When the Guide Stopped Playing a Villainess, the Obsession Began - Chapter 54

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Zion still couldn’t understand it. Why did the Empress insist on hiding the fact that Lea was a Guide?

There were still many Espers in the Cantabria Empire suffering because they hadn’t received guiding. Having even one more Guide should have been a boon to the empire, and yet—not just the Empress, but even the Emperor was keeping it secret. No matter how much authority they held, he simply couldn’t understand it.

Because as long as Lea’s identity as a Guide remained a secret, she could be exposed to danger at any moment, in any form.

Espers tended to be merciless toward ordinary people who weren’t Guides.

“In that case, you must take an escort knight with you. Right now, your palace has too few attendants, and not a single knight. If something were to happen, you’d have no way to respond.”

“But Sir Zion, I…”

“Young Master Felitier shouldn’t be a burden to you, would he?”

At Zion’s words, Lea only moved her lips without answering. How could having someone who could read her mind not be a burden?

Clearly, Zion didn’t fully understand what it meant to be a mental-type Esper. Still, his words weren’t entirely wrong.

There weren’t many Espers who truly understood her identity anyway.

As she hesitated, Derek stepped forward and spoke.

“I’m studying swordsmanship just as Sir Zion advised, and I’m training to control my ability. Please—if Lady Haisley has no objections, I humbly ask for permission to serve as your escort.”

Control his ability, huh…

Lea thought back to her past life before the regression. There had been a time when she tried to stretch her pitiful guiding ability as far as it would go just to help more Espers.

Being able to skillfully control her power had been more exhilarating and fulfilling than she expected.

“…Hmm.”

Derek waited nervously for her reply. After sweeping her brown hair back over her shoulder, Lea finally said,

“Then, shall we test just how much control you’ve gained?”

“…Pardon?”

{ From now on, I’ll speak to you in my mind. This is a test to see how much you can hear. }

Derek shuddered at the voice that pierced directly into his thoughts. For some reason, he still couldn’t read her mind.

But Lea believed he could still hear every word in her head.

{ Even if I don’t organize my thoughts and intentionally send them to you—if you can still hear them, and then block them out on your own—then we’ll know you’ve succeeded in gaining control. Can you hear me clearly right now? }

To her question, Derek quietly replied,

“Yes, I can.”

At Derek’s response, Zion finally realized that Lea had already begun the test.

Mental-type Espers were practically the opposite of physical-types, so he hadn’t truly grasped the nature of mental powers.

But if, say, someone on the battlefield could communicate directly through thought, or extract plans from the enemy’s mind with mental ability—then the tide of war could easily be reversed.

Only now did he realize just how terrifying mental-type Espers could be.

{ …And now? I just had a stray thought for a moment. Did you catch it? }

“……”

{ Hmm, I suppose that might’ve been too much to ask? }

Her continued questions through thought left Derek momentarily overwhelmed. He felt he could no longer lie to her. And for the first time, he decided to try something new.

Up until now, he’d only ever heard others’ thoughts. But lately, he had started to wonder.

Couldn’t he, perhaps, send his thoughts to someone else?

{ Can you hear my voice clearly? }

“!”