Chapter 204 CHAPTER 204
The guard had been standing outside the classroom for longer than usual.
At first, he had not questioned it.
Princess Lisa had asked for space, and while his instincts had told him to follow, his training had also taught him when to step back. She was not reckless. She was not careless. And more often than not, when she said she would be fine, she meant it.
But time had passed.
Too much time.
He shifted his weight slightly, his gaze moving toward the corridor where she had disappeared earlier. The hallway had long since returned to its normal rhythm, students moving between classes, voices rising and falling in distant conversation, yet Lisa had not returned.
A faint unease settled in his chest.
Thirty minutes.
Maybe more.
That was no longer a “moment.”
His jaw tightened slightly as his instincts sharpened.
Something was wrong.
Without hesitation, he reached out through the mind link.
Check the west wing corridor, he instructed another guard. The princess went that way.
The response came quickly.
On my way.
The guard stepped away from his post, his movements now deliberate, his senses fully alert as he followed the path Lisa had taken. The corridors grew quieter the further he moved, the usual noise of the school fading behind him as he approached the more isolated sections.
Then he caught it - her scent. It was faint, almost lost beneath the lingering traces of students who had passed through the corridor earlier, but it was there, unmistakable to someone trained to recognize it. The moment it reached him, his focus sharpened instantly, his instincts locking onto it with quiet certainty.
The trail led toward the locker rooms, subtle but clear enough for him to follow, and without hesitation, his pace quickened, his steps growing more urgent as the unease in his chest deepened into something far more serious.
I have her trail, he sent through the link.
The second guard joined him moments later, and together they moved toward the source, their tension rising with every step.
The door to the locker room stood slightly open.
The first guard pushed it wider.
“Your highness…”
The word died on his lips.
Lisa lay on the floor.
Still.
Unmoving.
A thin trail of blood marked the back of her head, dark against her hair.
For a fraction of a second, the world seemed to narrow.
Then training took over.
He moved immediately, dropping to his knees beside her, carefully lifting her upper body.
“Princess,” he called, his voice controlled but urgent. “Can you hear me?”
No response.
Her breathing was steady - but faint.
His expression hardened.
Commander… His voice carried urgency, but also restraint, as if he was trying to hold steady despite what he was seeing.
I’m sorry to tell you this, but something has happened to the princess. We’ve just found her unconscious and injured.
The response came instantly, sharp and unfiltered.
What? Where exactly is she?
At Lunaris, sir, the guard answered immediately. West wing locker room.
The connection snapped with purpose.
The air shifted.
A ripple tore through the space beside them, a portal opening with sudden precision, and Liam stepped through without hesitation.
His presence filled the room instantly.
“Lisa…”
He was at her side in an instant, dropping beside her as the guard carefully transferred her into his arms. His movements, though quick, were controlled, his expression tightening the moment he saw the blood at the back of her head.
“What happened?” Liam demanded.
“She left the classroom alone – asked for a moment by herself.” the guard replied. “We found her like this.”
Liam’s jaw clenched, his gaze moving over Lisa’s face, searching for any sign of response.
“Lisa,” he called softly, his voice lowering instinctively.
No reaction.
His hand moved carefully to the back of her head, his fingers brushing against the wound.
The moment he touched her….
Something changed.
A faint warmth spread beneath his hand, subtle at first, then growing stronger. A soft glow flickered where his fingers rested, almost as if something inside him had awakened without warning.
Energy moved through him in a way he did not control and did not fully understand, rising instinctively from somewhere deep within him as his hand remained against her wound.
It was not deliberate, not something he guided with thought or intention, but something that simply responded to her condition, as if drawn toward her by a force stronger than his own awareness.
The warmth spread from him into her, steady and insistent, and almost immediately, pain followed, sharp and sudden, threading through his arm and into his chest, yet he did not pull away.
His grip tightened slightly, his focus entirely on her.
The glow brightened briefly…
Then faded.
Lisa inhaled sharply.
Her body stirred.
Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first before slowly finding clarity.
“Liam…?” her voice came out weak but present.
Relief hit him immediately.
“I’m here,” he said, steadying her gently. “You’re safe.”
Her brows knit together slightly as memory began to return.
“What happened?” Liam asked, his tone firm but calm. “Do you remember?”
Lisa blinked, her breathing uneven as she tried to sit up.
“The message….” she said quickly, her voice gaining urgency. “Isabel - where is Isabel?”
Liam’s expression shifted.
“What about her?”
“She texted me,” Lisa said, pushing herself up further despite the lingering weakness. “Her text sounded like she wanted to hurt herself. That’s why I came here.”
The air in the room seemed to tighten.
Liam’s gaze hardened.
He turned sharply to the guard.
“Find Isabel. Now.”
The guard nodded immediately and left, his steps quick and purposeful.
Silence settled briefly in his absence.
Liam steadied Lisa as she sat upright, his expression still tense.
“You were attacked,” he said quietly.
Lisa frowned, her hand moving instinctively toward the back of her head.
“I remember…” she murmured, her voice trailing off as fragments returned. “I called her… she didn’t answer… and then…”
Her expression tightened.
“Someone hit me.”
Liam’s jaw clenched.
Moments later, footsteps approached.
The guard returned.
Isabel was with him.
She rushed forward the moment she saw Lisa, her eyes wide with shock.
“Lisa, what happened?” she asked, dropping to her knees beside her.
Lisa looked at her, confusion flickering across her face.
“You texted me,” she said. “You told me to come here.”
Isabel froze.
“What?”
Lisa frowned, reaching for her phone and showing her the texts.
Isabel’s hands trembled slightly as she pulled out her own phone, unlocking it quickly.
Her eyes moved across the screen.
And then she stilled.
The messages were there, clearly sent from her number, the words unmistakably hers as they stared back at her from the screen, leaving no room for doubt about their origin. And yet, as she searched her mind for any memory of typing them, of sending them, of even thinking those words, there was nothing - no trace, no recollection, no moment she could hold onto - only a blank, unsettling emptiness where those actions should have been.
Her head lifted slowly, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I didn’t write this.”
The words settled heavily in the room.
Her grip on the phone tightened as she stared at the screen, her breath catching slightly.
“I would never send something like that,” she added, her voice trembling now, not with fear - but with disbelief.
Lisa’s gaze moved between her and the phone, the weight of what had just happened pressing in.
And in that moment, one truth became impossible to ignore.
Someone had used Isabel to lure Lisa to her attack.