Chapter 78
“I’ll do everything for you. Everything you want… so don’t abandon me.”
Whispering softly in a gentle voice, he carried her into the bathroom. The bathtub was still full of water. A magic stone kept the temperature constant so it had not cooled, but Kasselard cleared it all away with magic.
He didn’t like the idea of washing Ephinia in water that had been left sitting with flower petals floating in it. After emptying the tub, he laid her inside and carefully washed her body with devoted hands.
Even after falling asleep as if she had lost consciousness, she seemed to still feel it, letting out small, cute sounds as her body twisted slightly. Unable to endure it, he relieved his own desire with his hand while pressing kisses all over her sleeping face.
After leaving the bath, he called the maids to change the sheets, then lay down on the bed again. Ephinia, sleeping soundly in his arms as if the world didn’t exist, felt unbearably lovely to him.
‘No matter what you say, I won’t let you go.’
She was his salvation and his only love. Without her, he couldn’t live. So… he had no choice but to hold on to her, by any means necessary.
Hoping she would someday forgive him, Kasselard fell asleep. The soft sound of Ephinia’s quiet breathing felt like a lullaby.
* * *
The dazzling sunlight passed through the double curtains, softened and gentler by the time it reached the room. Ephinia burrowed closer into his chest, seeking the warmth.
The solid arm wrapped around her should have felt uncomfortable, but to her it felt reassuring.
‘Why?’
Still drowsy, she rubbed her face against the warm chest and thought. It wasn’t soft, but it felt nice.
This is Kasselard.
Among the men who might hold her like this, only the Crown Prince had a body like this. There were probably other Transcendents like him, but he was the only one she could think of right now.
‘Is it because the guiding worked?’
After letting out a small yawn, Ephinia came to her senses and hurriedly felt along his arm to find the magic device. When she saw that the crystal was glowing green instead of blue, she felt disappointed.
‘Is it because I’m only A-Class? It’s not easy.’
Still, his waves had entered a stable range, so it was half a success. If it was 237, penetrative guiding should bring it down to zero right away.
Of course, it wouldn’t be possible with just once.
But more importantly…
With a cold feeling creeping over her, Ephinia glanced toward the curtained window. No matter how she looked at it, the angle of the sunlight was far from evening.
‘I stayed the night.’
It had been afternoon when she entered this room, and now it was morning. She had intended to return to the Lanas manor even if it was late, once the guiding was finished, but she had lost consciousness.
Kasselard must have happily held her and gone to sleep. He had been whining for her to stay the night at his palace even before.
It had already happened. She didn’t regret it. Last night had truly been satisfying. It was a night significant enough to mark a major turning point in her life.
‘Wait… this isn’t something that ends with just once.’
A Transcendent’s waves naturally became tangled over time, and using their abilities only accelerated the process. To keep him stable, regular guiding would be necessary.
As the only SS-Class Transcendent in the Empire, he would likely be assigned missions to eliminate rifts. Until now, he had been excluded because his condition was so poor that he was close to rampaging, but now things were different.
‘Wow. What should I do?’
Realizing that she was looking forward to the moments of guiding Kasselard, Ephinia’s cheeks flushed. She should not come to like this. But there was nothing she could do about how good it felt.
Would she become addicted? No… it shouldn’t be to that extent.
By nature, she was someone who knew how to give things up. Since childhood, the only thing she had ever been able to protect, even a little, was herself.
The hairpins given to her because she was cute as a child, the silver coins pressed into her hand because she served well, the neatly dyed handkerchiefs, even the small wooden bird decoration a senior had brought back from the night market. There were countless things that had been taken from her.
Each time those experiences piled up, Ephinia learned how to resign herself. Endless anger and resentment only exhausted her.
Even so, she held onto hope. If she gave that up too, she wouldn’t be able to live.
‘Someday, when I become an adult, I’ll be able to make a place where I’m safe.’
When that time came, she too would be able to have something that she could call ‘mine’.
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