The Guide Played Her Role as a Stand-in a Little Too Well - Chapter 208
Even if Karina wore a bracelet that blurred her appearance, she couldn’t completely escape Hedonia’s gaze.
Pheon must have known this too, but I couldn’t understand why he still made her wear that bracelet.
When Karina first gave Pheon a gift, I almost rushed out without realizing it… but remembering the words about wanting to watch over me, I exercised superhuman patience.
Afterwards, I followed Karina at a suitable distance.
When Karina entered the jewelry store, I was in the midst of planning to buy out the entire store.
‘I wonder what she bought as a gift for me.’
I thought it might be something like a brooch. Whatever Karina gifted, I intended to cherish it as a lifelong treasure.
While waiting for Karina to come out, the surrounding atmosphere began to feel strange.
Despite the fact that about three times the usual number of Espers must have been deployed for a safe festival, the cries of magical beasts began to be heard.
I thought the situation would be resolved without my intervention.
……However.
“What’s happening?”
The festival quickly turned into chaos.
Not only did magical beasts rushing out of the gates suddenly attack various parts of the festival, but Espers also began attacking people.
Just as I was thinking I should resolve the situation first, I saw Karina and Pheon coming out of the store.
My eyes met Pheon’s for a moment. But Hedonia clearly saw the corners of his mouth rising.
As if provoking him.
‘That bastard f***……’
Profanities I never usually thought of kept coming to mind.
Hedonia barely held onto his sanity by constantly reminding himself of Karina’s face.
Later, when the surrounding Espers began attacking even the people around Karina, I decided I had no choice but to reveal myself.
But Karina disappeared from Hedonia’s sight along with Pheon.
Hedonia stared blankly at the spot where they had vanished.
Pheon had taken Karina away. Meeting his eyes once more at the end, while smiling.
‘He didn’t teleport for Karina’s safety.’
Deliberately meeting Hedonia’s gaze was a clear provocation.
Only then did the purpose of the bracelet become clear.
The change in appearance was just a temporary measure to make Hedonia let his guard down.
The real reason for putting the bracelet on Karina was.
‘To kidnap her.’
Calling it ‘kidnapping’ might be a hasty judgment. But his intuition had never been wrong.
“Kyaaah!”
“Save me!”
He saw other Espers rushing in to subdue the rampaging Espers around.
‘……’
Was it a coincidence that this happened during the festival?
No, it couldn’t be.
His head knew he should focus on solving the incident first, but Karina’s face kept appearing in his mind.
‘I’ll find Karina first.’
Indeed, for him, Karina came before the empire.
Even if it meant the Espers’ reputation would plummet.
He had focused on creating favorable public opinion towards guides because he didn’t care what happened to the Espers.
It wouldn’t have much impact to take action before the incident was resolved anyway.
He just needed to find Karina quickly and solve the incident. If other Espers did their job, it wouldn’t escalate into a major incident.
There was also Princess Shaelock.
Hedonia moved swiftly. He had to check the magic tower first.
* * *
Shaelock was held up by Adron. He kept calling her over, claiming to prepare for a speech he couldn’t deliver.
‘……Maybe it’s my fault for not being able to refuse.’
It was difficult to refuse Adron’s words. Even though she now knew that man couldn’t completely crush her anymore, when she stood before him, she often reverted to that little girl from her childhood.
“At the end, raise your glass.”
At Adron’s words, Shaelock sighed and raised the glass in her hand high.
It contained wine Adron had poured. A toast for today.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
Shaelock glanced at the time, yawned, and put down her glass.
Now that the preparation for the evening speech was done, it was time to summon the heroes again.
“Before you go, have a taste of the toast.”
Adron rested his chin on his hand and raised his glass, looking at her.
That was clearly asking her to taste it before he drank.
“Don’t you have resistance to most poisons? It’s better than making an old man drink first.”
“Yes.”
It seemed faster to just drink quickly to escape Adron’s nagging.
After all, Shaelock’s body was resistant to poison.
Shaelock sighed and irritably downed the glass.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
After wiping her mouth, Shaelock turned around irritably.
“Since you have resistance, I had to put in 10 times more.”
Shaelock turned her head at Adron’s words.
What?
Adron’s lips twisted.
“You’re the only princess, so you probably won’t die. Let’s see.”
Wobble.
Shaelock’s body collapsed.
‘No, after preparing even a speech for today’s festival……’
Adron’s figure before her eyes became blurry. Shaelock gritted her teeth.
But there was a limit to how much she could hold onto her consciousness.
