Translator: Nox

24 - How to Escape the Reverse Harem Cliché

Chapter 24

“Shall we reread Article 3 of the contract? ‘Do not ask about each other.’”

“So you’re not even asking what my ability is?”

“Yeah. I’m not curious.”

It was a lie. I was dying of curiosity, but I was trying my best to suppress it. Our relationship should be nothing more than Esper and Guide, and nothing less.

“Your Guiding is the most minimal I’ve ever received. So minimal I don’t even know if it’s working or not.”

“Are you getting cocky now that you’re feeling better, Evan?”

Evan burst into laughter at my words. I had no idea what point struck him as so funny, but he was laughing his heart out, even wiping away tears.

That’s why they call him a psycho. I really didn’t want to get involved with him, but somehow we ended up sharing a contract.

“Still, it’s my favorite Guiding among all I’ve received.”

“It’s too late to clean up the mess.”

“I mean it. How should I put it? Your Guiding is clear and transparent. While normal Guiding feels like fog, yours is like air. Barely there, yet present.”

“You have a way with words, pretending to praise me while insulting me. That’s some high-level backhanded compliment.”

“That’s not it. I mean I can breathe within your Guiding.”

How did that even become the meaning?

Anyway, this is so annoying. Evan was talking too much right now, more so than when he was his usual rude self.

I gestured for him to stop talking to me, closed the book I was holding, and shut my eyes again.

“Will you provide contact Guiding if I go Berserk?”

Even though I heard Evan muttering to himself, his words were so absurd that I didn’t even bother to reply.

But that was my mistake. I had momentarily forgotten, lulled by the Guiding. Just how serious of a psycho Evan Olivite was.

At that time, I didn’t know he was the type who had to see his thoughts through to the end to be satisfied.

\ \ *

Male Lead 1. Valerian Astolphe.

He was born an Esper, and judging by how he shattered the Inspection Stone, his rank is presumed to be S or higher.

As the only son of the Duke of Astolphe, whose reputation and wealth are solid, he was recognized as a Duke at a very young age and is an exceptional talent noticed by the Imperial family.

His ability is Ignite. Simply put, he commands all forms of fire.

Already strong in the elemental category, he was born with a ridiculously high rank, making it obvious to anyone that he would be the main male lead.

Yet, I ended up with Orion, not Valerian.

The reason? I don’t know. I guess I just had a peculiar taste for sub-male leads. Whether watching dramas or movies, my eyes always gravitated towards the sub-male leads.

That’s not to say Male Lead 2, Orion, was lacking in any way. There was so much debate among readers about who to support.

Readers who rooted for Orion lived by the slogan, ‘It’s not over until it’s over.’

Male Lead 2, Orion Restro, who also had a crazy set of abilities, was an Esper whom the Marquis of Restro brought home, disguised him as a bastard, and raised as his heir.

Recovery, or healing ability, was a rare ability even here. Just like how medical school was for academically gifted students where I used to live.

Compared to S-rank Valerian, starting at B-rank might seem a bit shabby, but in reality, a B-rank for a healing ability is an unbelievably high level.

However, Orion didn’t stop there; he steadily followed the path of a male lead and eventually reached S-rank. Should I call him an icon of effort?

If these are the male leads I didn’t want to meet but ended up meeting against my will…

The Male Lead 3 in this novel, "~Harem~" or whatever, is someone I would never meet if I lived a normal life, so I felt more at ease compared to the previous two.

True to his insane abilities, Male Lead 3 is none other than a Prince. The youngest Prince.

Male Lead 3, with his pitiful backstory, is a character who suffers from his father, the Emperor’s, indifference and the constant bullying from his many older siblings.

However, despite his pitiful backstory, he possesses a very psycho-like disposition.

Every time he opened his mouth, his words cut people down, and perhaps due to his sadistic tendencies, he attacked monsters in unnecessarily brutal ways.

Because of this, people avoided him, and even the kind heroine, Laila, said this the moment she met Male Lead 3:

“I don’t want to be in the same space as that person for even a moment……”

A mad prince who made even Laila shake her head.

I can’t quite recall his name, but it was something like Andreas Aint. Anyway, that was roughly his name.

The reason I have the least memory of Male Lead 3 is not only because Andreas appears quite late but also because he was pathologically obsessed with the supporting character, Rose.

Andreas, who manifested late in life at a low rank like Laila, was deployed to the front lines where high-rank Espers were stationed, thanks to his backing as the youngest Prince.

However, with his low rank and mental-type ability, he was practically a useless card on the battlefield. And yet, his Guiding consumption was incredibly severe.

Rose, a high-rank Guide, couldn’t leave his side, as if she were his dedicated Guide. So, how intense must Andreas’s affection for Rose have been?

When the heroine Laila later stole Rose’s Guiding ability, it was Andreas who despaired and raged the most.

In short, Laila and Andreas had a hate-hate relationship, a relationship of love and hate.

Despite that, Laila and Andreas had an extremely high compatibility, a matching rate, which prevented him from letting Laila go.

Furthermore, Andreas caused several incidents that nearly put his team in danger, acting like a villain multiple times. I honestly couldn’t understand why he was a candidate for a male lead.

Perhaps he is the greatest beneficiary of this era, born from a slightly tragic narrative and a hate-hate relationship.

Ugh, anyway, obsessive men are absolutely not my style. Didn’t I include escaping them as one of the reasons I’m trying to deviate from the original work? I didn’t have the capacity to accept their obsession and affection.

“Miss Laila. Are you really going to partner with Evan for the poetry class?”

“Yes.”

I snapped back to attention at the professor’s call and answered reflexively.

I wondered why the poetry professor called me, but it seemed it was about accepting a partner.

It made sense, as Evan was the biggest troublemaker in the academy, and I was a top student the professors wanted to recruit for graduate studies…

The professor looked at me as if he couldn’t believe it and even asked if Evan had threatened me. I shook my head and left his office after saying I would do my best with him.

“Laila. What did the professor say?”

Rowen, who was waiting outside, had a face full of worry and concern.

The children don’t know about the relationship between Evan and me. It was a clause in our contract that we would pretend not to know each other within the academy, except during Guiding sessions.

That day, when I went down to the first floor at Evan’s summons, armed with a stick and burning with fighting spirit, I returned with my hair disheveled and my clothes rumpled. Everyone rushed to ask:

“Did Olivite hit you?!”

Even though I tried to fix things quickly, Evan had messed up my hair so much with his hands that it hadn’t been properly styled.

The children, thinking I had been beaten by him, started seriously considering solutions.

Perhaps they were waiting for Evan’s graduation or expulsion as soon as possible. That day, they went to the dean and applied for a restraining order to prevent Evan from approaching me.

If I had actually been assaulted by Evan, it would have been a welcome request, but that wasn’t the case at all. Later, I found the dean separately and made up an excuse about a misunderstanding, properly explaining to the kids that nothing had happened with Evan.

Yet, Rowen still looks at me with so much worry.

“Laila. Professor of poetry is an authority in academics. Even the Olivite family won’t be able to ignore it. Please tell him the truth, okay?”

“It’s okay, Rowen. I really have no relationship with Olivite.”

“But… Olivite keeps staring at you in every overlapping class.”

I suppose I need to give him a warning. He’s the type who only understands if you tell him directly.

“I guess I must look strange to him.”

“Oh, come on… Laila, aren’t you too dense? If Olivite bothers you, you have to tell me. Okay?”

Rowen’s family, the Dermans, were one of the families in opposition to the Olivite family. Because of that, Rowen feared Olivite, even to the point of hating him.

I found Rowen so endearing. Rowen, who stepped up to defend me as if I were their older sister, exuded a pure heart.

This was a genuine purity, completely different from my direct superiors who, after I painstakingly chose a lunch menu while looking at them, complained from the moment they picked up their spoons until we left the restaurant.

“Thank you for worrying about me, Rowen.”

“No, it’s me who should be thanking you. For helping Laila adapt quickly to the academy.”

“It’s because you helped me, though.”

“If you have any more questions, ask me anything. I’ll tell you. About academy matters and even external affairs.”

Rowen was originally a member of a club like the school’s HR department and was assigned as a sort of mentee to me when I enrolled late. Then, we found we had similar tastes and became close like this.

If I had to choose my closest friend at the academy, I would choose Rowen Derman. Of course, Rowen is so popular, they probably wouldn’t choose me as their closest friend.