The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 409: Why Would I?

Chapter 409: Why Would I?
CRACK!
Lane bit on his lollipop, shattering the hard candy into pieces.
Reasonable? How was Ethan a reasonable person? He wasn’t reasonable at all!
Which was rather rich coming from Lane, but that was not the point.
"Negotiate? Why would I negotiate?" he threw Ethan a disinterested look. "I don’t care what you or my parents think. Besides, what could they even do to me?"
Ethan smiled in response. "It’s not about what they might do to you, it’s about what they could do to Nyla..."
Lane gritted his teeth.
Yes, that was true. They had something over Nyla, although Lane didn’t know what. They could use it to threaten Nyla, and then use her against Lane...
Of course, they wouldn’t do anything to HARM her. She was still the heiress, and if something had happened to her, who would take over? Gia? Savannah? Elliot? Yeah, they weren’t BAD, but they still couldn’t compare! Besides, while they might have been members of the extended family, Miles was the kind of person who would prefer his own offspring to inherit the Guild and the Allen group. So, unless he wanted to get Catherine pregnant despite their age and hope for the best (and based on their previous experience, their chances of getting acceptable offspring were 50%), he would have no choice but to go easy on Nyla.
It would still be unpleasant, though. And that was putting it extremely lightly. The Allens surely had plenty of ways to torment their daughter without harming her future prospects.
But what could Lane do? He couldn’t trust Ethan. Thus, the best option at the moment was still to stay in the act...
So, he scoffed, shrugging his shoulders, "Why would I care what happens to Miss Heiress? I wouldn’t even trade this stick for her sake!" He pulled the lollipop stick from his mouth. There was still a piece of hard candy stuck on it, which, although cheap, would be a shame to waste (it was sweet, after all!), so he ripped it off with his teeth, before tossing the now empty stick far ahead.
Littering on Earth was bad, but they were now in a dungeon under the Allen Guild’s control, so littering was absolutely appropriate!
Ethan stared at him for a moment, before saying, "You’re not even going to ask what my terms are?"
"Why would I?" Lane shrugged his shoulders again. "I have no reason to agree to them anyway."
"But aren’t you at least curious?" Ethan insisted.
"Why would I be? It would probably be to break up with Damien or something along these lines."
And that was something Lane didn’t want to hear. Because... it was complicated. He didn’t want to break up with Damien, of course, but for Nyla’s sake... He could potentially fake break up with Damien, and pretend to separate for a while. Then, once Lane successfully destroyed the Allens, they could get back together again...
But there was a problem. Lane wouldn’t be able to trap Damien in a marriage then. And, before they could get back together, Damien might learn the whole truth about Lane... and might not want to return.
The situation was too tricky. Lane would rather try to avoid having to make such a choice.
However, to his surprise, Ethan said, "No, that’s not it. I’ve told you I’m reasonable, right? What’s the point in suggesting something I know you won’t agree to?"
Lane couldn’t help but steal a glance at the Guide. If not breaking up with Damien, then what else could it be? He had to admit that he was a bit curious...
But he couldn’t let it show. Nope, not at all. If he asked, he would be playing into it, and Ethan would be able to gain an advantage over him soon. Thus, he ignored the man, rolling his eyes, and reached into his spatial bag to pull out another lollipop, this time a chocolate one...
Ethan wasn’t discouraged by his attitude, though. He waited for a moment, but as he realized that Lane wasn’t going to ask, he volunteered the answer himself, "I want to be your main Guide."
Lane almost choked on his lollipop. "What?" he asked in between coughs.
"I want to be your main Guide," Ethan calmly repeated.
So Lane hadn’t misheard. But...
"Why?"
It made no sense. Ethan’s mission was to seduce Damien and to separate him from Lane. Damien was an Esper, not a Guide, so Ethan’s swooping in to take this position for Lane was of no use to him. Unless...
Unless it was to spy on Lane’s ability usage? See how much guiding he required, and how often. Ethan was a very experienced Guide, having worked in the field for fifteen years, thus, if Lane wasn’t careful, he would be able to pick up on a few things...
Of course, even though that was the most likely reason behind the request, it wasn’t the reason that Ethan would tell Lane. Instead, he answered with a question, "Don’t you miss the good old days?"
Lane’s face immediately contorted with disgust. "Nope! Not at all!"
Why would he? There was nothing to miss about those times. Back then, Lane was always battered and bruised, brushing with death every day. A powerless F-ranker, or so everyone, including himself, believed, he had no control over his fate...
And it’s not like Ethan had any reason to miss those days either. Although his status had technically been better, since he had been an A-ranker, he was a Guide. And in the early days of the Awakened, all Guides had been controlled by the Association. His life might not have ever been in danger, but he hadn’t been able to decide his fate either... Most decisions he could make were limited to things like what he was going to eat, and even that was only choosing from the options available at the Association’s cafeteria. He had been a prisoner, despite having committed no crime...
That’s not to say that what they had done together was necessarily all that bad... But the point was that the only reason they had ever gotten intimate with each other was simply because they had no other opportunities. If you only had a cheese sandwich available to eat, you would still eat it, even if you didn’t particularly fancy cheese, no? But if you had all the dishes in the world available to you, you would no longer care for it...
Naturally, that didn’t really matter right now, since Lane knew that what Ethan had said was just a bullshit excuse... Actually, he hadn’t even said that he missed it himself, he just asked Lane if he did... The true purpose of wanting to become Lane’s main Guide was to spy on him from another angle, that’s all. Lane had a boyfriend now, and Ethan was also free to see whomever he liked, so nothing would happen between them.
As for Ethan’s becoming Lane’s Guide in exchange for keeping the fact that Lane seemed to have reconciled with Nyla a secret... That wouldn’t be an unacceptable deal. It would be a little bothersome for Lane, as he would have to manage illegal guiding and his ability use on pretty much a daily basis, but... It was doable.
Except that Lane didn’t trust Ethan. They could make a deal, and the Guide could still turn on him and everything to the Allens. Not to mention, becoming Lane’s main Guide was also for the sake of his mission. Ethan had nothing to personally gain from it, so how could that be used as a motivation for him to keep his mouth shut?
It couldn’t, that’s how! It was just a trap! He was trying to lure Lane in with a tolerable condition so that Lane would be willing to negotiate, therefore admitting that he DID have something to hide!
That’s why, after quickly assessing the situation, Lane shot him down.
"I already have a main Guide."
Indeed, he had. One of Damien’s sisters, Samantha. Although she was only a B-rank Guide, her compatibility with Lane was extremely high... Perhaps not high enough to be able to support Lane if he fully started to use his powers, due to their rank difference, but since he was currently toning things down, restricting himself to an A-rank, Samantha was enough.
"I have a higher rank," Ethan wasn’t giving up.
To which, Lane rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and a terrible compatibility with me! What was it again... 27%?"
"It was 37%."
"Same difference!"
Ethan gave Lane a long look, his brows slightly lifted. "I think we both know that our actual compatibility is much higher. If it wasn’t for you rigging the test..."
...Ugh.
Lane’s eyes twitched.
OF COURSE Ethan had to remind him of that. How Lane’s attempt to save Damien from getting stuck with this nuisance had been terribly thwarted. But at least that reminded him of another argument he could use...
"I don’t know what bullshit you are talking about. But, may I remind you, you’re already Damien’s main Guide..."
Which was something Lane absolutely hated, but at least it was convenient at the moment to... Actually, Lane didn’t know himself. He was just arguing for the sake of arguing, because Ethan annoyed him so much... So much so, that he forgot that he didn’t need to use any arguments to shoot Ethan down, as it was supposed to be his condition for staying silent about Nyla...
But Ethan was no different. He scoffed at Lane’s words, retorting, "How’s that a problem? Team Leader Lennox doesn’t use his abilities much. I can handle another A-ranker on top of that!"
He... wasn’t wrong. However, that somehow only further irritated Lane...
"Oh, are you so great now?"
And the bickering continued...