Seraphina stared blankly at the distant horizon, but she wasn't really looking at anything. The world around her felt muted, muffled, as if she were standing behind a thick sheet of glass.
'Is he… leaving me too?'
The thought settled in her chest, an unbearable weight pressing down on her ribs, making it hard to breathe.
Her life had been built on cold expectations and rigid duty. A princess born into perfection, given everything she could ever need—except love.
Her mother had once cradled her in warmth, had brushed fingers through her hair, whispered words that made her feel safe.
And then, one day, that warmth was gone.
Replaced by silence. By distance. By a father who saw her not as a daughter, but as a symbol, an heir to be sculpted into something untouchable, unbreakable.
Seraphina had learned to endure. She had learned to swallow the loneliness, to stand perfectly poised, to never show that her heart was nothing more than an empty, aching wound.
