Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 248

He glared at Daniel with a murderous look.

But I quickly covered his eyes with my hand. He tried to pull my wrist away, annoyed.

Before he could, I pressed my lips to his cheek.

I only have you, Lord Claude… you know that…

I whispered while kissing his face. He hesitated for a moment, then let out a deep sigh from his chest.

“…You’re the devil.”

He pulled my hand away from his eyes.

His fierce hostility toward Daniel had lessened, but he looked at me with a complicated expression.

Claude decided to postpone punishing Daniel and turned around. I felt Daniel’s eyes on us but pretended not to notice.

* * *

“…You’re going to dry up and die at this rate.”

Claude clicked his tongue, saying he couldn’t understand where all the tears came from considering my small size.

Ignoring him, I continued to sob uncontrollably as soon as we arrived home, overwhelmed with relief.

Claude, who had placed me on the sofa, was watching me with a sulky expression.

But when I didn’t stop crying, his patience eventually wore thin.

“Stop now. Don’t cry.”

He grabbed a few tissues from the coffee table and started wiping my face roughly.

Then, he pinched my nose, urging me to blow. I reluctantly did as he asked. However, there was a problem. I had been crying so much that my nose was runny, and the tissues couldn’t handle all the mucus.

Claude’s expression turned grim as his hand got covered in the sticky substance.

“S-Sorry.”

“…It’s fine.”

He sighed, resigned, and grabbed a few more tissues to finish cleaning his hand.

“Not just that. Um, about Lord Daniel…”

I felt no guilt about dirtying his hand since I had just followed his instructions. But the situation with Daniel was different.

Claude’s face turned cold the moment I mentioned Daniel’s name.

After a brief silence, he crumpled the soaked tissues and placed them on the table. Then, he lifted me and sat me sideways on his lap.

He was holding me, but his expression showed that his anger hadn’t completely subsided.

“Cough, are you still mad?”

“…”

“No, this is really strange. Because Lord Daniel is supposed to like Irene. So… I didn’t think he’d like me…”

“I know.”

“…What?”

“You wouldn’t have known. You were too busy trying to set him up with your friend.”

“…”

Well, he’s not wrong.

I was relieved he didn’t seem to doubt me, but it wasn’t exactly comforting to hear. It felt like he was criticizing me.

As I hesitated, unsure of how to respond, he sighed deeply again.

“Rose, I hope you learned something from this. An Esper and a Guide…”

He paused, meeting my eyes, and his expression became even more complicated.

…What? Why?

As I looked at him in confusion, he continued, slightly changing his words.

“No, a man and a woman… they never spend time together without a reason.”

“I’m sorry… Lord Daniel was kind to me even before he knew I was a Guide, so… I didn’t suspect anything…”

“It’s not because of the Esper-Guide thing.”

“…What?”

“Anyone would feel the same if it’s you. Just being around you draws their attention, makes them care, and want to look after you.”

Listening to him, I couldn’t help but think…

Isn’t that just love-struck nonsense?

I had no idea how Claude saw me. Sometimes he treated me like I’m his helpless puppy, and other times he seemed to think I was so irresistibly charming that everyone wanted to take me away from him.

But before it was revealed that I was a Guide, I had no presence in the Center. People knew me more as “the short pink-haired girl who hangs around Irene” than by my name.

Yet, I couldn’t refute him because Claude’s eyes were so serious.

“…I understand. I’ll be more careful.”

I nodded obediently.