Chapter 66: Sugar Daddy Sentinel

Lydia stared at the chonky cat that was rolling shamelessly on the floor.

"At this rate, Maron will turn into a walking energy storage unit. Not that I’m complaining, though."

The fluffy pink cat had become noticeably chubbier after eating all of those Energy Cores.

Maron had grown into a chonky furball, and she even let out a tiny burp before disappearing into the bracelet.

"By the way, who’s the person you’ve been looking for?" Lydia asked.

"The missing Crown Prince of Luanna."

"The Crown Prince?" She blinked at him, trying to process the information. "How is he here? Wait... Ah."

Countless Dimensional Rifts and heavily polluted areas created major crises all across Luanna.

If the kingdom was already on the verge of collapse, it wasn’t hard to imagine why its Crown Prince might have disappeared.

Still, something about the situation bothered Lydia.

"Had the Crown Prince abandoned his kingdom? How about his people?"

"No." Ephraim quickly answered, his tone firm. "He would never do that. Someone in his own country placed a bounty on his head, Lydia. We suspect it was his own chancellors."

Lydia’s expression changed. "His own people wanted him dead?"

"That’s what we’re investigating," Zachary replied. "Before the late King and Queen of Luanna died, they asked House Ludenberg to protect their son if something evwr happened to them. I wonder what made them asked such important thing. We’ve been searching for the prince ever since."

Before Lydia could ask another question, Ephraim politely removed Zachary’s hand from hers.

Again.

Then he intertwined his own hand around Lydia’s.

"What are you doing, Ephraim?"

"Taking back what’s mine."

Ephraim leaned closer, his gaze drifting toward her neck.

His lips were only inches away when she immediately dodged and planted her palm against his chest to stop him.

"Ephraim! No!" she protested and pushed him back before he could get any closer. "The last time you did this, my father and brothers almost killed me! All because you answered that we were doing Deep Synchronization, dummy!"

Zachary nearly choked.

He had been in the middle of eating his steak when Ephraim dropped that bombshell.

The piece of meat went down the wrong way, forcing him to grab his glass and take a large gulp of water before Zachary could breathe properly again.

He stared at the Crown Prince in disbelief.

"He did what?"

Across the table, Zachary watched the scene with an expression of utter disbelief. He shook his head and clicked his tongue.

"Talk about marking your territory at its finest. As expected of the Adelstein lineage."

Lydia covered her face with one hand. She could already feel another headache coming.

"We’re engaged, after all," Ephraim said calmly, seemingly unaware of the chaos he had caused. "It’s not as though I’m going to leave her or anything."

"At this point, you better be!" Lydia pouted.

"I won’t. Ever. I have promised so in that bet. Remember?"

Zachary slowly set down his fork. His expression had turned unusually flat as he studied Ephraim.

Then he placed a hand on the Crown Prince’s shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Being engaged doesn’t mean you can announce that you’ve just fucked and bond marked your Guide right in front of her family, Your Highness."

"Exactly!" Lydia nodded vigorously. "Try to learn some decency."

Ephraim was a bit hurt from Lydia’s rejection but he respected her decision. He backed away and finished the rest of his chicken soup.

Well, at least his frowned expression was quite adorable.

So Lydia decided to reward him with a little peck on his cheek.

"Much better. Now, stop frowning too much, Ephraim. And make sure to try to behave better next time. You’re annoying but I prefer to see you smile. Lots."

Before Lydia could pull away, Ephraim caught her hand. A smug smile slowly bloomed on his lips as he pulled her into his arms.

"If that’s how you intend to make me smile, you should do it more often. That was quite... enjoyable, I’d say."

Lydia sighed but she didn’t bother to get away from his embrace. "Don’t push your luck, Ephraim."

"I’m not." He rested his chin above Lydia’s head.

A little smile tugged at Zachary’s lips as he watched Lydia and Ephraim for a moment.

"Sometimes you two gave this strange vibes. Like an old married couple vibes—you knew each other far too well yet still bicker daily. But I am 100% sure if something ever happened to your relationship, actually Ephraim wouldn’t be able to cope nor survive. Mostly because nobody understands him better than you, Lydia. Not even himself."

That was new.

Lydia began to wonder about Zachary’s words. But yeah, perhaps he has points there.

Back then in her previous life, Ephraim did engage to another woman after their engagement was annulled. It had been a political arrangement.

Even the woman was rarely seen being together with Ephraim. Some people also said that he had poor compability with her. Which meant he couldn’t get proper guiding from his fiancée.

"Perhaps because we’ve known each other for way too long," Lydia replied.

"If you only knew how devoted he is behind your back, Lydia. You two really need to sit it out. Healthy communicatication and all. Did you know that he prefers to take—"

"Senior. That’s enough." Ephraim warned.

Despite his warning, Ephraim pulled Lydia onto his lap, his arm settling firmly around her waist.

The gesture was unmistakably territorial, as though Ephraim wanted to remind Zachary exactly who her fiancé was.

Lydia barely reacted. She had grown so accustomed to Ephraim’s possessive antics that she simply settled against him and continued the conversation as if nothing unusual had happened.

"If you say so, Golden Boy."

His expression gave nothing away, but Lydia knew well that Zachary must be up to something.

He tapped the bracelet on his wrist and took out a holographic document. With a casual flick of his finger, Zachary slid it toward Lydia.

"A contract between Sentinel and Guide?"

"Unlike your brute fiancé, I’d like to sign a contract with you, Lydia." Zachary’s voice was calm, but his gaze remained fixed on hers. "I haven’t changed my mind. I still want you to be my Guide."

"I need your consent," he added. "I’m not going to force you into anything. Promise."

Lydia stared at the contract.

Ephraim let out a long sigh ash he glanced down at the content. His gaze moved from Zachary to the contract and finally settled on Lydia.

He clearly wasn’t pleased with the situation, but he couldn’t deny that his rival was being honest about what he wanted.

At least Zachary had the decency to ask.

Sentinel–Guide Resonance Contract

I, Zachary Ludenberg, swear that I will never intentionally harm Lydia Valendorf or force her to do anything against her will.

Her consent shall always come first, including during guiding and Resonance Synchronization.

She may refuse or stop any session at any time without punishment or retaliation.

This contract is a voluntary partnership. Lydia retains her freedom, personal rights, and authority over her own life—including the right to maintain other Sentinel partnerships.

Either party may terminate this agreement at any time. This contract takes effect only upon the mutual consent of both parties.

That was a really good contract.

Honestly, she wasn’t surprised. Zachary might be a shameless flirt who loved teasing Ephraim, but he had never tried to force her into anything.

After examining the contract one more time, Lydia signed it.

"Of course, my Sentinel—Zachary Ludenberg. Looking forward to guide you."

And just like that, Lydia has Ephraim and Zachary as her personal Sentinels now.