Chapter 486:

“Take this tray to the East Wing,” the head chef barked, shoving a heavy silver platter of champagne into her hands.

Seraphina took it. She walked out of the swinging doors into the ballroom.

The noise hit her like a wall—music, laughter, the clinking of glass.

She kept her head down, weaving through the crowd, fighting the drug in her veins. Suddenly, she stopped.

A voice. A laugh she hadn’t heard in twenty years.

“I don’t care about the politics, Duke. I care about the truth.”

It was him.

Seraphina turned slowly. There, twenty feet away, standing near a pillar, was Julian. He looked older, tired, leaning on a cane. But it was him.

The tray in her hands trembled. The glasses clinked.

“Julian,” she tried to say, but her throat was dry, her voice a whisper lost in the music.

She took a step forward.

Just then, a large woman in a ballgown stepped backward, bumping into Seraphina.

“Watch it!” the woman snapped.

The tray tipped. Seraphina tried to correct it, but her drugged limbs were too slow.

Crash.

The champagne flutes shattered on the marble floor. The sound cut through the music like a gunshot.

The room went silent.

Julian turned. He looked annoyed at the interruption. His eyes swept over the mess, over the cowering servant in the grey dress.

𝓣𝓻𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓭: ⲅ𝖺𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀⫽𝖼𝗈𝗺

He didn’t see her face clearly—she was looking down, picking up the glass shards with bleeding fingers.

“Clumsy oaf!” Zelda Ziegler appeared out of nowhere, her face a mask of fury. She grabbed Seraphina by the arm, digging her nails in. “Get up! Get out of here before you embarrass us further!”

Zelda dragged Seraphina away, pulling her toward the service exit.

Julian frowned. Something about the servant’s posture… the way her shoulders hunched… it sparked a déjà vu he couldn’t place.

“Wait,” Julian said, taking a step forward.

“Mr. Kensington!” A diplomat blocked his path. “So good to see you! We must discuss the trade tariffs.”

Julian tried to look around the man, but the doors had already swung shut.

“Sorry,” Julian muttered, distracted. “I thought I saw…”

He shook his head. You’re seeing ghosts, Julian, he told himself. Focus.

Aurora saw the commotion from the balcony. She saw Zelda dragging the servant away with unnecessary force.

She didn’t see the servant’s face, but she saw Zelda’s cruelty.

“That’s her,” Aurora said to Elias. “Zelda Ziegler.”

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