The carriage swayed rhythmically as it rolled along the cobblestone road. The clip-clop of the horses' hooves echoed like a steady drumbeat against the walls of silence inside.
Selene nodded softly, looking around. In her memory, they had come and left in a car. Now, they had come in a car, and were leaving in a carriage.
The curtains were drawn half-shut, casting the interior in a muted shade, so that Richard's strong profile appeared almost sculpted out of shadow.
Selene sat opposite him, with her hands folded neatly on her lap, and her posture perfect. She was the very picture of a well-bred daughter. But her thoughts were anything but composed.
She stole a glance at him.
Richard, her father, a man she remembered all too clearly. In her past life, he had been loving and adoring, but also always putting business and appearances before any semblance of familial affection. He had played his role as guardian only in the shallowest sense, protecting her because she was useful. He doesn't know this now, but he will soon.
And yet…
Today, as she sat across from him, her memory and reality collided like shards of broken glass.
Because in this life, Anne had already been brought into their home. She has already been introduced. And she already called Richard "Father."
Selene's lips curved faintly, but it wasn't a smile. It was the kind of expression she wore when she needed to hide the turmoil inside her chest.
She had to be careful here, careful in the way she spoke, and careful in how she pushed. Richard was not a man to suffer insolence, not even from the daughter he openly adored.
The sound of the carriage wheels filled the silence until Selene finally broke it.
"You never told me," she said, her voice calm, and measured, as if she were simply making conversation.
Richard's eyes shifted to her, warm and attentive. "Told you what, my dear?"
Selene tilted her head slightly, as if surprised he would even need clarification. "That you would be adopting Anne. You mentioned the adoption, but never so soon." She let the words hang for a moment, her gaze steady on him. "You even let her call you Father."
Selene's throat tightened. In her memory, this had not happened. Not now. Not so soon. Anne had clawed her way into the Sinclair family much later, and only after weaving a web of lies and schemes. She had used falsified documents, fabricated stories, even a forged DNA test to cement her place. But Richard adopting her outright? Accepting her so easily?
No. This wasn't right.
The faintest flicker crossed Richard's face. Not irritation, but a kind of gentle surprise. He leaned back against the plush seat, folding his hands with care, as if choosing his words thoughtfully.
"Is that what's troubling you?" he asked softly.
Selene blinked, feigning innocence. "Should it trouble me?"
Richard chuckled under his breath, but the sound was warm, paternal. "Selene, my dear, you've always been perceptive. But surely even you can see that a girl like Anne, who is lost, abandoned, and left without guidance, deserves a place where she belongs. She has no family to speak of. What harm is there in letting her feel secure?"
Selene's hands tightened slightly in her lap, though her face betrayed nothing.
Secure.
Yes, she remembered those very words from her past life. Richard had used them often when speaking of Anne. Always with that same tone of righteousness, as though what he was doing was a grand act of charity.
However, Selene knew better now. She knew Anne had not been adopted out of kindness. Anne had been brought in for a reason. One that, in her last life, had only become clear months later.
But this… this timing was wrong.
She recalled vividly how Anne had entered their household with a DNA proof much later after her arrival into their lives. A carefully staged introduction, timed to coincide with one of Richard's business expansions.
Anne had been the polished jewel he presented to society, the "daughter of his heart" who would dazzle with her false humility and radiant charm. By then, Selene had already been isolated, her voice diminished within the family.
Yet now Anne had appeared too soon. As if fate itself had skipped a chapter.
"Do you not find it strange?" Selene asked softly, her tone unthreatening, though her eyes held his. "That she calls you Father already? Affection like that does not bloom overnight. Unless you encourage it."
Richard studied her, his expression tender.
"Children crave attachment," he said finally, his voice gentle, and deliberate. "If Anne finds comfort in me, then so be it. Why should I deny her what life has already stolen away? But Selene," his voice softened further, "that does not lessen what I feel for you."
Selene tilted her head, her dark hair sliding over her shoulder like silk. "And what about me?"
It was a dangerous question, one she asked with delicate precision.
Richard's eyes warmed, his gaze steady and reassuring.
"You are my daughter," he said firmly. "By blood, by law, and by name. No one could ever take that from you. Surely you don't feel threatened by a girl who has nothing but what I give her?"
Selene's lips curved again, this time into something closer to a smile. She dropped her gaze, as if embarrassed by her own words. "Of course not, Father. I was merely curious."
The word Father tasted bitter on her tongue. In her last life, she had once called him that with sincerity, and love. But she had learned. She had learned what lay beneath that facade of protection.
Still, she had to play her role perfectly. To question him outright was to invite suspicion. And suspicion was dangerous, especially now, when the timeline was already unraveling.
She leaned back slightly. The sway of the carriage made her gown shift around her legs. Her eyes flickered to the window, and to the blur of buildings passing by.
'Why now?' she thought. 'Why so soon?'
And Richard, he had not hesitated to give her the name of daughter. Selene pressed her nails lightly into the fabric of her gown, grounding herself in the present.
It wasn't supposed to happen this way.
Her memories told her one story, but reality was writing another. And for the first time since waking a decade in the past, Selene felt a flicker of doubt.
'Am I truly reliving my life… or has fate rewritten the script entirely?' She asked herself mentally.
Richard's voice cut through her thoughts.
"Selene," he said, and though it was just her name, it carried the weight of affection. She looked at him immediately, trained by years of habit.
"You will treat Anne as your sister," he said, his tone firm but kind. "She has been through enough. I trust you to guide her, protect her, and help her adjust. Do you understand?"
Selene's throat tightened, but she inclined her head gracefully. "Yes, Father."
Inside, her heart burned. Protect her? Guide her? Anne, the girl who would one day strip everything from her?
She almost laughed. But instead, she lowered her lashes, hiding the storm in her gaze.
The carriage continued its steady roll, as the silence between them softened.
And Selene sat there, immaculate and poised, while inside her very foundation began to crack.
Because the life she thought she knew, and the memories she had relied upon as her weapon were no longer certain.
And in a world where even memory could not be trusted, she would have to tread more carefully than ever before.