40 - How to Escape from the Reverse Harem Cliché
Chapter 40
I didn't know why he was suddenly so fixated on fate, but I sensed a madness in Evan's brightly smiling face.
Ah, this is unsettling… His eyes, the kind he gets when he's about to do something crazy, made me feel inexplicably anxious.
"You, who saved my life three times, can't possibly not be my destiny."
"……."
"I'm curious too. Will I truly live by fate, or will I live apart from it, like you."
In the original work, Evan detested Laila, who caused Rose's death, with a burning passion.
Yet, the only one with a high matching rate for Guiding was Laila. He hovered around Laila, suffering from both obsession and madness.
In the original work, he cursed his fate endlessly, again and again.
“Why did you become my Guide? Why you, Laila Passianne?”
“…….”
“If this is fate, I will shatter that fate. I will break you, shatter you, and break all the fate between us.”
Andreas, who had shed tears from his bloodshot eyes while cursing fate, ultimately succumbed to it.
That was the original setting.
"I think I'll bet on that fate, Laila."
"……."
"If you return to my side, then you are my Guide."
The Andreas of this reality seemed determined to shatter the original setting.
He abandoned the act of resisting fate and instead appeared to welcome it.
"Don't fly too far away, Laila."
"……."
"We're bound to meet again."
With a new form of obsession, the setting had changed.
\ \ *
Time flowed quickly. It had already been three months since Evan was revealed to be Prince Andreas, a High-Class Esper with two abilities.
That meant the week of the upperclassmen's graduation ceremony was just days away, and the time for me to escape this place was fast approaching.
That day. As soon as I heard Evan's meaningful words, I fled the bunker and managed to return to the academy dormitory. But I had no memory of how I got back.
Evan's words and actions had left me in such profound confusion.
“Don't fly too far away, Laila. We're bound to meet again.”
I had always thought Evan was peculiar, but that day, his eyes held a subtle madness, just as described for Male Lead 3, and it sent shivers down my spine.
Even though his words outwardly meant he was letting me go, they strangely carried the nuance of him coming to find me, which felt unsettling.
Should I call this obsession? Or perhaps confidence stemming from a hidden advantage? Regardless, the memory of that day remained a rather unpleasant one for me.
"Laila. Let's go!"
Rowen, who had grown much closer since I had a fever, linked her arm through mine, leaving her own friends behind. It was quite endearing, so I didn't pull away and greeted her with a smile.
"Laila. After the graduation ceremony, would you visit my territory? My father is very curious about you."
"Me?"
"Yes. I mentioned your name a few times in my letters, and he became interested. Ah! Don't misunderstand. I wrote your name with great fondness for you."
Rowen winked with a smile, and I returned her smile, nodding my head.
To outsiders, peaceful days were continuing, but for me, it was the calm before the storm. I couldn't sleep properly, running simulations in my head countless times every night.
I had to prepare thoroughly. To avoid being flustered by unexpected situations, I had to consider every possible scenario.
In truth, the most certain method would be to erase my very existence. That is, to get caught up in some incident and die, thereby making my presence in the Aint Empire disappear entirely. After that, I could live under the name of Viscount Pauline…
However, the risks involved were greater than I had anticipated.
First, I am not yet an adult. My status is not yet complete. Furthermore, the time I have is too short to commit a perfect crime like swapping bodies, as seen in movies or dramas.
Fortunately, however, scientific investigation is not as highly developed as in modern society, and the Viscount Pauline I'm impersonating is a noble in a somewhat ambiguous position, so there shouldn't be any major problems.
If all else fails, I can just flee to a neighboring country. I've earned enough money to live comfortably, so I have no worries about survival.
However…
[My Laila. How have you been lately? Is your Guiding alright? Laila. If Valerian contacts you, ignore him and tell me immediately. I've warned him, but he's quite stubborn. And greedy. I'm sure my clever you will handle it appropriately, but I'm still worried. Why haven't you contacted me lately? I miss you, Laila.
P.S. I will soon be leaving Verdenin and heading north again. Monster activity has turned towards that region once more. I'm glad the south where you are is safe, but I feel a little sad thinking I'll be heading north again without seeing your face properly. I heard external visitors are allowed during the graduation ceremony, perhaps I could stop by briefly then? I think I can get a leave of absence as a reward.
— With love, Adrian.]
A pile of Adrian's letters, to which I couldn't reply, was stacked in my drawer. Adrian, who had learned belatedly that I had gone with Valerian to persuade Evan, who was on the verge of Berserk, had gotten angry, asking why I hadn't told him.
Adrian knew Evan was avoiding Guiding, and Orion knew it too, but both of them deliberately didn't tell me. They wanted me to stop caring about Evan.
They wanted it to be an issue unrelated to me, whether he lived or died.
In that context, hearing that Valerian had personally taken me to meet Evan would naturally raise his blood pressure. From Adrian's perspective, he must have thought I was being threatened.
I stopped myself from saying it wasn't like that, that I had followed Valerian of my own accord. Whether he misunderstood or not, who cared about Valerian's image.
“To you, who doesn't feel even the slightest Guiding, I felt as if I was feeling Guiding. Those rudenesses were created by my subconscious desires.”
Subconscious desires.
His words, as if he wished I were a Guide, made me break out in a cold sweat. Valerian might have said it without thinking, but I, the real Guide, felt suffocated.
My mind was a mess. My hands trembled at the thought of Adrian, who seemed ready to storm the academy at any moment, and Valerian's touch, which I felt would be impossible to escape if I got involved with him even once more.
"Laila!"
"…Huh? Did you call me?"
Rowen's voice, shaking my shoulder, finally pulled me out of my thoughts.
I shook my head, saying it was nothing, as Rowen chided me for being so absent-minded lately. But her suspicious gaze towards me remained.
"Laila. There's something I've wanted to say for a while, can I?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
"It's okay if you don't trust me. From your perspective, we might not be at a stage where we can share secrets. But don't keep even minor worries to yourself. If you let them fester, they become a disease later."
"……."
"Honestly, when I first met you, I did have a prejudice because you are the younger sibling of Adrian Passianne's Spiritual Body."
I found out after enrolling that Adrian had been a celebrity during his short time here. Despite not studying particularly hard, he consistently ranked first, which students and professors found fascinating.
He was also sociable, so from the first day of enrollment, people flocked to Adrian. Even though many students had enrolled at a young age and had already formed their own cliques, Adrian was friendly with everyone, regardless of gender or class.
"Since he was an Esper, I suspected you might be one too. I'm sorry, Laila."
Given Adrian's overwhelmingly positive reputation, the only thing that could possibly warrant prejudice would be the fact that he was an Esper.
As I had anticipated Rowen's reaction, I nodded and quietly empathized. Rowen would be particularly sensitive to this.
Seeing my reaction, she shrugged and continued with an apologetic look.
"Actually, it's all my own preconception. Senior Passianne was well-liked by everyone until that incident."
"That incident… the one where Adrian's Esper status was revealed?"
"Yes. Come to think of it, the sibling mentioned then must have been Laila!"
"My name came up?"
Rowen nodded at my question. Come to think of it, Adrian had said something similar before.
He had said that my name came up because the kids were very interested in him, and he had reassured me that it was nothing.
"Do you know what was said?"
"Hmm. I don't remember the details. You also came to congratulate Senior Passianne when he enrolled. Perhaps a male student who saw you getting off the carriage then said something unnecessary."
"Is that so."
"Don't worry about it. It was probably someone who foolishly harbored ambitions because of your family. Now that I think about it, it's satisfying that Senior Passianne got so angry. How dare he."
I smiled at Rowen's words and adjusted the book I was holding in my arms.
The path to the Herbology lecture hall wasn't long, but I found myself lost in thought.
What did Adrian hear back then? He wasn't the type to get angry just for mentioning his name.
Even if he wasn't in his right mind due to not receiving Guiding, he wasn't foolish enough to use his ability on a civilian.
What story did he hear that day?
