Chapter 11 — The Girl Feli Cannot Ignore
988 Words
The silver feather remained on the table long after sunrise.
No one touched it.
Not even Feli.
It was too strange.
Too deliberate.
Someone had entered the Wen estate without leaving a single footprint in the rain.
Someone who carried the same silver mark that had answered Selerin's.
And now Feli could not stop watching Selerin.
Not because he distrusted her.
Because he was beginning to understand how much danger surrounded her.
By breakfast, the Wen household had noticed the tension.
Wen Ziyuan lowered his chopsticks.
"Why does everyone look like someone died?"
Lianhua glanced toward Selerin.
"No one died."
"Yet," Ziyuan muttered.
Their mother immediately gave him a warning look.
"Ziyuan."
"What? I'm only saying—"
"Eat."
He obediently lowered his head.
Selerin almost smiled.
For a few seconds, everything felt normal.
The familiar table.
The warm food.
Lianhua teasing Ziyuan.
Their father reading the morning reports.
The kind of ordinary life Selerin had known for years.
But then she noticed Feli standing near the doorway.
He wasn't eating.
He wasn't speaking.
He was watching her.
Again.
Selerin finally met his eyes.
"Why are you staring at me?"
Feli blinked.
"I wasn't."
"You were."
"I was thinking."
"About me?"
A pause.
"Unfortunately."
Ziyuan nearly choked on his tea.
Lianhua stared between them.
Their father slowly lowered his newspaper.
Feli looked irritated.
Selerin raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing," Lianhua said quickly, hiding a smile.
Feli turned away.
"I have things to do."
He walked out.
Selerin watched him leave.
For some reason, her heart felt strangely unsettled.
Later that morning, Selerin found Feli in the training yard.
He was practicing alone.
His sword moved quickly through the air.
Precise.
Controlled.
But something was different.
His movements were harsher than usual.
Selerin stood at the edge of the courtyard.
"You're angry."
The sword stopped.
Feli looked at her.
"I'm not."
"You are."
"No."
"Then you're afraid."
His expression changed.
Just slightly.
Selerin stepped closer.
"Because of me?"
Feli lowered his sword.
"Because of what follows you."
She looked down.
"The Hollowing."
He didn't answer.
Selerin's fingers curled.
"Tell me what it is."
"I can't."
"You keep saying that."
"Because you're not ready."
"How do you know?"
"Because yesterday you nearly collapsed from touching a piece of parchment."
"I survived."
"That isn't the point."
Feli stepped toward her.
His voice softened.
"The point is that whatever is awakening inside you is stronger than you understand."
Selerin looked into his eyes.
"And you?"
"What about me?"
"Why do you care so much?"
Feli went silent.
For the first time, he seemed to have no answer.
Selerin waited.
Finally, he said quietly:
"Because I promised someone I'd protect your bloodline."
"My bloodline?"
He looked away.
"Not just your bloodline."
She frowned.
"Then what?"
Feli didn't answer.
Instead, he turned toward the practice yard.
"We're leaving."
"Where?"
"The old western shrine."
Selerin's expression tightened.
"Why?"
"Because the silver feather wasn't a threat."
He looked back at her.
"It was a message."
The western shrine stood beyond the capital walls.
Abandoned for decades.
Its stone gates were covered in vines, and the statues lining the path had lost their faces to time.
Selerin followed Feli inside.
The moment she crossed the threshold—
her mark burned.
She stopped.
"Feli."
He turned.
"What?"
"My chest."
Golden light leaked through her clothing.
Feli immediately stepped closer.
Then—
a silver light appeared on the opposite wall.
Selerin stared.
Two symbols slowly emerged from the stone.
The same two crowns.
But this time, beneath them was another inscription.
Feli brushed the dust away.
He read it aloud.
"When one crown awakens..."
The silver symbol brightened.
"the other shall answer."
Selerin's breath caught.
"That's what happened."
Feli nodded.
"The person from last night."
"The silver mark."
"Yes."
"Who is she?"
"I don't know."
Selerin looked at him.
"You said 'she.'"
Feli froze.
"You know who it is."
"No."
"You assumed it was a woman."
"I—"
Selerin stepped closer.
"You've seen that mark before."
Feli's silence answered for him.
"Where?"
He closed his eyes briefly.
"Years ago."
"How many?"
"Seventeen."
Selerin felt cold.
"Seventeen years ago?"
Feli nodded.
"The night the Royal Yi Family disappeared."
Her heart began pounding.
"You were there?"
"I was a child."
"What happened?"
Feli looked at the ancient crowns.
"I saw fire."
His voice became distant.
"I saw soldiers."
"I saw a palace burning."
"And I saw someone carrying a baby away."
Selerin stopped breathing.
"A baby?"
Feli looked at her.
"Yes."
"Did you see the baby's face?"
"No."
"Then how do you know..."
Feli's expression changed.
"Because the person carrying her told me something."
"What?"
He hesitated.
Then whispered:
"Protect her until the crowns remember."
Selerin stared at him.
The words from the parchment.
The vision.
The two crowns.
The girl.
Everything seemed to be pulling toward the same impossible truth.
"Who told you that?"
Feli didn't answer.
Suddenly—
CRACK.
The shrine shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Selerin grabbed the stone wall.
A deep sound echoed from beneath the floor.
Not an earthquake.
A heartbeat.
Thump.
Selerin's mark flashed.
Thump.
The silver symbol answered.
Thump.
Something beneath the shrine awakened.
Feli drew his sword.
"Selerin."
She looked at him.
"What?"
"Stay behind me."
But before she could move, a voice whispered through the shrine.
A voice neither of them recognized.
"She has awakened."
Selerin froze.
Then another voice answered from somewhere beneath the stone.
"And the other crown is searching."
Feli's face went pale.
The floor beneath Selerin's feet began to crack.
Golden light erupted through the gaps.
Selerin looked down.
Then toward Feli.
And for the first time, he wasn't looking at her like a soldier protecting a stranger.
He was looking at her like someone he had been searching for his entire life.
"Selerin..."
His voice trembled.
"I think I've been waiting for you."
The stone floor shattered.
And something beneath the shrine opened its eyes.
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