Chapter 38: Being Single Really Is a Punishment

[Ooooo, Ilya looks so scary when he’s angry.]

[He kinda looks like Archer when he gets that serious. Imagine getting scolded by both of them at the same time?]

[I’d probably say thank you!]

[Girl, you’re thirsty as fuck! Go gooning or something!]

Summer could only shake her head as the comment section somehow became even thirstier the more serious and slightly mean Ilya acted.

But honestly? She could see where they were coming from.

He really was something.

Summer glanced at Saddie, who was still standing there under Ilya’s sharp stare, before finally joining the conversation. "Getting your heart broken can make people do stupid things sometimes, I get it," she said. Then she added, "But yeah... this was still pretty dumb."

Saddie slowly turned toward her. "Miss Beaumont..."

Summer blinked. "What?"

"I thought you were on my side."

"I am." Summer continued, "That’s why I’m telling you the truth."

The light in Saddie’s eyes immediately disappeared. She let out a rough sigh and threw both hands up. "I know! I know! I was careless and stupid for not checking the alerts. But I swear, I’m never doing something like this again! No more dating for Saddie. I’m serious!"

[Chat, wanna bet?]

[She’s always desperate for love tho. She usually jumps into another relationship right after getting dumped.]

[She never learns, huh?]

[Summer, don’t be like her! If you ever get dumped, just take your anger out on alcohol!]

[Hey, don’t teach her to be an alcoholic!]

Summer didn’t read the comments because she was still looking at Saddie. "Don’t you still need a Guide?"

"Well..." Saddie scratched her cheek. "We don’t have to date our Guide, right? It’s just work. Do you date the Sentinel you work with?"

Summer tilted her head to the side. "Date? I’m not sure." She thought about it for a second. "But if marking my Sentinel counts as dating, then maybe."

[Woahh! Woahh! Did I miss a few Chapters here?!]

[Who did she mark?]

[Archer? Summer, you marked Archer?!]

[I thought it was the other way around!]

[Miss Bunny, you’re wild!]

Even Ilya, who was standing right beside Summer, couldn’t help but look surprised.

As someone who had known Archer for so long, hearing that he had been marked by someone he barely knew was indeed wild.

Besides, it would have been impossible for Summer to mark Archer if he hadn’t allowed her to do it in the first place. After all, no matter how bad the heat after guiding became, an SSS-Rank Sentinel should still have enough sense left to stop something he truly didn’t want during mating, especially after their pollution level went down.

"Did you sign an agreement contract with him?" Ilya asked before covering his mouth with his hand, looking completely shocked. "Or did the government arrange it?"

[LMAO HIS FACE!]

[BaronB, your sugar baby marked someone! You might need a new sugar baby. Me, for example!]

[Girl, you’ve got guts. Summer was the one who marked Archer, which means she can still mark more than one Sentinel!]

[That’s cheating.]

[Not if everyone agrees to it. High-ranking Guides having more than one Sentinel isn’t even that strange.]

[Imagine Summer handling both brothers in *censored* and then *censored* *censored* *censored*]

[BEASTNET STOP CENSORING EVERYTHING!]

[BeastNet wouldn’t censor you if you people knew how to behave.]

[Mods, Go away!]

"We made our own agreement," Summer finally answered. "And most of the clauses benefit me, not just financially."

Ilya was still staring at her like he had just discovered a whole new side of Archer. But eventually, he nodded. "That’s good. That’s good."

Saddie looked even more impressed. "Damn. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Guide conquer an elite Sentinel in real life!" She looked at Summer with bright eyes. "Miss Beaumont, you’re amazing!"

[Saddie, no more dating, remember? I already bet 100,000 Credits on you.]

[Bro, she’s praising Summer. She’s not proposing.]

[I DON’T TRUST HER. I’M BETTING MY FOOD MONEY.]

[This is why, people, if you’re poor, don’t gamble.]

Summer looked back and forth between Ilya and Saddie before saying, "It’s really not that big of a deal."

Ilya opened his mouth, but then closed it again when he heard several explosions outside.

"I didn’t expect the Pollution Energy here to burst this badly," Ilya said.

Not long after, all of their terminals started ringing, and a red warning appeared on the screens.

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[POLLUTION ENERGY BURST LEVEL: THREAT.]

[ALL SENTINELS AND GUIDES, PLEASE REMAIN IN AN AIRTIGHT LOCATION.]

[NETWORK DISRUPTION EXPECTED.]

[PLEASE STAY ALERT. SYSTEM DETECTION MAY BECOME UNSTABLE.]

[LIVESTREAM CONNECTION LOST...]

[LIVESTREAM PAUSED.]

The ground suddenly shook, so Summer grabbed the nearest shelf to steady herself as dust started falling from the ceiling.

"How bad is our situation, honestly?" Summer asked Ilya.

Ilya gritted his teeth. "Catastrophic." He added, "This place will become the top priority if the Pollution Energy Burst really reaches Threat Level."

"But if the air is that badly polluted, doesn’t that mean people outside might not be allowed to enter for the time being?" Summer asked again.

Ilya let out a rough sigh. "Yes. To avoid more casualties, the government will probably wait until the pollution level drops. But drones should still be able to enter, so we can still receive supplies."

"That’s if the signal ever comes back!" Saddie shouted.

She grabbed her hair with both hands and started talking to herself. "I knew it! I should’ve just cried my heart out at a bar instead of coming straight here!"

Summer looked at her. "But you don’t have money for a bar, do you?"

Saddie pulled at her hair even harder. "I should’ve just borrowed money from the bank!"

A moment later, Summer felt the shaking beneath her feet become even stronger.

"Come here. Let’s get under the table," Ilya said.

He grabbed Summer’s hand and pulled her down with him. Once they were under the table, he took off his jacket and covered Summer’s head with it so the falling dust wouldn’t hit her face or hair.

Saddie crawled under the table beside them too. Unlike Summer, however, she had no jacket protecting her. Her only friend was dust and a shaking floor.

Oh yeah, and the painful sight of her former Captain looking suspiciously gentle with his brother’s Guide. ℯ

Saddie stared at them for a second, then at the dust hitting her face.

"Wow," she whispered to herself. "Being single really is a punishment."