novelraw Chapter 427: Huh?
Chapter 427: Huh?
Seraphina’s POV
I arrived at the airport in Varynthia, looking around the place, and taking in how busy it was, a lot busier than I might have expected since I thought Varynthia was a small kingdom and would be a lot less active than a kingdom like Elmeria.
The moment I stepped out into the main terminal, I felt like I had walked into a completely different world, one that didn’t slow down for anyone and didn’t care who you were or where you had come from. People moved past me in every direction, dragging suitcases, talking loudly, laughing, arguing, and rushing like they were all chasing something important that couldn’t wait. The air itself felt alive, filled with noise and movement, and for a second, I just stood there, holding onto my bag a little tighter as I tried to take it all in.
This was Varynthia.
I had imagined what it would feel like to finally step foot here, but nothing in my mind had prepared me for how real it would feel. There was something heavy in my chest, something that made it hard to fully focus on everything around me, because I knew why I was here. It wasn’t for sightseeing, and it wasn’t for anything pleasant. I had come here with a purpose, one that had been sitting on my shoulders ever since everything happened at Elysium.
Thanks to Darius and his help, I already had someone waiting for me at the airport, along with a hotel arranged for my stay. I didn’t know how long I would actually need to be here, but I had told myself it wouldn’t be more than a few days. Just enough time to do what I came here to do and then leave. That was the plan, and it was a simple plan, or at least, that was what I told myself.
I adjusted the strap of my bag and began walking slowly through the crowd, my eyes scanning the area carefully as I searched for the person who was supposed to meet me. There were so many people holding signs with different names on them that it took me longer than I expected, but eventually, I saw it. My name was written clearly on a whiteboard and held up by a man standing near the exit.
For a moment, I hesitated, feeling strangely nervous when it dawned on me that I was really in a completely foreign land all by myself. I managed to quickly snap out of it, and after getting myself together, I walked toward him.
"Hi," I said when I got close enough, my voice coming out quieter than I expected. "I’m Seraphina Hook."
The man immediately straightened, lowering the sign and bowing his head slightly in respect, which caught me off guard more than anything else. "Lady Seraphina," he said politely. "Welcome to Varynthia." His voice was calm and practiced, like he had done this many times before. "My name is Elias, and I will be your driver during your stay. I have been instructed to take you wherever you wish to go."
I blinked at him for a second, not fully used to being addressed like that, but I nodded anyway. "Thank you," I said, trying to keep my tone normal.
He gave a small nod in return before reaching for my bags without waiting for me to hand them over, and before I could even protest, he had already taken them from me. "This way, please," he said, gesturing toward the exit.
I followed him quietly, my steps slower now as I walked behind him, my mind still trying to catch up with everything. The airport doors slid open as we approached, and the outside air hit me immediately, cooler than I expected, carrying a faint scent I couldn’t quite place. The city stretched out beyond the parking area, tall buildings and distant structures rising into view, and for a moment, I found myself staring again.
This place was nothing like Elmeria, that much was obvious. I could already tell that the people of this kingdom were deeply cultural, down to their language and their accent, which surprised me since I never really got any accent off Yuna or Yura.
Elias led me to a black car parked just a short distance away, opening the back door for me before placing my bags in the trunk. I got in without saying anything, settling into the seat as he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.
The car started smoothly, and within seconds, we were already moving, leaving the airport behind.
For a few minutes, neither of us spoke. I watched the city through the window, taking in the unfamiliar sights, the roads, the buildings, and the people. Everything felt new, but at the same time, there was a strange tension sitting in my chest that wouldn’t go away, like something was waiting to happen.
I couldn’t stay quiet for long.
"Do you know where I can find the Ashwyn family?" I asked finally, my voice breaking the silence. I kept my eyes on the road ahead, but I could see his reflection in the mirror. "I came here to find them... to pay my respects."
There was a pause, not a long one, but long enough for me to notice.
Elias’s eyes flickered slightly in the rearview mirror before settling back on the road. "I’m sorry, my lady," he said slowly, his tone careful. "What exactly are you referring to?"
I frowned slightly, my brows pulling together as I looked at his reflection more directly now. For a second, I wondered if he just didn’t know who they were, even though that didn’t make sense to me at all.
"Wait," I said, leaning forward just a little. "You don’t know the Ashwyn family?"
That would have been strange.
From what Yuna had told me a long time ago, her family wasn’t just well known, they were important. They were the family where the nagas were born, and she had always spoken about them with a certain pride, like they were something more than ordinary. I still remembered the way she used to talk about it, how she and Yura were treated back home, like they were special, like they were almost... untouchable.
So for him not to know them? That didn’t make sense.
Elias let out a small breath, shaking his head slightly. "Of course I know the Ashwyn family," he said. "Everyone in Varynthia knows them."
That only made my confusion deepen. "Then what do you mean?" I asked, my voice tightening slightly. "Why are you acting like you don’t understand what I’m saying?"
He glanced at me briefly through the mirror again before answering. "What I don’t understand," he said carefully, "is why you said you came here to pay your respects to the deceased."
My heart dropped. "What?"
"As far as I am aware," he continued, his tone steady but uncertain now, "there has been no recent death in the Ashwyn family."
The words didn’t make sense. They didn’t fit into anything I knew, anything I had come here believing. For a second, I just stared at the back of his seat, my mind going completely blank as I tried to process what he had just said.
No death? That wasn’t possible.
I had come here because of Yuna, because of what happened to her, and because of what I thought I knew.
"I... I don’t understand," I said slowly, my voice barely above a whisper now. "There has to be. Yuna..."
My words trailed off before I could finish them. My chest felt tight again, tighter than before, like something was closing in on me from the inside. As much as I hated the thought, I was pretty sure that Yuna had died.
That was what we were told, and that was what everyone believed. The school had written it off as a suicide, and I had come all the way here because I knew for a fact that she had been killed, that Iris had killed her in my place, and that she had fallen from that rooftop because of something far worse than what anyone was willing to admit, and now...
Now I was sitting in a car, being told that no one in her family had died.
"That can’t be right," I said, shaking my head slightly, more to myself than to him. "There has to be some mistake."
Elias didn’t respond immediately. The car continued moving forward, the road stretching ahead of us, but everything around me suddenly felt distant, like I wasn’t fully there anymore. My thoughts were running too fast, trying to piece everything together, trying to make sense of something that didn’t make sense at all.
If no one in the Ashwyn family had died... Then what had happened to Yuna?
My fingers curled slightly against my lap as I stared out the window again, but this time, I wasn’t really seeing anything. I had come here thinking I knew the truth, but now, I wasn’t sure I knew anything at all.