For the rest of the day, the Harrington estate carried an air of faint wariness—an unsettled hush that clung to marble floors and echoing corridors. The servants moved in organized silence, aware that a storm had entered their master's home. Not Adrian. Seraphina.
She had not left.Of course she hadn't.
Seraphina Moretti had grown up in a world where she was never refused anything she demanded. Her beauty, her pedigree, her intelligence—every facet of her identity had been shaped inside the gilded architecture of entitlement. She wasn't cruel by nature, but she was unquestionably a creature of expectation—life had always bent for her.
Except today.
Except him.
She followed Adrian through the hallways, ignoring the uncomfortable glances of the staff, the whispered warnings to leave him be for now, the subtle shaking of heads from the loyal old retainers who had watched the Harrington heir metamorphose into something none of them had expected.
Seraphina did not care.She would not listen.She would get her answers.
Even if the man she confronted no longer resembled the fool she once knew.
She found him in his father's old study.
Or rather—it had once been his father's study. Now, it seemed as if the room had fossilized. The curtains remained drawn; only a single lamp illuminated the desk where Adrian stood reading through documents stacked with brutal precision. There was no mess. No personal touch. No photographs left on display. No trace of the past—just order, logic, and work.
"Are you ignoring me on purpose?" Seraphina demanded, stepping in without invitation.
Adrian didn't look up. "Yes."
She blinked. "You could at least pretend—"
"I don't pretend," he said, flipping a page. "Not anymore."
She crossed her arms. "You told me to leave. I'm not leaving."
"That seems to be a pattern with you."
She bristled. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means," he said finally lifting his gaze to meet hers, "I told you the engagement will be annulled. I told you this house is not your home. I told you to stop entering restricted areas. I told you several things, and you ignored all of them."
His tone wasn't angry. Not frustrated. Not cold even.
It was just honest. Clinical. A diagnosis rather than an argument.
Seraphina hated that.She hated how difficult it was to read him now.Once, she could predict his every emotional twitch. Now, she might as well have been staring at a statue carved beautifully but without a pulse.
"Why," she pressed, "do you suddenly want to annul the engagement?"
"There's nothing sudden about it," Adrian replied, returning to his papers. "I simply don't want to marry someone who doesn't want to marry me."
She froze.
Her throat dried. "What… what do you mean I don't want to marry you?"
"You told me often enough," he said without even blinking.
Her cheeks burned; the memory of her casual insults and dismissals stabbed her with unexpected shame. But that wasn't the part that unsettled her.
It was that he remembered.He remembered everything.
"And I don't believe in trapping anyone into anything," he continued. "Least of all marriage."
She took a step closer. "Since when do you think like this?"
A faint shadow of amusement flickered in his eyes. "Since I started thinking at all."
She opened her mouth, then closed it. For the first time, her usual sharp retorts didn't come easily.
"So you're doing this out of consideration for me?" she asked slowly.
"I'm doing this because it's the logical decision," he said. "You don't want me. I don't want to be forced onto anyone. Let's not complicate it."
Seraphina's pulse stuttered.She wanted to scoff.She wanted to argue.She wanted to call him ridiculous.
But then came the realization—quiet but unmistakable—that he genuinely knew. He had understood exactly how she had felt about him all these years. He had known and never said a word.
She hated how flustered that made her.
"Adrian," she said, voice softer than intended, "you think you know what I want?"
"I know what you didn't want," he corrected calmly. "Which is me."
She bit the inside of her cheek. Hard.
"Well," she said quickly, "that's not—no, actually, it is accurate—but that's not the point!"
"It's entirely the point."
He returned to reading.She wanted to scream.
She stormed closer, placing her hands on the desk. "My parents sent me here!"
"And?" he replied without looking up.
"They expect me to stay here!"
"Then you should inform them you'll be returning home soon."
Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you keep pushing me away?"
"I'm not pushing," he said. "I'm redirecting."
"To where?"
"Away from me."
Her jaw dropped.
He continued, "There is no place for you here. Not as my fiancée, not as my wife, not as a resident of this house. Your presence is unnecessary."
She inhaled sharply. "Unnecessary?"
"Yes. You returned because of obligation—not because of me."
"That's not true!" she snapped.
He lifted a brow. "You didn't come because you wanted to see me."
"Well… I… that's—" she sputtered.
"Exactly."
She clenched her fists. "Take responsibility! I came back for you!"
He finally set his papers down and looked her straight in the eyes.Neutral. Steady. Unaffected.
"Who asked you to?"
She froze.
No softness.No guilt.No desperation.Just a simple, devastating truth.
"You—" she whispered, breathless with disbelief, "you've changed so much."
"I've had reasons," he replied plainly.
She stared at him, unable to find her footing in this new dynamic. He wasn't emotional. He wasn't apologetic. He wasn't chasing her, yearning for her, pleading for her affection.
He was simply done.
Her frustration surged. "I gave up my studies to come back!"
"That is unfortunate," he said. "Since the engagement will be canceled."
She nearly choked. "You— you're unbelievable!"
"I know," he said, completely unbothered. "However… you may stay here until the paperwork is processed."
He gestured to the servants.
The staff bowed, awaiting orders.
Seraphina opened her mouth in outrage. "Who said I want the engagement canceled?!"
"No one," Adrian replied. "But I do."
"Why?" she demanded.
He tilted his head slightly, studying her for a moment as if assessing an equation, not a person.
"Because," he said, "you have already annoyed me more in one hour than all my consultants, executives, and government contacts have in two months. And given your earlier attitude to my staff, I'm inclined to expedite the annulment."
The servants bowed again, silently vindicated.
Seraphina's mouth fell open.
He wasn't threatening her.He wasn't teasing her.He wasn't manipulating her.
He was just telling the truth.
And the truth was this:
Adrian Vale Harrington no longer revolved around her.He no longer fell apart at her absence.He no longer treated her like the center of his universe.
He had a new universe now.One made of duty.One made of iron.One made of shadows and memory and unrelenting discipline.
And she—Seraphina Moretti—had never felt so off balance, so stunned, so rejected.
She had returned thinking she would see the same fool she ran from.
Instead, she had walked straight into the presence of a man who had risen from the ashes—
—and who no longer needed her at all.
And for the first time in her life…
…she wasn't sure she was the one with the power anymore.