Chapter 315
“……But Miss Valentine, there are some points that make it hard to take your words at face value.”
After throwing my face aside, he withdrew his hand. Then, as if he had touched something filthy, he took out a handkerchief and began to meticulously wipe his hands. The one who truly felt as if they were covered in filth was me.
“Regarding Mr. Levendale. I heard that you knew about the improvement in his guiding allergy.”
“……”
“If you cannot explain the reason properly, it will be hard to believe your words.”
I had anticipated that he would ask about my relationship with Daniel. However, I hadn’t expected this particular question.
The remark about a possible improvement in the guiding allergy was something I had mentioned to him just before this expedition.
Daniel must have tried it for the first time on the battlefield, having endured it for so long.
So, the only ones who could have known about this were the soldiers who accompanied us on this expedition.
……Could it be that there’s a spy among them?
“Ah!”
“Answer the VIP’s question.”
An Esper behind me jabbed my back with his knee, breaking my train of thought. So, I resorted to the excuse I had prepared in advance.
“I did perform the imprinting, but the timing is different from what others know.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Hermann frowned as if he didn’t understand.
Despite being the Prime Minister of a country, he couldn’t grasp my words. A bad guy who is also stupid. The worst combination.
I held back the urge to sneer and continued, as my life was precious.
“Everyone thinks I did the unauthorized imprinting right after the guiding test, but the truth is I hadn’t done it at that time. Lord Claude suggested we announce it publicly to prevent other Espers who don’t know their place from crowding around me.”
I put extra emphasis on “other Espers who don’t know their place.”
That was aimed directly at you.
It was my little act of defiance against Hermann.
Fortunately, Hermann didn’t seem to catch it and asked,
“…So you hadn’t formed the imprint with him at that time?”
“Why wouldn’t I have? We did. A lot. Even taking the anti-imprinting injections regularly.”
“Then…”
“I begged him because I was terrified of imprinting.”
“……”
Hermann clicked his tongue and sneered.
He would never understand, treating Guides like livestock. He couldn’t fathom why Claude would bear the stigma of unauthorized imprinting, lose 4 billion Berks, and endure the hassle of taking anti-imprinting injections before every encounter, all for the trivial reason that I was scared.
I shrugged and said,
“Lord Claude cherished me a lot.”
“Hah…”
“Anyway, at that time, we hadn’t imprinted. While Lord Claude was on his first expedition, something happened. I met Lord Daniel, who was suffering from the same guiding allergy.”
“……”
“Lord Claude also suffered from the same condition. I owed him personally, so I tried to help Lord Daniel… and accidentally guided him. After that, as you might guess, Lord Daniel kept lingering around me, causing unsavory rumors… and when Lord Claude returned, he was furious.”
“So?”
“When the second expedition was scheduled, Lord Claude was anxious about leaving me behind. He couldn’t take me for safety reasons, but he was worried I might get involved with another Esper. To reassure him, and because we were very affectionate after being apart for so long, we finally did it then—imprinted.”
Hermann remained silent for a while. He seemed incredulous, but at least he didn’t dismiss my words as nonsense.
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