After I Died, He Died After Me Too - Chapter 27

Chapter 14.1

Dexter irritably ran his fingers through his hair.

He couldn’t shake the image of that resentful gaze. If he didn’t make things clear now, she would just keep wandering around recklessly.

Not knowing about reverse guiding likely meant she had never even heard of it before. Dexter knew more about reverse guiding than most. He knew how miserable it made a person feel—how disgusting it was to have everything forcibly taken from you.

When he was Edith’s Guide, he wasn’t loved by his Esper. She probably thought she was being considerate, but others saw it as an opportunity.

“Mikhail, I heard you’re not even properly guiding your pair. And that high-and-mighty Edith doesn’t want to imprint with you either, right? How about being with me instead?”

The way those Espers clung to him, their eyes sweeping over his body, sent shivers down his spine. It felt like snakes crawling on his skin.

“Edith said I can go to her Guide and be guided by him. It seems like she doesn’t care much about you, Mikhail. You should just imprint with me instead.”

There was no way Edith had said such things. Mikhail didn’t believe them.

There was no way she didn’t care for him. She was just being cautious, that was all. Edith didn’t treat Guides like objects; she treated them like people, and that’s why he thought it was fine that he hadn’t guided her.

“Stay still. You come from a lowly family, yet act all high and mighty just because you’ve got a high rank. You can’t even get your pair to acknowledge you. I said I’d take care of you.”

However, as the two remained paired without an imprint and only continued simple guiding, many began targeting Mikhail. Pairs without an imprint were easy to break, and Mikhail, being the Guide everyone coveted, became an obvious target. Edith was the only one who didn’t realize this.

Her actions, which she thought were considerate, only put him in greater danger, and she didn’t understand the sense of loss he suffered because of it.

“My Esper told me today that my guiding is the best. Whenever I guide, I feel like giving them everything.”

“The imprint was truly an unforgettable experience. It felt like everything was connected. I feel like we could be together forever.”

The other Guides from the same group, as if mocking him for not being able to properly guide his pair, would occasionally boast about how much they were loved. They would even tell him how possessive their Espers were, not allowing them to guide anyone else.

On the outside, Mikhail remained calm, but deep down, he was envious of them.

Whenever Edith wasn’t around, he often encountered people who tried to force him to guide them. As it happened more frequently, he began fighting back to protect himself. It felt like he was slowly becoming someone else.

But no matter how hard he tried, Edith never let him get any closer to her.

Memories from the past kept resurfacing, causing his brow to furrow. Dexter placed his hand on his forehead and let out a sigh. He felt stifled, like everything was becoming more tangled.

“Ha.”

Irritation bubbled up inside him. Dexter felt himself growing more twisted, but he couldn’t think of any other way.

‘D*mn it.’

Every time Bianca’s face came to mind, Dexter felt low and despicable, like he was staring at a version of his old self.

Even though he had risen from a humble family to become the crown prince, it seemed people’s true nature never really changed.

He looked at himself with disgust, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.

Despite knowing better than anyone how it felt, he had forced reverse guiding on her when she had simply asked him to explain it. He figured it would probably be difficult to face Bianca for a while. Reverse guiding was a cruel and repulsive act.

The moment she saw him again, the memories would likely flood back, making her shudder.

On the other hand, if this experience made her more cautious of others, he wouldn’t mind. He had no intention of letting anyone else have her.

Back when she was an S-class Esper, many people had wanted to be her Guide. It wasn’t just her rank but also the way she treated Guides, which was so different from the others. At that time, all anyone could do was try to make themselves appealing to Espers.

‘Come to think of it, things were probably better back then.’

Back then, there was never a situation where a Guide could overpower an Esper. Dexter felt uneasy about many things. She needed to understand the reality a little better, too. It was frustrating to see her still walking around with that same detached expression.

‘Does she really think it’s okay to just walk away so irresponsibly?’