Reincarnated as the Villainess's Unlucky Bodyguard-Chapter 217: How to Kill a Demon Queen Without Killing the Hero in the Process

Enara didn't mean to imagine Kael being catapulted off the castle ramparts.

It just sort of… happened.

Mostly because he was still talking about Liria.

Liria's hair, Liria's eyes, the "tragic sorrow" in Liria's expression. The way she'd stood motionless on the battlefield, looking like a goddess forged in heartbreak and moonlight. His words, not Enara's.

If he said "there was just something in her aura" one more time, Enara was going to throw her chair at him.

With her mind.

Using actual magic.

And then set it on fire.

"—and when she looked at me, it was like she was screaming for help, but through a storm, and the storm was her soul, you know?"

"I don't know," Enara said tightly, arms folded so tightly across her chest it felt like she might snap her own ribs. "I really, really don't."

They were seated in the war chamber of the inner sanctum—an imposing hall lined with onyx pillars and glowing sigils. A grand, circular table of black ironwood dominated the center of the room, maps and enchanted scrolls spread across its surface like the scattered remains of a fallen empire.

Around the table sat the most dangerous demons of the realm.

Queen Verida, still armored, her massive arms crossed as she glared at Kael like he was an invasive species.

Nyssara, cool and unreadable, sipping something purple and probably poisonous from a crystal goblet while her gaze dissected Kael's every gesture.

Daena, sharpening a dagger very slowly as Kael spoke, her expression calm, which made it infinitely more dangerous.

Ananara, perched proudly on a silk cushion like the world's most judgmental fruit, sipping demonberry juice with a straw and somehow managing to radiate disdain.

And Enara.

Who was trying very hard not to spontaneously combust from the jealousy simmering in her gut like molten acid.

"This meeting," Nyssara said, voice smooth and deliberate, "was meant to discuss strategy. Not romantic delusions."

"It's not a delusion," Kael said, hurt flickering across his stupidly expressive face. "I'm just saying Liria isn't the enemy."

"She is currently standing beside the actual enemy," Daena said flatly, testing the dagger's edge against her thumb. "Which is generally considered a disqualifying factor."

Kael's brows furrowed. "But she didn't attack anyone. She's being controlled."

"We know," Enara said, a bit too quickly. "And I know that."

Kael glanced at her, hopeful. "So we agree?"

"No," she snapped. "I'm just saying I understand. Doesn't mean I want to hear you recite sonnets about her collarbones every ten seconds."

Verida snorted. Loudly.

Ananara spoke up then, voice silky with menace. "Can we please return to the part where we discuss murdering Azael? Preferably in gruesome, soul-destroying detail? Because that's a conversation I am actually interested in."

"Agreed," Nyssara said calmly. "Kael, if you must pine for the possessed girl, do it silently. Some of us are trying to plan the downfall of a war criminal."

Kael blinked. "Right. Yes. Sorry."

He fell silent for about seven whole seconds.

Then: "But she really did look like she wanted to be saved—"

A knife thunked into the table an inch from his hand.

Daena didn't look up. "Oops."

Enara rubbed her temples with both hands. How is this my life?

"Fine," she said, standing. "Let's make a plan. A real plan. We can't keep playing defense while Azael picks off our territories like a child plucking wings off insects. We need to strike first."

Verida nodded, clearly pleased by her daughter's sharpness. "We'll have to target her directly. Her army regenerates too quickly. We'll never win through attrition."

"We'd need to bypass her front lines entirely," Nyssara added, tapping a clawed finger against the map. "Teleportation is unstable near her fortress, but if we breach the wards from within—"

"We'd need someone on the inside," Daena finished grimly.

The room went quiet.

Everyone turned slowly to look at Enara.

She didn't flinch. "It has to be Liria."

Kael's eyes lit up. "Yes! She would help us!"

"I didn't say she would," Enara said, giving him a warning look. "I said she has to."

Ananara sighed dramatically. "This is going to end in tears. Possibly dismemberment. I can feel it."

"Can you feel anything?" Daena muttered.

"I can feel your attitude," the pineapple said sweetly.

Nyssara cut in before things could devolve further. "Regardless of emotional instability of which there is clearly an abundance we agree that our only real chance is to break Azael's control over Liria."

"And then use her knowledge of Azael's domain to rip the whole thing apart from the inside," Verida added with a satisfied nod.

"Problem," Daena said. "Liria's mind is being overridden. That kind of enchantment doesn't break with a hug and a speech about friendship."

"Then how do we break it?" Enara asked, voice tight.

Everyone turned to Kael again.

He looked surprised. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Because you're the protagonist, dumbass," Ananara chirped.

"Your sword," Enara said slowly, "the light it emits. It disrupted Azael's shadow magic in the last battle. It didn't cleanse Liria, but it weakened the effect. Maybe if you got closer…"

Kael stood straighter, nodding eagerly. "I can try. I'll do anything."

Enara ground her teeth. Of course he would.

Of course he'd march in with his floppy hair and earnest smile, and Liria would look at him with those eyes of hers the ones Enara used to think were only for her.

Jealousy curdled in her stomach, toxic and irrational. She's not yours, a voice whispered cruelly. You never even told her. And now someone else will.

"Enara," Nyssara said, snapping her out of it. "You good?"

Enara blinked. "Fine."

Kael smiled at her again sincere and oblivious. "Thanks for trusting me with this."

She wanted to punch him.

She smiled instead. "Of course."

Daena gave her a sidelong glance. "You're not going to kill him, are you?"

Enara inhaled through her nose. "Not unless he calls her 'angel' again."

"I said it once," Kael muttered.

"You whispered it," Enara corrected. "While sighing."

Verida cleared her throat. "Before this meeting becomes a murder scene, let's review: Kael gets close enough to Liria to use his light to weaken Azael's spell. Meanwhile, we prepare a second strike from the rear lines. If we succeed in freeing her, she becomes our primary weapon against Azael."

"And if we don't?" Daena asked.

"Then we lose everything," Nyssara said calmly. "But that's always been true."

The room fell silent.

Then Ananara hopped off his cushion and clapped his leafy fronds together. "Well, now that we've planned the impossible, anyone up for drinks? No? Just me? Fine."

Enara ignored him. She walked slowly to the balcony at the edge of the room, staring out at the crimson-hued horizon.

She didn't want to trust Kael. Didn't want him near Liria. Didn't want him to succeed where she had failed.

But more than anything, she didn't want to lose her again.

So she would do what she always did endure.

And wait when the moment came, she'd bring Liria home or burn the world trying.