Chapter 87
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“Unless this is directly related to the case, keep it short.”
“Remove Captain Linton from the position of your exclusive guide, Commander.”
“…Is that really the kind of useless nonsense you want to bring up right now?”
Adrien turned toward Alex with an incredulous look, halfway through unbuttoning her shirt.
But Alex looked even more exasperated, brow deeply furrowed.
“Have you already forgotten whose imprinting left you bedridden for four days? Even I didn’t expect Captain Linton’s guiding to harm you this badly!”
“….”
“This can’t go on. You’re going to collapse again. You, of all people—someone who always obsessed over efficiency—how can you ignore the fact that the perfect guide is right in front of you?”
“Why are you, of all people, pushing this with me?”
Adrien gave a faint laugh. She understood why Alex was insisting—maybe too well. And that was exactly why he wanted to stop her.
“…How long are you going to use that excuse to keep hurting yourself?”
“Do you think guiding me wouldn’t count as self‑harm for Ensign Samuel?”
“….”
“Samuel Norah is a Silver level. If he guides me, he’s the one who’ll end up in the hospital.”
“And why does that matter? If it stabilizes Adrien Brillante, one guide’s sacrifice is nothing. Anyone in the Empire would say the same.”
“Doctor, is that really something a medical professional should say?”
“It’s something I can say as your physician.”
“What a selfish doctor.”
Adrien finished undoing the last button and raised her head, a short laugh leaving her lips.
“If you don’t want to be fired as my personal doctor, drop the nagging. Instead, go find me a guide whose touch doesn’t make me nauseous. I’ll make that person my exclusive guide.”
“You intend to keep receiving Linton’s guiding?”
“As long as we don’t imprint again, it’s fine. I can handle radiation guiding.”
“…Who in the world says they ‘handle’ guiding? You’re unbelievable.”
“If you don’t want your research funds cut, that’s enough. Get out.”
“Fine. Then let me say one last thing before I go.”
Adrien nodded, loosening the ribbon at the front of her dress.
“Captain Linton is waiting in the reception room.”
Adrien froze for a moment.
“…Doctor, you can bring him back to the base yourself.”
“Oh, come on. You’re dumping Captain Linton on me too?”
Alex’s frustration exploded—but it couldn’t last, because Adrien went right ahead and peeled the dress down to her shoulders.
Alex immediately whirled around, gritting his teeth as he lowered his voice.
“Fine! I’m going! Saints above, even among espers, who just undresses in front of someone like—!”
“Stop grumbling and hurry up.”
Still seething, Alex stormed out. Only then did Adrien’s dress fall to the floor with a soft thud.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Her eyes were completely different now. They’re full of thoughts that came with the fire esper with green blood. She knew how dangerous a monster‑like transformation would be so no wonder her mind wouldn’t let it go.
Her hands moved faster as she changed into her uniform. In her haste, she bumped into a chair, knocking it over. That reminded her of the box she had shoved under the table earlier.
No matter how urgent things were, she couldn’t leave that lying out. She picked it up, and the half‑closed lid slipped.
Inside were piles of letters. The name on the envelopes—written in a child’s scrawl at first, then growing neater over time—read Sammy Norah.
Adrien stared at the name for a moment. Then she dug to the bottom and pulled out a book, tucking it under her arm.
She closed the box firmly—very firmly.
* * *
The communal guiding room belonged to the military hospital. Ten beds lined each side of the room, facing each other with no partitions—able to hold over twenty people at once. It was wide, noisy, chaotic.
Because of that, espers in unstable condition always used private soundproof guiding rooms. Those were the very ‘closed rooms’ Samuel had to avoid at all costs.
Thankfully, Joseph Walsky was seated on one of the communal beds, waiting for his guide. Samuel let out a barely audible sigh of relief as he approached him through the noisy chatter.
“Well, look who it is.”
Joseph’s grin stretched unnervingly wide the moment he saw him.
“When Captain Linton suddenly said he’d personally guide me, I wondered what was going on. Turns out he meant he’d be sending you instead!”
Clearly delighted, Joseph laughed with a rubbery squeak and patted the empty spot on the bed beside him.
“Come on up, Ensign. What’s wrong? Scared?”
“…We’ll proceed by protocol.”
Not scared—disgusted. Samuel suppressed the roll of nausea in his stomach and handed him the paperwork.
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