Chapter 3
1. The Male Lead Doesn’t Need Trauma (3)
“Yes? Who is it?”
“My younger sibling is staying here. I haven’t seen them in quite a while—would it be difficult to meet?”
The servant, completely unaware, casually spoke informally, assuming I was just the family of some hired help working and living in the house.
I’d hoped inwardly for someone lax like this, but I didn’t expect it to be this easy. Though, his unnecessary pestering was a bit annoying.
“It’s work time right now, so everyone might be busy… Should I subtly check for you? In return, how about letting me tag along when you go out with your sibling? I haven’t been to the capital much?”
“Hm, it has been a while since I’ve been to the capital.”
“Oh, what? Is that a yes? Haha, you can look forward to it! I know a few decent bars. You’ll have fun too.”
I didn’t particularly want to play along with his blatantly obvious ulterior motives, so I ignored him a few times.
Only then did the servant ask, as if it had just occurred to him.
“But what’s your sibling’s name?”
“Hiakin.”
“Hiakin? I don’t think I’ve heard that name before? Come on in anyway. I’ll show you around the Lorraine estate. Of course, it’s only because it’s me—keep it a secret.”
The guy, utterly smitten by my face, volunteered to do things he didn’t have to, helping me out.
Thanks to that, once inside, figuring out the layout of the mansion here and there became incredibly easy.
“Come to think of it, I don’t know your name either. Should I guess?”
“If you think you can guess it, go ahead. I’m pretty curious what you’ll say.”
“Pretty girls like you often get names related to flowers from their parents. You’re not Daisy, are you?”
“Oh, that’s fairly close.”
“Wow, is it really Daisy? This must be fate— what do you think?”
Men have a habit of throwing around the word “fate” way too easily. What do I think? In a situation where I’m trying to change a future where I die, you think I can’t alter one little fate like that?
Enduring the guy’s tedious flirting, at the edge of my vision, a familiar silver-blue hair finally caught my eye. It was the training ground.
I turned my head that way, and the servant shook his head vigorously.
“Ah, you shouldn’t go there. Lately, the count and the young master have been relentlessly training this guy who’s freeloading here to make him manifest.”
“Training? What’s that got to do with why I can’t go?”
“It might be too rough a sight for a woman to see… Ah, want to check out the greenhouse instead? That seems more fitting for you… Huh? Daisy?”
Ignoring the servant’s call, I strode forward with measured steps toward the training ground.
Surprised by my unexpectedly quick pace, the servant hurriedly followed me. He grabbed at me anxiously, worried we’d get caught by the count or his son.
“Daisy, I told you this place is a bit much? Just, let’s go…”
But I stopped in my tracks and tilted my head sideways, regardless of who might see.
“Hm.”
They call this training. So, it looks like it involves wielding weapons against a living person and unleashing violence without mercy?
First, I calmly took in the scene bit by bit. My one remaining family member was being mercilessly beaten with a wooden sword.
That pale sky-blue tinged silver-blue hair. It was the hair I’d tease for being pretty while personally combing it myself.
But now, that hair had no luster at all—I couldn’t tell how long it had been neglected.
His limbs, clearly underfed, were not just thin but skeletal. On top of that, a ragged gray shirt no better than rags and torn cotton pants.
As if that weren’t enough, every time the one who must be this house’s young master swung the wooden sword, red wounds and bruises bloomed on his skin.
My brother, helplessly taking the blows, finally lost strength in his legs and rolled on the dirt floor, seeming to lose consciousness for a brief moment.
I looked up at the sky for a second while gazing at the fallen figure.
Guides are trained in emotional control.
But how many people could truly suppress their anger in a moment like this?
My eyes narrowed involuntarily at the burst wounds and the deep blue bruises everywhere.
The young master of this house, his face still twisted in unquenched excitement, suddenly spotted me and his eyes widened.
“What the? Where’d you bring a wench like that from?”
At the same time, Hiakin, seeing me, opened his mouth in disbelief.
“Lili…?”
Instead of acknowledging him, I pulled out my favorite leather gloves from my pocket and fastened them tightly. I didn’t forget to crunch and swallow the small pill that guides always carry.
No sooner had I swallowed the bitterly astringent pill down my throat than mana surged up.
Even as a guide, I’m still a cadet at the military academy—there’s no way I wouldn’t have at least one combat skill to protect myself.
Guides can only stabilize an esper’s mana; they don’t possess mana themselves.
‘Using this loophole, I can temporarily handle a transcendent’s magic refined into pill form.’
However.
‘Oh, causing trouble just a day after taking leave— that’s pretty thrilling.’
I ignored the control stone on my wrist glowing bright red and gathered the magic.
“Since it’s to get rid of the trauma, let’s just let it slide. Though I’ll probably have to write a report.”
Directly manipulating magic outside of guiding was something I hadn’t done in ages.
Still, it might be better to get used to it by getting some payback on this guy, rather than being thrown into the front lines knowing nothing.
As the magic within my body materialized externally, a crackling sound erupted, and a current visible to the naked eye flashed in a pale light between gold and blue.
Faced with magic that seemed ready to strike him down at any moment, the young master of the house understandably flinched and stepped back hesitantly.
It was understandable. Anyone would be scared if a stranger suddenly appeared and acted threateningly.
But unfortunately, while he felt fear, he seemed completely clueless about reading the room.
Because he immediately dragged the tattered Hiakin between us and hid behind him.
“Wh-what? What’s a transcendent doing this all of a sudden!”
It was a maneuver screaming that he absolutely wouldn’t take the hit himself.
Thanks to that, I ended up locking eyes with Hiakin, who had been forcibly dragged in front of me.
The guy gritted his teeth and turned his head away, as if embarrassed to face me in such a state.
If it were me, facing my only blood relative looking like that, I’d rather bite my tongue. But empathy for his feelings aside, I couldn’t just let this go.
I raised my hand, lightly stroking his disheveled hair, and then stepped past Hiakin.
“First off, I’m not a transcendent.”
My momentary surge of anger was fully reflected in the magic.
The electricity jumped wildly out of control, scarring the ground. Even though it was just a brief lapse, the scorch mark was vivid.
At that, the wastrel—who had been piecing together my relationship with Hiakin with a dumbfounded expression—jerked in surprise.
“And as for why I’m doing this.”
With a stride, I stopped right in front of the frozen guy.
“Because I saw you kicking my little brother around like that.”
The face that had been gleefully inflicting violence as if on a slave just moments ago turned deathly pale—it was quite a sight.
It would have been better if he’d just knelt and begged for forgiveness right then.
But the terrified guy chose flight over apology.
“Uh, aaaaaah!”
As he screamed and tried to flee the spot, I whipped the magic at him, and his snared ankle sent his body sprawling to the floor.
I can’t overlook this any longer. With a hardened expression, I gripped the magic again and swung it roughly, a flash of light bursting forth.
“Aaaargh!”
“Lili!”
Hiakin, horrified by the sight, rushed over and clung to me.
“Y-you, are you out of your mind? Th-this person is…!”
“I know. Who he is.”
“Then why…!”
I turned to Hiakin and countered with a question instead.
“Why do you think?”
He won’t die from that level of current anyway. I just made the noise dramatic, it’ll only leave his whole body tingling a bit.
I even adjusted the flow of magic to avoid affecting critical organs like the heart or brain.
Unaware of this, Hiakin looked utterly panicked, thinking I was really going to kill someone.
Was my gaze looking down at the young master of the house too cold?
“L-Lili! Stop… please stop…!”
As Hiakin grabbed and tugged at the hem of my skirt, the servant—who had been leering at me earlier—completely changed his attitude and fled to report this to the count.
‘Ah, this is seriously hot as hell.’
In the midst of it all, the skin burned by the heated control stone was exposed.
By now, an alert must have gone out to our professor and the monitors from the Manifestor Management Agency.
It probably wouldn’t even take ten minutes for them—the ones who oversee unauthorized mana usage by transcendents or guides—to come bursting in here.
“S-Stop…! It hurts! I said it hurts!”
“You seem to know all too well when you’re the one in pain.”
I hauled the terrified Hiakin to his feet, gripping his hand tightly as I sneered at the boy still flailing from the electric current.
“Apologize and say you’re sorry.”
“…I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Sorry!”
“Apologies aren’t something you toss out so lightly.”
Now the kid was so scared he was leaking tears and snot all over the place.
He was still just a child, so maybe this was overkill.
But that didn’t erase the fact that he’d been abusing and assaulting someone.
This was also a warning to Count Lorraine. A message that he’d pay dearly for how he’d mistreated my little brother up until now.
“Lili… Lili, I’m fine, so stop. Your hand…!”
I’d planned to drag it out a bit longer, but eventually, the heat from the control stone bracelet started to make my wrist smell like it was burning.
Only then did I stop channeling the mana and remove my glove. The young master, who’d been rolling on the dirt from the electric shocks, curled up into a ball, his face smeared with tears, and sobbed loudly.
“Hic, y-your hand… M-medicine, I’ll get medicine, just wait… just wait…!”
“I’m fine, so calm down.”
“How is this fine! Are you crazy? Y-You could’ve just told him to stop. If you lay a hand on the young master, Count Lorraine will…!”
“Ah, the count.”
I casually stripped off the other glove and turned my attention away from the household’s young master.
You wouldn’t understand, Hiakin. If anything, I’ve spared Count Lorraine’s life. If things had kept going like this, the count—and his entire family—would have ended up dead by your hand.
But Hiakin, who couldn’t possibly know the future, just stood there, helpless about my hand, barely holding back his sobs. Then he asked me.
“If… if you get sent to the detention center, what about me!”
“What do you mean, what about you? You’ll have to live on your own.”
“You lunatic! I don’t want that? I don’t want to be alone… again.”
Oh dear, this kid’s turned into a complete child in the meantime. And he’s twenty years old, at that.
…No, wait, twenty is still a child.
Making a kid who’s just become an adult go through this crap?
Suddenly, I’m pissed off all over again.
That’s when the people I’d been waiting for most—and the ones I wanted to avoid most—started arriving one after another.
“Ri-Ridman! What in the world is going on here!”
The count came rushing in, fuming with rage.
“That woman tried to harm the young master! She’s insane!”
The servant who’d been leering at me earlier slandered me, calling me a madwoman.
“Liliope Ortis! We’re here to report on your unauthorized mana usage!”
Three or four monitors hurriedly stormed into the count’s training grounds.
Now that I’d drawn all their attention at once, I endured the stinging pain in my wrist and turned to face the monitors.
“Dear monitors.”
In situations like this, it’s best to strike first.
I shot the count a cold glare but otherwise ignored him, and the monitor seemed to sense there was some reason behind it all.
With her long hair neatly pinned up without a strand out of place, she glanced at Hiakin, whom I was protecting, and then at the count and his son—who were likely responsible for putting Hiakin in this state—and waited for me to speak.
“I won’t make any excuses regarding my punishment. But you monitors are well aware, aren’t you, of how His Majesty the King, whom we all respect, pays special attention to children who might one day become assets to the nation.”
“Under His Majesty’s benevolence, we monitors fulfill our duty to protect them. What is it you want?”
“I wish to file a formal complaint against the entire House of Count Lorraine for the ongoing assault, abuse, and humiliation directed at a potential manifestor.”
