Chapter 1
Prologue
Am I going to die like this.
Liria blinked through the haze clouding her mind. Her entire body was burning so fiercely that even twitching a single finger was difficult. Ragged breaths escaped through her slightly parted lips.
The heat that seemed ready to cook her from the inside out, along with the throbbing pain, were warning signs of an imminent rampage.
The price of using her power recklessly.
If this continued, she really would die with her insides charred black. That, at least, she absolutely wanted to avoid. With great effort, Liria moved her hand and clutched the fabric in front of her.
At that, the man who had been racing along with her limp body in his arms lowered his head.
“Just hold on a little longer. We’re almost there. I’ll summon a priest and physician right away.”
What good would calling those people do?
Only a Guide could resolve an Esper’s rampage. The man should have known that, yet he was acting frantic.
The fact that he was speaking informally instead of using the distant, polite speech he normally used with her was proof enough.
Cradled in his arms, Liria stared up at a face that remained flawlessly handsome even from below. Brilliant golden hair framed exquisitely defined features. Clear blue eyes like glass. A high, straight nose and well-shaped lips.
His looks deserved to be called beautiful just as much as handsome.
The man flung open a door and entered somewhere, then carefully laid her down on a bed. Feeling this, Liria squeezed out her voice.
“Imper…ial… Pr, ince…”
You’re ridiculously pretty. And you smell nice. I’m a little cold, so could you keep holding me?
Of the countless things circling inside her mouth, what actually came out was…
“What is it? Don’t push yourself. Does it hurt a lot?”
“Do you really, not like, me?”
The man had been listening closely with a worried expression, wondering what she was going to say, but his brow immediately furrowed. At the look in his eyes that seemed to ask whether she really wanted to ask something like that even now, Liria tugged on his clothes.
Even if I’m going to die, I should at least hear the answer first.
“You actually like me, don’t you…? Right? I was right, wasn’t I…?”
“Liria Devlin, is that important right now?”
“Yeees…”
“…I’m so dumbfounded I don’t even know what to say.”
The man pressed a hand to his forehead, squeezed his eyes shut, and sighed. Meanwhile, the pain was growing worse and worse, and Liria called for him between panting breaths.
“Lord, Ian…kiss me.”
Ian flinched at her desperate voice and looked at Liria with a complicated expression. She was soaked in sweat and thoroughly disheveled. His blue eyes wavered for an instant.
He abruptly turned his head away and clenched his fist tightly as though holding something back.
“Why should I. It’s not like there’s anything pretty about you, Ducal Lady.”
“…Am I ugly? Is that why you don’t like me, unlike in the novel?”
“What are you talking about. What book all of a sudden-.”
“Hngh, then I’m going to die now…? Without even getting guiding, hngh, miserably…”
Tears spilled from the corners of her sharp eyes and quickly soaked Liria’s face. When she began sobbing like a child, Ian hurriedly wiped away her tears and tried to soothe her.
“Why are you crying. Don’t cry. Do you think I’d let you die? I was going to call another Guide.”
“I don’t want that…”
“What?”
“Guide me yourself, Your Highness.”
With her eyes and the tip of her nose flushed red, Liria abruptly grabbed his hand. Her small, soft hand was terribly hot, making Ian furrow his brow.
Could there possibly be anyone in the world more stubborn than this?
She was giving him a headache, but at the same time, anxiety gnawed at him over the possibility that something might happen to her. Her temperature continuing to rise was hardly a good sign.
She needed guiding immediately, and unfortunately, the Guide closest to her right now was none other than him. In other words, there was no helping it.
Liria was one of the empire’s few duke’s daughters as well as a precious Esper, and Ian was an Imperial Prince and the Guide most compatible with her. Even if she had rejected his guiding until now, they still had a duty to protect and take responsibility for one another.
“Lord Iaaaan… mmh.”
He grasped her small chin in one hand and swallowed her plump lips.
Guiding was an act based on skinship, and the deeper and more intimate the physical contact, the more effective it was. An embrace was better than holding hands, a kiss was better than an embrace, and better than a kiss was…
His tongue invaded her cramped mouth, sweeping across the roof of it and stirring roughly enough to make her cheeks bulge. He sucked on her tongue, tiny even compared to her lips, and pushed the saliva pooled beneath it down her throat.
Mmh. Although the sudden kiss had robbed her of every last breath, Liria felt her mind, which had been foggy as though shrouded in mist, actually growing clearer.
‘Waaah, so this is what guiding tastes like?’
The holy power flowing into her through their entwined tongues was intoxicating. The tingling sensation that began at their wetly tangled lips spread throughout her entire body.
As the kiss stretched on, Ian had somehow ended up over Liria, while Liria clung to him with her arms around his neck.
Then Ian pulled his lips away, creating a gap between them. Now dazed for an entirely different reason, Liria let out a damp breath.
“More, please do more…”
“……”
“Ian, please.”
Whether it was guiding or stimulation, it was nowhere near enough. She needed more, and she desperately needed it.
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