LightReader

Like A Camellia In Spring

Lessxiit
7
chs / week
The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 7 chs / week.
--
NOT RATINGS
564
Views
Synopsis
Serena, a young woman at the end of her high school years, returns home only to discover the tragic death of her adoptive grandmother. In the midst of grief and utter solitude, she finds a letter containing the elderly woman’s final wishes. Following the instructions, she moves from Rome to Aosta to attend a mysterious college isolated in the mountains. But what seems to be merely a place of study hides a dark secret. Amid bullying and threats, Serena begins to suspect the true nature of her classmates. When the truth finally reveals itself to her, there will be no escape. Ares, the future king of the werewolves, claims her as his mate against her will. In love with the beta of the Blackmoon pack, she trusts Elio to help her escape and return home. However, the escape will never lead her back to the human world. Fate has other plans: to use her desire to live peacefully among humans as a tool to break a curse cast by Hecate, the goddess who turned them into supernatural creatures. Trapped in a world ruled by ancient curses and deception, Serena must make a choice to survive: follow the rules of destiny or defy them. I'm Italian, and I'm trying to write this story in English. Please excuse any mistakes or errors in my writing.
Table of contents
VIEW MORE

Chapter 1 - Prologue

January 22, 2019

Anonymous

There's no need to wonder how we ended up here. Patience matters; this unfortunate girl is about to find out, and I must savor the moment.

She's speechless. Pale, petrified. Eyes wide, breath broken.

I can feel it: the rhythm of her little heart fading, stalling, then bursting into a frenzy of blood that surges violently through her slender frame, scarred by the cruelties she's endured.

At last, she's put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

It took her a long time to make sense of this long story: a journey through mazes of lies and hidden truths.

They say love blinds, and I couldn't agree more. Still, I went in hard too, with the cruelty of a winter that makes no promise of spring.

"No, this can't be!" she cries, clutching her long damp hair.

The snowflakes fall silently, adding dramatic flair to the final confrontation, like black camellia petals at the funeral of love.

Was the shock too much for her? It doesn't matter. He shows no mercy for her tears.

"Now we're balanced—the perfect halves of one another. Now I'm like you. And you… you're like me," growls my beloved son.

"If I catch you, you die. If I don't, I'll hunt you down—and the ending won't change. Try to save yourself. I'm giving you a head start of one hundred and ninety-nine seconds. One ninety-nine, like the days I waited patiently, yearning to kill you."

She understands he's not joking. She stares into his eyes, now the same color as hers: two pools of oil where despair reflects back at her.

"Maybe if I had another chance… maybe if I could go back to the beginning…" she whispers with a broken voice, but her words are lost in the icy wind whipping at her cheeks.

It wouldn't change anything. You can't escape me. Now run. I want to feel what you feel each time you think you might make it.

She's afraid. She knows she has to win, even though, at the end of every war, there are no winners—only ruins of dreams and hopes.

"One step at a time. Start again from here. Do it for you, do it for me, do it for those who no longer can."

Faint signals—echoes clinging to fragments of her consciousness—try to encourage her.

She steps back, wiping tears from her swollen, reddened face.

She's leaving behind everything she once swore to hate—everything that trapped her in an endless nightmare.

Yet this goodbye costs her dearly.

She only wanted to be free. But she is a butterfly, and we know they don't live long.

I know, I shouldn't. Still, this fragile human has stirred something in my heart. Not enough, though, to grant her mercy.

Like snow melting under sunlight, only to freeze again at night.

The hunt begins.

"I'm starting to count now. If I catch you, you're dead. If I don't, I'll still come for you," he reminds her coldly.

"One ninety-nine…"

A countdown to the apocalypse of a heart.

"All right."

She slowly inhales and exhales, bracing for the darkness awaiting her. She steps toward the boy; her fragile arms wrap around his strong waist. She rests her head on his chest one last time, breathing in a scent that is now only a distant memory.

Even though both their hearts beat the same, this feeling cannot overpower fate.

"Goodbye, meine Sonne…" she says, then darts off into the unknown, away from him.

The boy keeps counting, undisturbed.

"…Zero. I'm coming for you, meine Kamelie."

Before destinies are fulfilled, there is an origin that deserves to be told.

A simple game, often loved by little humans. But here, it takes on a different meaning: a cruel dance where love intertwines with destruction.

Maybe I went too far. But without excess, there is no true pleasure. Those who dare to challenge me always end up dead. Hearts break as easily as petals fall from flowers.

Why do I do it? Is pride a good enough reason? The answer will come—like all truths destined to be revealed.

The beginning of this tragedy is not a sudden storm. It's the sun warming her skin. Like a gentle smile hiding the worst kind of nightmare.

And when it's all over, nothing remains but a flower pressed between the faded pages of a book.

Farewell, little monarch butterfly. I am destiny. And to gain the freedom to live my own life— I had to destroy you.