Chapter 65
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Samuel instinctively swallowed hard. He barely managed to keep himself from shrinking back in front of the Esper, whose emotions were running out of control.
“I asked if you were really Sammy Norah, the one I sponsored.”
There was no point in lying. Samuel hadn’t even considered it an option. In the end, he nodded, as if throwing himself into a pit.
“…Yes.”
At that short reply, Adrien buried her face in her hands. The silence that followed pressed down on them. It was a long moment before Adrien finally lifted her head.
“Why did you do it?”
“…I just wanted to survive.”
“……”
“My family was desperately poor, and I only manifested as a Guide after I’d already passed the age to legally register as a sponsoree. My younger sister was just an ordinary person.”
“So you used your sister’s identity?”
“I borrowed her age and gender. Young Guides are always the highest priority for sponsorship. But my sister was normal. And even if it were allowed, ordinary girls are better off not being sponsored.”
“Because noble sponsors expect payment from those girls too?”
“Most noble sponsors… want to raise those young girls as mistresses. That’s just the reality.”
Still, Adrien didn’t look at him.
That, more than anything, drove Samuel crazy. He wanted so badly to close the distance, to reach out and turn Adrien’s face toward him.
But all he could do was wait for Adrien to speak again.
“That day—the first time we imprinted.”
“…Yes.”
“Why did you come to my office?”
Samuel hesitated.
Somehow, he knew this question was important.
But the path he could take hadn’t changed. Even if it cost him, it didn’t matter. Sponsorship had been a desperate act, but he didn’t want to lie to Adrien about anything else.
“I wanted to thank you.”
“For what? As your commander? Or… as Sammy Norah’s sponsor?”
“I wanted to thank the person who saved me and my family.”
“…Ha.”
The sigh that escaped was closer to a sob.
Adrien scrubbed her face with the heels of her hands, the lines of her expression twisted in pain.
“So that’s what you meant? When you offered to guide me, you were just trying to repay a debt?”
“I wanted to do anything I could to repay your kindness.”
“And your sister?”
Suddenly Adrien shouted. She jumped to her feet, glaring at Samuel.
“You protected your sister from being preyed upon by nobles, but you marched right in here yourself, ready to repay a favor, no matter what happened to you?”
“…Commander.”
Still seething, Adrien strode toward him. The force of her anger made Samuel instinctively take a step back, but Adrien didn’t stop.
“What if I’d been insane? What if, after all I’d done for you—feeding you, clothing you—I decided you owed me your whole life, and demanded you save me in return?”
“That would have been fine with me.”
“What?”
“Because it’s all true. If not for your sponsorship, I wouldn’t even be here.”
“……”
“Commander, I truly didn’t mind. If anything, I was glad I had a way—any way at all—to pay you back.”
“…Glad?”
“You saved my life and my sister’s, and then even sponsored us. I was happy just to be able to give you something in return.”
“……”
“If you told me to devote my whole life to you, Commander. I would have agreed gladly.”
“Hah… haha. Hahaha…”
Adrien let out a hollow laugh and dropped her head. She was silent for a long time. Samuel felt like he was going to go mad from anxiety. He couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was coming apart.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make sense of it.
“So that day… you came to me to pay your debt.”
Her dry voice trembled as if she were on the verge of tears.
“And I… I took that payment, not even realizing what it was.”
“Commander.”
Adrien’s unfocused red eyes suddenly looked unstable. Samuel instinctively reached out to steady her, but Adrien sharply brushed his hand away.
Yet in that moment, the sudden influx of Guiding cleared her mind.
Ironically, that very Guiding helped Adrien untangle the mess of her thoughts, as everything converged on a single point.
Adrien raised her head and looked at Samuel, whose face was twisted in pain.
His green eyes, clouded with anxiety, flickered. The hand that had been rejected trembled.
He looked so wretched it was almost pitiable.
Adrien wanted to embrace him. But she couldn’t—not for his sake. So instead, she just clenched her empty fist.
“As for the personal Guide business… let’s call it off.”
“What?”
Samuel’s voice shook with disbelief.
“I never wanted to get this kind of compensation from you for my sponsorship. Not once.”
“…….”
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