It’s Time to Stop Clinging to the Fake Guide - Chapter 41

When had she dozed off? Feeling someone stir, Lynette barely managed to open her eyes.

The man, who had buried his head against her lap as if collapsing there, slowly lifted his body.

“It’s still dawn.”

At the husky, blurred whisper, she slowly blinked, dazed. The weight pressing heavily against her legs was gone, and instead, she felt a firm arm wrap around her shoulder.

Words like “You don’t have to” or “I’m fine” never left her lips. She was simply a little tired.

She remembered staying awake until nearly daybreak, touching Sillian’s cheek. Looking at the man who clung to her so desperately, she couldn’t bring herself to push him away coldly.

Lifting Lynette lightly into his arms, he strode toward the bed. Her body sank against the not-so-soft mattress. Perhaps because she was still half-asleep, her mind remained hazy.

“Are you all right?”

When she asked slowly, what came back was not an answer but a faint laugh. The sound reassured her a little, for it was far steadier than the voice that had once clung to her in pain.

She felt him pull the blanket up to her chin and then stand there, quietly gazing at her. Even knowing he was watching didn’t make her uncomfortable.

Perhaps the fact that they had spent the night together had made him a little easier around her.

Exhaling deeply, Lynette closed her half-open eyes.

“Rest well… Lynette.”

His whisper, so low it was barely audible, brushed her ears as he lowered his head. It sounded almost like an incantation, and in an instant, the fragile thread of consciousness she had been clinging to sank into the depths.

The tension in her body melted away completely, and her breaths soon steadied into the rhythm of sleep.

Sillian, watching her in silence, drew the curtains across the window to block the creeping dawn light. Then he slipped outside, carefully fastening the latch, and disappeared quietly into the dim mist.

***

By the time Lynette woke up again, the room had grown cold, as if no one had ever been there. Even the latch on the window was secured. For a moment, she wondered if it had all been a dream.

‘But what on earth happened?’

There was no doubt that Sillian had come. He had drawn the curtains, after all.

But that wasn’t the important part.

Ordinarily, both the Guide and the Esper had to awaken before “Guiding” was possible. There were rare cases like Lynette’s, where a fake Guide was created to force Guiding, but that was an extremely special exception.

Hadn’t there been no other case of a “fake Guide” besides her? She was the only experiment to succeed, the sole example on which countless trials had been based.

‘Did I somehow awaken without realizing it?’

Pondering the thought, Lynette frowned. There was no way she wouldn’t know if she had awakened. If she truly had, then the instant she came into contact with an Esper, she should have felt the sensation of Guiding.

She lowered her gaze to her hands. The only thing she had felt through the night was Sillian’s burning warmth. There had been no pain, no pleasurable sense of fulfillment.

And yet, he had clearly improved. Visibly so. Why?

‘Was he pretending, just to convince me I’m his Guide?’

The thought made her frown again.

But there was no reason for him to resort to that. If he had wanted to act out such a performance, there had already been plenty of opportunities before now.

Besides, from what she had seen throughout the night, his suffering had not been an act. No one simply feigning pain could break out in cold sweat or groan with such raw torment. Even the way he had pressed his cheek against her palm had looked instinctive, almost primal.

If that was the case, then it meant she had somehow “truly” Guided him to a degree. But how was that possible? That was what she could not comprehend.

Biting down on her lip, Lynette’s brow remained furrowed in thought.

‘Could it be… that if one meets their true fated partner, Guiding takes effect to some extent even without awakening?’

For that to be true, she would first have to admit that she was Sillian’s “fate.”

Her head throbbed. With a heavy sigh, Lynette thought of Euphen and Eshar.

If the assumption she had just made was true, then Euphen might not need a “fake Guide” any longer. After all, his true fate was right beside him.

Unnecessary.

The word echoed in her chest, and pain welled up like a dull ache. She herself wanted nothing more than for that to happen, yet the sting of selfishness pricked her heart.

‘This is for the best.’

If Euphen could receive the effects of Guiding from his fated partner, just as Sillian had, then she would no longer be needed.

Wasn’t that the very reason she had done all this? Striving desperately to distance herself from Euphen, seeking out Eshar, making those outrageous proposals to the two of them.

If she only knew the method, she could resolve everything much faster than she had planned. That would be good for her as well, she wouldn’t have to keep sacrificing her life through Guiding.

“……”

After that, she would leave Euphen.

But the thought of that sudden, imminent farewell brought her no joy. She still hadn’t cast aside the selfish desire to stay by his side. She still hadn’t sorted out her heart.

‘Pathetic.’

Wrapping her head in her hands, Lynette let out a long sigh and shook her head.

It was for the best, she told herself firmly.

If Guiding could occur simply by an Esper meeting their Guide… If the effect manifested even without awakening, then this would be a tremendous discovery.