Chapter 5
1. The Male Lead Doesn’t Need Trauma (5)
“Count Lorraine dared to neglect someone who could become a valuable asset to the nation. He’ll be stripped of his qualifications as a sponsoring family. And it won’t stop there.”
His smile deepened even further. There was a chilling eeriness to it that sent a slight shiver down my spine.
“Come to think of it, the count’s son was also registered as a potential manifestor. Well, that won’t concern you anymore.”
In short, since House Lorraine was about to be utterly ruined, he meant to assign me and Hiakin a new sponsoring family.
“I’ll have you released soon. House Lorraine will have their title confiscated shortly, so don’t worry. Half of the seized assets will be deposited into your brother’s account as compensation for this incident.”
What?
I’d just let the prince ramble on by himself, and now compensation too?
I’d thought I should get whatever I could out of this, but things were resolving too smoothly, leaving me with an uneasy feeling.
“Once I’m gone, you’ll be released right away, so no need to fret.”
“Uh… thank you?”
The lingering suspicion made my thanks come out with a subtle question mark attached. Prince Isador seemed to catch it somehow.
“Why the question mark?”
“I’m just stunned. Um… I’m honored?”
“You’re… how should I put it? The more I see you, the more peculiar you seem.”
“You’re the first person to call me peculiar, Your Highness.”
“Pfft…”
Whatever struck him as so funny, the prince barely suppressed a leaking chuckle before equipping his gentle smile once more and rising from his seat.
I instinctively tried to stand up as well, following my superior, only to realize again that I was trapped in solitary confinement, unable to budge.
“Anyway, after I leave, a representative from the new sponsoring family will come to guide you. They said they’d gladly welcome not just your brother, but you as well.”
“That was quick.”
“I’m a bit clever, you see. I’d already picked up on things to some extent before talking to you.”
Hmm, I see.
However, the prince’s next words…
They didn’t just derail my plans—they grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and slammed me straight into the destination.
“You can rest easy, Brondearn is different from Lorraine. Your rank isn’t bad, and your brother is a promising talent, so they’ll welcome you warmly.”
Because he’d mentioned a surname that was all too familiar.
Like an idiot, I echoed the proper noun the prince had said and questioned it back.
“…Brondearn?”
“Yes, the very family you know. The dukedom renowned as the cradle of transcendents in Rydell.”
With that, the prince waved goodbye, saying we’d meet again later, and left.
Left alone, I slowly chewed over the name of the new sponsoring family he’d left behind.
…Brondearn?
“…Should I be happy about this?”
It doesn’t feel like I should… Should I be?
It doesn’t seem like it… But maybe I should be… Why does it feel like I shouldn’t go there?
No, it’s a place I have to go anyway. It was just so sudden that I couldn’t help but feel flustered.
After all, the Dukedom of Brondearn is…
“…The family where Acteon is?”
The place where our male lead, Acteon Brondearn—the one who gets me killed in an accident—resides.
Moreover, it’s a madhouse teeming with high-rank transcendents.
* * *
By the time I finally escaped solitary and stepped outside, the sky was already pitch black.
I decided to sit alone in the lounge inside the Manifestor Management Agency until Hiakin arrived.
As I zoned out by myself, bits and pieces of knowledge about the family Prince had personally arranged for us—Brondearn—came floating back to mind.
“…A insanely dysfunctional family.”
Transcendents are lunatics who can wield infinite amounts of mana that ordinary humans can’t handle, but they carry enormous risks because of it.
Bodies capable of drawing in atmospheric mana and utilizing it—a miraculous physique.
It was a power akin to a divine blessing, yet they were fragile to mental or psychological disturbances and shocks, ill-suited to such overpowered bodies.
The so-called glass cannon mentality.
The cause was the mana they wielded.
‘The more you use mana, the harder it becomes to stabilize the mana flowing into your body.’
You have to utilize mana within limits that don’t strain the body, but as the amount of mana accepted increases, controlling it gets tougher.
Eventually, the mana surging into the body erupts uncontrollably, devastating the transcendent and everything around them.
That’s why guides like me exist—to stabilize the transcendents’ mana.
‘But…’
Brondearn, where Hiakin and I were headed, was a family notoriously barren in guide manifestations.
What does that mean?
It means they’re abnormally obsessed with guides, damn it.
‘That’s why the female lead, Milia… went through all sorts of hardships there.’
Transcendents who wield this new power called mana.
Guides who lead these transcendents to avoid breaking down.
Among them, Brondearn was infamous for being blatantly skewed toward the transcendents’ side, if they encountered a guide with high compatibility, they’d use any means or schemes necessary to keep them by their side, regardless of gender.
And now, as a B-class guide, I was about to stick my head right into that lion’s den.
‘Since I’m B-class, they shouldn’t be interested in me.’
If it comes to this… Sorry to Milia, but… The moment I get to Brondearn, I’ll find her first.
Unlike me, the female lead Milia is an S-class guide.
‘It might be better for her to meet Acteon early, before going through all those incidents and accidents. If they steadily build affection and even get engaged sooner, that would be ideal.’
I don’t want to meddle in someone else’s life as I please, but they’re the protagonists of this novel anyway, so whatever.
I’d just barely regained my composure when…
“Lipe!”
The lounge door burst open, and Hiakin appeared, his face a mess of worry and relief.
“Hey, are you crazy?”
“Even when I help you, you complain.”
“No, are you in your right mind? If it wasn’t for His Highness the Prince, you…!”
“You don’t even call me sis after not seeing me for so long.”
As I interrupted him every time he spoke, Hiakin burst out in frustration. But his words trailed off unfinished.
“Is that what’s important right now? How much I…”
Seeing his reddened eyes, it seemed like he’d been suffering a lot while I was locked up, and it tugged at my heart a little.
In the end, I couldn’t tease him anymore and reached out to pat his head.
“Yeah, thanks for worrying.”
To soothe the boy who had clearly suffered so much, Hiakin finally scrunched up his face as if tears were about to fall.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but laugh, and decided to calm him down first.
“I’m perfectly fine, so stop crying.”
“I’m not crying, okay?”
“You’ve still got tear stains.”
Startled by my words, Hiakin frantically rubbed at his eyes with the sleeve of his clean new shirt.
Even though I’d suddenly possessed an extra in a novel, as long as I’d lived as Liliope, the memories of the two of us relying on each other and growing up together were the most important to me.
My only family.
Now that I could finally let out my true feelings, I called Hiakin’s real name with a bit of mischief in my voice.
Hiakin Ortis.
It’s a pretty decent name, but this kid actually has a separate, flower-like real name.
“Just kidding, Hyakinth.”
It’s information that none of the original characters ever discovered—something they didn’t need to know, but hey, it’s a big sister’s privilege.
My little brother’s real name is Hyakinth.
Hiakin and His are just nicknames, so when I called him by his full name after so long, his face flushed bright red.
“…I told you not to call me that.”
“You don’t call me ‘sister’ either.”
“I can start calling you that!”
It was only then, as I teased him, that the tension in my body finally eased a little.
That’s when I noticed the man who had been standing behind Hiakin for some time. A young man with a monocle and neat brown hair tied back in a ponytail.
“…Hello.”
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Ortis.”
Hiakin turned around and stepped in front of me as if to protect me.
But I already knew who he was.
“I’m Blair of Brondearn.”
He was the aide to the head of the Brondearn family, and probably the guide sent to pick us up.
Perhaps because our prince had given Brondearn a heads-up in advance, Blair seemed more interested in Hiakin in front of me than in me.
“If we delay any longer, we’ll be late for mealtime. Do you have any luggage to collect?”
He pulled out a pocket watch from his coat, checked the time, and urged us to depart. But it was directed at Hiakin, not me.
“…No luggage or anything.”
“That’s fortunate. You’ll be provided with everything new upon arrival anyway. Allow me to escort you.”
Even though I’d just come of age, I was still nominally Hiakin’s proper guardian.
I couldn’t help but let out a wry laugh at the blatant disregard. Though I didn’t make a sound.
Hiakin also seemed uncomfortable with Blair’s attitude of prioritizing him over me, but he chose to keep quiet for now.
This kid… If it were like before, he would’ve acted first without thinking, so why is he so downcast now?
I must have gone too easy on the Lorraine Count after all. Just confiscating his title and assets wasn’t enough.
‘Not that I could kill him, but let’s think about it slowly. How to pay him back…’
Come to think of it, wasn’t it Readman? The count’s son.
If that guy really does manifest.
“Ah.”
As I followed the two of them and let out a soft exclamation, Hiakin and Blair turned to look at me.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
“……”
Blair gave me a disdainful glance before silently heading out of the administration office again. Hiakin, sticking close to my side, whispered in my ear.
“What were you thinking about?”
“Really, it’s nothing.”
“You wouldn’t look that pleased over nothing.”
Ah, I guess it showed.
Well, it makes sense. Because if the count’s son manifests, he’ll become my junior.
‘I can teach him the deep affection between seniors and juniors.’
Imagining guiding my junior along the proper path by kindly teaching him what he doesn’t know made my heart feel warm and fuzzy.
Look forward to it, Readman Lorraine.
Mess with the wrong person, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.
* * *
The main residence of Brondearn was located in the central district of the capital, where the high nobility resided.
As the carriage crossed the largest avenue in the central district, Hiakin marveled inwardly.
“This place is ridiculously huge.”
“Yeah. The streets alone seem twice as wide as in other districts.”
“Nobles sure love things that are either enormous or tiny.”
That’s nobles for you. How could commoners like us understand?
Everyone pours in fortunes just to claim as much land as possible in the central district, so this area boasts an expanse two or three times larger than the others.
Not content with buying up land in the central district with royal permission, they’ve even snapped up surrounding areas, leading to its gradual expansion.
As a result, it’s the least densely populated yet unnecessarily the widest area in the capital.
Despite Hiakin’s biting criticism, Blair didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow. I could see exactly what he was thinking.
‘Hmph, my little brother won’t grow up the way you expect.’
Blair seemed to anticipate that Hiakin, having received Prince Isador’s recommendation, possessed quite a strong ability.
Moreover, his eagerness to mold him into a loyal pillar of Brondearn, just like himself, was plain to see.
‘No chance.’
Who do you think you are, trying to hand my brother over to a place like Brondearn?
Hiakin and I are going to escape this wretched country and live the high life, eating well and thriving.
‘But before that, I need to fend off the various forces that will come reaching for Hiakin.’
For example, yeah, the crown prince.
The main culprit who pushed Hiakin’s life further into ruin in the original story.
The reason I decided to use Prince Isador is because of that guy. I have to prevent him from approaching my brother.
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