[BL]Reborn as the Empire's Most Desired Omega
Chapter 111: Serathine’s Law (1)

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Serathine’s Law (1)

The salon was unusually still that morning. Sunlight filtered through sheer ivory curtains, catching the dust motes in a lazy, golden drift. Duchess Serathine D’Argente sat with a steaming cup of bergamot tea untouched in her hand, her expression unreadable as she reread the last page of the report David had brought her.

The quiet stretched, but David knew better than to interrupt her thinking. He stood with that perfect posture only decades of service could instill, his silver-trimmed uniform immaculate, one gloved hand resting lightly on the back of her chair.

"The non-disclosure clauses are aggressive," she murmured at last, placing the page down. "Standard, yes. But layered. Structured to bury someone."

David inclined his head. "Not unusual for those under Misty Kilmer’s payroll, Your Grace."

Serathine gave a sharp, soft laugh that didn’t reach her eyes. "Misty doesn’t have a payroll. She has a leash. And these men signed it with both hands."

Her fingers drummed lightly on the carved armrest. "It’s not just the scope of the NDAs. It’s how they were retroactively edited—post-exit—twice. And both edits coincide with Lucas’s medical redactions."

"There’s a pattern," David agreed. "But no names in the digital trail. Whoever did it knew how to scrub things clean."

Before Serathine could respond, her personal phone buzzed—an encrypted line only a handful of people knew. The screen lit up with a name that drew a faint flicker across her otherwise sculpted face.

Evrin Dax.

She swiped to answer.

"Auntyyy..."

"I’m not your aunt," she replied flatly.

"You could have been," Dax said, his tone entirely too amused for the hour. "But you play favorites. Trevor’s already here with your heir on their honeymoon. Quite the catch, that one."

"If you do something reckless—"

"I’m not doing anything," he cut in smoothly. "You know better than anyone that Trevor is more of a brother to me than my entire cursed bloodline. Now, did either of them tell you what we found out the other day?" NovelFire

"Yes. I’m still trying to bypass the clergy for the sealed records, but they’ve grown possessive. Which means they’re hiding something."

"Of course they are. The clergy are just nobles in robes." There was a rustle of movement on his end. "Lucas remembered a name. Jason Luna. My men looked into it. He was on your rotation during the Gala."

Serathine went still. Then, very softly, she muttered, "Damn it."

"So you didn’t know?"

"No, we had third-party security for the outside of the manor," Serathine said tightly. "Time was limited, and none of our trained men could be mobilized on such short notice. Two weeks wasn’t enough to vet replacements, so we relied on a vetted rotation from the Sahan side."

"Vetted," Dax repeated dryly. "With a backdoor the size of a cathedral."

She didn’t respond. She didn’t need to. The silence crackled.

"If Jason Luna was part of that contingent, then someone slipped him in intentionally," Serathine said at last, her voice taut. "And if Christian used him to get past our wards, then he may be more than just the first buyer."

Dax’s tone darkened. "Lucas froze when he saw Jason. That quiet kind of stillness that means something snapped under the surface. No panic. Just... detachment. Like he was remembering how to disappear."

Serathine exhaled sharply through her nose. "It’s better than with Christian," she admitted. "He had a total fallout after that encounter—shut down completely. But we do need to find out if Jason has anything to do with Agatha."

"I’m already pulling threads," Dax said. "He’s not just a pretty face with a fake badge. His transfer records were cleaned twice. Once through Saha’s internal security, and once from somewhere higher. Possibly imperial-level access."

"Trevor will be furious," Serathine murmured. "If he isn’t already."

"He’s handling it," Dax said, with a note of respect. "But that boy’s restraint is slipping. Jason is walking around like he belongs here. Like he remembers what Lucas’s skin felt like."

"God fucking damn it," Serathine swore, sharp and low.

There was a pause—Dax didn’t laugh. Not this time.

"Now that’s something new," he said instead, quieter. "You swearing. We must be truly blessed."

She didn’t bother responding. Her hand had curled into a fist on the armrest, nails pressing into the carved wood.

"We’ll handle matters from Saha until Trevor returns," Dax continued, more clipped now. "But we need to know what Misty and her people actually knew. From Trevor’s report, Lucian already spoke with Ophelia."

Serathine’s eyes snapped to David, who was already opening a secondary file on his tablet.

"Find her," she said. "We might need her."

"Already preparing the request," David confirmed.

"She may not know what she’s part of," Serathine murmured. "Or she may know too much. Either way, if Lucian approached her, it means he suspects she wasn’t just a bystander in that house."

"Do you trust him?" Dax asked, the line fuzzing slightly.

"I trust that he doesn’t want to see Lucas broken again," Serathine said. "And that makes him useful. For now."

"Then use her while you can," Dax said. "She’s Misty’s daughter."

"And her favorite," Serathine replied coldly. "She and Misty used Lucas like a bargaining chip for their own gain. Ophelia didn’t just stand by—she benefited."

David’s fingers paused mid-gesture.

"She’s an omega too," Serathine continued, her voice flatter now. "But she rarely got attention. Not because she was young, as she tells herself—but because Lucas was more valuable. She thinks it was favoritism. That the world revolved around him while she was left in the shadow." Correct content is on NovelFire

Dax let out a slow exhale. "So she resents him."

"Of course she does. She was raised to. Misty made sure of it—fed her just enough praise to keep her loyal, but not enough truth to let her question the system she was groomed to serve."

"She’s sixteen," Dax said, not as a protest, just noting the age.

"She’s sixteen and already fluent in envy. I’ve seen it before. She can still be steered, bent into something sharp. But if she chooses wrong—"

"Then she becomes her mother’s daughter," he finished.

Serathine gave a thin smile. "Exactly."

She turned her gaze to the window, where sunlight now glinted across the stone courtyard.

"Lucas doesn’t hate her," she said after a pause. "That’s the worst part. He still sees her as a child. As someone who might’ve been a victim too. But victims don’t watch you fall. They don’t whisper in doors they leave open."

David finally spoke. "Do you think she’ll talk?"

"She will," Serathine said. "Whether by guilt or pressure, I’ll crack her spine open one way or another. But what I need to know—"

She turned, gaze sharp as a blade.

"—is whether she was just trained to watch or trained to report."