Chapter 14 â No Sudden Movements
Aurelia had cried herself into slumber.
Nestled in Seraphinaâs arms, her little chest rising and falling with each peaceful breath, the girl looked like an entirely different person now. The lines of stress around her brow had faded. Her trembling hands had gone still. Her tear-streaked cheeks were now kissed by the calm glow of sleep.
She was exhaustedâutterly and entirely.
And for the first time in days, she slept soundly.
Seraphina didnât move a muscle.
She could have, of course. Her body had no concept of fatigue or discomfort. She could sit for centuries without blinking. And so, for the next two hours, she did just that.
Her gaze never left the sleeping girl in her arms.
Not once.
She watched the soft flutter of her lashes. The way Aurelia unconsciously leaned closer when her dreams turned sour. The faint whisper of breath on her collarbone. A fragment of warmth. A piece of trust. Seraphina did not dare shift her weightânot even to adjust her posture. There was only one thing in her mind:
How do I keep her like this? Happy. Peaceful.
That moment of stillness, however, didnât last forever.
The sound of bootsteps echoed down the hall.
And then came the grumbleâlow, careless, and loud enough to cut through the silence.
â...Damn necromancers. Who the hell dares summon undead in the Imperial Palace...?â
The door creaked open without a knock.
It was one of the Imperial guards assigned to monitor Princess Aurelia. His expression was sour, his brows drawn into a scowl as he walked in mid-complaint. But the moment his eyes met the roomâs interiorâ
He froze.
His entire body locked in place.
Seraphina was sitting on the bed.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Aurelia slept in her lap.
Alive. Whole. Breathing.
Seraphinaâs obsidian eyes met his.
A moment passed.
Thenâ
The guard reached for his sword in pure reflex, his mind still trying to piece together the impossibility before him. Sheâs dead. She was executed. Burned. Then⦠w-who is this person?
But before the blade even cleared its sheath, something hit him.
Not a hand.
Not a weapon.
It was pressure.
It was killing intentâraw, suffocating, beast-like. A monstrous force crushed down on him from all sides, like invisible jaws ready to snap shut. Cold sweat trickled down his temple, and the hand that had nearly unsheathed his sword now trembled violently, as if it no longer belonged to him.
Whatâs happening...? Damn it, stop shaking⦠just for a momentâplease, just stop shaking! IâI need to get out of here⦠I have to runâ¦!
But his body wouldnât stop shaking, like he was standing before a natural predatorâsomething primal, absolute, and far beyond his place in the food chain.
And Seraphinaâs eyes narrowed.
She was annoyed.
Not angryâyet. But clearly irritated. Not because of the threat. Not because of his weapon.
Because Aurelia had stirred.
The girl let out a soft sound of discomfort, twitching in her sleep. For a second, her eyes fluttered open. Seraphina shifted her hand slightly, gently running her fingers through Aureliaâs hairâto calm her and lull her back to sleep.
Aurelia sighed⦠and returned to slumber.
Seraphinaâs gaze returned to the guard.
Without realizing it, the guard stepped backâonce, twice.
And now, it burned.
His chest tightened further, heartbeat pounding like war drums. Panic clawed at his ribsâhe was about to die a dog's death, meaningless and forgotten. Then the world began to blur. No... it wasnât the world. It was his vision. Everything slowed, like time itself had fractured. His breath caught. His limbs froze.
And in the haze of fear and fog, only one thing remained clearâher lips.
Seraphinaâs lipsâsoft, pink, perfectly suited to her pale skin and flowing black hair. But to the guard, there was no beauty in them. No allure. In his eyes, they looked like the maw of a dragonâgraceful, yet ready to devour him whole.
His body stopped shaking, as if sheer adrenaline had surged through himâone final rush from instinct itself, trying to save him for just a moment.
Everything else stoppedâhis thoughts, his breath, the world itself. Only her lips moved.
She didnât speak a word. But in that surge of adrenaline, something primal took over. His instincts screamed at him to understand⦠and somehow, he did. As if her voice bypassed sound itself and spoke directly through the movement of her lips.
âLeave. While you still can.â
His legs moved before his mind could send any commandâlike they wanted to survive more than he did.
Step by step, he backed awayâhis hand still gripping the swordâs hilt, but not daring to draw it. Even the faintest sound might seal his fate, and he was sure⦠if he made a noise, he would die.
The distance to the door felt endless. In reality, it wasnât far at allâbut fear twisted his senses, making every step stretch like a lifetime. Still, somehow, he managed to reach it⦠and slip out the door.
He was just about to flee, heart pounding like a war drum, when a voice echoed directly in his mindâcalm, cold, and unmistakably annoyed. It was that womanâs voice.
âClose the door before you go. And of course⦠donât make a sound.â
He jolted from the shock, nearly leaping in placeâyet somehow landed without a sound, as if his very life depended on silence.
Slowly, he removed his metal gauntlet, knowing even the slightest scrape could betray him. With trembling fingers, he grasped the doorknob and turned itâcarefully, painfully carefullyâclosing the door inch by inch.
But at the final moment⦠it clicked.
A soft, sharp sound.
And in that instant, he felt his soul try to flee his body.
His knees gave out instantly.
He dropped to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, face drained of all color. Did I die? he wondered, breath caught in his throat. But after a few painfully silent seconds with no blade in his back and no voice in his head, his mind slowly began to accept the impossibleâhe had survived... even after that cursed click.
A rush of air flooded into his lungsâonly then did he realize heâd been struggling to breathe the entire time.
His entire body felt like jelly.
His mind⦠utterly broken.
He didnât know what he had just seen.
He didnât want to know.
All that mattered was that he had survived it.
He still had to report this incident to his superiors⦠but all he could think wasâ
Why, out of everyone, was I the one assigned here?
He tried to stand, but his legs refused to moveâstill paralyzed from fear. With a shaky breath, he muttered to himself, âLooks like Iâll have to crawl out of hereâ¦â
Even if he had to crawl like a worm.
Even if it meant biting his own tongue to keep silent.
But one thing was clearâpeaceful days in the Imperial Castle were over.
What lay ahead⦠would be nothing short of chaos.