It’s Time to Stop Clinging to the Fake Guide - Chapter 25

“What do you think you’re doing?”
Lynette forcefully pressed down the emotions that threatened to boil over. Sillian, with an unruffled expression, extended his hand.
“You haven’t done Guiding even once today.”
“Ha…”
Lynette closed her eyes tightly, then opened them again.

So that was why he had gone so far as to break into the Mage Tower? Her head throbbed, unable to decide where to even start criticizing his behavior.

“One day should hardly matter.”
It wasn’t even a “real” Guiding. At most, it was just a kind of comfort to the heart. She couldn’t understand why he acted as if it were so crucial.

When she frowned slightly, Sillian replied with composure.
“But you go running to that Prince every single day.”
“That’s because it’s my duty.”
“Don’t delude yourself. Your duty is to Guide me.”

When she didn’t take his outstretched hand, Sillian simply seized hers. Lynette tried to step back, but in the narrow room she barely managed a step before her back hit the wall.

“Why are you always running away?”
“That’s because you…”
She began to speak without thinking, but the rest wouldn’t come out.

Because he was a real Esper.
Because she feared the possibility that he truly might be her fated partner.
Because the more she faced him, the more the thought crept in.

‘what if…’

But none of those were clear enough reasons for her constant avoidance. Her lips parted, then closed again, her eyes shutting tight.

“Is the thought that I might be your fated partner so repulsive to you?”
His rough fingertips brushed against her forehead, sweeping aside her disheveled hair with a touch that was a little too forceful.

“Honestly… I’m confused.”
Lynette met his red eyes directly.
“The one who causes you pain is Prince Euphen, not me.”
“That’s why it’s horrifying.”

Because if she truly awakened, she might fall into the sensations of Guiding this man. Because she had only ever intended to think of Euphen…

It’s because of him.

She wanted to think of one person and one person only. The single existence that had come to her even in death, the one for whom she had turned back time.

Given another chance, she had sworn she would think only of Euphen’s happiness. That this time she would never bring him pain or tears. So why? why did this man keep forcing his way into her life?

“I never wanted to know something like this.”
Biting her lip hard, she lowered her gaze.

A silence fell. Even the faint moonlight that seeped into the room was blocked by the large man’s back, plunging the room into deeper darkness.

“I should have just let things flow as they were meant to.”
She muttered belated regret.

She should have let others die as destined. She should have stood by and watched the others fall.

Had she done so, “fate” would never have brought the two of them together. She should have abandoned the paltry heroism of saving lives that were meant to be lost.

Yet she knew… if she were taken back to that moment, she would rage against fate all over again. If she had never known, she could have stayed still. But how could she knowingly drive others to death?

“Sillian. You don’t exist in my memory.”
“What do you mean by that?”
She didn’t answer his question. There was no need to tell him about her regression.

“I don’t even want to pay attention to someone who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. And all of this… still feels nothing but strange to me.”
“……”
“I’m saying I’m already more than confused enough without you.”

At those words, the man looked down at her with a hardened expression. Then, slowly, he asked,
“What about leaving?”
“…What?”
“I’m saying, let’s leave this place.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said!?”

Lynette raised her voice slightly. She had just told him how burdensome and confusing his presence was, yet now he was suddenly suggesting leaving together? what kind of nonsense was that?

She shouted, her voice rising a little, as she tried to push him away. Or rather, she tried to.

“I told you, you’re the one who couses me. You suddenly appeared out of nowhere, declaring I was your Guide-”
But Sillian only stepped closer.

“Then simply abandon Prince Euphen.”
“That’s absurd…”
“You’re only a fake Guide. Lynette, even without you, Prince Euphen will not die.”

In the darkness, his red eyes gleamed.
“Don’t you see? You are not an indispensable existence to him.”
“Even so!”

Lynette’s voice rang sharp before she realized it. She panted harshly, struggling to rein in her rising emotions.

“I cannot let His Highness the Imperial Prince suffer.”
“Ha.”

The man’s expression twisted with irritation, as if he couldn’t fathom her obsession.

She knew he would never understand, but she also had no confidence to explain it all to him in detail until he did. So instead, she simply averted her gaze and bowed her head slightly.

“I can get you out of here.”
His voice was filled with certainty. Lynette let out a small, bitter laugh.

“And you think it would be that easy to run away?”
“If you want it, anytime.”

When she lifted her head, his face held not a trace of humor. The chill she felt sent shivers down her spine.

His hand, gripping hers painfully tight, drew a small whimper from her lips. In the dark, Sillian’s eyes gleamed colder than anything else.

“So you still won’t leave? I can make a perfect escape possible.”

Leaving… that was something she had thought about ever since the moment she regressed.

Once she found Euphen’s true partner, she had resolved to quietly disappear.

What he was offering was, in truth, enticing. To disappear completely. To hide without a trace. She had not yet found a way to make that happen herself.

Before her regression, when she had left, the real Guide had appeared, and Shirin had driven her away as though casting her out. That was why she could go then. But this man… what gave him such confidence, to declare he could ensure a flawless escape?