Episode-747
Chapter : 1493
They reached a central pavilion surrounded by rare orchids. The King sat heavily on a bench. Seraphina sat beside him, holding his hand. She was talking to him softly, pointing at the flowers. For a moment, they looked like a normal family.
Cassius stood apart, watching them. He looked like a zookeeper watching dangerous animals.
Lloyd approached the King.
"Your Majesty," Lloyd bowed.
The King looked up. His eyes were foggy. "You... you are the healer? The one who fixed my Sera?"
"I am treating her, Majesty," Lloyd said.
The King grabbed Lloyd’s hand. His grip was surprisingly strong, desperate.
"Save her," the King wept. "She is all I have left. Her mother... gone. Taken by the dark. Don't let the dark take her too. Cassius says... Cassius says the dark is coming."
Lloyd looked at Cassius. The Prince was smiling, a thin, cruel smile.
"Father is tired," Cassius said smoothly. "His mind wanders. The dark is just a metaphor for grief."
"Is it?" Lloyd thought. He activated his [All-Seeing Eye], focusing on the King.
The King wasn't just grieving. He was sedated. Heavily. His blood was thick with a subtle, alchemical concoction designed to induce confusion, docility, and emotional instability.
"You are poisoning him," Lloyd realized with a jolt of cold fury. "You are keeping him weak so you can rule."
He deactivated the eye. He couldn't cure the King here. Not with Cassius watching. But he had confirmed the enemy. Cassius wasn't just a bad brother. He was a regicide in slow motion.
"I will do my best, Majesty," Lloyd promised.
"Good. Good," the King mumbled, turning back to his daughter.
Lloyd stepped back. He needed to get away from Cassius. He needed to find a lead on the Orchid House.
"Highness," Lloyd said to Seraphina. "The air here is good. But perhaps a walk near the medicinal herb section? There are plants there that emit soothing vapors."
"I would like that," Seraphina said, standing up.
"I will accompany you," Cassius said instantly.
"Stay with Father, Cassius," Seraphina said. It was a command, not a request. "He needs you."
Cassius hesitated. He couldn't refuse without looking unfilial in front of the guards.
"Very well," Cassius said, his eyes narrowing. "Do not go far. The guards will be with you."
Seraphina walked away, Lloyd and his team following. Six guards marched with them.
They walked deeper into the gardens. The foliage grew thicker, taller.
"You did well," Lloyd whispered to her when the guards were slightly out of earshot.
"I am terrified," she whispered back. "He knows. He knows I am fighting the binding."
"Let him know," Lloyd said. "It makes him cautious. Fear makes people make mistakes."
They reached the medicinal section. It was quieter here.
"Princess," Lloyd said loudly, for the guards' benefit. "Observe this plant. The Nightshade. Poison, yet medicine. It is all about the dosage."
He leaned in closer, pretending to examine a leaf.
"I need to know," Lloyd whispered. "Does Cassius have a private office? A laboratory? Somewhere he goes alone?"
"The West Wing," Seraphina breathed. "The Tower of Silence. No one is allowed there. Not even the King."
"Tower of Silence," Lloyd repeated. "Does he keep records there?"
"I don't know. But... sometimes, late at night, I see carriages going there. Covered carriages. They don't go to the main gate. They go to a side entrance near the cliffs."
Lloyd’s heart raced. Covered carriages. Secret entrance.
"Do you know where they come from?"
"No," she said. "But once... I heard him talking to a man. A man in a black cloak. They spoke of... of the 'harvest'. And 'specimens'."
Harvest. Specimens. Orchid House.
"Thank you," Lloyd said. "That is enough."
"Doctor," she said, grabbing his arm. "Is he... is he doing something evil?"
Lloyd looked at her. He saw the innocence she was trying so hard to keep.
"Yes," Lloyd said honestly. "He is. But we are going to stop him."
Suddenly, a commotion erupted near the entrance of the gardens. Shouts. The clash of steel.
"Assassin!" someone screamed.
The guards around them drew their swords. They circled the Princess.
"Secure the target!" the captain yelled.
Lloyd looked towards the noise. Smoke was rising.
"A diversion?" Ken asked.
"Or a real attack," Lloyd said. "Either way, it's chaos. And chaos is a ladder."
He looked at the guards. They were focused outward.
"Jia," Lloyd hissed. "Faint again."
"Really?" Jasmin whispered. "Again?"
"Yes. Now."
Jasmin let out a wail and collapsed. "The vapors! Too strong!"
The guards turned, distracted for a split second.
Chapter : 1494
In that second, Lloyd slipped something into Seraphina's hand. A small, round stone. A communication stone, linked to one in his pocket.
"Hide this," he whispered. "If you are in danger... squeeze it. I will come."
She clutched the stone. She nodded.
The commotion died down. It was a false alarm. A magical beast had broken loose from the menagerie.
----
The "attack" turned out to be a panicked wyvern that had escaped its handlers. The Royal Guards put it down efficiently, but the mood was ruined. Cassius ordered the return to the palace immediately.
As they walked back to the carriages, Lloyd felt Cassius's gaze on his back. It was heavy, probing. The Prince suspected something. He knew the Doctor was more than he appeared.
"Doctor Zayn," Cassius called out.
Lloyd stopped. He turned. "Highness?"
Cassius walked up to him. He stopped inches from Lloyd's face.
"You are very... lucky," Cassius said. "Trouble seems to happen around you, but you are never touched by it."
"I have a guardian angel," Lloyd said blandly.
"Or a devil," Cassius countered. "My sister is fond of you. That is the only reason you are still breathing. But be warned, Doctor. If you are playing a game... I will find out. And I will peel the skin from your bones to see what you are hiding underneath."
"I am hiding nothing but a love for herbs, Highness," Lloyd lied.
Cassius stared at him for a long moment. Then he smiled. "We shall see."
He turned and walked away.
Lloyd got into his carriage. As soon as they were moving, he let out a breath.
"He knows," Ken said.
"He suspects," Lloyd corrected. "He doesn't know what we are. Just that we are dangerous."
The morning sun streamed through the high arched windows of Princess Seraphina’s private solar, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air. The room was a sanctuary of soft silks, velvet cushions, and the scent of lavender, designed to be a calming retreat for a fragile royal. However, for Lloyd Ferrum, currently playing the role of the humble Doctor Zayn, it was a battlefield of the mind.
Lloyd sat on a low stool beside the Princess’s chaise lounge. He adjusted his round spectacles, peering at her with an expression of deep, professional concern. Inside, he was fighting the urge to yawn. Being a therapist to royalty was exhausting work, mostly because it involved nodding sagely at problems that could be solved with a simple conversation or, in this case, a swift kick to her brother’s shins.
"Breathe, Highness," Lloyd said, his voice a soothing baritone he had practiced in front of a mirror for an hour. "In through the nose... hold the chaos... out through the mouth. Let the river flow."
Seraphina obeyed, her chest rising and falling. She looked less like a drowning victim today and more like someone who had just learned how to tread water. It was progress.
In his hand, Lloyd held a smooth, dark stone. To the uninitiated, it looked like a simple river rock, perhaps a polished piece of obsidian used for meditation. In reality, it was a B-minus grade Lilith Stone, discreetly programmed with a siphon protocol.
"I am going to place the harmonic resonator on your forehead again," Lloyd explained gently. "It will sing a song of silence to your spirit. It will ask the storm inside you to quiet down."
"It feels... cold," Seraphina whispered, closing her eyes. "But a good cold. Like snow on a fever."
Lloyd placed the stone against her skin. He didn't need to close his eyes to activate it, but he did anyway, for the dramatic effect. He channeled a tiny thread of his own spiritual energy into the stone, activating the program.
Hummmmm.
The stone didn't make a sound audible to the ear, but to the spirit, it was a vacuum cleaner. It latched onto the chaotic, pressurized mana building up behind Seraphina’s binding and gently, carefully siphoned it off. It was a pressure release valve. It didn't break the curse—that would alert Cassius instantly—but it vented the excess energy that caused her migraines and anxiety.
"Better?" Lloyd asked.
"Yes," she breathed, her shoulders dropping three inches. "The pounding... it’s gone. It’s quiet."
She opened her eyes and looked at him with something bordering on religious adoration. "You are a wizard, Doctor."
"Just a man who listens to the body," Lloyd lied smoothly. "Now, Highness. While the stone does its work, we must do ours. The body reflects the mind. This pressure... it comes from somewhere. Stress. Fear. Secrets."