Reincarnated as the Villainess’s Unlucky Bodyguard

Liria rubbed her temples, trying to shake off the pounding ache that had settled behind her eyes. Something felt off. She had felt it ever since they returned to the castle. A strange tension, like an itch beneath her skin that she couldn't quite scratch.

She sat in her room, legs crossed on the massive, overstuffed armchair near the fireplace. The flames crackled softly, casting flickering shadows across the dark stone walls. Outside, the night stretched endlessly, the faint glow of the twin moons barely piercing the thick clouds.

Ananara was perched on the windowsill, staring at her. Judging her, as always.

"You're restless," the pineapple finally said, its sharp voice cutting through the silence.

Liria rolled her eyes. "No kidding. Maybe it's because I'm processing the fact that we almost died in a dungeon full of nightmare creatures. Or maybe it's because Enara's parents looked at me like I was about to sprout a second head."

"Hmm," Ananara mused, clearly unimpressed.

Liria exhaled sharply, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just ever since I touched that damn treasure, I've felt weird. Like I'm…" She hesitated, trying to put the feeling into words. "Like I'm standing in a room with a door slightly open. And something is on the other side. Watching. Waiting."

Ananara's leaves twitched. "That does sound bad. But also, very on-brand for you."

Liria scowled. "Gee, thanks for the support."

The pineapple huffed. "I'm just saying, if you're about to go berserk and start glowing with ominous hellfire, can you at least warn me first? I'd like to roll myself out of the blast zone."

Before she could respond, a knock at her door interrupted them.

"Liria?"

Enara's voice.

Liria hesitated for half a second before answering. "Come in."

The door creaked open, and Enara stepped inside, her dark robes trailing behind her like liquid shadow. She looked the same as always impeccably put together, regal, utterly composed. But there was something else in her expression tonight. A flicker of something uncertain.

"You're awake," Enara said, closing the door behind her.

Liria quirked a brow. "Clearly."

Enara didn't sit. She just stood there, watching her.

Liria sighed. "Okay, just say it. You think something's wrong with me, don't you?"

A muscle in Enara's jaw tightened. "I think something happened to you."

Liria leaned back, folding her arms. "I'm fine."

"Liria."

Her name, spoken in that voice quiet, firm, unyielding made something in her chest tighten.

"I saw what happened in the dungeon," Enara continued. "I felt it. You were strong before, but now… It's different. Your magic, your presence it feels like it's shifting, like something inside you is waking up."

Liria forced a laugh. "Well, I did level up."

She meant it as a joke, but Enara didn't smile. She took a step closer, her dark eyes narrowing. "You're hiding something."

Liria's stomach twisted. Because she was.

She had gained thirteen levels in an instant. Her stats had skyrocketed. Power thrummed through her veins like a second heartbeat. And yet, she hadn't told anyone.

Because something inside her whispered that she shouldn't.

Because the moment she touched that core, something had changed.

Before she could think of a response, a sudden wave of dizziness hit her like a punch to the gut. The room tilted. The firelight blurred. Her breath caught as her vision fractured.

And then a voice.

"My dear child… You're finally listening."

A freezing weight settled over her, wrapping around her like an unseen force.

No.

No, no, no.

Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as something pulled.

She barely registered Enara rushing toward her, her voice sharp with alarm. "Liria?"

Liria's body jerked. A surge of something not hers, not right coiled inside her chest. Her limbs felt heavy. Her mind sluggish.

Her own voice came out strange, wrong. A whisper laced with something dark, something ancient.

"Everything is fine."

Enara froze, her expression sharpening with suspicion. "Liria…?"

Liria's lips curled into a slow smile. But it wasn't hers.

Deep inside her own mind, buried beneath the surface, Liria screamed.

Enara barely had a second to react before Liria moved.

It was fast too fast. One second, she was standing there, a strange smile curling her lips, and the next, her blade was already drawn, streaking toward Enara's throat like a silver blur.

Enara's instincts kicked in. She ducked just in time, the edge of Liria's sword slicing through the air where her neck had been. A sharp gust of displaced wind blew past her, ruffling the hem of her robes.

What the hell?

Enara twisted away, putting distance between them. "Liria?" she called, but there was no response.

Liria's mismatched eyes gleamed under the dim firelight, but they were wrong. There was something vacant about them something distant, as if she weren't entirely there.

And then she lunged again. Enara barely had time to block as Liria's blade came down in a brutal arc. She caught it with a hastily conjured shield of dark energy, the impact sending a violent shock up her arms.

The force behind Liria's attacks it wasn't normal.

They had sparred before. Trained together. Enara knew Liria's strength, her movements, her style. But this this was different.

Liria was stronger. Faster. And worst of all, she wasn't holding back.

Enara's mind raced. This wasn't a training match. This wasn't her friend, her protector, her whatever Liria was to her.

This was something else entirely.

She didn't even have time to process the thought before Liria was on her again.

Blades clashed, sparks igniting where steel met steel. Enara gritted her teeth, pouring magic into her sword to reinforce it. She had to hold her ground had to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Liria!" she tried again, voice sharp. "Snap out of it!"

No response.

Liria's movements were precise, ruthless, like a predator hunting prey. Every attack was aimed to kill. There was no hesitation, no restraint.

This isn't her. This can't be her. Enara shifted her stance, weaving through Liria's strikes, dodging, deflecting, trying to find an opening.

She needed to end this.

Liria's blade arced toward her ribs. Enara barely managed to twist away, but the tip of the sword nicked her side, searing pain flaring along her skin. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire

Damn it. Enara gritted her teeth and retaliated, sweeping her leg out in a calculated kick. She aimed for Liria's knee something to destabilize her, to force her off balance.

But Liria didn't fall.

Instead, she caught Enara's leg mid-air.

Enara's eyes widened. That shouldn't have been possible. Not unless—

A sharp pulse of power rippled from Liria's body, a heat so intense that the very air around her shimmered.

Fire.

Uncontrolled, scorching, suffocating fire.

Enara barely had time to yank herself free before the flames surged outward.

The room exploded into heat.

The fire was alive crawling up the walls, licking at the ceiling, devouring the air. Shadows flickered wildly against the blazing inferno, twisting, distorting.

Enara stumbled back, heart hammering.

What is happening to her?

She had seen Liria use fire magic before but not like this. This was raw. Unstable.

And Liria wasn't controlling it.

She stood in the center of the flames, head tilted slightly, her long two-toned hair shifting with the heat. Her sword hung loosely at her side, but her posture was eerily relaxed, like a marionette waiting for its next command.

Enara's hands clenched into fists.

She didn't know who was controlling Liria. But she knew one thing:

She wasn't going to lose her. Not like this.

With a sharp exhale, Enara centered herself, magic pulsing beneath her skin.

If brute force wouldn't work, then she needed a different approach.

She reached into the shadows.

Darkness coiled around her fingers, responding to her call, bending to her will. It twisted like smoke, swirling around her wrists, ready to strike.

"Liria," she said, softer this time. "I don't know who's doing this to you, but I'm getting you back."

Liria didn't react. Enara's grip on her sword tightened. Then she vanished.

For a split second, she became one with the darkness. A mere flicker, a breath of shadow moving through the fire.

She reappeared behind Liria.

Before Liria could react, Enara grabbed her wrist not to attack, but to anchor her.

And then she whispered, "Come back to me."

For the first time, Liria hesitated.

It was barely a flicker an almost imperceptible pause in her movements but it was there.

Enara saw it. Felt it.

A crack in the control.

A thread of something real beneath the suffocating weight of whatever had taken hold of her.

It was enough. With a sharp surge of magic, Enara pulled. Not physically. Not even magically.

She pulled at Liria's essence.

At the connection between them, the fragile, unspoken bond that had been forged through battles, through laughter, through quiet moments that neither of them ever talked about.

Liria jerked.

Her body shuddered. Her breathing hitched.

And then—

A sound , a fractured, strangled gasp , not from Liria.

From something else.

A voice, distant and furious, echoing through the burning room.

"You meddlesome little—"

And then, just as suddenly as it had started—

The fire died.

The heat vanished.

Liria's body collapsed.

Enara caught her before she could hit the ground, arms wrapping instinctively around her as they both sank to their knees.

Liria's body was trembling. Her breath was uneven, ragged, as if she had been drowning and had only just come up for air.

Enara didn't let go.Not yet.

She didn't say anything. Didn't demand explanations, didn't ask questions.

She just held on. And after a long, shuddering breath Liria clung back.