Chapter 444: Missing Her

Seraphina's POV

I had barely slept all through the night, and even the little sleep I managed to get felt restless and shallow, like my body had given up before my mind did. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept hearing that voice again, clear and familiar in a way that made my chest tighten every single time I thought about it. It wasn't just any voice, it was her voice, Yuna's voice.

I could still remember the exact way it sounded, soft but distinct, the kind of voice that I had heard so many times back in Elysium that there was no way I could mistake it for someone else's. That was what made everything so confusing, because if I had really heard her voice, then that meant one thing that didn't make any sense at all. It meant that Yuna was alive, and if she was alive, then everything I thought I knew about what happened that day was completely wrong, or at least not as simple as it had been made out to be.

I lay on the bed in the hotel room, staring up at the ceiling as the early morning light slowly filled the room, my thoughts refusing to settle no matter how hard I tried to push them away. I kept going back to that moment outside the Ashwyn house, replaying it over and over again in my head like if I thought about it enough, I would somehow find something I missed the first time.

The tone of the voice, the direction it came from, and the exact second I heard it. Everything, and every time I went through it again, I came to the same conclusion. I wasn't mistaken, and I wasn't imagining things. I had heard Yuna. I was almost completely certain of it now, and that certainty was what made everything else harder to understand, because if she was alive, then how?

That question alone refused to leave me alone. I had not seen what happened myself, but I heard enough explanation to understand how bad it had been. Yuna had fallen from a height that no normal person should survive, and the school had declared her dead. Everyone had accepted it, and even I had accepted it after hearing what happened since it was very probable, even though I knew deep down that they had been wrong about their conclusion to leave her death as a suicide. But now… now I didn't know what to think anymore. If she had really survived that fall, then something had to have happened after. Something that no one outside that family knew about, and that only led to another question that bothered me just as much.

If Yuna was alive, then why hadn't she said anything?

Why hadn't she come forward and told everyone what really happened? Why hadn't she exposed Iris for what she did? That part didn't make sense to me at all, because if there was one thing I was sure about, it was that Yuna would never have just let something like that go. Seeing how she went completely crazy with revenge after what Electra did to her, she wasn't the kind of person who would stay silent after being pushed off a rooftop and almost killed, and yet, here we were. The world believed that she had taken her own life, and she had done nothing to correct that.

Unless she couldn't.

That thought made me sit up slowly on the bed, my brows furrowing as my heart started to beat a little faster. What if she wasn't staying silent because she wanted to, but because she had no choice? What if something was stopping her from speaking out? The idea didn't sit well with me, but it also felt like the only explanation that made any sense, and if that was true, then that meant that whatever was happening inside the Ashwyn house was far more complicated than I thought.

I let out a breath, running a hand through my hair as I tried to steady myself, but it didn't help much. The more I thought about it, the more questions I had, and none of them had answers that I could reach on my own because the truth was simple, no matter how much I didn't like it.

All the answers I needed were inside that house, and I wasn't welcome there.

Yura had made that very clear. The look on her face, the way she spoke to me, the anger in her voice… none of it left any room for doubt. I wasn't someone she wanted to see again, and I couldn't even blame her for that. The way I had pushed her, the way I had threatened her earlier… It wasn't something I could just pretend didn't happen. I had crossed a line, and now I was paying for it. There was no way she would willingly let me back into that house after everything that happened, and even if she did, it wouldn't change much.

I let out a small, tired laugh at that thought, shaking my head slightly as I looked down at my hands. What exactly would I even do if I got inside again? I couldn't just walk around like I owned the place, opening doors and searching through rooms like some kind of investigator. That wasn't how things worked, especially not in a place like that. The Ashwyn family wasn't just any family. They were powerful, respected, and practically untouchable in Varynthia. If I stepped out of line even a little, I wouldn't just be thrown out. I could be banned from the entire kingdom, and that was a risk I couldn't afford to take, not just for myself, but for Darius too.

The thought of him made me press my lips together, guilt settling quietly in my chest. He had been the one to help me get here, the one who arranged everything for me without asking for anything in return. The car, the hotel, the driver… all of it was because of him. If I caused trouble here, it wouldn't just affect me. It would affect him too, and I couldn't do that to him. I couldn't repay his kindness by dragging him into something messy.

So that left me stuck. I knew where the answers were, but I had no way of reaching them, and that was the most frustrating part of all.

I leaned back against the headboard, closing my eyes for a moment as I tried to clear my thoughts, but that only made another face appear in my mind. Electra.

My chest tightened slightly at the thought of her, and I let out a slow breath, opening my eyes again as I stared at the wall in front of me. I didn't know how she was doing. I didn't know what was happening back in Elmeria after everything that went down at the palace, and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, that bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

If things were different, I would have called her already without thinking twice.

If she had her memories, if she were still the same person I used to know, I wouldn't have hesitated for even a second. I would have told her everything, and she would have come. That was just how things worked between us before, but now… Now I didn't even know if she would pick up my call.

I let out a sigh, lowering my gaze as I fiddled with my fingers absentmindedly. The Electra I knew now wasn't the same. She didn't remember anything, not me, not Yuna, not Yura, and not even the kingdoms we came from. To her, all of that might as well not exist, and expecting her to suddenly care about something she didn't even remember… it felt pointless.

Still, that didn't stop me from wanting to call her, or at least call Irina.

I knew Irina would pick up, and she would tell me what was going on, whether I asked or not, but even then, I stopped myself every single time the thought crossed my mind because as much as I wanted to know if Electra was okay… There was something else that mattered to me just as much.

I wanted to know if I was missed.

The thought felt a little childish when I looked at it like that, but I couldn't help it. I had left without saying anything. I hadn't told them where I was going or why. I had just… disappeared, and a part of me wanted to see if anyone would notice. If anyone would care enough to look for me. Especially her.

So I stayed silent even though it wasn't easy, even though every part of me wanted to pick up my phone and just make that call. I didn't, and I told myself that I would wait just a few days.

That was all I needed.

I would finish what I came here to do, even if I didn't have all the answers yet, and then I would go back to Elmeria, and when I did… I would see for myself if anyone had noticed that I was gone.

If she had noticed, and until then, I would just have to deal with the questions in my head on my own.