36 - How to Escape the Reverse Harem Cliché
Episode 36
“Didn’t Laila know too?”
“……I just guessed.”
“This is classified. Even the academy students don’t know yet. I found out by chance due to my work in the academy’s personnel department.”
“So Evan really……”
“That’s right. He has two abilities.”
Something is really wrong here.
Orion also ended up with two abilities. When I first met him in childhood, he clearly only had Recovery, but somewhere along the line, he gained another ability called Ignore without my knowledge. Even then, I sensed something was wrong.
But Evan… even Andreas has two abilities now?
In the original work, both of them had only one ability. Not only that, Valerian also had only Ignite.
But why has the story changed so much? I truly have no idea where things went wrong anymore. I suddenly became terrified that Valerian might end up with two abilities too.
“Laila. Why don’t you rest in the infirmary for now?”
“What do you mean High-Class? Evan is Low-Class. I saw with my own eyes that the Inspection Stone showed C-Class.”
“He has two abilities.”
“……”
“They say one is C-Class, and the other might be S.”
Evan had deceived Valerian.
He hid the existence of one of his abilities and manipulated the Inspection Stone to show only the lower-ranked ability.
I don’t know if that’s even possible, but that’s the result. Evan Olivite had intended to deceive everyone from the very beginning. Even me.
“I don’t know the full details, but perhaps because the Imperial Consort’s position in the Imperial Family is not good, Evan seems to have been adopted into House Olivite shortly after birth.”
In the original work, Andreas manifested in the same year as me. Since he is two years older than me, he was nineteen, meaning he manifested right after becoming an adult.
Although he manifested late, his rank was very low. However, his Guiding consumption was immense, and he was completely unresponsive to the Guiding of Low-Class Guides, so the Imperial Family used their influence with the Espers to assign him to a team with the highest-ranked Guide.
That Guide was Rose. The only S-class guide in the Aint Empire.
Since the original work only stated that much, I naturally assumed the Emperor doted on Andreas. I thought he had ignored the protests of all officials and sent the Low-Class Andreas to the elite unit because his son’s life was at stake.
But looking back, it’s possible the opposite was true.
Evan might have had to join Valerian’s team for political reasons. To secure internal information through Evan, allowing the Imperial Family to more easily control the Espers. Like a spy.
When I organize it this way, the parts of the original work that made the least sense seem to fall into place.
Andreas’s selfish actions that nearly destroyed the team by acting like a villain at times. Yet, he would come to Laila every night, exhausted from Guiding, and cry like a child before falling asleep.
The Evan I observed closely until now was neither rash nor immature.
He was simply pushed to such extremes because of the circumstances.
“I think I need to go back to the dormitory. I want to rest.”
“Alright, Laila. I’ll explain to the professor, so go rest quickly.”
“Yes. Thank you, Rowen.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m sorry I can’t escort you.”
Even after returning to the dormitory with Rowen’s kind farewell, I couldn’t shake off the lingering unease.
When I had asked Rowen about the Imperial Consort’s child before, Rowen had said the Imperial Consort did not have a child. That answer wouldn’t have been a lie. It would have been the publicly known information.
So, was Evan abandoned immediately after birth? And then was he registered and raised by the Olivite Marquisate, the Imperial Consort’s maternal family?
Why did they abandon him? Especially when they were going to reinstate him as a Prince later. Why then…
“Ah… because he wasn’t an Esper…”
He must have been tested for abilities immediately after birth and came out as a normal person, not an Esper.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the Aint Empire’s Imperial Family holds all the power over Espers and Guides.
As the days passed, stronger Espers were born, which meant the nation’s power was growing. And this translated into the Emperor’s own power and authority.
In fact, three of the Empress’s children were Espers.
But when the Imperial Consort, brought in for political reasons, gave birth to a child without abilities, her position was bound to weaken.
Is it even remotely sensible for parents to send their own child to be adopted by the Imperial Consort’s family? Is the lack of abilities considered a flaw?
Even if the child had a flaw, parents shouldn’t do such a thing.
“Ah, my head hurts… No. I have enough problems of my own to worry about others.”
It’s for the best, I suppose.
If Evan’s ability is truly S-Class, he will be assigned to the same unit as Valerian, unlike in the original work, and will receive quality Guiding from Rose, an S-Class.
Besides, our contract has only four months left, so let’s consider it terminated early. I didn’t break it, after all.
Even as I forced myself to offer such comfort, my lingering conscience continued to torment me.
What if Rose’s Guiding doesn’t work like last time? What if he goes Berserk again like then?
These worries swirled in my mind, and I eventually fell ill.
I had been sick for two days straight, but the fever showed no signs of subsiding. Even after receiving medicine in the infirmary, guided by Rowen, my body was burning hot.
As time passed, the chills intensified, to the point where Rowen even mentioned the existence of a Recovery Esper. Even she, who disliked Espers, felt frustrated by this inexplicable fever.
Then, as Rowen had warned, I heard that the Dean was looking for me. The fact that he was looking for me despite knowing I was sick must mean the matter was quite serious.
“I don’t think this will do, Laila. I’ll go explain the situation to the Dean and…”
“It’s okay. My fever has gone down a lot, and I can move now.”
“What do you mean your fever has gone down? You’re still burning up.”
I smiled at Rowen, who was worrying as if it were her own problem, and sent her away.
It had been about three days since Evan left and I collapsed. My body was still consumed by fever, yet my mind had become clearer.
I had precisely figured out the cause of this pain.
Lying in bed, I reached out and opened the bedside table drawer. Inside was a small pouch, and within it were white pills stacked together.
I brought the pouch to the bed and poured out the pills. Then, I selected two and placed them on my palm.
Guiding inhibitors. A medicine that prevents the Guiding within the body from being released.
I don’t know how the Count and Countess came to possess these pills or when they started giving them to me, but in any case, taking these pills would make the fever that was currently engulfing my body completely disappear.
Until now, the Guiding I had given to Evan hadn’t just benefited Evan.
I too had been living a normal life by gradually releasing the Guiding that had been suppressed within my body for a long time, but now that Evan, who would receive the Guiding, was gone, the accumulated Guiding that couldn’t be released must have been putting a strain on my body.
They say stress is the root of all evil. With less than four months left until my escape, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down, and the unexpected meeting and parting with Male Lead 3 had become the catalyst for this fever.
I truly thought they might bring in a Recovery Esper, like Rowen or the infirmary professor. And if I lost consciousness and released the hidden Guiding… the thought alone was terrifying.
However, going back to my family to rest for a few days was out of the question, as I still harbored suspicions about the Count and Countess.
Ultimately, I put the pills in my mouth and swallowed them. According to Lena’s investigation, they were exactly the same as the Guiding inhibitors circulating on the market, so even if they were harmful to my body, they wouldn’t kill me.
After tidying up the pills, I lay down on the bed and took a deep breath. It had been quite a while since I had slept soundly without any dreams.
“You don’t need to be so nervous, Miss Pashianne.”
“Yes.”
How can I not be nervous? In my entire life, I’ve never faced a university president, let alone a principal when I was in elementary school, one-on-one.
The Dean’s presence, which somehow felt intimidating, made me feel constantly cornered. Even though I had done nothing wrong.
“The reason I called Miss Pashianne here is, as you are likely aware, due to the incident involving Prince Andreas a few days ago.”
“Ah, yes.”
It was the moment I realized Evan’s name had vanished.
The nameless supporting character Evan Olivite, whom I knew, was gone, and only Male Lead 3, Andreas Aint, would now exist.
“According to the students, the Prince had shown interest in Miss Pashianne regularly.”
“We took a literature class together. We’re acquainted.”
“I know that from the literature professor. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to corner Miss Pashianne.”
“……”
“Then I will be direct. Do you know the Guide who was Guiding Prince Andreas?”
