Chapter 14
She was prepared to persuade that rude and frightening Crown Prince. According to what she had heard from Her Majesty the Empress, he had recently been cornered because suppressants were no longer working.
He was using guiding substitutes, but since he could no longer abuse medication as he had before, his condition seemed far from good.
Regardless of the countship, it was a serious matter. If he were pushed to the brink of rampage, the imperial family would surely pressure her to perform deep contact guiding.
If they applied pressure by invoking the lives of the capital’s citizens, Ephinia would have no choice but to carry out guiding on him.
‘But that… I’d rather die than do that!’
Even if she guided him like that, only she would be left miserable, while the Crown Prince would still glare at her as if he were looking at something filthy beyond words. No matter how much the world had changed into an era where advanced contraceptive magic tools allowed for free s****l lives, she didn’t want to do that kind of thing with a man like him.
This was an issue that touched on her instinct to protect herself.
“Please come in, Baroness.”
She hadn’t waited as long as she expected. Just a little over twenty minutes. Sending a slightly surprised look, Ephinia followed the attendant and headed toward the Crown Prince’s bedroom.
Kasselard was there. He was sitting carelessly on a sofa placed deeper inside the bedroom. He was dressed simply in a shirt and trousers, but his hair looked not fully dry, and the half-loosened shirt somehow looked obscene.
‘Has something gone wrong with his head?’
Or maybe he was just stupid enough to want to look rude like that. Coincidentally, paired with his excessively handsome face, it looked like an outfit meant to seduce women.
That can’t be it.
If it were, Ephinia was ready to throw dignity aside, grab the hem of her dress with one hand to bare her ankles, and run as if the palace were on fire.
“You say you came under Her Majesty the Empress’s orders?”
A Transcendent’s instincts were frightening.
No matter how bad his condition had been, he had never found a Guide pretty before, yet aside from Fleur, who had been beautiful to begin with, this was the first time a woman had looked this pretty to him.
‘My head’s been hurting nonstop, did something go wrong with my eyes?’
He spoke deliberately in a crooked tone, trying to intimidate her, but it didn’t seem to work as intended. The woman who had been frightened and even shed tears at the ballroom spoke boldly now.
“I have come to deliver important words under Her Majesty the Empress’s command. This is not something that must leak outside, so please dismiss the others.”
She sounded fairly brave, but the end of her words was trembling. Kasselard hesitated for a moment over whether to mess with her, then decided it would be troublesome if she cried again and waved his hand to dismiss the attendants.
Thud.
When the door closed, Ephinia’s gaze moved from the door back to Kasselard. He hesitated over whether to tell her to sit, then eventually pointed to the seat across from him.
He had already been told not to let people say he was acting like a child, and if it were discovered that he had kept the Baroness standing, it wouldn’t end with just a scolding.
“Sit.”
“Thank you.”
Ephinia moved as she said that, her face tense. At the ball, he had thought it was just the makeup, but seeing her again, her skin looked fair and smooth.
‘This is driving me crazy. After sending her away, I’ll drink one more bottle no matter what Bart says.’
This dizzy head was clearly because he lacked guiding. His waves were tangled, and the pain felt like his whole body was being torn apart, so he was seeing things.
“Get to the point. I’m not as idle as you, Baroness.”
“Her Majesty the Empress said that if I guide Your Highness until you turn twenty-seven, I will be allowed to form a pair with another Transcendent.”
What nonsense was this.
It should have been welcome news, yet a surge of emotion rose instead. Kasselard felt his brow furrow on its own.
“What kind of nonsense is that. Did Her Majesty the Empress really promise that?”
“Truly, Her Majesty did. She also said that I wouldn’t have to do deep contact guiding.”
“Nonsense.”
To begin with, wasn’t the difference in their ranks obvious. It was clear that without deep contact guiding, it wouldn’t be proper guiding at all, and yet she said deep contact guiding wasn’t necessary.
‘If I so much as spend a night with that woman, they’ll seize on that as an excuse and hastily engage me to her!’
In a world where contraceptive magic tools were well developed, a man and woman spending the night together carried no stigma, but he could practically see the Emperor and Empress stubbornly insisting otherwise.
“Without deep contact guiding, how could it even be guiding. But regardless, I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Me neither. I don’t intend to kiss you either.”
The way Ephinia quickly chimed in, as if in agreement, struck Kasselard squarely in the head.
It’s only natural that I’m refusing because I don’t want to get engaged to you, but… what’s with you?!
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