Chapter 467: Threatened

Seraphina's POV

I stared back at Yura with a confused look on my face after she asked me if I had not done enough already. For a few seconds, I genuinely could not even process the level of hatred in her voice. It was so intense that it almost felt unreal. Her eyes were fixed on me with so much anger that it made my chest tighten uncomfortably.

"What have I really done wrong?" I finally asked her, trying to keep my voice steady even though I could already feel my nerves getting worse. "I'm getting really tired of you acting like I'm solely responsible for what happened to Yuna."

The moment the words left my mouth, Yura's expression darkened even more. It was almost frightening how quickly the anger on her face intensified. She looked at me like she genuinely could not stand the sight of me anymore, and when she finally spoke again, her voice came out sharp enough to make me flinch slightly.

"If you had not been so blindly driven by lust and following a psychopath like Electra Vale around like some love-starved puppy," she snapped, "Yuna would never have felt betrayed enough to get involved with a crazy bitch like Iris."

I immediately froze.

The hatred in her voice was so raw that for a moment I genuinely forgot how to respond. Yura took a step closer toward me, and I noticed how tightly clenched her fists were at her sides. Her entire body looked tense with anger.

"And to top it off," she continued bitterly, "you were the one who was supposed to be pushed down from that rooftop that day, but Yuna, being the idiot she was, let you escape and ended up taking your place instead."

My throat suddenly felt dry. Even though I already blamed myself in many ways for what happened that day, hearing someone say it out loud like this still hurt in a completely different way. I remembered that rooftop so clearly. The fear, the panic, Iris completely losing her mind, Yuna showing up unexpectedly, and then running away because Yuna told me to.

I had replayed that moment in my head so many times already when I heard Yuna died.

What if I had stayed? What if I had forced Yuna to leave with me? What if I had pushed Iris instead? Every possible version of that night had already haunted me enough, but hearing Yura practically tell me that I should have been the one to fall instead made my stomach twist painfully.

Yura stared directly into my eyes before speaking again, and this time her voice sounded quieter, but somehow even more terrifying.

"Do you know the first thing I think about every morning when I wake up?" she asked.

I stayed silent.

"It's how badly I wish it had been you who got pushed that day instead of my sister," she said coldly. "I wish it had been you who died instead of Yuna."

My breath caught in my throat. The hatred in her eyes almost did not look human anymore. It genuinely looked like she meant every single word coming out of her mouth, and that realization scared me more than I wanted to admit.

"And seeing you alive and well standing in front of me right now," she continued, her voice shaking slightly with rage, "makes me want to push you off a cliff myself and make sure you stay dead."

I could only stare at her.

For several long seconds, I genuinely did not know what to say. My mind felt completely blank. I had never had someone speak to me with this much hatred before, and hearing it from Yura of all people somehow made it worse. Back at Elysium, Yura had always seemed quiet and withdrawn. Even when she disliked someone, she usually kept it hidden behind silence or awkward avoidance, but the person standing in front of me now looked nothing like that girl.

This version of Yura terrified me.

I swallowed hard and tried to calm myself down enough to respond, but even opening my mouth suddenly felt difficult. My hands felt cold, and I could feel several people in the market beginning to glance in our direction because of how tense the atmosphere between us had become.

Trying not to stutter but failing miserably, I finally forced myself to speak. "Y-Yuna was old enough to make her own choices," I said weakly. "Just like I made mine to be with Electra."

Yura scoffed loudly, but I pushed myself to continue anyway because I knew if I stopped now, I probably would not be able to say anything else.

"Just because Yuna hated Electra doesn't mean Yuna becoming friends with Iris and plotting with her was my fault or Electra's," I continued nervously. "I understand that Yuna was hurt because of everything that happened, but none of this is anybody's fault except Iris'. Iris is the one who pushed her."

As soon as I mentioned Iris, Yura's jaw visibly tightened. I could already tell she hated hearing that name.

I took a shaky breath before continuing more softly. "And thankfully… Yuna is alive. So shouldn't you be at least a little less resentful now that she survived?"

The moment the words left my mouth, Yura stared at me like I had said the stupidest thing she had ever heard in her life. Then she laughed, but there was absolutely no humor in the sound.

The look of disgust on her face somehow became even worse as she continued staring at me. I suddenly became very aware of how alone I was here. I was in a foreign kingdom surrounded by people loyal to Yura and her family. If she truly wanted to hurt me right now, there was honestly very little I could do about it.

"You really don't get it," she said finally, shaking her head slowly in disbelief. "You really don't understand anything at all."

Her voice had become quieter now, but somehow that scared me even more than the yelling. "Just get out," she told me coldly. "And never come back."

I opened my mouth slightly, wanting to say something else, but the expression on her face immediately stopped me.

"Because the next time I have to see your face again," she continued, "I will make sure you spend the rest of your life in pure agony just like me and my sister have had to endure because of you."

My chest tightened painfully again. I wanted to argue, I wanted to defend myself and tell her that I had also suffered because of everything that happened, but the words refused to come out. Maybe because a part of me still felt guilty. or maybe because a part of me knew that if Yuna had never gotten involved with Iris because of me and Electra, none of this would have happened in the first place.

Yura stared at me for another long second before speaking one final time. "And don't forget," she said quietly, "I'm a snake who can inflict far more pain than your limited thoughts can imagine."

A chill immediately ran down my spine. There was something deeply threatening about the way she said those words. After saying that, she turned around and started walking away without waiting for a response from me. I could only stand there frozen as I watched her disappear deeper into the crowded market. The people around us quickly returned to minding their business like nothing had happened at all, but I still felt rooted to the same spot.

My heart was beating painfully fast now, and I suddenly realized my hands were trembling slightly as Yura's words kept replaying inside my head over and over again.

'I wish it had been you.'

'Makes me want to push you off a cliff myself.'

By the time Yura completely disappeared from sight, I still had not moved an inch. I just stood there in the middle of the crowded market feeling completely stunned and honestly a little scared.