A week had passed since Seraphina's infamous encounter with the notorious villain, Zephriel. The empire buzzed with rumors — some in awe of her boldness, others whispering fear and curiosity about her connection to a man as feared as him.
Seraphina remained composed, her every step calculated. She was no longer the naive noble daughter quietly living in the shadows of others — she was someone the world now watched.
But not everyone was pleased.
The grand oak doors to her room slammed open, nearly unhinging on their frames.
"Seraphina!" a voice thundered.
Her father, Duke Alistair Vaelcrest, had returned from his business trip earlier than expected. Fury blazed in his eyes as he stormed inside, the servants trembling behind him.
"What in the emperor's name were you thinking? Breaking off your engagement to the crown prince — in public — without my permission?!"
He towered over her, expecting fear, regret, anything. But Seraphina merely sat by her vanity, brushing her hair as if his arrival were nothing more than a passing breeze.
"I did what was necessary," she said coolly. "He was cheating on me openly with Lady Liliana. He abandoned me long ago. The engagement was already dead — I simply buried it."
The Duke's face twisted with rage.
"You ungrateful girl! Do you understand the damage you've done to our family name? To me?!"
Seraphina stood slowly, her eyes calm but cold. "The only one who should be ashamed is you. If power means more to you than your daughter's dignity, then perhaps I was never truly part of this house to begin with."
His pride wounded beyond repair, the Duke's voice dropped into a hiss.
"Then so be it. From this moment forward, you are no longer of House Vaelcrest. I disown you."
A stunned silence followed.
Seraphina's heart should have ached — should have cracked at the words.
But it didn't.
Instead, she gave a faint, almost pitiful smile. "Then I suppose I'm finally free."
With grace, she picked up her cloak and walked past her father, her footsteps light… but final.
What her father didn't know was that Seraphina had already anticipated this fallout.
For weeks — even before her public severing of the engagement — she had been moving in silence, like a shadow in her own home. Piece by piece, coin by coin, she had siphoned half of the Vaelcrest family treasury, carefully depositing it into a private account under a false name. No one noticed. Not the servants, not the guards, not even the steward who prided himself on balancing the books to the copper.
She wasn't just prepared to leave. She was ready to thrive.
With that wealth, she had already purchased a modest manor near the capital. The land was infamously known as a thieves' haven — no noble dared live there. Every previous buyer had been ambushed, robbed, and driven away. The title of the estate came practically free… because it came with a death wish
But Seraphina Vaelcrest was not afraid.
Why would she be?
She possessed time magic — a rare and forbidden gift — more than enough to turn back death's hand. But even without it, she wasn't defenseless. In her fourth life, she had once stood as the Crown Prince's personal knight, not just his fiancée. She had worn silver armor and carried a sword bathed in flame, commanding legions and standing unshaken on blood-soaked battlefields.
That part of her had never truly died.
Her blade might be hidden now beneath silk and lace, but her skills remained razor sharp. She still trained every day, alone in silence — as if to remember who she used to be. Who she still was.
The empire might cast her aside.
But she would carve her own name into its foundations — with steel, with power, and with resolve no one could extinguish.
She was no longer a noble's daughter.
She was Seraphina — unbound and unstoppable.