Please Don’t Sponsor the Guide - Chapter 59

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“…Sorry?”

“I mean that attitude where you always say it’s fine as long as I’m okay. You never look out for your own interests, you’re just too selfless for your own good.”

Samuel looked genuinely confused.

“I can’t step in and solve everything between the personal Guides. That means you need to be able to stand up for what you want too, Ensign.”

“Oh…”

Samuel’s face went a little blank. Adrien couldn’t help but worry about how innocent he was. Especially with someone like Linton Vionne in the same squad—she feared Samuel would always try to keep the peace or second-guess himself.

Thanks to the regular reports on the new recruits, she knew he was adjusting well, but things could be different once he became a personal Guide.

His lower rank or lack of noble birth could easily become ammunition for others to hurt him—especially people who didn’t understand how much Adrien actually cared for him.

‘I really don’t want to see him get hurt like that.’

Samuel Norah was a miracle in her life—a kind of salvation, and a strange exception to all her rules.

Even his innocent kindness was endearing, and sometimes when he’d turn sly and pushy, it was charming too.

Adrien couldn’t help thinking that, even if their Guide compatibility had been ordinary, she probably still would have looked his way at least once.

That’s how special he was—though Samuel himself had no idea.

Even if she ended up with a dozen personal Guides, even if she pretended she wouldn’t have time for him, she already knew: the only one she’d actually seek out would be Samuel Norah.

“…So you’re telling me I’m allowed to be selfish?”

“If you really want to split hairs, then yes.”

“Even if what I want… is you, Commander?”

Under the star-filled night sky, their eyes met. Samuel’s gaze was so deep and saturated it almost seemed thicker than the darkness above.

It felt unfamiliar, but Adrien realized she’d seen it before—the night they’d imprinted, when Samuel looked at her with raw desire.

The memory alone was enough to reignite a spark inside her.

Adrien slipped her arms around his neck. Samuel bent a little to meet her height, and their gazes lingered on each other’s lips.

Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might shake apart. Her tongue flicked out without thinking, and her breathing turned ragged.

Even the silk gloves on her hands were starting to feel suffocating—right now, she wanted to push him down, rip off his cravat, and kiss him breathless.

But the terrace, after all, was practically out in the open.

Some people thought a single curtain was enough privacy for a secret tryst, but Adrien didn’t agree.

“So does this mean you’ll really… let me be your personal Esper?”

Samuel’s green eyes still looked so dazed with longing that Adrien wanted to keep that look for herself alone.

“Ensign.”

Adrien cupped his chin, then rose up on her toes and kissed him. Lips barely parted, she whispered,

“Should we go to a room?”

* * *

There were always several rooms set aside upstairs at the ballroom for the guests. Sometimes people really did slip away for a moment of quiet or rest—but, especially on a night like the ‘Night of Youth,’ everyone knew most came here for a different purpose.

As soon as they found an empty room, the door closed and their lips crashed together.

Adrien tore at Samuel’s cravat, flinging it aside. Pushed back by the Esper’s unexpected strength, Samuel staggered until his knees hit the bed and he fell backward onto the mattress.

Adrien’s fingers fumbled with his shirt buttons, brow furrowed in frustration—they were too tight, straining over his broad chest, and wouldn’t come undone.

“Lady Adrien…”

There he went, using that voice again.

Her nails slipped on a button, and Samuel’s expression was caught between nervous and hopeful, like the anticipation was choking him. Even in the dim light, his lips were a vivid red, moving to speak.

“You can just rip it.”

That did it. Before she even knew what she was doing, Adrien tore Samuel’s shirt open with a sharp tug. She would never have done something like that—no matter who asked—on any normal day.

But her patience had its limits, and she’d already used most of it up back in the fitting room.

Dressed so differently from usual, Samuel was almost unbearably tempting tonight. Adrien would never admit it, but she’d caught herself glancing around the ballroom, half-worried some other Esper might be eyeing him.

“Ha.”

A laugh—or maybe a gasp—escaped her when his bare chest was finally revealed. The sight of those thick, sculpted muscles made a rush of excitement surge up.