The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

"That—"

Irene felt like she needed to say something, but Aisha’s hands pressed down on her shoulders, and she started laughing.

She said, "To steal something my younger sister owns, isn’t that a bit too much? What can’t I own that my sister has? Our parents are the best there can be and give us money. Why would I steal something that I can easily buy somewhere?"

"Why wouldn’t you? You’re jealous of her." Theon stepped in between them. "And you’ve taken her things before, haven’t you?"

"I have?" Aisha recalled her memories, though, as fragmented as they are now; there wasn’t a fraction of it containing Aisha taking anything from Irene.

Was this another scheme Irene concocted to ruin Aisha?

"Ha! Are you really playing dumb? The things her eldest brother has given her. The money father gave to Irene from the last festival. Even what the hairpiece I gave her, wasn’t it all found in your room?" Theon revealed each thing that Aisha had taken from Irene.

Finally, Aisha saw something in her memories. The things Theon mentioned... weren’t they something Irene gave to her while saying that she wanted to let Aisha keep it and, if she wanted, she could use them.

Back then, Aisha believed Irene and kept these things for her. However, the money Irene gave her at that time was something she borrowed and had already paid back. That was when things weren’t that bad between the two of them.

But for things to be twisted into her extorting her for money.

Aisha felt the coldness inside her chest grow.

She lowered her head as she felt suffocated for a reason. Her heart started to beat faster and faster until they were ramming against her chest that she could almost hear it inside her ears. She lifted a hand to her chest.

To think this was the reason why everyone in her family hated her?

Aisha knew her heart wasn’t beating out of its own volition. She wouldn’t be affected by them that easily. So, there was only one reason this could’ve been possible.

It was this body’s remaining emotion left behind by the real Aisha Novalis. She felt sick instantly.

While everyone handled Irene like a precious glass, they had overlooked one person they should’ve held tightly in their hands. They will never learn that their family had lost one member.

Slowly looking up, Aisha met Irene’s eyes.

Irene unconsciously stepped back when their eyes met.

"Theon," Irene grabbed his arm and avoided Aisha’s gaze. "It’s alright. Maybe there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Sister wouldn’t—"

"Don’t defend her. You’ve always protected her from us when she did something wrong to you." Theon faced her and looked at her with gentle eyes. Then he whirled toward one of the servants standing quietly near the wall. "Tell her what you told us earlier."

The servant hesitated for a second before speaking. "I... I saw Miss Aisha stop in front of Miss Irene’s room this morning."

"And did you see me enter her room?"

Under Aisha’s unblinking stare, the servant froze. She felt her neck becoming colder, as if a blade were pressing against her skin. Her mouth opened, then closed again, unable to answer her question.

"It’s fine," Irene interjected before the servant could reply. "It was only a bracelet. We don’t need to make such a big deal out of this. Sister, you can stop asking her."

To everyone watching, Irene looked as though she was stepping in to protect the servant from her sister, while forgiving her sister for what she had done. She was willing to even let this matter go out of the goodness of her heart.

But if Aisha let this matter end here, it’ll only make everyone believe the lies Irene spun.

And who would she be if she allowed this humiliation go like this?

Aisha shook her head. "No. I want to know the truth as well. Since everyone’s gathered here waiting for me, it would be a waste of everyone’s time to just let this end here, right?"

Irene observed her for a second, frowning a little at how confident Aisha sounded. Could Aisha have known what she did? No, that can’t be it. Irene calmed herself down, reminding herself that her body should have worked perfectly fine on the servant and no one else had been around to see her use it.

And the most important thing was the bracelet that was still in Aisha’s room.

"Why don’t we all go up to my room?"

Irene heard Aisha inviting them to her room.

With that, she was even more excited to find out what look Aisha would wear when they found the bracelet inside her room.

***

Outside the villa, the man hadn’t left yet.

Zeke stood near the parking space where a few hover cars were.

He thought back to the scene in the alley. It wasn’t the first time he had met the commander of the notorious organization, the Dark Knight. The first time was when they were younger. A time when they got along. But what they wanted in life didn’t match, and eventually, Nykos left to start his own organization while he stayed at the Association.

Although what they’ve become now is completely different, the two of them shared a common thing that no one else has in this world.

Nykos might have tried to hide it by suddenly attacking him, but that instant made Zeke have some doubts.

"I did it to guide him."

Without spending much effort, Zeke found the reason behind that uneasy feeling.

Just as he thought, Nykos’s condition was much better than the last time they met.

And that had something to do with that young woman he was with.

As Zeke was in deep thought, his terminal buzzed sharply, snapping him awake.

Looking down, he answered without hesitation.

"Admiral." A man wearing the association’s coat of arms appeared on the holographic screen. "We lost track of you near Sector 3. Can you tell us where you are so we can get there?"

They were handed a task to escort the admiral to the academy. But something happened in the middle of their mission. They lost him before they could finish what they’d come to finish.

"No need to come," Zeke told the man. "Return to the tower and report that I’ll be staying at the academy for a while."

The man was surprised after hearing what Zeke said, "Huh? What do you mean, Admiral?"

But Zeke disconnected the call without explaining himself.

He had no intention of staying long at the academy for long. With or without their request for a new instructor, he just needed to show up for a few days and then leave.

That was his original plan.

But that girl...

Zeke had noticed the uniform she was wearing. It was the uniform for guides at the Imperial Star Academy.

He turned around, intending to leave and head toward the direction of the academy, when a sudden flash of white light erupted from one of the windows on the second floor of the villa before him.

It was brief, lasting only two seconds, that anyone would’ve dismissed as nothing worth notice.

Zeke would have done the same—if not for the reaction beside him.

A shimmer of pale green light began to shape beside him. A blinding flash of silver frost erupted in the air, shaping itself into a celestial dragon-steed. It was his spiritual beast.

Zeke frowned. He hadn’t summoned it, so why did it come out by its own will?

His spiritual beast huffed air through its nose, blowing specks of light, and nudged its head toward the direction of the window where the light had come.

"You want to go there?"

Zeke asked, and it responded by coiling its plume-like tail around his arm, as if urging him forward.