The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving novel Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Her Elder Brother Has Returned!

Dinner was called earlier than usual that evening.

Aisha walked down the grand staircase. She was still groggy after sleeping the entire afternoon, rubbing her eyes and yawning. However, when she finally set foot at the bottom of the staircase, her expression returned to her normal, emotionless state.

When she entered the dining hall, she noticed something different right away. There was one more chair filled at the table.

A man sat there, tall, with the same dark hair as their mother and a face that held none of the softness Irene or Theon had. He wore a merchant’s traveling coat, the kind made for long voyages between star systems, still dusty at the collar like he’d come straight from a ship.

It was Zenick Novalis, her older brother.

Aisha’s memory supplied the information without her needing to dig for it. Zenick wasn’t a guide or sentinel, same as their parents. But unlike Dominic, who mostly sat behind a desk counting profits and barking orders, Zenick had made his own name in the trading business, chasing routes through planets most merchants avoided. He came home maybe once every three or five years, stayed a few weeks, then left again.

According to the fragments Aisha had, he was the only person in this house the original Aisha had ever been close to. Even after she awakened as a D-rank and everyone else began treating her like a stain on the family name, Zenick never changed how he spoke to her.

And yet it was Aisha Novalis who had grown cold to him. She started ignoring his calls and left his messages unread for months at a time.

Aisha remembered something else too. In all the time she’d spent in the hospital, abandoned by everyone in this house, there had been exactly one person who kept sending her messages.

It was him.

But because she had no idea how to deal with him and Aisha had just arrived into this world, she hadn’t opened a single one.

The moment she stepped through the doorway, the room went quiet.

"Where have you been hiding?" Dominic asked, not looking up from his plate. "You haven’t shown your face at a single meal since you came back to school"

Aisha thought about answering honestly — that the food here tasted like boiled cardboard and eating with this family did more to kill her appetite than anything else. But she kept that thought to herself and said nothing.

Theon scoffed from his seat, eyes fixed on his own food. "She’s probably been hiding out of shame. Her engagement fell apart, what did she expect? Everyone in the academy already knows."

The table fell silent again.

Theon didn’t seem to care about the sudden change in the air He kept going. "I knew this was going to end like this. She never had anything close to matching the prince’s status. What did she think, that love alone would keep her tied to a future emperor? She, a D-rank? Ha!"

Irene set her fork down gently, her voice soft with concern. "Theon, you can’t say that. Sister finally came down to eat with us. Why would you—"

She stopped there, biting her lip, as if she couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence, worried it might wound Aisha further.

Erika nodded approvingly at her youngest daughter’s thoughtfulness and shot Theon a look. "Watch your mouth at the table."

Theon muttered something under his breath and went back to eating.

That was when a small sound came from the end of the table. Someone had set down their utensils.

Everyone turned.

It was Zenick. He hadn’t spoken a word since Aisha entered, but now he looked up, his gaze passing over Theon with enough disapproval of his manners

"We don’t discuss things like this over food," he said.

But Theon, who had been running his mouth freely moments ago, closed it immediately. Even Dominic, who usually made a point of asserting his authority whenever anyone else tried to take charge at his own table, said nothing.

"Aisha," Dominic said after a moment, gesturing at the table. "Sit and eat."

Aisha scanned the seats. There was only one unoccupied chair left.

Coincidentally, it sat right beside where Zenick was sitting.

She walked over and sat without a word. A servant appeared and filled her plate with the same pale, nutrient-dense slop the rest of the family was eating. Aisha looked at it for exactly one second before deciding not to touch it. She also noticed some changes on the dishes on top of the table. There was more food that came from the Outerworlders.

If she hadn’t tasted the real food from the monster meat she bought from the Association and cooked herself, she might even be interested in partaking in the feast before her.

But now that she had, she was no longer interested.

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