Elysium: Desired by the Cold-hearted Princess [GL]-Chapter 301: A warning

Seraphina’s POV

To say that I was relieved right now would be a complete understatement.

I was ecstatic, not because anything mind-blowing had happened, but because the universe had decided to throw me a lifeline, and that lifeline came in the form of something every student at Elysium Girls High had been praying for.

A full school shutdown.

Yep. Every class, every lecture, and every test, including the midterm exams I’d been dreading with every cell in my body.

All because Electra, in all her royal, flaming glory, had gone missing for a few days after we smuggled her out of the infirmary like a gang of badly trained spies.

I mean, we hadn’t exactly planned for the school to descend into full-on lockdown mode, but I just found out that my midterms had been postponed while I was unconscious, and then and there, I had nearly cried from pure joy.

Who knew being a criminal could come with academic perks?

I sprawled across my bed, hugging a pillow to my chest while staring up at the ceiling like it owed me something. My room was unusually quiet for a room that normally buzzed with overachievers and chaos.

For once, the silence felt good and comforting, like a moment of peace before everything went nuts again, which, let’s be real, was only a matter of time in this place.

I should’ve been worried. I should’ve been thinking about how to catch up on lectures or start studying now that the exams were back on for later this week, but instead, I was just grateful that the last round had been cancelled entirely.

If they hadn’t been... well, I had no idea how I would’ve explained my absence.

Because what was I going to say? "Sorry, Professor Eldara, I missed your science paper because I was busy being unconscious after entering a celestial realm and accepting a divine soul-bond with Electra Vale, the half-human, half-phoenix crown princess of Elmeria. Oh, and I also carried her nearly burning body out of the infirmary with my bare hands."

Yeah. That wouldn’t exactly earn me a make-up test.

They’d lock me up in the palace dungeons, or worse, expel me and send me back to Aldoria. The thought alone made me sit up a little straighter.

Aldoria.

Ugh.

It hit me suddenly, like a slap I should’ve seen coming, that I hadn’t spoken to Darius in... what, two weeks? Three? I couldn’t even remember the last time we texted.

To everyone back in Aldoria, I was still "Lady Seraphina Hook, fiancée of His Highness Prince Darius of Aldoria."

The sweet and innocent daughter of the late General Hook, who had somehow snagged the most eligible bachelor in the entire kingdom.

I snorted just thinking about it before making a mental note to text Darius later. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t sitting by the window with a rose in hand, waiting for my message or anything, but I still owed him some kind of update. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

At least a "Hey, not dead!" sort of thing.

I stayed in bed a little longer than I should have. My body still ached a little—nothing serious, just that kind of tired you feel after your soul’s been through the emotional equivalent of a blender—but after about fifteen more minutes of lying there and counting the cracks in the ceiling, I finally gave up.

"I need air," I muttered to no one in particular.

Throwing on a hoodie over my tank top and slipping into my comfiest shoes, I figured a short walk would do the trick. Nothing major, just a stroll down the hallway, maybe head to the courtyard or the school gardens if no one annoying was out there.

The second I reached for the doorknob, it swung open, and I jumped back instinctively.

Ashleigh stood there with her arms crossed, a thick book in one hand and her usual sour expression in place. Her eyes narrowed the second they landed on me, like just seeing my face was offensive to her entire bloodline.

I stared at her for a beat.

"Hi to you too," I said under my breath, already reaching for the doorknob again, fully intending to ghost past her before she could suck the joy out of the rest of my morning.

But then—

"Seraphina," she called out sharply.

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it had this strange tone, like... not her usual mean-girl sass. It was lower and more serious.

I paused and turned around slowly, my hand still gripping the edge of the door. "What?"

"If this is you trying to start something, don’t," I added quickly. "I’m not in the mood, Ashleigh. So please find someone else to throw shade at today."

Ashleigh didn’t say anything right away. She just looked at me. Really looked at me, and although her usual scowl was there, there was something behind it, something off. Her eyes were more serious than normal, like she was reading something on my face that I couldn’t see myself.

Then she spoke again.

"Just be careful."

That made me blink.

"What?" I asked, eyebrows drawing together. "Be careful of what?"

Ashleigh still didn’t move. She shifted her weight slightly, hugging the book to her chest now, but didn’t soften her tone.

"It’s been a while since someone died," she said plainly. "You’ve been here long enough to hear the rumors. You know that every year... a girl dies in Elysium. It could be suicide, murder disguised as suicide, or murder covered up by the school as suicide. Either way, someone always ends up dead. Sometimes, more than one person. It’s the Elysium curse."

I felt a chill creep up my spine.

Yeah. I’d heard that, everyone had. It was one of those things you laughed off because you had to, and because if you didn’t, you might actually lose sleep.

Still, I swallowed hard and tried to keep my expression flat.

"And?" I asked. "What does that have to do with me?"

Ashleigh tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowing again. "Just be careful, Seraphina. That’s all I’m telling you."

And then, without waiting for a reply, she turned around, threw the book on her bed, and walked straight into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

I stood there frozen for a few seconds. My brain tried to process the interaction, but it was like putting puzzle pieces together without the box image. None of it fit.

Ashleigh didn’t do warnings. She mocked, insulted, and maybe occasionally scoffed dramatically, but she didn’t say things like be careful in that low and serious voice that still echoed in my ears even now.

And the way she’d said it, it wasn’t sarcastic. It was real.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I pulled the hoodie tighter around myself. The hallway outside our room suddenly felt colder than usual and way too quiet.

I stepped out anyway, shutting the door gently behind me and glancing both ways. Nothing seemed out of place, no monsters lurking, and no strange ghosts trailing behind me. Just the regular quiet of mid-morning, but I couldn’t shake what she’d said.

’Every year, a girl dies in Elysium.’