It’s Time to Stop Clinging to the Fake Guide - Chapter 98

“Haah…”

Lynette let out a faint sigh.

Eric, still seated with his rigid expression, seemed a little relieved as he spoke.
“Thank you for understanding. His Highness Euphen will not simply cast you aside, but the more options there are, the better.”

She wanted to say that once Eshar awakened, she herself would disappear forever, but Lynette held back. If she spoke such words to Eric, they would certainly reach Euphen’s ears.

‘How would he react?’

Would he get angry and tell her not to go? Or would he, with a sorrowful face, let her go once again?

If she were to say she would remain with the man who was her ‘true’ fate, Euphen would likely force himself to pretend he was fine as he let her go. Even if Euphen before the regression was a little different from the Euphen now, at their core, they were still the same person.

The carriage came to a halt.

She wished she could return to the Detached Palace and collapse face-down on her bed. She wanted to pour out this heavy heart somewhere, but having come all this way, she had no choice but to do what she had resolved to do.

Lynette slowly turned her gaze over the library once more.

Her thoughts were so tangled up with Euphen that the words would not sink into her eyes. She had to reread the titles several times.

‘So, a marriage proposal has already come.’

And yet he hadn’t shown a trace of it.

The fact that he had not given any answer yet meant he was considering it.

Because loving her and facing reality were two separate things. The very fact that he hadn’t outright refused meant there was still the possibility he might accept.

‘If only he had asked me.’

A bitter laugh slipped out.

Had Euphen confessed everything openly, Lynette would not have hesitated to answer, “Go ahead with the political marriage.” Because that was one of the ways to protect him. A single marriage wouldn’t place the crown in his hands immediately, but beginning with solid backing was a completely different matter from starting without it.

But she also fully understood why he couldn’t speak of it. After all, even she herself had countless things she could not say, fearing they might hurt Euphen’s heart, fearing he would grieve… It must have been the same for him.

After skimming over the same column for the tenth time, she shook her head hard and forced herself to focus on the catalog. She deliberately ignored the word “political marriage” that kept surfacing in her mind.

While straining to check the book titles, she finally reached a section that might contain something about Etel. The shelves held stories that were closer to legends than true history, tales of nations whose very existence was debated.

‘Etel, Etel…’

Murmuring the name to herself, Lynette carefully examined each title.

Even after scanning nearly the entire shelf, she found nothing with the words ‘Etel’, ‘Esper and Guide’, and ‘Dragon’ in the title.

Feeling a bit impatient, she reached the last row.

At last, she finally found what she had been searching for.

‘Etel, Blessed by the Dragon’

Without even returning to her seat, Lynette opened the book on the spot.

‘It’s exactly what Sillian said.’

The very same content he had spoken of was recorded here. Written in more detail, but the main thread was the same. Moreover, the book noted that the country of Etel overlapped with what was now the Kingdom of Calles.

She began to turn the pages earnestly.

If this was true, then perhaps she had been searching the wrong way. After all, what the Empire thought of as “Esper” and “Guide” was completely different from what Sillian had told her.

Halfway through the book, Lynette closed it and reached for other volumes about neighboring nations.

From the histories of countries that had existed during Etel’s time, she found traces again. The mention of dragons, and of a man hailed as a hero.

‘Then this must be closer to the truth.’

If she had seen it in only one book, she might have doubted it. But after cross-referencing and verifying, she could no longer dismiss it. Whether a true dragon had existed or not was uncertain, but at the very least, there had undoubtedly been a being of equivalent power. Otherwise, the surrounding nations would not have unanimously spoken of a ‘great and mighty existence.’

She reopened the book about Etel.

Skipping lightly over the legendary parts Sillian had already told her, she moved on to the latter portion.

The founding of a nation, its prosperity, tedious, predictable accounts continued page after page.

The book went on at length about how great that so-called hero had been, then described how his children inherited his power, until at last it reached the account of his end.

Tracing each word carefully with her fingertip, Lynette read with utmost care, fearing she might miss something.

“…It is said that what was received from the dragon should rightfully be returned.”

Her lips subconsciously mumbled the notable line.

She searched desperately before and after it, but there were no details. What followed was only that the hero died, and that his descendants had carried on Etel’s prosperity.

‘What does it mean, ‘returned’? Could powers really be given and taken back like that?’

Confusion stirred in her chest.

If she asked Sillian, perhaps he would know more. Clutching the book tightly, she thought, even if this might not be ‘hope’, at least it was a small fragment found amidst nothingness.