It’s Time to Stop Clinging to the Fake Guide - Chapter 5

Lynette took a deep breath.
She had been washed clean and dressed in tidy clothes. A little bread and soup had been given to her, since she kept stumbling, along with the promise of more once the “task” was done.

“Don’t lift your head. As I told you, you must hold his hand. And…”

Shirin’s voice went on at length, but none of it registered in her mind. The only thing that occupied her thoughts right now was Euphen.

I’ll be able to see him.

Would she be able to see his smiling face, and not his crying one?
If she saw that face again, she felt like she might fall in love all over. Lynette clasped her hands tightly together.

She still remembered everything. But he must have forgotten it all.
That was for the greater good. This time, she had to end it as a one-sided love.

After all, living as a fake Guide would wear her body down, and she would die early.
She didn’t want to see him in sorrow. So she wanted Euphen to treat her as nothing more than a “test subject.”

“Do you understand?”

Perhaps sensing she hadn’t been listening, Shirin asked in an irritated tone. Lynette nodded.

“Haa…”

Pressing her fingertips to her forehead in frustration, Shirin stopped in front of a certain door.

Euphen’s bedchamber…

If it was this detached palace where Euphen stayed, Lynette could find her way anywhere even with her eyes closed. Her chest felt like it might burst from the tension of knowing she would see him again soon.

After taking a light, steadying breath, Shirin asked again,

“What did I tell you to do?”

“Keep my head lowered, and hold his hand.”

“No matter what happens, you must not let go until I give permission.”

“Yes.”

Lynette replied simply. Shirin’s disapproving gaze touched her, but she let it slide right past. When it came to Guiding, Lynette probably knew more than Shirin.

It’s been months since he’s been able to receive Guiding, so the backlash from his power must have been building up. He must be in terrible pain.

Of course, the more Euphen hurt, the more that pain would be transferred directly to her.
But she didn’t care. She hated the thought of him being in pain far more.

“You must not say you’re in pain before His Highness the Prince, nor show it in any way.”

“I know.”

That was one thing she had guarded with all her might. Euphen, contrary to appearances, cared deeply for the people around him.
If she showed any sign of being in pain, he would surely be reluctant to receive Guiding.

No… there was a time when he outright refused.

One day, she hadn’t been able to suppress a faint groan. From that day on, Euphen had avoided Guiding altogether. Naturally, Lynette had been horribly scolded by Shirin.
Even afterwards, he stubbornly avoided touching her, and only after relentless persuasion had she managed to Guide him again. From that day forward, Lynette had never once voiced her pain in front of Euphen.
Not even in the final moments before her death.

When Shirin gave a small nod, the attendant carefully opened the door.
Once inside, she saw the man lying on the bed.

Euphen.

She whispered the name she had spoken aloud only once before. With her head slightly lowered, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she slowly approached.

If this was several months after his awakening as an Esper, it was the time when the accumulated pain would have reached its limit. Lynette quietly gazed at his pale face.

“What are you doing!?”

Pulled from her thoughts by the sharp voice, she knelt carefully at the bedside and reached out her hand.

Although she had last seen him only yesterday, it felt like an eternity ago. The faint grimace on his face and the ragged sound of his breathing filled her with pity.

Lynette carefully grasped his strong hand.

“Ugh…”

Just as the pain of awakening as a test subject had once struck her with unfamiliar intensity, the pain of Guiding came anew. And now, the months of accumulated backlash from Euphen’s power poured into her, making it even more agonizing.

Ignoring the sensations flooding in through her hand as much as she could, Lynette focused on observing Euphen’s condition.
Even with his consciousness fading, he frowned and exhaled harshly, but gradually, his breathing began to steady. The creased lines between his brows smoothed, and his tightly shut eyes trembled faintly.

“Hoo…”

A shivering breath escaped her. The pain piling up in her body grew steadily worse.

They say that when true fated pairs meet, Guiding doesn’t hurt at all.

She thought of Eshar. Unlike herself, who felt pain in nearly every moment of contact with Euphen, Eshar seemed unaffected even when touching him.
As if proving with her whole being that she was Euphen’s “destined partner.”

A bitter smile touched her lips. She wondered what it would feel like to touch Euphen without pain.
Would it be warm and gentle?

Even in pain, she had felt kindness from him. So to touch him without any pain at all… it seemed that alone would feel like love.

No. That has nothing to do with me.

This time, she wanted Euphen to meet a “true partner.”
Someone he wouldn’t have to lose. A woman it was safe to love. His fated match.

That partner had already been decided as Eshar, and she must not foolishly get in the way and ruin things.
As she reminded herself of that truth, the pain in her chest outweighed the pain in her body. She gripped his calloused, hardened hand tightly.