38 - How to Escape the Reverse Harem Cliché
Episode 38
“I have come to see you regarding Prince Andreas.”
“……”
“Whether you know it or not, His Highness the Prince is showing a rejection reaction to Guiding.”
Is he here himself to find Evan’s dedicated Guide? Knowing that I am Evan’s friend, he seems to have come to ask me directly.
However, my answer is the same as the Dean’s or Valerian’s.
“I don’t know who Evan’s Guide is.”
“……”
“I’m sorry to have troubled you, but I cannot provide a satisfactory answer.”
“Do you truly not know?”
“Yes. Evan and I are merely fellow students at the academy, seniors and juniors. We only know each other’s faces through our partnership in the poetry department.”
Valerian possesses strong leadership, but he is not the type to get bogged down in petty matters. If I continue to deny knowing, he will have no choice but to leave.
I plopped down on the sofa and picked up a book that had fallen on the floor, opening it. It was the same book I had been reading with interest a few days ago, only to drop it in surprise at the murmurs about an Esper visiting the academy.
It seems no one else has come here since then. Of course. This was a place only Evan and I came to.
No one would know that the shabby storage room had been transformed so splendidly. Would they even know that a storage room existed in the first place? I let out a hollow laugh at the thought.
This truly was our secret space, Evan’s and mine. I felt deeply that the lingering scents everywhere were traces of the memories we had left behind.
“Then, would you at least accompany me, Young Lady?”
“What?”
Valerian, who had been standing before me looking down, knelt on one knee, lowering himself to meet my gaze.
He, who had seemed so proud that he would never kneel except before the Emperor, now sat on the floor, lightly dusted with dirt, looking into my eyes.
His gaze felt as if it were directed below me, fierce and earnest.
“There is no way to save him.”
“What… what are you talking about?”
“Even our S-Class Guide is finding it difficult to Guide the Prince, and His Highness is outright refusing Guiding.”
“……”
“Espers cannot exist without a Guide. No matter how skilled they are, if their Guiding levels hit rock bottom, they will die from Berserk.”
Valerian was relaying Evan’s situation to me as if it were his own problem.
Had he changed so much from how he treated Evan with hostility just a few days ago because Evan was a Prince? Or is it because, as a fellow Esper, he understands the pain one must endure until death?
That he can do this.
“I… I hate Espers.”
“……”
“I hate you, Sir. Even after I told you I was a regular, you mistook me for a Guide several times. The look in your eyes back then still remains a fearful memory for me.”
“I apologize. There is no excuse for the many rudenesses I have committed against you, Young Lady.”
“Yet, you can extinguish that fierce gaze for a fellow Esper.”
“……”
“Alright. I will try to change Evan’s mind. I will try to change his mind, at least, so that he can receive Guiding from Lady Rose.”
“Thank you, Lady Pasianne.”
As Valerian replied, a crack appeared on his face. It was as if he hadn’t realized he had only actively intervened on the side of Espers.
Seeing him with a look as if he’d been struck, I felt a tiny bit of relief.
That’s Valerian’s character setting. He lived a life of constant adoration, having manifested with a high rank from a noble and ancient family, only to fall deeply for Laila, who had a low rank, and then to regret his foolishness profoundly. That’s his character setting.
I had spoken out of anger just moments ago, but Valerian isn’t a bad person. Just as I am thoroughly representing the Guide’s perspective, he was merely thoroughly representing the Esper’s perspective.
“Let’s go quickly. You said Evan is in danger.”
“……Yes.”
Valerian, snapping back to attention at my words, reached for the doorknob to open the storage room door.
Then he paused and looked back at me. His gaze was as calm and deep as usual, yet it felt like ripples on a subtly shimmering water surface, making me flinch involuntarily.
“The rudeness that day was a mistake made by my subconscious.”
“What?”
“It seems I wished for you to be a Guide.”
“What do you mean….”
“I don’t know that myself.”
“……”
“I just subconsciously wished for you to be a Guide.”
What does that mean? Wishing for me to be a Guide, what on earth…
“It seems I felt the same way as Sir Pasianne.”
“……”
“Perhaps it’s the same as Sir Restro’s feelings.”
Suddenly, a line from Laila’s inner monologue in the original work came to mind. I couldn’t recall the content, let alone the title, but at that moment, the suddenly recalled line made my heart sink.
〔His gaze towards me was always light. Valerian’s gaze, serene like the deep sea, was a heavy green to everyone else, but to me alone, it bore a light, jade-green hue that sparkled on the sea’s surface. When his emotions showed, it became light, even turning into shimmering ripples. To me, his gaze always sparkled.〕
That’s how Valerian’s gaze, filled with love, was. Not a heavy green, but a light jade-green. Not a deep sea, but shimmering ripples on the sea’s surface.
“To you, who doesn’t feel even the slightest Guiding, I felt as if I were receiving Guiding.”
“……”
“Those rudenesses were created by the desires of my subconscious. I apologize once more.”
If Valerian’s gaze feels like shimmering ripples right now… is that just my imagination?
