The house was never silent, but for once, Serene stopped hearing the noise.
She still woke up in the grand bed with its cold silk sheets. She still ate under the chandelier with people who didn't know how to whisper. She still passed the same mirrors that refused to show her the girl she used to be.
But something was lighter now.
It wasn't happiness — no, that was too far away.
It was distance.
---
Gloria was always smiling. Always touching Roman's shoulder. Always reminding Serene of what had been stolen from someone else, not her.
"Roman always liked women who obeyed," she said once over lunch, slicing through a peach like it had wronged her. "But I suppose we all slip now and then. Don't we, darling?"
Roman nodded without looking up.
Serene looked out the window, her mind already far from the table.
---
She started asking for more time outside.
And they gave it.
She sat under the tree near the eastern wall. Read books from the library like they weren't stained with blood. She traced petals. Drew in her journal. Stared at clouds.
The servants were no longer watching her closely.
Roman didn't call her to his room.
And Lelo… Lelo stayed quiet.
---
But sometimes, at night, Serene would hear footsteps outside her door.
Just a pause.
Then gone.
---
"You're glowing," one of the maids whispered as she braided Serene's hair. "It's like you've started to live again."
Serene smiled faintly. "Maybe I never stopped."
She didn't tell anyone about the bag she was slowly packing beneath her bed — a bag she'd never use, but needed to believe in.
---
Roman stood in the hallway that night, outside her door again.
He didn't knock.
Didn't enter.
He just waited.
His fingers brushed the wood once, as if testing it for warmth.
Then he walked away.
---
Lelo watched from the shadows across the hall, her eyes wide open and dry. She hadn't blinked for nearly a minute.
She whispered softly to no one:
> "She's smiling too much."
---