12 - How to Escape the Reverse Harem Cliché
Chapter 12
Aiden often showed his ability in front of me until just before he entered the National Academy the following year. It was mainly an ability for my convenience, so it was only at a trivial level, and of course, I didn't know the fear of abilities.
To me, abilities were just something practically useful in daily life. That was all.
But it was different. Reality was so different from what I had imagined.
“Laila. Are you okay?”
“Don’t touch me!”
“……Laila.”
My fingertips trembled so much I couldn’t breathe.
A little while ago. Aiden had used his ability on Valerian as a warning, but there was clearly killing intent within it.
Even though he had controlled it so Valerian wouldn’t die, the glass shards from the chandelier that fell from the ceiling had bounced up and left a scar on his cheek. If things had gone wrong, it could have grazed his eye.
It was just a chandelier falling… but Aiden’s ability, born from overflowing Guiding, choked me.
“Laila. I, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to startle you…”
Unable to even touch me, Aiden wrung his hands.
Meanwhile, the Count sighed and left the dining room, while the Countess, clutching her dress, rushed over to me and pulled me up from the chair.
“Laila seems very startled. Let’s go to your room for now.”
“……Yes.”
Just the fall of a chandelier. Even just that made my heart feel like it would shatter.
The actual battlefields against Monsters must be tens of thousands of times worse than this. Perhaps this world is more terrifying and cruel than my previous one, where gunshots echoed.
To protect their lives, Espers had to use abilities stronger than anyone else.
And to use those abilities, their bodies needed to be filled with Guiding, so Guides were their lifeline.
Now it finally felt real. Adrian was an Esper, and I am a Guide. I had made various efforts to change the original story, but this was something I absolutely could not change.
“Laila. Are you alright?”
Once in the bedroom, the Countess sat me on the bed and wiped my cold sweat with a handkerchief, checking on me.
Though I couldn’t feel the slightest bit of warmth in her question, I strangely couldn’t shake the feeling that she was fixated on me.
Soon after, she dismissed all the servants waiting in my bedroom, including the maid who brought water and a glass. She even sent the wet nurse out.
It seemed like she had something important to say, but I was so exhausted by the worry of how I would handle the things that were about to happen. I didn’t know what it was, but I wished the Countess would leave too…
“Laila. Are you taking your medicine properly?”
“Yes?”
At the sudden mention of medicine, I tilted my head without realizing it.
At that moment, the Countess’s eyes flashed sharply. I almost asked what medicine it was but managed to stop myself and nodded.
“Of course, I’m taking it well!”
If it was medicine, it could only be that one. The white pills she and the wet nurse had given me a few days ago when I had a bad cold.
She must be talking about those pills, all jumbled together in a small pouch inside my luggage.
“Really? That’s a relief. I thought your complexion was poor because you were skipping that medicine.”
Gone was her sharp expression; she suddenly returned to a warm, motherly demeanor and hugged me, patting my back. She stroked the back of my head, comforting me.
“Don’t worry. Your mother will be going to the capital with you. There will be no problem for you, so don’t worry.”
“You’re going too, Mother?”
“Of course. How could I possibly send you alone?”
The Countess pulled me away from her embrace and gently poked my cheeks with the back of her hand, continuing in a soft voice.
“You won’t Manifest as a Guide, my dear. Don’t worry.”
“……”
“If you haven’t Manifested by this age, it means you’re a normal person. Aiden is a rather special case. As he mentioned earlier, it’s extremely rare for siblings to Manifest the same way. Don’t worry, just trust your mother.”
“But Mother.”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t it possible that I could be an Esper instead of a Guide?”
“……What?”
“I was worried that I might Manifest as an Esper like Aiden.”
The truth was that I was anxious about being measured as a Guide in the Manifestation test, but I had skillfully laid a trap. The Countess’s words were a bit suspicious.
Why was she only worrying about me clearly Manifesting as a Guide? It was as if she hadn’t even considered the possibility of me being an Esper.
The Countess seemed lost for words at my clever lie.
In fact, according to Aiden’s explanation, if we assumed he and I were biological siblings, I should normally be consumed by worry about potentially Manifesting as an Esper now. The Esper path was more likely. If the Countess had come to comfort me, she should have explained it that way.
But she was linking me to the Manifestation of a Guide, not an Esper. I sensed something unusual here.
“So… that’s how it is. Of course, it’s the same for Espers. Whether you’re a Guide or an Esper, what does it matter? What’s important is that you, Laila, are normal.”
“Yes, I’m relieved. I can feel at ease with your words, Mother.”
In case she had noticed my suspicion, I quickly stretched out my arms, hugged her, and changed the subject.
“Mother. I really want to enter the National Academy. The Academy Aiden is going to is too scary for someone like me, a normal person. It’s true that I don’t have to go there, right?”
“Of course. You will never have to go there, Laila. Your father and I won’t stand for it.”
With that, she told me to rest and quietly closed the bedroom door before leaving.
I sprang up from my seat and opened one of the luggage bags placed in the corner to find the pouch.
“What on earth is this medicine?”
I poured a few white pills onto my palm.
I hadn’t taken them because I was worried about an overdose, but now, with my suspicions clearly aroused, I placed the pills on the vanity and rolled them around.
I had become the protagonist of the novel. Not an unnamed extra, nor a minor character with little screen time, but the female lead around whom the story revolved.
As with all romance novels, the female lead’s beginning is humble, but as the story progresses towards its end, she receives all sorts of buffs, causing her stats to skyrocket.
However, it is Laila’s experiences in the field and the male leads around her that create that growth curve. The Fascianne Family was merely a tool for Laila to recall memories on rare occasions. Even Adrian’s death was used as a growth element for Laila, not explored in depth.
So, I naturally thought that matters concerning this family would have no connection to the story.
…It seems I was mistaken.
“This medicine… I should investigate it.”
The problem is, where can I find the connections to investigate? Thinking about it again gave me a headache. If I left this house right now, how would I make a living?
Should I go to the National Academy and ponder my future career? Could I, who lived as a slave to Excel and Word my entire life, adapt to this world where analog and superpowers were strangely intertwined? It was suffocatingly frustrating.
\ \ \
This was no time to worry about making a living.
My life was on the line, so what was the point of talking about academies or Excel… I felt like slapping my past self for even uttering such nonsense.
“How can you be so sure? You said you haven’t even had a Manifestation test.”
“Because I haven’t experienced any Manifestation Pain. And please don’t come any closer. Even if you are a noble, you have no right to do this to me. It’s an extremely rude act.”
As I backed away, my back hit the door of a shed in a corner of the garden. If necessary, I planned to open the door and hide inside.
Damn it. I’ve never Guided anyone! Where on earth is he smelling Guiding from to be confronting me like this!
The fortunate thing is that he isn’t in the ‘eyes rolling back and charging’ state described in the novel. Valerian standing before me now is perfectly normal, and his expression still suggests he has no particular interest in me.
This means he’s sensing Guiding from the wrong place and is interrogating me.
“D-don’t threaten me. You are a distinguished guest, but you have no right to treat me like this.”
“Are you truly not a Guide? The Guiding I felt a moment ago, I thought it was yours, my lady.”
“No. I really am not.”
I had been diligently avoiding Valerian, but I ran into him while strolling in the garden. So, I gave a light nod to greet him and tried to pass by, but Valerian suddenly grabbed my wrist and then, as if startled himself, quickly let go.
Startled, I screamed and stepped back, and my escort knights immediately stepped between Valerian and me, creating distance.
He apologized readily and then, to smooth over the situation, asked for the honor of accompanying me on my walk. So, I ended up following Valerian at a distance…
But then he suddenly changed his demeanor and was interrogating me threateningly like this. He claimed he felt a faint trace of Guiding a moment ago.
His intensity was so fierce that, for a moment, even I thought I had Manifested as a Guide**.
