Chapter 20
Hylian and Fleur’s match rate was 78%. The match rate with the Guide who had guided him before was around 57.8%.
An increase of 20% might not seem like much, but when he received her guiding, it had felt so good that he had praised himself for not losing control and pouncing on her then and there.
“High match rates can cause that.”
He didn’t ask whether Kasselard had guided with Ephinia. If he said something like that, this unpredictable cousin of his would surely snap in denial and run off.
“So it’s just that the match rate is high?”
“It means there’s a high guiding absorption rate, so the Transcendent’s body welcomes it first. It’s a natural phenomenon, so there’s no need to think of it as strange.”
‘But I don’t want to welcome it! That’s the problem!’
To be precise, Kasselard’s physical condition hadn’t improved dramatically. The value had dropped by less than twenty. However, one of the many pains tormenting his body had disappeared cleanly, which made him feel strange.
‘It’s so much more efficient than a guiding substitute potion.’
He was accustomed to being in chronically poor condition, so he had thought that receiving a bit of guiding wouldn’t shake him much. Just like how one stitched wound doesn’t mean much to someone covered in serious injuries, he assumed guiding with her would be about that level.
But the overwhelming pleasure that made him forget the pain caused by his waves confused him. And his physical condition too… From experience, he knew that in a state like this, both guiding substitutes and suppressants would be well received.
‘Why does it feel this good?’
It felt so good that he grew restless. He found himself waiting for Ephinia’s touch. The thought that once she started guiding, he would helplessly collapse and fall apart was so vivid that it flustered him.
“Th-then… d-do Guides feel it too?”
“The lower-ranked side tends to feel it more.”
It hadn’t looked that way at all. Kasselard felt dissatisfied and closed his mouth, but then realized that he was the only one who had been toyed with in intimate places.
‘I tried to kiss her, and she backed away in surprise.’
Was that reaction not because she disliked him, but because it was so stimulating that she avoided it? No matter how stimulating a palm might be, it would be hard to feel much from that alone. Even considering the difference in rank.
‘Should I touch Ephinia too?’
Just imagining it made blood rush to his lower body, so he hastily erased the fantasy. Kasselard shook his head hard.
It was a thought he couldn’t allow. If he did that, things would surely go exactly the way Her Majesty the Empress wanted. And yet, for some reason, right now he felt like asking what would be so bad about it.
‘No, no! I can’t!!’
The sense of aversion had not only vanished but left barely any trace, yet Kasselard’s resolve was still firm… for now. Because Hylian, married to Fleur, was right in front of him. His cousin Hylian had been bound to a Guide like Fleur, and he himself…
‘She doesn’t seem that gloomy though.’
Her hair was dark, but it looked smooth and silky. The way she ran off with a startled, rabbit-like face was quite cute… No. She definitely looked pretty.
Seeing Kasselard frowning in thought, Hylian reached for his pen and spoke.
“Has it been going well with your Guide?”
“What?”
Kasselard frowned as if he had suddenly snapped back to his senses. Since Hylian had no idea what button he had pressed, he hesitated with the pen in his hand.
“What do you mean, going well? I’m not in any kind of relationship with that woman.”
“If Your Highness says so, then that must be the case.”
Once guiding had started, it was only a matter of time before Kasselard gave in. After all, his match rate was said to be as high as 98%, even higher than Hylian’s with his Guide.
So Hylian was willing to be generous about Kasselard’s stubbornness. No matter how much he resisted, the one who would suffer later was Kasselard himself.
As for Hylian, he could simply sit by, drink tea, and watch.
‘I should report to Their Majesties that things seem to be progressing smoothly.’
“I’m not saying that just to say it, it’s really true! A proper Guide might appear for me later on.”
What Kasselard wanted was likely a young lady of marriageable age from a high-ranking noble house in the capital awakening as a Guide. But no matter how much he struggled, it would be difficult to overcome that match rate.
They said a match rate in the ninety percent range had appeared only once in four hundred years. Even if he received guiding from another Guide, it was obvious he would think of Baroness Linier and end up hovering around her.
‘Let him suffer a bit.’
Hylian laughed inwardly, recalling how Kasselard had relentlessly interfered when he himself had pursued Fleur.
Seeing that expression, Kasselard looked displeased, but he couldn’t find further fault and withdrew, repeatedly emphasizing that he had no relationship whatsoever with Baroness Linier.
Reading the report that the Crown Prince had left, Hylian ordered tea to be brought. It seemed there was no longer any need to worry about the Crown Prince’s rampage problem.
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