Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 178

Eventually, I let my hand slide from restraining him to casually hanging on his neck, and he chuckled as if impressed.

I grumbled out of embarrassment,

“…I thought kisses were for weddings.”

“Too bad. Maybe we should just get married when I get back.”

“…Stop teasing.”

As I growled, Claude chuckled again, peppering my cheek with kisses. Then he deeply captured my lips.

I intended to just give him a light peck since we were outside, but startled by his probing tongue, I tried to pull back only for him to pull me in deeper, boldly mingling our tongues.

I ended up moaning helplessly in his embrace, and he seemed very pleased to swallow those sounds too.

During that,

…Trickle.

“Ah!”

Startled, I snapped my head up, and his following tongue paused momentarily.

“Did you see? Did you feel?”

“What?”

“The guiding! It hasn’t been working lately!”

I had wanted to do it properly before he left, but it hadn’t been working recently.

Not that it wasn’t exhilarating enough to make me giddy, and Claude laughed incredulously before pulling me close.

His embrace felt too good. Just imagining not being able to hug him for a month was overwhelmingly daunting. I needed to hug him as much as I could while I could.

As we hugged tightly, his large hand stroked my head, and I enjoyed the pleasant touch until suddenly his lips brushed against my ear.

“…I really have to go now.”

With that, Claude set me back on the ground.

While in his arms, nothing else seemed visible. But as soon as I stepped away from his embrace, I suddenly noticed other things around us.

For instance, the Espers and Guides already aboard the departing vehicles who couldn’t start because of us.

Oscar, at least, was managing a mock vomiting gesture. The others, even Shana, couldn’t manage their expressions and were deliberately looking away.

Those bidding farewell had already joined the cheering ranks on either side.

That meant, standing on the road in the center, it was just Claude and me, alone.

“J-Just go!”

I shouted hastily and ran back to where I was originally.

As soon as I returned, Simeyez and Epine started giggling.

“For something so trivial…”

“Don’t say anything.”

“The farewell was quite hot and passionate.”

“…”

I deliberately ignored them.

Claude remained standing in the same spot for a while after I left. He watched me return to my place and only then did he finally turn around.

By then, the smile had faded from his face.

Eventually, the vehicles began to move slowly after he boarded. The spectators who were cheering also started to leave.

But I stood as if rooted to the spot, gazing at the tiny dot that the car had become in the distance.

Endlessly, endlessly.

…This was the first day Claude was not by my side.

***

Half slumped over the desk, I listened to the guiding training without spirit.

‘Ah, so boring…’

The boring phase of life had arrived. Everything felt dull and uninspiring.

I used to feel so proud and joyful when I attentively listened to the guiding training and received excellent grades while securing a good stipend. But not now.

What good does it do if I perform well? Claude says it’s dangerous and won’t take me to the battle anyway, huh.

I half-heartedly listened to the training and took the quiz.

But my vast background knowledge and test-taking savvy made me top the class again.

“Wow, Miss Rose. You’re first again! How do you consistently maintain such good grades? Can we hear your secret?”

Demona announced the test results and passed the microphone to me again to hear my thoughts.

These days, Demona is really happy. Oscar also passed, and overall, the Guides’ exam scores have improved. And Demona thinks all that is thanks to me.

Maybe that’s why. To succeed in the ‘Project to Increase Guide Academic Achievement by 10%,’ she tried to use me whenever possible. The usual request for a speech from the top scorer was part of that initiative.

If it were the old times, I would have been thrilled about receiving 1.3 million Berks and prepared a great speech more enthusiastically than anyone.

But now… everything just felt bothersome.