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Chapter 8 — The Emperor’s Heart Was Imprinted
It hurt. It ached. It was painful.
Having moved from a young age to handle the Gates and fulfill his duties as an imperial prince, pain was as familiar to Kaiysis as his very soul.
He knew nothing of relief.
The overwhelming power always churned his insides and rattled his mind.
Unable to turn his back on those who relied on and followed him, he had lived his life wearily accepting that terrible pain and suffering.
The only things that sustained him were his fierce pride and his arrogant sense of duty.
And yet.
*’What… is this?’*
It was warm and gentle.
Something fragrant seemed to caress him.
It was as if he no longer had to suffer alone, as if it had taken the hand he had reached out all by himself.
He pulled at it desperately, as if pleading and clinging.
He wanted to bind it to his side so it could never go anywhere.
With this, he wouldn’t hurt. He knew it instinctively.
Fierce obsession and possessiveness surged within him.
The powers that had always risen like icicles obediently bowed their heads for the first time in his life.
It felt unbelievably good.
In that ecstatic joy, he realized this was the bliss Awakeners felt when they finally met their rightful Guide.
Which meant…
Had he found his Guide?
That fate he had grown weary of yearning for. His partner?
“……!”
His eyes snapped open.
Kaiysis experienced for the first time in this moment just how clear and refreshing a morning could be.
Everything was vivid.
And he could freely stretch out his power—without pain.
Right now, he felt he could do anything.
But.
“Why isn’t it here?”
Happiness turned to displeasure in an instant.
No one was by his side.
His sculpted face cracked.
He reached out and gripped the bedsheet, which still seemed to hold some lingering warmth.
Fragmentary images surfaced in his mind.
He couldn’t recall the color, but the abundant, soft hair of the other person that he had held in his hand.
The clearly shining golden eyes.
It was an unknown woman.
Just then, a knock came. At his command to enter, the pale-faced Knight Commander opened the door and knelt.
“What happened?”
“We have apprehended and detained all those who used the drugs, Your Majesty. We had entered an emergency state and were on standby, as their energies were on the verge of running rampant, but—”
“My energy has stabilized?”
“……Yes.”
If the empire’s only SSS-rank were to run rampant, no one knew what calamity might befall them, so if the predicted accident had occurred, the knights would have moved according to protocol.
In other words, no one had seen the person who had descended by his side.
“Someone was here.”
He knew. He was smiling slowly.
He brushed back his hair, feeling refreshed.
A powerful Guide, one he had never seen before, who could perfectly conceal their own energy—that was his partner.
Restlessness surged within him.
“Find them.”
If they had disappeared, he would simply chase them.
“No, I will find them.”
He would drag them out and keep them by his side.
The knight’s eyes, meeting his, were filled with delight.
How long had he waited for this moment? For the owner of the leash who could calm that overflowing power!
“Then if so, could it be, Your Majesty—”
“I have found my Guide.”
He didn’t know why she had so gently stabilized him and then vanished.
Had she disliked him? Had she heard the rumors that the Emperor was a madman?
Or perhaps she was in a position where she had to hide her identity?
Becoming the Emperor’s Guide would guarantee wealth and honor for life, and yet she had disappeared without a trace—it felt rather heartless.
Still, it was fine. Persuasion was a matter for after he had dragged her out first.
He was an emperor, but he was also an excellent hunter.
His blue eyes gleamed like a beast searching for its prey.
“I will definitely find her.”
It seemed that for the first time in a long while, something interesting was about to unfold.
—
According to the handmaiden’s report, Ruias was thankfully safe, without a scratch.
My mind, however.
Was anything but safe.
*’Aaaaah!’*
The moment I saw the sculpted handsome man’s bare upper body glistening in the morning sunlight.
I barely managed to suppress the scream that nearly escaped by pinching my thigh.
The half-naked man before me was Kaiysis.
Last night, Kaiysis and I had……
Ugh!
*’W-what have I done.’*
Dear God.
Who knew that the guiding that started with a kiss would end so intensely.
I was utterly devastated.
*’I didn’t know it would be that effective.’*
Originally, guiding involves transmitting energy through contact with an Esper.
That could be simple skin-to-skin contact, like holding hands or hugging.
But there were cases where that wasn’t enough.
In such cases, slightly deeper sexual acts—
That is, exchanging saliva or, quite literally, sharing a bed—could be used to supply guiding energy.
Just like last night.
Just like me and Kaiysis!
“Ugh.”
I covered my face.
Even without looking, Hilaria’s face, unlike her cool outward appearance, would be flushed bright red.
To be fair, despite being a 10-year veteran, it was absolutely not my fault that I had never once had experience with guiding through a kiss.
With people who gagged at the mere touch of my energy, what kind of contact could I possibly have had?
*’It’s just that I wasn’t in my right mind.’*
It was a first for me, too.
The way the guiding naturally intertwined—it was a truly strange sensation.
It just so happened that my compatibility with that man wasn’t bad.
Moreover, he was the first Esper who didn’t reject me. So I never dreamed it would go that far.
Thinking back on it now, it was a feast of sensations that made my face burn, but it was also the first time I realized that this was the bond a normal Guide and Esper felt.
An Esper who accepted my energy, breathed with me, and smiled sweetly.
The act of holding hands and treating each other more kindly than anyone else, intoxicated by the disappearance of pain.
Honestly, it felt good.
It was also tearfully frustrating.
So I was the only one who didn’t know this feeling. Damn it.
It’s still vivid.
The treatment I had received.
*hey, defective A-rank! Guide without touching, got it?’*
*’Touching you is as unpleasant as forcing rotten food down my throat.’*
*’Stay away, you’re bad luck. Why can’t you guide without touching?’*
The countless things I’d heard.
That’s why what happened last night was a first for me, too.
The feeling of being not rejected, but valued, was this……
*’More. Give me more.’*
The man’s whispered voice came to mind, making my ears burn.
The fact that I, captivated by that insufferable Emperor’s handsome smile, had desperately squeezed out and poured out guiding energy without even realizing it was just too…
*’Aaaah!’*
Huff, I widened my eyes.
Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind?
“Why are you remembering that again, get a grip!”
This morning.
Thanks to the personnel stationed far away to avoid disturbing the Emperor’s high-tension state, the palace was quiet.
Which meant I could slip out like a thief and disappear.
Yet I remained frozen, unable to move from my office within the imperial palace, and the bed prepared inside, until late into the sunrise.
I had done the deed, but I was afraid of the aftermath.
Surely that male lead bastard wouldn’t remember the moment of guiding, unlike in the original story, right?
Why had the heroine disappeared, and what would happen from now on?
“Ugh, I can’t bring myself to open the status window.”
Clearly, there had been something between that man and me last night.
Not just the process of calming his power, but I felt an invisible something connect.
I had snapped out of it at that moment and severed it like throwing it away, but something had definitely changed.
That was what scared me.
Afraid of what I was thinking.
That deep bond formed between a Guide and an Esper……
What the male lead should have felt for the female lead.
That very thing—the Imprint.
The phenomenon where a powerful Esper becomes bound to a single Guide.
Where they connect their souls to each other, becoming unique to one another.
A Guide can only guide their imprinted Esper, and the same goes for the Esper.
They hold each other’s lifelines.
*’No, that’s going too far. There’s no way that bastard would imprint on me.’*
First, let’s organize my thoughts.
As soon as my assistant, who was on leave, returned to work, I planned to order an immediate investigation into the heroine’s family.
If something had happened to our sunshine heroine, I needed to resolve that first.
And if I could also handle the Emperor who would be looking for me, it would be perfect.
*’I just need to find the heroine myself before he finds me and present her before him. Definitely.’*
Seeing how in the novel he gnawed and sucked on a B-rank Guide whose energy levels weren’t sufficient, their compatibility must have been fantastic.
Enough to make him completely forget about someone like me from last night!
“But I still need to check……”
Letting out a deep sigh, I glared at the status window.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would become Pandora’s box, but the status window flickered before my eyes as if urging me to check quickly.
Yeah, let’s just do it. I can do this.
*Click.*
[Congratulations!]
As expected, fireworks went off.
Now, whenever I see the word ‘congratulations,’ I think I’ll have a fit.
Hey, what’s good for you is absolutely not something to congratulate, got it?
A gift should be something the receiver wants.
