Chapter 6
“Crown Prince!! What do you think you’re saying in front of your mother!”
Empress Yekaterina screamed in shock, but she knew she could no longer force him. The other party was an SS-Class Transcendent, not someone she could deal with through force.
‘So immature. What am I supposed to do with him…’
Even now, he must be suffering from all kinds of pain as a Transcendent, yet he was this stubborn, it was beyond belief. The Empress looked at Kasselard with irritated eyes, then turned her head away.
“I am appalled by your foolishness. Do not regret this later. The era of suppressing Guides and forcibly taking them as concubines or mistresses is over.”
“I’m not even insisting on taking that woman as a concubine either. Contact guiding with a woman like that… just thinking about it is horrifying.”
At Kasselard’s mention of contact guiding, the Empress’s gaze grew fierce. He might have brought it up to humiliate Ephinia, but it was no different from looking down on Guides as a whole.
“Good. Baroness Linier will find you horrifying as well. You seem to be mistaken, but there are no Guides who wish to guide you. Transcendents cannot live without Guides, but Guides can live without Transcendents!”
At the sharp retort, Kasselard flinched slightly, but he deliberately put on an arrogant expression. As the Empress turned to leave the imperial family’s private lounge, she turned her head back once more.
“No matter how much you dislike it, to give such humiliation to an innocent young lady! Is this the conduct of a Crown Prince, of a gentleman with chivalry? I am truly disappointed, Crown Prince! Do not go around saying you are my child!!”
Turning away again, the Empress left the private lounge with a demeanor cold enough to seem as if a chill wind were blowing. Left alone, Kasselard let out a sigh.
‘I’ve finally shaken that old hag off.’
It wasn’t that he felt no guilt at all, but rejection was unpleasant by nature. An A-Class Guide, there would be plenty of Transcendents desperate to comfort that woman at her side.
So, Kasselard thought, it was none of his concern.
* * *
The place where Ephinia was staying was the Lanas ducal residence, the Empress’s natal family, but officially, the one acting as her guardian was Count Aphis. Since she had also ridden the Aphis family’s carriage on the way back, she was able to receive comfort from Count Aphis’s daughter, who was herself a Transcendent.
When she left the ballroom, tears had poured down like a sudden downpour, but by the time she got into the carriage, they had subsided and everything was quiet.
“No one would have taken His Imperial Highness’s words seriously. He only made himself look foolish by slandering his Guide.”
Meredith Aphis was a guard personally assigned to Ephinia by the Empress. She herself was also a Transcendent who had not found a Guide, so she welcomed this assignment.
If not for this, a B-Class Transcendent like her would never have received guiding. She was searching for a male Guide as well, but higher-Class Transcendents usually claimed them first.
‘The Crown Prince is foolish too. If it were me, I’d carry her around on my back.’
Because her match rate with Ephinia was high, Meredith felt intoxicated every time she escorted her. Because of that, she had trouble managing her expression, her mouth corners and cheekbones twitching unconsciously.
The Crown Prince supposedly had a match rate in the ninety-percent range, far higher than hers, so he should feel even better. Why he kept piling up bad karma was beyond her.
‘They say the higher the rank, the more painful it is. Is SS-Class different?’
“If His Highness dislikes me that much, do I really have to become his Guide?”
Ephinia asked, lowering her head as if tears were about to fall from her long eyelashes.
She knew that while her match rate with Kasselard was the highest, she also had high match rates with many Transcendents. Normally, a match rate of 64% between a Guide and a Transcendent was considered average, and even 68% was evaluated as stable.
But for Ephinia, the seventy-percent range was common, and since she showed over 80% match rates with most S-Class Transcendents, she could pair with nearly any Transcendent she wanted.
It was only because of the Crown Prince that the imperial family was blocking this. It was obvious just from the fact that Ephinia’s residence was the Lanas ducal estate, the Empress’s natal home. Since the Aphis Countdom was also a vassal house of the Lanas Duchy, Meredith found it difficult to answer.
“Well… um, His Highness will eventually come to his senses.”
She wanted to advise that there was also the option of going abroad and guiding outside the Empire, but as the daughter of Count Aphis, it was not something she should say.
Meredith cursed the Crown Prince under her breath while watching Ephinia, who had grown quiet.
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