After I Died, He Died After Me Too - Chapter 15

Chapter 8.1

Gazing at Bianca lying on his bed, Dexter reached out and brushed away the wet hair from her forehead.

“She looks quite painful.”

Waking up from something was a tough ordeal. He sat on the edge of the bed and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a warm towel.

“Is the institution coming?”

“Yes, they’ll be here soon.”

Dexter nodded and whispered to Bianca.

“Normally, there’s a separate procedure, but given the circumstances, I hope you’ll forgive the rudeness.”

He looked at Bianca, who was still frowning. In fact, he was already convinced. Even though he knew it just by holding her hand, he needed her permission first.

“Your Highness, Erlan has arrived.”

“Tell him to come in.”

At his command, the door opened and a figure dressed in a black uniform entered the room. Erlan was the overseer tasked with selecting talents for the Asterian Empire.

“I came urgently because I was told to conduct a verification. Is this the person lying down?”

“Yeah.”

In response to his brief reply, Erlan approached cautiously. He quickly scanned Bianca, who appeared to be in considerable pain.

“Alright then, I’ll proceed with the verification. First, I’ll administer a medicine that can help her regain consciousness for a short while.”

Saying so, he handed Dexter a medicine.

It was something he developed to temporarily alleviate awakening fever. He carefully supported Bianca’s neck and helped her sit up. As he parted her lips, he inserted the medicine and gently poured water into her mouth.

“Hmm.”

Seeing Bianca frown and turn her head to the side, he held her chin and helped her swallow the medicine. After what seemed like an eternity, she gradually regained some strength.

“…What did you feed me?”

“You’ve regained consciousness. I gave you medicine to temporarily suppress the awakening fever since I needed your consent to conduct the verification.”

“Verification?”

“It’s to confirm your rank alongside the manifestation as a Guide.”

“…What’s that?”

The next moment, he took out a device and placed it in her hand. It pulsed and emitted light. As the silvery waves filled the room, Erlan looked down at Bianca with a surprised expression.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, she’s S-class!”

How long has it been since he last seen an S-class Guide? Erlan couldn’t believe it even after seeing it with his own eyes. After all, Guides who had just awakened were rare.

“She’s an S-class… so now there’s only one left.”

Dexter cautiously asked Bianca.

“We’ve done it before, but this time it’ll be a little different. I tried to suppress it, but it wasn’t easy.”

“…Suppressing, what do you mean by that?”

“Perhaps because it was a late awakening, your body is strongly resisting. If it continues like this, you might die.”

“Are you saying I’m going to die?”

As Bianca asked in a grave voice, Dexter’s face contorted at the sound of her voice.

“Lady Astri, you won’t die. I won’t let that happen.”

“…I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Shall we talk about our situation now?”

Everyone around them stepped back at Dexter’s words. After the two of them were left alone in the large room, Bianca, on the bed a short distance away, quietly leaned back behind her.

He asked with an indifferent face.

“It might be a while, so why don’t we have a cup of tea?”

“…Do I have a choice?”

“You do, but I hope you make a good choice.”

He grinned and walked over to the table where tea was set before pulling out a chair and gesturing towards her. Bianca started to rise but then glanced down at her light attire.

“Are you embarrassed when I’ve already seen everything?”

“…It wasn’t my choice at that time.”

“It doesn’t matter. You can stay like that or sit here.”

His touch was graceful as he poured the tea into her teacup. She pulled the covers over her head and glanced at the teacup in front of her.

“I wanted to propose something to you.”

“To call it a suggestion, it seems like it was quite coercive to get me here.”

Despite trying to forget, memories of their intense encounter in the garden remained vivid. Whenever she thought about it, her face flushed, and she couldn’t forget the fluttering in her chest.

“I’m sorry if you felt that way, but I’m also quite desperate.”

Dexter smirked as he took a sip of tea.

“You might know that I don’t have a Guide.”

“It’s a public fact. I don’t know why, but Your Highness probably wants a Guide with a high matching rate.”

“That’s right, I’m looking for a Guide with a high compatibility. Since it consumes quite a bit of power, a lower grade wouldn’t be able to fulfill properly…”

He paused for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. From the way he trailed off, it seemed there was another reason for his reluctance.

‘Why did I hesitate to guide…’

Bianca recalled her past memories.

It was common to receive radial guiding without imprinting. Although it was less filling, she received contact guidance from Mikhail. Of course, it was only holding her hand or kissing the back of her hand. Since she didn’t like how her body felt strange every time she received guiding, she only received it when necessary. She had maintained their pairing with him using the minimum amount of guiding, keeping her distance so she wouldn’t let go of the thread of reason.

Somehow, it felt like it had to be that way. It still felt like her head was full of fog, but she didn’t care.

Above all, guiding made her whole body feel hot and tingle. It felt like buried desires were rising to the surface and encroaching on her. It was a sensation she’d never experienced in everyday life.

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