Elysium: Desired by the Cold-hearted Princess [GL]
Chapter 176 176: All that matters

Third-person POV

Seraphina's gaze burned into Electra, her brows furrowing deeper as if trying to piece together the absurdity of what she had just heard.

Electra stood stiffly in front of her, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck, clearly uncomfortable, until Seraphina let out a sharp sigh, breaking the silence.

"You think you had sex with Iris?" she asked almost sarcastically. "How do you not know? Either you did or you didn't, Electra. There are no in-betweens."

Electra's eyes flicked away, refusing to meet Seraphina's intense glare. "I know how it sounds, all right?" she muttered defensively. "But I don't remember anything after leaving your room that night and heading back to the party to find Iris. One minute, I was searching everywhere for Iris, and the next, I woke up in the middle of nowhere, naked, with the same girl I couldn't find. I didn't even have a single drink at the party, and I still have no clue how I ended up in that situation."

Seraphina crossed her arms over her chest, studying Electra closely. "So you're telling me that you were completely sober, but somehow blacked out and woke up naked with Iris?" she said, her voice skeptical. "And you just thought to bring this up now? Of all the times to bring it up? What exactly do you expect me to say to that?"

Electra shrugged, her lips pressing into a thin line. "I didn't think it was relevant until... well, until you started talking about feelings, and I felt like you deserved to know."

Seraphina let out a humorless laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. "Deserved to know?" she echoed. "That you might've had sex with someone else right after bearing my heart to you? I thought you were supposed to be smarter than me at these things, sweetheart? Now is the time you either let me down easy or shut me up with a kiss because you like me. If it's not going to be any of the above, then I'm leaving."

Electra chuckled softly, slightly amused by Seraphina's boldness.

"If I kissed you right now instead of rejecting you," she spoke, a sly smirk tugging at her lips, "would you automatically assume we're in a relationship?"

Seraphina's brows furrowed slightly, and she scoffed in response. "Are you trying to tell me that you like me, but not enough to actually be in a relationship with me?"

Electra blinked, startled at how quickly Seraphina cut through her teasing deflection. "No, that's not what I'm trying to say," she said, shaking her head.

She sighed, her usual confidence faltering as she tried to explain herself. "What I'm saying is... I do like you, Seraphina. I don't really know why, or how deep those feelings go yet, but I do know one thing—I don't want to reject you just yet."

The tension between them shifted, and Seraphina's frown deepened at the words "just yet," her gaze narrowing as she caught onto the phrase. "What do you mean by 'just yet'?" she asked, her voice edged with a mix of confusion and irritation.

Electra cursed softly under her breath and ran a hand through her hair, visibly frustrated. "Damn it, I'm really bad at this," she admitted, her tone laced with self-deprecation. "I never thought I'd be this bad at explaining how I feel."

Seraphina crossed her arms, her skeptical gaze fixed on Electra. "Then maybe stop dancing around it and just tell me what you mean," she said, her voice softer now.

Electra sighed again, clearly trying to gather her thoughts. Finally, she met Seraphina's gaze directly, her tone more earnest. "What I'm trying to say is that if we're going to think about being in a real relationship, it should be when we're back in our real lives. When we're back as ourselves, not stuck in this... false reality."

Seraphina stared at Electra, her frown deepening as she tried to process Electra's words. For a moment, neither of them spoke, and Seraphina crossed her arms, tilting her head slightly as she studied Electra's expression.

"So, what you're saying is," she began, her tone sharper than intended, "you're willing to consider going out with me—but only under perfect conditions? Is that it?"

Electra ran a hand through her hair, clearly frustrated. "That's not what I meant, Seraphina," she said with a sigh. "What I'm saying is... this reality, this life we're stuck in—it isn't real. I don't even know if what we're feeling is real. Everything about this place is twisted, manipulated. Don't you think it would be smarter to figure out how we actually feel when we're back to being ourselves?"

Seraphina raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching with a mix of irritation and amusement. "So, you think this," she gestured between the two of them, "is some fabricated attraction? Like, we're only feeling this way because of whatever weird rules this reality has?"

Electra hesitated. She wanted to say yes, but there was something in Seraphina's eyes—something intense and unrelenting—that made her second-guess herself.

"I'm saying it might be," she said cautiously. "And if it is, then we're not really being honest with each other, are we?"

Seraphina let out a dry laugh, taking a small step back. "You're unbelievable," she said, shaking her head. "You keep saying how bad you are at expressing yourself, but you've made one thing very clear—you don't trust me, and you sure as hell don't trust yourself."

Electra flinched at the accusation, but she didn't deny it. "It's not about trust, Seraphina. It's about... it's about wanting to make sure whatever this is—whatever we are—can survive outside of this nightmare we've been thrown into."

Seraphina stepped closer again, her sharp glare softening into something more vulnerable. "Electra," she said quietly, "I don't know what's real either, but I do know how I feel when I'm around you, and I don't want to wait until we're back in our old lives to figure out if this—" she gestured between them again, "—is worth it."

Electra stared at her, her heart pounding in a way she hadn't felt in her entire life. She didn't know what to say, and for the first time, she didn't know if she wanted to say anything at all. Instead, she found herself reaching out, her fingers lightly brushing against Seraphina's.

Seraphina held her breath, waiting for Electra to make her next move. When Electra didn't pull away, Seraphina closed the gap between them, her voice barely above a whisper. "Do you feel this, Electra? Whatever it is—do you feel it too?"

Electra nodded slowly, her voice hoarse as she replied, "Yeah. I feel it."

Seraphina smiled faintly, her eyes searching Electra's. "Then stop running from it," she said. "Even if this world isn't real, we are, and maybe that's all that matters."

Electra let out a shaky breath, her resolve crumbling under Seraphina's gaze. She hated how easily Seraphina could dismantle her arguments, but at the same time, she couldn't deny the truth in her words.

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