Clara's POV
"I can't live like this anymore!" I screamed at Ciel, my voice raw, echoing through the study walls. "I want to be free! I can't be stuck here, living as your creation. I want to be me—I want my own life!"
The rage in my chest was suffocating. Without waiting for his reply, I spun around and stormed out, the sound of my heartbeat drowning out everything else.
"Serena—!" His voice broke behind me, desperate, pleading.
And then I woke.
My eyes flew open, my body breaking into a cold sweat as I jolted upright from the icy stone floor. My chest heaved, and I pressed a trembling hand against my heart.
A dream.
No—something more.
The emotions still lingered in me, sharp and real, as if I had truly lived them. The fury, the despair, the desperate need to break free—it had felt too familiar. Too alive.
"What's happening to me?" I whispered into the suffocating darkness.
