Chapter 195
Daniel, trying to lighten the solemn atmosphere, asked in a noticeably brighter voice.
“You asked me why I didn’t go on the deployment… but you didn’t go either, Miss Rose. It must be hard being apart so soon after you imprinted. You must miss him a lot.”
“Well, yes…”
I couldn’t exactly gush about it in front of a true fan who had just heard such a scandalous piece of news.
I mumbled an evasive answer… but the truth was, I missed him a lot.
When I lived with Irene, I always wished to live alone. But now that Claude was gone and I had the big house to myself, it wasn’t enjoyable at all. The moment I opened the front door, the peculiar silence of an empty house suffocated me.
Lying alone in bed at night made me feel strange. I had become accustomed to being held. The bed felt too big and empty. So, I kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep easily.
When we parted, I scolded and stopped him from trying to kiss me in front of everyone. If I had known I’d miss him this much, I would have allowed a bit more.
These days, whenever I thought of Claude, my thoughts spiraled endlessly.
Lost in thought, I didn’t even notice when Daniel’s hand suddenly got close.
Daniel was probably trying to remove the leaves and twigs tangled in my messy hair. Without much thought, just absentmindedly.
The problem was…
“Ack…!”
Daniel recoiled as if he had been shocked by static electricity, pulling back his hand that had brushed my forehead.
His intense reaction left me blinking in confusion, trying to understand what had just happened.
The sensation I felt was so faint, like a thread or a spiderweb, that I couldn’t even be sure if something had touched my skin.
But the moment I saw Daniel’s incredulous expression, I realized.
…Ah, I fxxxed up.
It seemed I had accidentally guided Daniel.
* * *
“Rose, did you get any sleep? You look really tired…”
Epine asked with concern.
“I’m fine.”
I rubbed my dry eyes and gave a vague answer.
Of course, it was a lie. I couldn’t explain the real reason, so I just brushed it off. But the truth was, I really had been losing sleep.
For the past few days, I had been having nightmares. Daniel appeared in those dreams.
He still had his angelic beauty… but his contemptuous gaze and cold expression made me feel incredibly small.
‘Guiding is a noble right for Espers who risk their lives in battle. To shirk your duty under the false pretense of being already imprinted is to deceive both Espers and Guides.’
The Daniel I knew was someone who would willingly sacrifice himself for the weak. Therefore, even in my dreams, Daniel couldn’t ignore the injustice before him.
In the end, he revealed to everyone that I hadn’t actually been properly imprinted.
At one point, I even considered revealing that Claude and I did not imprint. Especially during the few days after Claude had thrown 4 billion Berks into the air.
But the situation in my dream was anything but pleasant.
‘So, you’ve been wasting time under the pretense of being imprinted while everyone else was training. It was all a lie?’
‘Did you think we enjoyed guiding the Espers?’
All the guides who had supported and liked me now hated me. Even Simeyez and Epine, the ones I was closest to, turned against me.
I became an irresponsible liar and a cowardly traitor.
That wasn’t the end of it.
‘So, we can all share this Guide now without any issues, right?’
Espers, with faces full of desire, reached out their dark hands toward me.
Please, someone help me. Don’t leave me alone.
I tried desperately to ask for help…
‘You left me completely alone and ignored me… Can’t you endure this much?’
Daniel, speaking with contempt and turning away, was the last person to leave me. With Claude gone, there was no one left to help me.
But would it really have been different if Claude had been there?
‘What exactly is your problem?’
The sharp voice, like a honed blade, made my heart sink. The fact that it was just a dream was no comfort at all.
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