not feeling well, and Elias had been there unexpectedly, and his expression was a mix of shock and confusion. He'd asked why I had returned so soon from work then looked suspiciously at some of my files. I questioned him, and he smiled, saying he wanted to surprise me. I had believed him. Oh, how foolish of me!
Later that evening, the maid tried to warn me about Elias, to tell me something I wasn't ready to hear, but he had me cornered, forcing me to fire her or risk losing him. I had loved him so much, I obeyed. I paid her enough to start her life over and sent her away.
She had whispered, as she left, that I was a good person and didn't deserve the betrayal, but I had been blind, blinded by the sharp edge of my love.
Now, standing there, Lucien knelt beside my body, and the old maid appeared again holding flowers, making my heart skip a beat.
Her hands trembled, and she paused for a moment when she saw Lucien, but Lucien's small nod urged her forward. She came closer, tears glinting like dew in the pale hall light, and laid the bouquet gently by my side.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, with tears all over her face and her voice trembling. "Maybe I should have fought harder to protect you, but I didn't, and you were betrayed like this. You loved with all your heart, like your mother. You have always been kind, treating me like family, not a servant. I hope… I hope you find peace and happiness."
Then she left. I wept harder than I had in years. So, this was my fate now.
I didn't listen to the people who cared about me, and I was foolish to believe a life built on lies. Look where it landed me. My mother had a pure heart, and she was killed by the one she loved. I guess we share the same fate.
Lucien looked at me then, a bitter and sad smile tugging on his lips. "I know you might not believe this, but I am fatso. That fat kid in middle school, the one you always stood up for. The one everyone bullied." He paused, letting it sink in.
I froze. Of course, I remembered him. The quiet boy in my class who never asked for anything but kindness, the one whose smiles brightened gloomy school days. I had asked about him once, long ago, only to learn he'd transferred. And now here he was, grown, handsome, and terrifyingly sure of himself.
He looked down at my body, voice low, like he was talking to himself as much as me.
"I traveled abroad, studied hard, and worked on myself," he went on softly. "Probably why you never noticed me, or maybe you did, and you were just being kind. Either way, I should have told you how I felt. I was a coward. Fear and pride controlled me. I am sorry, I can't do life without you. Maybe in the afterlife, it will just be you and me."
My heart swelled at his words, relief, and grief tangling into a sharp, painful knot. But then… something caught my eye.
The gun, the same weapon Lucien had used to kill my half-sister, Marina.
A cold chill grabbed me, and a cold dread settled in my chest. Was he going to kill himself? Could he love me so much that he would end his life?
I moved on instinct, rushing to block him. But again, I passed through him like the wind, a ghost, and a helpless one.
Then, Lucien's hands shook around the gun, his breath came ragged, each one a fight between fear and longing, anger and love, and then he said, "Could I survive a world without you?" He let out a pained chuckle, "I remembered the laugh you had given me in school, the way you reached out when everyone else turned away." That smile haunted me, a cruel reminder of everything I had lost.
"I can't… I can't do this without you," he whispered, his voice raw and breaking. "The world is empty if you're not in it."
His shoulders slumped, and for a heartbeat, he looked like the boy I had once known, the scared and lonely one.So I tried to talk as if he could hear me. "Lucien… listen!" I called, my voice breaking. "Don't do this, you have a life ahead of you! You'll find love, real love. Someone who will love you the way you deserve. Please don't!"
But before I could finish, his finger pressed the trigger, and there it was, a single devastating shot.
Time froze for a heartbeat, then darkness swallowed up everything. His body collapsed onto my lifeless form. The impact sent ripples through my consciousness. Power and light went off immediately in the room, and the world, as I knew it, pulled me into a void, cold and endless. Pain, loss, grief—all of it became one. I wanted to scream, to wail, to plead, but my voice was gone.
And then, as the shadows took me, I realized that even death had not prepared me for this, for love… love too late.