Chapter 53: Trapped In The Mind pt1
Ivan didn’t realize how hard he was gripping her until he reached her chambers. His arms shook slightly as he laid Lydia gently on her bed. She looked too still, too pale, and his bloodied hands trembled as they pulled back from her.
His heart pounded in his chest, deafening in his ears. His face was still splattered with the blood of the man he’d killed, and his palms, sticky and red, hovered in the air like he didn’t know what to do with them.
The servants in the room stared in silence, unsure of what they had just witnessed. Their gazes flicked between Lydia’s still body and the Grand Duke who stood over her like a lost child.
Katherine was already there. She had been standing silently at the side, watching everything unfold. Her eyes shifted slowly from Lydia to Ivan. There were a thousand things behind her eyes—panic, disbelief, fear. But not a single word left her lips. Her hands were clenched so tightly that her knuckles had turned white, but her voice stayed trapped in her throat. What could she say?
Down in the library, Tatiana was flipping through old scrolls—documents about the old Grand Duchess, trying to understand the duties Lydia was expected to take on. It was peaceful. Quiet. Until Yelena came rushing in, panting, her hands shaking.
"Your Grace! The Grand Duchess—she collapsed!"
Tatiana shot up, her heart stopping. She didn’t ask anything. She ran.
When she arrived at Lydia’s chambers, the first thing she saw was Ivan—his body stiff, his eyes wide and filled with something close to horror. He looked like a man who’d just watched his world fall apart. Lydia was lying motionless on the bed.
He tried to speak when he saw Tatiana.
"I-I didn’t mean to... I didn’t mean—"
Tatiana didn’t respond to that. She walked past him, straight to Lydia. Her hand reached out to check her pulse, her forehead, her breathing.