Third-person POV

Electra closed her father’s coffin after staring at the ashes for a while longer, her movements slow, as if she was forcing herself to accept something she didn’t fully understand. The lid came down with a final sound that echoed more in her chest than in the room, and for a brief moment, she kept her hand resting on it, her fingers pressing lightly against the surface.

There was no emotion on her face, nothing visible that could tell anyone what she was feeling, but the silence around her carried an indescribable intensity, and it was clear that something inside her had shifted, even if she couldn’t name it. After a second, she let her hand fall to her side and turned away, her attention moving to the figure sitting a few feet away from her.

The servant girl sat there, looking completely out of place, her eyes wide as she glanced around the room like she was trying to piece together where she was and what was happening. There was confusion written all over her face, mixed with a kind of fear that didn’t seem to have a clear source yet. She looked young, far younger than Electra had expected now that her eyes were open, and there was something fragile about the way she held herself, like she didn’t belong in the middle of something this serious.

Electra watched her for a moment before walking closer, and when she reached her, she slowly lowered herself into a squat so that she was at eye level with the girl.

"Hey," Electra said softly, her voice calmer than it had been earlier but still firm enough to hold the girl’s attention. "Look at me."

The girl hesitated for a second, her eyes flickering around the room again before finally settling on Electra’s face. She looked uncertain, like she wasn’t sure if she should trust what she was seeing, but she didn’t look away.

"Do you remember your name?" Electra asked, her tone gentle but direct, as if she was trying to guide the girl through something she didn’t understand herself.

The girl nodded slowly, her movement small and hesitant, like she wasn’t fully confident in her own answer. Electra held her gaze, waiting patiently before speaking again.

"What is it?" she asked.

There was another pause, and then the girl finally spoke, her voice quiet and slightly shaky. "Lina," she said.

Electra nodded once, acknowledging it, before asking her next question without wasting time. "Do you recognize me?"

Lina frowned slightly, her brows pulling together as she looked at Electra more carefully, like she was trying to find something familiar in her face. The confusion in her eyes deepened after a few seconds, and she shook her head slowly.

"No," she answered, her voice still uncertain. "I don’t."

Electra didn’t look surprised. If anything, she had expected that answer. There was something about the girl that made it obvious she hadn’t understood much even when she had been alive, and whatever awareness she had now didn’t seem any clearer. Electra studied her for a moment longer, taking in the way she looked around like she was still trying to catch up with reality, and then she asked the question that mattered more than anything else.

"Do you remember how you died?" Electra asked, her voice steady now, losing some of its softness. "Do you remember who killed you?"

For a split second, nothing happened.

Then something changed.

It was like the words had unlocked something inside the girl’s mind, something she hadn’t been fully aware of until that moment. Her eyes widened suddenly, her breathing becoming uneven as panic started to take over her expression, and she tried to move back like she was trying to escape something that wasn’t physically there.

"I... I..." she stammered, her voice breaking as she struggled to get the words out. "I begged her... I begged her not to..."

Her words came out faster now, overlapping, almost frantic as the memory seemed to hit her all at once. "I told her I didn’t want to die... I told her I wouldn’t say anything... I begged her, I begged her, but she didn’t listen... she didn’t listen..."

Her voice rose with each word, her panic growing stronger, and it was clear she was reliving the moment rather than just remembering it. Electra reacted quickly, reaching out to take her hand, her grip firm but not rough, grounding her before she could spiral further.

"Hey," Electra said, her voice a little harsher now, cutting through the girl’s panic. "Calm down, and look at me."

Lina’s breathing was still uneven, but her eyes slowly shifted back to Electra, her focus returning just enough for her to listen.

"You’re okay," Electra continued, her tone steady. "You’re not there anymore."

It took a few seconds, but the girl’s panic began to settle, her breathing slowing slightly even though the fear in her eyes didn’t fully disappear. Electra waited until she was a little more stable before asking again, this time more carefully.

"Who was it?" Electra asked. "Who did you beg?"

Lina’s eyes filled with fear again, but this time it wasn’t the same kind of panic. This time, it looked like she knew the answer, and she was afraid to say it.

"It was..." she started, her voice shaking.

Electra didn’t interrupt. She just watched her, waiting.

"It was Her Majesty," Lina blurted out suddenly, the words rushing out of her like she couldn’t hold them in anymore. "The queen... she... she killed me..."

The room seemed to shift in that moment.

Lina’s voice continued, her words tumbling over each other as she spoke, like she was desperate to get everything out now that she had started. "She told me... She told me to say I did it... she said I had to say I killed the king... or she would kill my family... all of them... she said she would make them suffer if I didn’t..."

Her voice cracked again, tears forming in her eyes as she shook her head. "I didn’t want to... I didn’t want to die..."

The silence that followed was heavy, but it didn’t last long because the moment those words settled, everything around them changed.

The momentary silence broke, and voices started rising from all directions, overlapping and loud, filled with shock, anger, and disbelief. Cameras shifted, turning toward one person, and the attention that had been scattered before suddenly focused entirely on Jella.

She was still standing there, exactly where she had been, but the difference was clear. Her face had gone even more pale, and for a brief second, she didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t react in any visible way, but her eyes told a different story. The calm she had been holding onto earlier was gone, replaced by something much harder to hide.

Fear.

She took a step back slowly, her composure cracking just enough for it to be noticed, and that was all it took for everything to spiral.

"How could you do something like this?" one of the reporters shouted, their voice cutting through the noise.

"Did you really kill the king?" Another voice demanded, louder than the first.

"Why would you murder your husband and lie about it?" someone else added.

"Why did you kill an innocent servant?" Another voice pushed forward.

"Did you force her to take the blame?"

"Did you really threaten her family?"

"Is this how you’ve been ruling the kingdom?"

The questions came from every direction, fast and relentless, each one louder than the last, piling on top of each other until it became impossible to separate one from the other. The cameras stayed fixed on her, capturing every reaction, every movement, every second of her unraveling composure.

Jella’s breathing grew uneven, her eyes darting around as if she were looking for a way out, but there was none. The space around her felt smaller, tighter, and no matter where she looked, there were faces, cameras, and voices, all pressing in on her at once.

"Answer us!"

"Is it true?"

"Did you kill him?"

The noise grew louder and louder until it became too much.

"SHUT UP!" Jella screamed suddenly, her voice breaking through the chaos in an uncontrolled burst of rage.

The room fell into a brief, stunned silence at the force of it, but the tension didn’t disappear. If anything, it only grew heavier, hanging in the air like something that was about to explode.