So... Who Will the Guide Go With?

"Hiss..."

Quiet gasps rose from the sentinels all around. The guide before them was so beautiful, and her face was a little pale. The high-ranking sentinels, who spent their days wielding massive blades and hacking apart mutants, didn't even dare make a sound, for fear of frightening this poor guide who looked as though she had suffered a great deal.

The two sides remained at a stalemate. Even among the broken walls and ruins, the once-chaotic scene turned unusually bizarre.

"Uh..." Yuqing was a little confused about what was happening. She tilted her head. "Ers?"

Pfft.

Daniel was standing close by and took a direct critical hit from her beauty. He awkwardly crouched down and covered his nose, but a few drops of blood still leaked out. A burly man standing 1.9 meters tall was a huge mass even when crouching, and his bashful expression made him look comical.

"I'm here." Ers tried to make his voice sound gentle and calm, but as soon as he saw Carlos's provocative gaze, the words caught in his throat. His clenched knuckles turned white, and hostility surged in his eyes.

Only then did everyone's attention shift from Yuqing to Carlos and Ers.

A faint scent of jasmine lingered around both men's shoulders. It was Yuqing's guide pheromones, mixed with the warm golden spiritual power left behind after her mental combing. Like two conspicuous marks, they were nothing short of a signal that their territory had been invaded to sentinels who had only recently been soothed and were still in the attachment phase.

"If you ask me, according to the Guide Protection Act, shouldn't the guide choose who she goes with?" Shang Yu's foxlike eyes shifted as he suddenly spotted a blind spot everyone else had overlooked. A smile curved his lips as he looked at the somewhat bewildered Yuqing and asked, "So... miss guide, who do you want to go with?"

"Damn it, Shang Yu, did a donkey kick you in the head? This is a guide from our empire. If she doesn't come back with us, you think she'd go with you?!" Daniel nearly exploded with anger at Shang Yu's words. He was openly poaching their guide, and he sounded so certain, too. Who was he looking down on?

Every imperial sentinel wore a mocking expression. Though the guide had ended up here for unknown reasons, her family and sentinel husbands had to be back in the city. What decent guide would abandon her husbands and daughters for no reason and go to a foreign, even hostile country?

But they were proven wrong very quickly. The beautiful, fragile-looking young woman in the consul's arms spoke with absolute firmness. "I want to go with Ers!"

"What?" Daniel froze. Gone was the ferocity he had shown Ers and the others. Now he looked stunned, and his voice was uncertain and ingratiating. "Miss guide... why do you want to go with them? Has your sentinel husband treated you badly, or are you dissatisfied with your guard unit?"

"You can tell us about any grievances you have. The imperial court and the tower will surely give you a satisfactory solution." Will was taken aback as well. Guides held an extremely high social status and received exceptionally good treatment. By rights, she shouldn't be so eager to leave her country.

"..." Yuqing struggled to tear her eyes away from the handsome men's faces. This habit of hers, feeling sorry for handsome men, was really getting in the way, aaaaah!

No, I need to get a grip. What if I go back with them and they find no record of me? Wouldn't I end up in prison?

What Yuqing didn't know was that, to the sentinels, she looked like a sheltered noble guide who had been led astray by enemy troops and was throwing a tantrum, determined to run away from home. Every imperial sentinel present watched her nervously, desperately hoping she would change her mind and return to the empire with them.

"A-Qing, you said you'd take responsibility for me." Carlos's pale face looked utterly helpless, and his arm tightened a little more around Yuqing's waist.

"I've already taken responsibility." Yuqing said it without the slightest hesitation. She had not only healed his external injuries but had even thoughtfully combed the outer reaches of his spiritual sea. All the responsive energy in her body had now been used up. She had been incredibly responsible, all right?

The imperial soldiers standing nearby were dumbstruck. Even the Federation soldiers looked at Carlos with a hint of sympathy. The jasmine-scented guide pheromones still lingering around Lord Carlos made it all too clear that the guide before them had thoroughly toyed with their consul!

Who would have guessed that this beautiful, doll-like young lady was a guide who used someone and then threw him away!

Boo-hoo, poor Lord Carlos!

"You heard her, didn't you? Why don't you let the guide go?" Shang Yu hadn't expected the guide to be so cooperative, and his tone grew even more provocative.

"Do you... like Ers very much?" Carlos ignored Ers, his gaze still fixed on Yuqing's face. His voice was heavy, as though weighed down by a stone. The defenses of his spiritual sea trembled slightly, and the black mist in his eyes thickened, as if he would tear Ers to pieces without hesitation if she dared say she liked him.

"Huh?" Yuqing froze, her eyes full of bewilderment. How had this turned into a question of liking him? Were they that close? Yuqing was truly at a loss for words. She simply couldn't understand the thought process of these creatures called "sentinels."

The bewilderment on the young woman's face didn't look feigned. That realization made Carlos's taut jaw slowly relax, and his lips even curved into the faintest smile. Having ruled out every other possibility, only one remained: the guide in his arms had a compelling reason she had to leave the empire.

"I understand..." He leaned closer, lowering his voice until his lips were almost against Yuqing's ear, his warm breath brushing over it. "Then, if I have the chance someday, may I come find you, miss guide?"

The ticklish sensation made Yuqing draw her head back.

After hesitating for a moment, she glanced at Carlos's delicate, pale face. Though she didn't even know where she would end up herself, her heart softened and she agreed. "Yes."

"All right, A-Qing. Wait for me." After whispering in Yuqing's ear, Carlos released her and stood up. He turned to the imperial sentinels, who were still staring blankly, and gave an unmistakable order. "Let them go."

"But, Consul..." The imperial sentinels looked at their consul in shock and disbelief. Had being heartlessly abandoned by the guide dealt him such a blow that he'd lost his senses? Was he really going to let a precious, rare guide leave with the enemy so easily?!

Carlos swept his gaze over them, the warmth vanishing completely from his eyes, leaving only icy authority. "I won't repeat myself."

"Yes, sir." However unwilling they were, they couldn't disobey the guide's wishes and their superior's orders. The imperial sentinels slowly opened a path, watching helplessly as the precious guide walked to Ers's side. Even after the Federation sentinels had disappeared completely beyond the edge of the forest, they still refused to look away.

"Consul, why?!" Daniel was furious. He couldn't understand why the consul had made such a decision. Even with the Guide Protection Act in place, they had plenty of ways to coax the guide back. Failing that, killing a few Federation sentinels would have been easy enough.

"Do you think a high-ranking guide of unfathomable strength would be found in such a run-down place on the empire's frontier?"