The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

The annoyance she felt toward Nykos increased. With this much nonsense, she understood why many people had suffered from him.

”I’m getting off.” She walked to the door, waiting for it to open.

”Wait—”

”We’ve arrived. There’s no need for me to stay here.” Aisha’s curt reply stunned both the men inside the hover car.

She somehow had returned to her usual indifference, and even they couldn’t keep up with the coldness that dripped off of her.

But what they didn’t know was that this was her original personality. The ones she’d shown other people in this world were something that she could remember in her memories and embodied. But that didn’t mean she had forgotten who she was just because things weren’t the same as before.

”Allow me to—”

”I’ll go with—”

Before both men could even finish their sentences, she shot them a malicious glare.

”Don’t,” she warned them. ”I think you two are confused about something here. I didn’t tell you this because I thought you were mature and old enough to understand that there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross.”

She looked down and waited for the hover car to descend.

But before it opened, she looked at them in the eye one last time. ”It’s better to keep our distance from now on. It’s better for all of us if we focus on our own responsibilities and leave it at that.”

Pssshhh!

The door slowly slid open, and Aisha took her first step outside.

She didn’t wait for either of them to stop her, and perhaps her words had actually worked because they didn’t follow her.

Well, she didn’t give them any chance to do that as well as she headed straight inside the Novalis house before they could even respond to her.

The silence that followed upon shutting the door behind her somehow made her notice things more acutely. To be more precise, the house that usually was well-lit was now dark, as though no one was home.

She glanced around the living room, which Daisy had told her the Novalis family members had occupied, was now empty. Not even a servant was in sight.

Then suddenly, a slightly uneasy feeling swept over her. Insignificant perhaps, but something crossed her mind as she watched the darkness. As she turned to investigate whether there was really no one in there, she caught a glimpse of a figure in the corner of her eyes.

”You’re back finally.”

”What are you doing there?”

Theon was uncharacteristically sitting on one of the steps in the stairway.

”I was waiting for you.”

He had propped his elbows on his knees and was using his hand to hold up his chin to look up at her. Theon hadn’t changed out of the clothes he wore for the ceremony. Aisha supposed he had been waiting for her there specifically. But she couldn’t understand why he would wait here instead of trying to devote his attention to his real sister, Irene?

”I heard you got summoned by the emperor...” his voice sounded rough.

Did he cry after having both his parents imprisoned in the palace? Aisha thought that it was possible. But because of the darkness that veiled around him, she couldn’t completely make out his face.

She heard him continue.

”He... didn’t do anything to you?”

”Why are you asking?” Her voice still carried the same coldness she had when she spoke to the two high-ranked sentinels. ”Were you wishing he did? Or maybe you were hoping something did happen to me so that your parents could come back?”

His mouth closed and opened a few times. Theon stood up, letting the silver glow of the moon fall on him. Seeing him looking extremely shocked and appalled didn’t give her any satisfaction.

”They’re our parents.”

Aisha smiled in disgust.

She knew that there was no need to continue talking to him. Just take her things and talk to Daisy before she leaves.

But in order to get the closure Aisha Novalis needed and allow her complete control of this body, she needed to completely cut the threads that connected her to her adopted family.

”Theon, have you forgotten already what happened earlier? Our father couldn’t wait to announce that I’m not his daughter in front of everyone.” Aisha took the stairs, one step at a time. ”To save Irene’s face, he ruined what future I could have. I understand it was for the sake of saving his real daughter... but have I not been enough of a daughter all these years?”

”...No... You...”

”I studied hard, did my lessons well, topped my class, and achieved what other daughters couldn’t do. I made sure I was perfect in everyone’s view. But it can’t be helped... that no matter what I do, I can’t escape the unfairness that was already handed down on me.”

There were only a few steps between them.

”Especially you, Theon.” She paused and took in the widening of his brown eyes. ”Whenever Irene cried, you’d blame me for it. You took her side and never listened to me.”

”Stop it.”

Aisha took another step.

”Remember that one time? I was sixteen years old when you pushed me from the stairs because Irene said I took her shoes? Back then, I broke my arm and cried for you to help me.”

She stopped before him. ”What did you do then? You told me, Don’t pretend. Irene cried more when you took her shoes. You walked away while I hurt on the floor and never turned back.”

Even though it wasn’t something that she had experienced, Aisha couldn’t help but feel the pricking in her chest. She didn’t know why but the back of her eyes felt hot, and her eyes were slightly cloudy.

”Do you know that since then... I wished I would die there?”

Aisha recalled in her memories that it was also the first time she had understood she had no place in that family. Having already found out she was not their real daughter after eavesdropping on their parents, she felt despair.

If someone whom she had called and treated like a brother could be so coldhearted and ruthless... how long can the people she called parents tolerate someone like her?

So, when she fell from that stair and felt the cracking of her bones, she wished she would breathe her last.

And the person who made her feel like this for the very first time was Theon.

She took another step, bypassing him, then another. But she stopped when she was above him and turned around.

”So, don’t hate me too much... I also didn’t want us to end up like this.”

Theon twisted around to look at her, wishing he could see the expression on her face when she said those words.

But then, he suddenly felt himself being pulled backward as a force pushed him back.

As he fell from the flight of stairs, Theon watched as the silvery light touched her. In his eyes, Aisha looked unreal. It was the same for the iciness that bled into her eyes as she watched him fall with a tiny curl of her lips.