The moment Adrian's name left Lucian's mouth, the atmosphere in the room changed completely.
Selina stood frozen.
Her fingers slowly tightened around the photograph until the edges bent slightly beneath her grip.
Adrian.
Even hearing his name now felt different.
Not love.
Not heartbreak.
Just something cold and bitter lingering beneath old wounds.
Lucian's silver eyes remained fixed on her carefully, as if measuring how much she could endure tonight before everything shattered completely.
Selina finally looked away first.
"How?" she asked quietly.
Lucian didn't answer immediately.
The silence made her chest tighten again.
"How was Adrian connected to any of this?" she repeated.
Lucian walked toward the window slowly before speaking.
"In your previous life," he said quietly, "Adrian's family worked under one of the corporations connected to the people searching for you."
Selina frowned immediately.
"What people?"
Lucian's jaw tightened faintly.
"The same network responsible for the destruction of the Blackthorn family."
The room grew still.
Selina stared at him.
A network.
Not one person.
Not one enemy.
Something larger.
Something organized.
Her thoughts immediately returned to the rooftop.
Elara.
Adrian.
The way they looked at her without guilt while she stood near the edge.
As if her death solved something.
Not emotional betrayal.
Removal.
The realization sent a chill through her.
Selina crossed her arms slowly.
"You're saying Adrian approached me intentionally?"
Lucian's expression darkened.
"At first, no."
That surprised her slightly.
Lucian continued quietly.
"He genuinely fell for you in the beginning."
Selina let out a soft laugh under her breath.
"That might actually make this worse."
Silence.
Lucian didn't disagree.
She looked down briefly, her mind replaying old memories differently now.
Adrian smiling at her during university.
Adrian bringing her coffee late at night when she overworked herself.
Adrian defending her occasionally when the Vale family ignored her.
Had any of that been real?
Or had she imagined sincerity where none existed?
Lucian spoke again.
"They discovered who you were after your engagement."
Selina looked up sharply.
"What?"
Lucian turned toward her fully.
"Someone inside the Vale family leaked information connected to your childhood records."
The room suddenly felt colder.
Selina's chest tightened painfully.
The Vale family.
Again.
Always them.
"Who?" she asked quietly.
Lucian's silence answered her before words did.
Selina's expression slowly hardened.
"…Elara."
Lucian did not confirm it immediately.
But he didn't deny it either.
That was enough.
Selina looked away slowly.
For years, she had convinced herself Elara simply disliked her.
Competed with her.
Envied her.
But this—
this was different.
This was deliberate destruction.
Lucian's voice lowered slightly.
"Elara wanted attention," he said quietly. "But the people around her wanted access."
Selina swallowed faintly.
"And Adrian?"
Lucian's eyes darkened.
"He became useful."
The words landed heavily.
Selina closed her eyes briefly.
Not because she wanted to cry.
Because she suddenly understood the timeline of her destruction too clearly.
The emotional distance.
Adrian slowly pulling away.
Elara becoming colder.
The increasing manipulation.
The rooftop.
It wasn't random betrayal born from jealousy.
It was planned.
Carefully.
Patiently.
Her existence had become a problem the moment people learned who she really was.
Selina opened her eyes again.
"So Adrian betrayed me because of my identity."
Lucian's answer came immediately.
"No."
Selina frowned slightly.
Lucian stepped closer slowly.
"He betrayed you because he was weak."
Silence.
That answer felt strangely honest.
Not protective.
Not comforting.
Just truth.
Lucian continued.
"They gave him influence. Position. Power."
A pause.
"And eventually he convinced himself sacrificing you was justified."
Selina laughed softly again.
But this time it sounded emptier.
"People always justify cruelty when they benefit from it."
Lucian's expression shifted faintly at her words.
Because she sounded older now.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Like someone who had already learned painful truths too early.
Selina turned toward the desk again and placed the photograph down carefully.
Then she looked at Lucian directly.
"You said you trusted Adrian."
Lucian's jaw tightened immediately.
"Yes."
"Why?"
A long silence followed.
Finally—
"Because you trusted him."
That answer hit unexpectedly hard.
Selina stared at him.
Lucian looked away briefly before continuing.
"In every previous outcome, your attachment to Adrian remained constant."
His voice remained calm, but something colder existed beneath it now.
"I believed protecting your happiness mattered more than interfering."
Selina's chest tightened faintly.
"And because of that…"
Lucian met her eyes again.
"He gained access to you."
The room fell silent.
Selina suddenly remembered something Adrian once said during their engagement.
"You trust too easily, Selina."
At the time, she thought it was affection.
Now it sounded like observation.
Her stomach twisted slightly.
Lucian continued quietly.
"I monitored external threats carefully. Business rivals. Internal family movement. Surveillance patterns."
A pause.
"But I underestimated emotional manipulation."
Selina looked at him carefully.
For the first time tonight, Lucian looked genuinely exhausted.
Not physically.
Mentally.
Like someone carrying years of regret beneath perfect composure.
"And the rooftop?" she asked softly.
Lucian's expression darkened instantly.
The temperature in the room seemed to shift with it.
"That night wasn't supposed to happen yet."
Selina frowned.
"What do you mean 'yet'?"
Lucian's gaze remained fixed on hers.
"In previous outcomes, they waited longer before moving against you."
Selina's pulse slowed painfully.
Previous outcomes.
Again.
The repetition in his wording no longer felt metaphorical.
It felt literal.
"How many times?" she asked quietly.
Lucian didn't answer.
Selina stepped closer.
"How many times did this happen?"
Silence.
Then finally—
"Seven."
The number hit her harder than expected.
Selina stared at him.
Seven.
Seven versions.
Seven lives.
Seven endings.
Her throat tightened painfully.
"And I died every time?"
Lucian's silence lasted too long.
That alone answered her.
Selina looked away immediately.
A strange numbness spread through her chest now.
Not sadness.
Not shock.
Something emptier.
Because suddenly her rebirth no longer felt miraculous.
It felt overdue.
Lucian's voice softened slightly.
"This is the first outcome where you changed before they broke you completely."
Selina closed her eyes briefly.
The words echoed through her mind slowly.
Before they broke you completely.
In her previous life, she had spent years shrinking herself for people who never intended to let her survive.
And somehow—
this time—
she stopped before reaching that point.
Lucian stepped closer again.
Not touching her.
Just near enough that his presence grounded the chaos in her thoughts slightly.
"That is why everything feels unstable now," he said quietly.
Selina opened her eyes slowly.
"Because I changed the pattern."
"Yes."
A pause.
Then lower—
"And because they've started noticing the change too."
Silence filled the room once more.
But this time—
Selina finally understood why the danger around her kept growing.
It wasn't because she remembered the past.
It was because, for the first time—
she was no longer following the future they expected.