"Ugh... where am I?"
Seraphine slowly opened her eyes and pushed herself upright on the bed. For several seconds, she remained completely disoriented as she looked around the room. Her body felt strangely heavy, and a lingering exhaustion weighed on her mind. It felt as though she had slept for an entire day after running herself to the point of collapse.
Her vision remained blurry at first, causing the room to appear distorted and unfocused. She blinked repeatedly while rubbing her eyes, and gradually the haze began to clear.
"Huh?"
The moment her eyesight returned to normal, she noticed two familiar figures sitting comfortably on a nearby sofa.
William and Selena were both looking directly at her. What surprised her even more was the fact that both of them were smiling.
"Good morning, honey."
Selena was the first to speak. Her tone sounded unusually relaxed.
The sight immediately caused Seraphine’s memories to come flooding back.
She remembered her mother discovering William and her relationship. She remembered the confrontation that followed. She remembered the enormous chaos that erupted afterward, along with all the revelations that had surfaced one after another.
Most importantly, she remembered the fact that her mother should not have been this calm.
"Wait a minute."
Seraphine swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sat there for a moment while staring at the two of them suspiciously.
Then she turned toward William.
"I have to ask this."
Her expression became serious.
"Why is Mom so relaxed about us, William?"
William blinked. Before he could answer, Seraphine quickly continued.
"You can tell me honestly. If she’s under your control, I won’t say anything."
She nodded confidently. "I’ll be completely understanding."
William stared at her, dumbfounded.
Selena stared at her even more, shocked.
The room suddenly became very quiet.
After several seconds, Selena slowly turned her head toward William.
"Coincidentally, I wanted to ask you the same question regarding Seraphine. The only difference is that I am definitely not okay with the possibility of my daughter being under mind control."
The Empress then looked directly at Seraphine. A wounded expression gradually appeared on her face.
"Sera, that was a very hurtful thing to hear." Seraphine immediately realized how her words sounded.
"Mom, that’s not what I meant to say."
She sighed helplessly. Unfortunately, Selena seemed determined to enjoy the situation.
"Oh, but that is exactly what I heard."
Selena crossed her arms and deliberately looked away.
"I see. Apparently, your first conclusion after waking up is that your poor mother has become someone’s puppet, and the worst thing is that you are totally fine about it, if it’s true."
"Mom..."
Seraphine pinched the bridge of her nose.
Meanwhile, William quietly watched the exchange while trying not to laugh. After allowing the mother and daughter to argue for a few moments, he finally decided to intervene.
"To answer your question, Seraphine, it actually has something to do with my mother. Apparently, the boys from our friend group ended up revealing certain details about our relationship."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"After that, my mom decided to contact your mom through the two-way broadcasting crystal."
As he spoke, William found himself recalling the conversation. It had happened not long before he arrived in the Sylvaris Empire.
At the time, Anastasia had unexpectedly knocked on the door of his room. What followed had been one of the most awkward conversations William had experienced in recent memory.
His mother had somehow managed to smoothly steer the discussion toward Seraphine. Then she had asked a surprisingly large number of questions.
Far too many questions. Questions that no mother should have been capable of asking with such confidence.
Remembering that conversation still made him uncomfortable.
"I honestly have no idea what kind of magic my mother used," William admitted. "But somehow she managed to have a conversation with the Empress, and by the end of it, Selena was apparently willing to give me a chance."
Seraphine slowly looked toward her mother.
"Really?"
Selena released a long breath. Only now did she realize she had been unconsciously holding it. "Annasthsia is frighteningly talented when it comes to conversations."
There was genuine admiration in her voice.
"She convinced me to seriously consider the possibility of you and William having a future together."
Of course, Anastasia’s influence was only one part of the story. Selena did not mention the other reasons.
There were several things she had quietly learned over time that had greatly improved her opinion of William.
One of the most important factors was how he had looked after Seraphine during her time inside the slave house. The fact that he had cared for her during one of the darkest periods of her life earned him more approval and favor from Selena than almost anything else.
Naturally, Selena would never admit that she knew about this because she had secretly read Seraphine’s personal journal.
That information was destined to remain buried there forever.
If Seraphine ever discovered that her mother regularly read through her journal entries, it would only end in a catastrophe.
Selena firmly believed that a responsible parent should know everything about their child. Privacy was merely a formality.
At least, that was how she viewed the matter.
"Wow, Mom!" Seraphine looked genuinely surprised.
"I never expected you to be this accepting about my relationship with William." Selena immediately straightened her posture.
"Of course I am." She spread her hands dramatically.
"Who do you think I am?"
Her expression became full of righteous confidence. "I am certainly not some overbearing mother who smothers her child and refuses to respect her independent life choices."
After making that declaration, she casually lifted her wine glass and took a sip while looking away from both of them.
The timing was almost suspicious.
Inside William’s mind, Orion spoke immediately.
[She lied.]
William pressed his lips together. "Definitely."
He had no intention of saying that aloud. Instead, he quietly listened while Selena continued maintaining her image.
A few moments later, Selena looked toward Seraphine again. "That being said, you still hurt my feelings."
Seraphine looked confused. "Huh?"
"I never expected my own daughter to be completely okay with the idea of her mother being under someone else’s control."
Seraphine immediately shook her head. "Mom, that’s not what I meant; I only meant that if William had somehow controlled you, it would probably be because he was trying to protect me from your temper."
Selena immediately pointed a finger at her.
"See?"
She turned toward William.
"Do you hear that?"
Then she looked back at Seraphine.
"You say things like that, and now you’re making me wonder whether William really is controlling you." At that point, William finally decided he had heard enough.
"For heaven’s sake." He rubbed his forehead.
"Miss Selena, let’s assume for a moment that I really was controlling Seraphine."
"If I were actually using mind control on her, why would I spend all this time waiting patiently hundreds of thousands of miles away from her?"
He gestured toward Seraphine.
"I would have simply married her immediately and taken her to my home."
Seraphine’s face turned slightly red. William continued speaking.
"Most importantly, I wouldn’t voluntarily agree to participate in a marriage trial designed exclusively for elves."
Selena remained silent. William spread his hands.
"I think both of you need to trust me a little more." His expression had become completely serious.
"Aww." Seraphine immediately smiled.
"Honey, I trust you."
"Well, I don’t." Selena’s response arrived without delay. Her tone carried enough amusement to reveal that she was only partially serious.
William sighed. Then Selena narrowed her eyes.
"Actually, there is something I’ve been wanting to ask."
William raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
Selena leaned back against the sofa. "Why did you fight me?"
The question caught both William and Seraphine off guard.
Selena continued.
"When we fought in my study, you already knew something was wrong with me."
Her gaze remained fixed on him.
"If you knew I was being manipulated, then why did you continue fighting me?"
A hint of irritation appeared in her voice.
"Do you have any idea how much of my beautiful castle was destroyed because of that fight?"
William looked at her and nodded silently.
"When we entered your study, I immediately sensed that something was wrong."
His expression became serious. "I could tell that someone was influencing you."
Selena listened carefully.
"The problem was that I didn’t know who was responsible." His eyes narrowed slightly. "So I allowed things to continue."
"I let you go berserk."
William answered honestly.
"I wanted to observe the situation, identify the mastermind’s intentions, and hopefully lure them into exposing themselves."
Selena raised her brows and looked at him with a smile. "What if Logan hadn’t appeared?" she asked.
William sipped the wine from his glass and casually answered, "Well, I was going to kill Arwen anyway, so Logan would have been an enemy anyway."
Selena raised her brows. "Was there bad blood between you two?"