Episode-762
Chapter : 1523
Jasmin couldn't hold it back. She cried. "She loved you so much, Risa. She loved you so much."
Ken slumped against the wall. He checked his shoulder. The claw marks were deep, bleeding sluggishly. He bound them tight with a strip of cloth.
"We did it," he said, his voice gruff. "We have the package."
But the mission wasn't over.
Back at the palace, the party had stopped. The doors were locked.
Cassius stood in the center of the ballroom. A mage had just whispered in his ear.
A magical distress signal had come through. From the Orchid House.
Facility breached. Fire in Sector 4. Subject 402 missing. Prototype Zero damaged.
Cassius’s face went white. Then it went cold. Absolute zero.
He looked around the room. He saw the fear in the nobles' eyes. He saw the confusion.
And he saw Doctor Zayn, standing near the dais, looking terrified.
"It's a trick," Cassius whispered. "The fire. The demand for the guards. It was all a trick."
He looked at Seraphina. She was clutching her father's hand, looking pale.
"Her," he thought. "She asked for the guards. She stripped the defenses."
But she was weak. She was stupid. She couldn't plan this.
Unless...
He looked at the Doctor again.
The pieces clicked. The sudden recovery. The access to the ledgers. The timing.
Cassius turned to his Commander.
"Unlock the doors," he said quietly. "Let them leave. But keep a perimeter around the city. No one gets out of Saber."
"Highness?" the Commander asked. "Are you going to the facility?"
"No," Cassius said. "The facility is lost. I am going hunting."
He walked towards the exit. He didn't run. He walked with the slow, deliberate pace of an executioner.
"Where are you going, brother?" Seraphina called out, her voice trembling perfectly.
Cassius stopped. He looked back at her.
"To find a rat," he said.
He left the hall.
Lloyd watched him go. He felt a cold sweat on his back. Cassius knew. Or he suspected.
"He's coming for us," Lloyd whispered to Seraphina.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"We finish the play," Lloyd said. "You are exhausted. You are going to your room. I am going to treat you. We need to be exactly where he expects us to be."
"But if he comes..."
"If he comes," Lloyd said, "we deny everything. We hold the line. And we pray Ken is far away."
They left the hall, heading for her chambers.
The noose was tightening. The trap had worked, but now the hunter was in the cage with them.
The walk to Seraphina's chambers felt like a funeral procession. The palace was buzzing with rumors of the explosion in the north, but the corridors of the royal wing were silent.
They entered the solar. Lloyd immediately went into "doctor mode." He ordered the guards to stand outside. He bolted the door.
"Get in bed," he told Seraphina. "Look sick. Pale. Sweaty."
She climbed under the covers. She didn't have to act. She was terrified.
"He knows," she whispered. "I saw his eyes. He knows I did this."
"He suspects," Lloyd corrected. "He has no proof. We were here. We were dancing. We have hundreds of witnesses."
"But the timing..."
"Coincidence," Lloyd said. "Unless he finds the team, or the girl, he has nothing but suspicion. And suspicion isn't enough to execute a Royal Physician and a Princess."
He began to mix a harmless tonic, making a show of clinking vials.
"Stay calm," Lloyd said. "When he bursts in here—and he will—you need to be the victim. You are the fragile princess who fainted from the excitement. You know nothing of fires or quarries."
Boom.
The door didn't open. It shook. Someone had kicked it.
Boom.
The bolt strained.
"Open this door!" Cassius's voice roared from the hallway.
Lloyd looked at Seraphina. "Showtime."
He walked to the door. He didn't open it immediately. He waited.
"Highness!" Lloyd called out, his voice shaking. "Please! The Princess is resting! She is fragile!"
"Open it or I burn it down!" Cassius screamed.
Lloyd undid the bolt.
The door flew open, slamming into the wall.
Cassius strode in. He wasn't wearing his court finery. He was wearing a breastplate over his tunic. He had a sword in his hand.
Behind him were four Obsidian Eye officers.
"Where is she?" Cassius snarled.
He marched to the bed. He loomed over Seraphina.
"You," he hissed. "You did this. You little traitor."
Seraphina shrank back against the pillows. "Cassius? What... what happened? You're scaring me."
Chapter : 1524
"Don't lie to me!" Cassius yelled. He raised his hand as if to strike her.
Lloyd stepped in between them.
"Highness!" Lloyd shouted. "Stop! You will kill her! Her heart cannot take this stress!"
Cassius turned on Lloyd. He pointed the sword at Lloyd's throat. The tip pressed against the skin, drawing a single drop of blood.
"And you," Cassius whispered. "The Doctor. The miracle worker. You planned this. Didn't you? You read the ledgers. You found the site. You orchestrated this whole... farce."
Lloyd stared at the sword. He could disarm Cassius in a second. He could kill him in two.
But he couldn't. Not as Doctor Zayn.
He dropped to his knees. He clasped his hands.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" Lloyd cried. "Please! I am just a doctor! I cured the gout! I fixed the kidney stone! I don't know anything about sites or ledgers!"
"Liar," Cassius spat. "The Orchid House is burning. My inventory is gone. And you... you are the only new variable."
He looked at his officers.
"Arrest them," Cassius ordered. "Both of them. Take them to the dungeons. I will peel the truth out of them myself."
The officers moved forward.
Lloyd tensed. He calculated the distance. He could take two. Ken wasn't here. He was alone.
He prepared to drop the mask. To summon Iffrit. To burn his way out.
"Stop!"
The voice wasn't Lloyd's. It was Seraphina's.
She wasn't shrinking. She was sitting up. She had thrown off the covers. She looked furious.
"How dare you," she said. Her voice was low, trembling with rage.
Cassius looked at her, surprised. "What?"
"How dare you burst into my room," Seraphina said, her voice rising. "How dare you threaten my physician. How dare you accuse me of... of whatever madness this is!"
She stood up. She was small, frail, but she stood tall. She channeled the lesson Lloyd had taught her. She pushed her mana against the binding. Not to break it, but to flare it.
Her eyes glowed with a faint, golden light.
"I am the Princess Royal!" she shouted. "I am your sister! And I am the daughter of the King! You do not order me arrested! You do not threaten me with swords!"
She pointed a shaking finger at him.
"Get out!" she screamed. "Get out of my room! Or I will scream for the King! I will scream until the whole palace hears! I will tell them you threatened me! I will tell them you are mad!"
Cassius stared at her. He had never seen her like this. She was supposed to be weak. Broken.
But she wasn't. She was a lioness protecting her cub.
He hesitated. The officers hesitated.
If she screamed... if she caused a scene... the nobles were still in the palace. The generals were there. If they saw the Prince threatening the Princess with a sword... his legitimacy would crumble.
He lowered the sword.
"You are hysterical," he sneered, trying to regain control. "The doctor has poisoned your mind."
"The doctor saved my life!" she countered. "And you are trying to end it!"
She collapsed back onto the bed, sobbing dramatically. "Get out! I hate you! Get out!"
Lloyd rushed to her side. "Breathe, Highness! Breathe!"
He looked back at Cassius. "Please, Highness. Leave. Before you kill her."
Cassius looked at them. The weeping sister. The terrified doctor.
He ground his teeth. He knew they were lying. He knew it in his gut.
But he had no proof. And he couldn't act without it. Not here. Not now.
"This isn't over," Cassius hissed. "I will find the proof. And when I do..."
He didn't finish the threat. He turned and marched out.
"Guard the door!" he barked at his men. "No one enters. No one leaves. They are under house arrest until further notice."
The door slammed shut. The lock clicked.
Silence returned to the room.
Seraphina stopped sobbing instantly. She sat up. She wiped her eyes.
"Did it work?" she whispered.
Lloyd slumped against the bedframe. He touched the cut on his neck.
"It worked," he said. "He's gone. For now."
He looked at her.
"You were magnificent," Lloyd said.
"I was terrified," she admitted.
"That," Lloyd smiled, "is what makes it bravery."
He stood up. He went to the window. He looked out at the city. The fire in the north was still burning.
"We bought time," Lloyd said. "But not much. He will tear the city apart looking for Risa. And when he doesn't find her... he will come back for us."