The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

However, with how things are right now, she felt it might be difficult for her to extricate herself from either one of them.

She needed to find an opportunity where she didn’t have to deal with either one of them.

The herald brought that opportunity to her like a dish served on a silver platter.

"Lady Aisha, please allow me to escort you elsewhere."

Aisha felt Nykos go still behind her. As his cold, dry voice sounded above her, she heard the lack of a solitary note of emotion. For a second, she felt the air condense and become thicker.

Nykos was using pressure against the herald.

"And where would you be taking her?"

The arctic chill in his voice pierced through her eardrums. He tightened his arms around her, pulling her flush into his arms so that she could feel every hard muscle on his body press against her back.

Heat involuntarily crept into her body.

It wasn’t just about the close proximity of their bodies, but the warm breath that fanned over the shell of her ears.

Aisha admitted it had been one of her weak spots and didn’t dare try to open her mouth, fearing that a different sound would come out of her lips.

"The lady will stay here."

Suddenly, Zeke’s perpetually calm and cool gaze landed on the herald again.

"B-but His Majesty ordered it!" the herald squeezed out his words, suffocating under the pressure that Nykos had centered around him. The veins on his body popped out in thin and thick lines, almost bursting from the way it felt like his entire body was being pressed between two rocks.

Zeke’s expression darkened, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why does His Majesty want to see the lady?"

The herald hurriedly spoke, feeling as though he might explode into pieces of flesh and blood like the palace walls if he didn’t rush his answer. "I... I don’t know! But if the lady disobeys, she will face punishment from His Majesty!"

Aisha couldn’t help frowning slightly as the herald finished speaking. Although she had expected it since she heard it the first time when he called out to her earlier, it was still rather unpleasant. What did the emperor want from her that he would want to meet with her?

During the ceremony, Aisha had been acutely aware of the emperor’s gaze on her, but she only assumed that he was looking at her because she was his son’s fiancée. She guessed that he wanted to take back the money the prince had given her, yet he failed to do so in public.

But if it were the case, there was no need for the emperor to wait until the ceremony was over to tell her to come to see him.

Rather, the best time to do it was right after the ceremony or when the Novalis family was dragged away. It would’ve been easier to accuse her of deceiving the crown in cahoots with her adoptive parents than this.

In the end, Aisha couldn’t tell what the emperor wanted from her.

After mulling the situation over, she began to compose her response. If the emperor wanted the money returned, there was no other way for her to go against it. He was the ruler of this planet, and he could easily make things difficult for her.

It was better to give him the money if it was only that... she could look for other ways to survive.

"I will go."

Nykos’s fingers twitched as he hadn’t expected her to agree so easily.

Neither did Zeke, whose face looked just as surprised as the herald.

"You should meet him later." Zeke didn’t try to stop her, but he advised her not to go now.

But how could she do that? She had to choose between staying here and going to meet the emperor.

Honestly, if she had another choice, she would have run off elsewhere and gone back to retrieve her things and the spiritual beasts waiting for her back home. She could try to maneuver around these men and fight her way out. But how long and far could she go against two high-ranked Sentinels and an emperor who has thousands of imperial guards stationed in the palace?

"Well, I doubt His Majesty would want to wait upon a lowly commoner’s daughter."

Zeke flinched at her words, reminding him of what had been revealed inside the imperial hall.

"I haven’t agreed to any of this."

Aisha felt an incoming headache when she felt Nykos stir behind her. He had straightened at some point, but his hold went from completely molding her into him to wrapping his warm hand around her wrist.

She locked her gaze on him. "Since when do I need you to agree on anything?"

"Since that day you guided me."

"I don’t remember doing that."

"Do you really want to argue with me about this, little bird? We can just try it again and see if you can remember."

Aisha bit her lips between her teeth as she glared at him. It was fortunate that the herald didn’t seem to hear them, as he was already half unconscious with just a bit of pressure coming off of Nykos.

He’d closed the distance between them. His gaze became fixated on her lips with a dangerous light already glowing in his eyes. Aisha had no doubt he’d dove right over to try and make her remember.

"I’ve been away and took time to get to see you again. Who cares about the emperor? I’ll kill him if he so much as tries to take what I want."

Aisha’s spine tingled as she believed he would do what he said and perhaps succeed in doing so. For whatever reason, despite not knowing anything about him, she had a feeling he hadn’t said a word of a lie.

"You’re crazy..."

She stilled. A momentary slip made her inner thoughts come out of her lips.

Nykos received it with a smirk of his own, like it was the best compliment he’d heard in a year.

"You’re finally realizing that you shouldn’t ever get involved with a lunatic like him," Zeke said, something that almost made her want to nod in agreement. But before she could do it, she heard him continue, "But I agree that I’d like to see how you had guided him."

Aisha was suddenly at a loss for words, glancing between the two tall and handsome men, and wondered if they’d drunk or eaten something that made them both crazy today.

She wished Zenick was with her instead. But he went elsewhere upon receiving an urgent call from someone, leaving behind a promise that he’d come back soon.

Thinking about it again, where had he gone to? The ceremony had ended already, yet she hadn’t seen him anywhere.

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