Chapter 265: Send Away

She didn’t bother trying to interrogate Alistair.

The Chief Administrative Aide was currently running around the estate clutching a clipboard to his chest, looking so incredibly stressed and sleep-deprived that she feared a single question might actually cause him to spontaneously combust.

But Seraphina didn’t need the adults to tell her the truth.

She was the CEO of the Obsidian Network.

She had eyes in the walls.

****

Later that night, the heavy oak door of Seraphina’s bedroom was locked. The fireplace crackled softly, casting warm, dancing shadows across the plush blueberry carpets.

Seraphina sat cross-legged in the absolute center of her massive, four-poster bed.

Crinkle.

From the shadows beneath the heavy velvet drapes, a single, silver-threaded origami duck waddled out. Its tiny paper eyes glowed with a faint, pulsing violet light. It hopped onto the edge of the bed and marched up to her knees.

’Sovereign,’ the dignified, aristocratic voice of Bartholomew echoed in her mind via the dark mana tether. ’The surveillance sweep of the Archduke’s private quarters is complete.’

’Report, Butt-tolomeow,’ Seraphina transmitted, her face a mask of focus. ’What is the hedgehog hiding from me?’

’The Archduke is not auditing ledgers, My Lady,’ the ghost-butler revealed. ’He is currently reviewing topographical maps of the Capital’s Senate district, alongside troop deployment manifests for the Vanguard’s elite strike teams. He is charting the patrol routes of the Emperor’s personal guard.’

Seraphina frowned. ’He’s mapping the Senate? Why?’

’Furthermore,’ Bartholomew continued, ’we have intercepted the paperwork Lord Alistair was attempting to conceal. They are enrollment forms of highly expedited, maximum-priority registration documents for the Imperial Academy’s primary magical division, stamped with the Emperor’s seal. They are in your name, My Lady.’

The paper duck tilted its folded head. ’And accompanying those forms is a guest-lecturer credential... issued to Professor Roan Charte.’

Seraphina sat perfectly still in the dim firelight.

The pieces of the puzzle, scattered by Kaelus’s emotional distance and the staff’s terrible lying, slammed together.

Kaelus wasn’t ignoring her because he was angry, or pushing her away because he didn’t care.

He was sending her away.

’He is tricking me,’ Seraphina realized, a cold, heavy knot forming in her stomach.

Her mind that had calculated trade tariffs and outmaneuvered assassins, analyzed the geopolitical landscape in a microsecond.

Count Valerius had launched a full-scale political war regarding the bloodline issue.

The Uncle was rallying the Elder’s Council, bribing the minor nobles, and preparing to petition the Emperor to invalidate Kaelus’s rule. The Capital was turning into a bloodbath of blackmail, assassination plots, and Senate hearings.

Kaelus von Nacht was the Reaper. He thrived in a bloodbath.

He was a lethal, ruthless predator who could systematically dismantle Valerius’s entire power base, freeze his assets, manipulate the Senate into submission.

But only if he fought with both hands.

’I am his weakness,’ Seraphina concluded, the realization hitting her like a physical blow. ’As long as I am in this estate, as long as I am in the Capital’s crosshairs, he has to keep looking over his shoulder. He has to dedicate half the Vanguard to guarding my bedroom. He can’t unleash his full, terrifying potential because he is constantly terrified that someone will poison my milk or throw a dagger through my window.’

The story Elara had told in the conservatory echoed in her mind.

The happy dog became a guard dog. The puppies left the den so the guard dog wouldn’t bleed protecting them.

Kaelus was doing exactly what his siblings had done fifteen years ago. He was removing the vulnerability from the board.

The Imperial Academy was neutral ground.

It was a fortress of magical wards, heavily protected by the Emperor’s own decrees. Valerius couldn’t send assassins into the Academy without sparking a continental crisis. And by sending Roan as a tutor, Kaelus was effectively assigning a walking, talking nuclear deterrent to watch her back.

It was a flawless tactical retreat. It was the only way Kaelus could go to war unhindered.

’It is the right move,’ Seraphina’s logic dictated coldly. ’He clears the board, protects the asset, and secures the operational freedom to destroy the Uncle. A masterstroke.’

But sitting on the bed, holding her knees to her chest, the brilliant, terrifying mastermind of the Obsidian Network vanished.

The adult logic was completely drowned out by the suffocating, irrational heartbreak of a six-year-old girl who just wanted her father.

’He is sending me away,’ her inner child whimpered, her chest tightening with a terrifying ache. ’He is pushing me out of the den. He is going to fight the wolves all by himself again.’

She knew she couldn’t stop him.

If she told him she knew, if she threw a tantrum and refused to go, he would cancel the enrollment and keep her here. And he would fight with one hand tied behind his back, taking political and physical wounds just to shield her.

She would become the very burden that ruined him.

She loved him too much to let that happen.

’I have to let him trick me,’ Seraphina decided, her tiny hands curling into fists in the silk sheets. ’I have to pretend I don’t know the real reason. I have to play the part of the angry, betrayed child, so he can assuage his guilt and focus on the war. It’s the only way.’

But accepting the logic didn’t make the pain go away.

’Dismissed, Butt-tolomeow,’ Seraphina transmitted quietly, her voice thick with unshed tears.

’As you wish, Queen of Shadows,’ the ghost-duck bowed its paper head, dissolving into the floorboards.

Seraphina lay back on the pillows, pulling the heavy velvet duvet up to her chin, clutching the pink ember-puppy tightly against her chest.

She stared at the ceiling, her heart breaking in the silent darkness, preparing herself for the hardest acting role of her entire life.

The morning of the departure arrived with a heavy, overcast sky, as if the Capital itself were mourning the fracturing of the Nacht Estate.

The atmosphere in the manor was unbearable.

The frantic packing had ceased. The secondary carriage sat in the courtyard, packed, warded, and ready.

In her bedroom, Seraphina stood silently as a team of terrified maids dressed her in her new uniform.

It was, undeniably, the most intimidating school uniform in existence.

While the other Academy students wore bright crimson, gold, or pristine white, Kaelus had flexed his Archduke privileges to demand custom tailoring.

Seraphina wore a pleated skirt and a tailored blazer of midnight black. The only flash of color was a deep violet silk tie, matching Kaelus’s eyes.

And, of course, the entire uniform was lined with Madame Vionnet’s invisible, arrow-proof silk. It was heavier than normal clothing, but it felt like a hug of pure protection.

The heavy oak doors of her bedroom opened.

The maids instantly scattered, bowing deeply before practically sprinting into the hallway.

Duke Kaelus von Nacht stepped into the room.

Seraphina looked at him through the mirror. He looked absolutely terrible.

The terrifying, flawless Reaper of the North looked as though he hadn’t slept in a week.

Deep, bruising purple shadows sat beneath his glowing violet eyes. His jaw was clenched so tightly it looked painful.

He wore his full, midnight-blue velvet coat, but his posture lacked its usual, arrogant swagger. He looked like a man walking to the gallows.

He had spent the last three days avoiding her, hardening his heart, convincing himself that this deception was necessary for her survival.

Kaelus walked slowly toward her. In his large hands, he held a massive, beautifully wrapped package tied with a silver ribbon.

Seraphina turned to face him.

She didn’t run to him or didn’t throw her arms around his neck. She didn’t demand to be picked up.

She stood perfectly still, her small hands clasped behind her back, her face arranged into a mask of pure, and deeply wounded betrayal.

She puffed her cheeks out, but it wasn’t the cute, demanding pout she usually deployed. It was a hard, angry, trembling pout. She lowered her chin, glaring at the floor, refusing to meet his eyes.

The reaction was immediate.

Kaelus flinched, as if she had driven a dagger between his ribs.

He stopped a few feet away, dropping to one knee. The cold marble floor cracked slightly beneath his weight.

"Seraphina," Kaelus said. His voice was a low, rough, strained rasp.

She turned her head slightly to the left, staring at the wall.