Episode-744
Chapter : 1487
The room froze. The music stopped. The guards around the Princess tensed, their hands going to their swords. The crowd gasped and pulled back, creating a circle of empty space around the fallen girl.
"Is there a doctor?" someone shouted.
It was Lloyd’s cue.
"Let me through!" Lloyd yelled, pushing his way forward. "I am a physician! Make way!"
He burst into the circle, his robes flapping. He knelt beside Jasmin. She was doing a great job of looking half-dead, her eyes fluttering.
"It's just a swoon," Lloyd whispered to her as he checked her pulse. "Good job on the pottery."
He looked up at the crowd. "Give her air! Back away!"
He stood up, looking grave. He turned towards the dais. Princess Seraphina was leaning forward in her chair, looking concerned. For the first time all night, the glass wall around her seemed to crack. She looked... engaged.
Lloyd seized the moment. He walked straight towards the dais, ignoring the guards who stepped forward to block him.
"Halt!" the captain of the guard barked. "Stay back, citizen!"
Lloyd stopped. He didn't look at the guard. He looked directly at the Princess. He held her gaze. He let a look of professional, urgent concern wash over his face.
"Your Highness," Lloyd said, his voice carrying clearly in the silent room. "My assistant will be fine. It is merely exhaustion. But I am far more concerned about you."
The room gasped. To address the Princess directly, without permission, was a breach of protocol so severe it could get you whipped.
The guard captain snarled. "You dare? Seize him!"
Two guards grabbed Lloyd’s arms. Ken tensed, ready to spring, but Lloyd shot him a subtle hand signal: Wait.
"Wait!" Princess Seraphina’s voice rang out. It was soft, melodious, but it held a core of steel.
The guards froze. They looked back at her.
"Let him speak," Seraphina said. She stood up, her silver dress shimmering. She looked at Lloyd with a mixture of curiosity and desperation. "What do you mean, Doctor?"
Lloyd shook off the guards' hands. He straightened his robes. He adjusted his glasses.
"I mean," Lloyd said, lowering his voice so only those near the dais could hear, "that you are in pain, Highness. Terrible pain. A pressure behind your eyes. A fire in your blood. You feel like you are drowning, even when you are standing on dry land."
Seraphina’s eyes widened. Her hand went to her throat. She looked like he had just read her diary.
"How..." she whispered. "How do you know that?"
"I am Doctor Zayn," Lloyd said simply. "I see what others miss."
He took a step closer. The guards tensed again, but Seraphina waved them down.
"And," Lloyd added, "I believe I can help you breathe again."
The hook was baited. The line was cast. Now, he just had to reel her in.
----
The silence in the grand ballroom was absolute. Hundreds of eyes were fixed on the tableau before the dais: the humble doctor in his dusty robes, standing defiant before the glittering, ethereal Princess. The broken plant lay forgotten on the floor. Even Jasmin, still playing dead, opened one eye a sliver to watch.
Princess Seraphina stared at Lloyd. Her heart was hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. For years, she had been surrounded by the best physicians in the kingdom. They had poked her, prodded her, bled her, and forced vile potions down her throat. They had called it "nervous hysteria," "fragile constitution," or simply "the burden of royalty." None of them had ever described the feeling of drowning.
But this stranger... this man with the kind eyes and the strange accent... he saw it. He named it.
"Drowning," she whispered, the word tasting like ash and hope.
"Yes," Lloyd said softly. "The air feels too thin. The lights are too bright. Your own heartbeat sounds like a war drum in your ears. And the headaches... they start here." He tapped his own temple, then traced a line down the back of his neck. "Like a lightning bolt traveling down your spine."
Seraphina took an involuntary step forward. She ignored the frantic whispering of her ladies-in-waiting. She ignored the disapproving glare of the Lord Chamberlain.
"You are not a court physician," she said.
"No," Lloyd agreed. "I am a scholar. A traveler. I have studied the maladies of the spirit as well as the body."
"The spirit?" The Captain of the Guard scoffed. "You are a mystic? A charlatan?"
Lloyd turned to the Captain. He didn't look intimidated. He looked bored.
Chapter : 1488
"I am a man of science, Captain," Lloyd said. "But science acknowledges that the body is a vessel for energy. If that energy is... blocked... the vessel cracks."
He turned back to Seraphina. "You are cracking, Highness. And if the pressure is not released soon... the vessel will break."
It was a gamble. A massive, calculated risk. He was telling her she was dying. But he saw the fear in her eyes. It was the fear of someone who knew, deep down, that something was terribly wrong, even if everyone else told her she was fine.
"Can you..." Seraphina’s voice trembled. "Can you stop it?"
"I can treat it," Lloyd said carefully. "But not here. Not in a room full of noise and stares. The treatment requires quiet. Focus."
"He is trying to isolate her!" the Lord Chamberlain hissed. "Highness, this is dangerous! He is a foreigner! An unknown!"
"I am a doctor!" Lloyd snapped, his voice suddenly sharp with authority. "And I have a patient who is suffering. Do you want her to faint again? Do you want her to collapse in front of her subjects?"
He pointed at the Princess. She was swaying slightly. Her face was pale. The stress of the confrontation was triggering her condition.
"Look at her!" Lloyd demanded. "She needs care. Now."
Seraphina felt the familiar darkness creeping into the edges of her vision. The black spots. The roar in her ears. She was going to fall. Again.
"Enough!" she cried out.
The room went still.
"I will see him," Seraphina declared. She looked at the Chamberlain. "Arrange a private audience. Tomorrow morning. At the Palace."
"But Highness—"
"I said tomorrow!" Her voice cracked, but it held. "Or shall I tell my father that you denied me relief from my pain?"
The Chamberlain paled. "As... as you wish, Highness."
Seraphina looked back at Lloyd. Her eyes were pleading. "Tomorrow. Do not be late."
"I am never late," Lloyd bowed. "Rest, Highness. Drink water. No wine. And try to breathe."
She nodded. Then, with a swirl of silver skirts, she turned and fled the room, her guards scrambling to follow.
The moment she was gone, the spell broke. The room erupted into chatter. Lloyd let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He felt sweat trickling down his back.
He turned to Jasmin, who was magically recovering from her swoon with the help of a concerned waiter.
"Are you alright, Jia?" Lloyd asked loudly.
"I... I think so, Doctor," Jasmin said, sitting up. "I just... needed air."
"Let us go," Lloyd said. "The air in here is too stale."
He grabbed his medical bag. He signaled Ken. They moved towards the exit, ignoring the stares and whispers. They walked out of the mansion and into the cool night air.
They didn't speak until they were safely inside their carriage and rolling down the cobblestones.
"That," Ken said from the darkness of the corner, "was insane."
"It was theater," Lloyd corrected, wiping his brow with a handkerchief. "And it worked."
"You terrified her," Jasmin said. "You told her she was breaking."
"She is breaking," Lloyd said grimly. "That binding on her core... it's brutal. Whoever did that to her wants to keep her weak. Compliant. They are torturing her slowly."
"Who would do that to a princess?" Jasmin asked.
"Someone who wants to control the King," Lloyd surmised. "If the King loves his daughter... and she is sick... he is distracted. He is vulnerable."
He looked out the window at the looming black silhouette of the Royal Palace. It looked like a giant beast crouching over the city.
"We have an audience," Lloyd said. "We are going into the belly of the beast. Tomorrow, we find out who holds the leash."
"And if it's a trap?" Ken asked.
"It's definitely a trap," Lloyd grinned. It was a sharp, dangerous grin. "But we are the ones bringing the cheese."
He looked at his hands. He could still feel the phantom sensation of the Princess's chaotic energy. It was a puzzle. A lock. And he loved picking locks.
"Get some sleep," Lloyd ordered. "Tomorrow, Doctor Zayn goes to court. And I have a feeling the patient isn't the only one who needs a checkup."
The carriage rattled on into the night, carrying three impostors towards a destiny that would shake the foundations of the enemy nation.