The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

The slap came so suddenly that no one was able to see it coming.

Even Irene, who prided herself on always keeping her composure no matter the circumstances, couldn’t hold together her mask this time.

For a split second, resentment flickered across her face. Her cheek was stinging and had already become red with the shape of Aisha’s handprint. But just as she wanted to tear off her mask, she remembered there were still other people in the room.

Smoothing her expression back into something fragile and wounded by what her older sister did to her, Irene let her tears finally fall.

Theon whirled fully around in outrage. He furiously asked, ”What are you doing?”

Aisha faced him without a trace of fear. ”I’m teaching our youngest sister a lesson. She caused a commotion in this house and allowed a servant to accuse me.”

”That was because she lost her bracelet!”

”And what does that have to do with me?” Aisha raised her voice. She remained calm even as she continued with a sharp tone. ”I was accused of theft in my own home, in front of my servants, and in front of all of you. And all you cared about was whether her bracelet had been found. What about me, Theon?”

Aisha glared at him, wishing she could chew flesh from everyone in that room. ”How do you think the servants will look at me from now on? They will no longer have any respect for me. Think about it carefully. What will people outside this house think when they hear how the Novalis family treats one of their own as a thief?”

Theon opened his mouth, then closed it. He opened it again, searching for something to say, to rebut the words that would put her back in her place. But nothing came. Because as much as he hated to admit it, what she said made sense.

He turned to look at Irene, hoping to find something to argue with and throw it back at Aisha. But Irene only stood there with her head lowered, tears falling down her eyes.

He weakly said, ”But you don’t have to hit her—”

Suddenly something shattered at their feet.

When they looked down at the shards with frightened hearts, they realized it had been a glass cup. It was what Aisha had picked up from the nearby desk and thrown without warning.

Theon and Irene stood there in shock.

And Erika, who had been standing at the doorway, was startled at the sound.

She turned to see what had happened and was even more stunned than her two children.

”What do you think you are doing, Aisha?”

Aisha, however, didn’t answer.

She didn’t even look at her mother. Instead, she swept her arm across the desk behind her, sending a row of trinkets and a picture frame crashing to the floor. The clatter and shatter of glass and porcelain rang through the room, drowning out whatever protest they were about to raise.

She looked possessed.

Under their stunned gazes, Aisha terrifyingly said in a steady voice, ”If you don’t want to treat me as your older sister, then just say it. You don’t have to keep performing in front of me.” Her misty-grey eyes swept over each one of them in turn. ”From now on, I don’t have any siblings.”

Her declaration hit them like a physical blow.

Theon’s mouth fell open. He wanted to argue, to demand that she take it back. But the gaze Aisha used to stare at them made him swallow whatever he wanted to say.

Irene’s tears froze halfway down her cheeks, genuinely shocked by what she heard.

They all wanted to say something. But none of them dared to open their mouths, because Aisha’s hand had already drifted toward another item on the desk beside her. Her fingers were curling around the opening of a pot.

No one could guarantee that the next thing she threw wouldn’t land on one of them.

”Aisha, let’s talk about this calmly.”

Erika tried to calm things down, but Aisha cut her off. ”If this is how you’ll treat me anyway, then we can all stop pretending.”

They flinched at her words. More so Irene, who felt that everything had gone completely out of her expectations.

Erika tried once more to step forward to ease the situation. ”Let’s talk about this tomorrow. Your siblings will also apologize—”

”This is what you’ve decided, Mother. Don’t regret it now,” Aisha told her coldly, reminding her when she asked if she wouldn’t regret her decision.

Erika hadn’t completely forgotten that either. At that time, she didn’t think too deeply about what Aisha had said and was more worried about serving justice to her youngest daughter and retrieving the expensive bracelet she had given away.

How did she respond then?

Erika remembered that she hadn’t said anything. Instead, she ordered the servants to help Theon corner Aisha’s maid.

”Aisha—”

”If you still won’t leave. I’ll break everything in this room.”

If it were mere words, they wouldn’t feel so threatened right now. However, they’ve seen how Aisha had broken the things from that desk behind her.

If they stayed any longer, she might really start to destroy everything in their grandmother’s room.

Reluctantly and with a heavy heart, they left her room one by one.

Aisha watched them leave until the door slid shut behind them.

Once she was certain they were gone, Aisha finally allowed herself to exhale the breath she was holding.

She allowed a moment of silence to take over the room until she calmed down.

”Miss Aisha, are you hurt? Did any of the glass cut you?”

Daisy rushed toward her immediately, small hands holding Aisha’s, turning them over to check for cuts from the items she grabbed earlier.

Aisha didn’t stop her from worrying about her. It had been quite a long time since someone actually did.

Once she’d realized Aisha was unharmed, Daisy balled her hands and pointed a finger at the closed door.

”They’re being so unfair!”

Aisha stared at her.

Daisy furiously continued, ”Young Master Theon and Madam Erika only ever think about Miss Irene’s feelings! The moment she cried about her missing bracelet and that servant said she saw you near her room, everyone believed it instantly! No one even bothered to ask you what happened, or if you knew anything about it at all! They didn’t even wait to hear your side before dragging the entire household up here to search your room like you were some kind of criminal!”

”Daisy,” Aisha called her. ”I’m fine.”

”How could you be fine?”

”I’m really fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Daisy lowered her eyes. She wondered if her young lady was trying to hold her emotions back. That must be it. Even at this time when her entire family was against her, Aisha didn’t allow her real feelings to show.

”I—forgive me, Miss.” She bowed her head and added, ”You should rest for the night. I’ll clean this up in the morning.”

That’s right. Right now, what her young lady needed the most was to rest without any disturbance after what happened.

Aisha said nothing to stop her as she quietly slipped out of the room.

Once the door clicked shut, Aisha let out a long breath and walked to her bed. Her spiritual beast lay on a pillow, looking slightly bloated.

A smile touched her lips, soft and genuinely amused.

”You glutton,” she murmured affectionately. ”Spit it out.”