Chapter 3
Selena’s reply was simple.
“No.”
“……”
He couldn’t read her expression. Johannes had always prided himself on being skilled at reading people’s faces, but Selena was the exception.
Her glossy, doll-like eyes reflected him as if he were transparent.
“…Alright. I get it. I know how devastating a broken engagement is for a noble lady. But you’ve just returned as a war hero—surely you have far better options than me.”
He tried to persuade her calmly. But Selena already seemed distracted by the fireworks behind him.
“Compared to a crown prince with no backing, anything would be better. Don’t you think?”
His tone was almost self-deprecating.
“This is actually a better deal for you. The Duke of Rommel probably wants the engagement broken even more, but just hasn’t been able to send the annulment request to the Imperial Family.”
“Nope.”
“What?”
Selena’s gaze returned to him.
“No, I don’t think so. Judging by the fact he engaged me to you, you must’ve really ticked him off.”
“What….”
Johannes recalled that she had been called the heretic of the Rommel family.
Right. That was the whole reason he got engaged to her in the first place.
A lady suitable enough for the crown prince’s position, but a black sheep with no real power—an ill-mannered daughter of the Duke.
No, worse—her constant scandals had even made Johannes a laughingstock.
“But things have changed now, haven’t they?”
Back then, she’d been unwanted baggage. Now, she was like a jewel box filled with gold.
Her military achievements were beyond measure.
Every day, the newspapers blared with news of which battles she had fought in and what feats she had accomplished.
Selena Rommel had been used as a symbol of victory to boost soldiers’ morale.
“Not really. I’m the same as before.”
Selena smiled faintly and gestured toward her chest.
If she were wearing her uniform instead of a dress, that spot would be covered in medals.
“Other than having a few medals hanging here.”
“That’s the important part.”
“Either way, I’m refusing the annulment! If you want, send a formal request to the Rommel family. I doubt my father will approve, though.”
She said it as if it were someone else’s problem.
“That’s exactly why I’m here. I can’t do that.”
Sending a war hero an annulment request right after she returned? People would talk.
It would be political suicide.
“Why insist on keeping the engagement? You can’t possibly not realize that ending it would be more beneficial.”
Johannes was baffled.
“Who knows~.”
Selena grinned, just as she had when they first met.
“You’re handsome.”
“…What?”
“Handsome. That face of yours.”
Johannes instinctively touched his face.
Of course he knew. His mother had been hailed as the most beautiful woman on the continent.
And as her spitting image, Johannes was widely acknowledged as a man of unmatched looks.
“Especially your eyes. I like them.”
Selena suddenly stepped closer.
Her hand reached toward his eyes, and Johannes flinched hard, stepping back.
“What, am I going to eat you?”
“Ahem.”
He realized he’d overreacted and cleared his throat, looking away.
“Fine. I won’t touch you. But those blue eyes… they’re like the sea. And I love the sea.”
He’d heard countless compliments in his life, but never one so matter-of-fact.
That made it feel more sincere—and oddly embarrassing.
“See? My eyes are red. I wish they were blue.”
She pointed at her own eyes.
Johannes, with his years in high society, knew this was the moment to return the compliment.
“Your red eyes are like rubies—”
“Anyway, that’s why it’s a no.”
…Apparently not.
Johannes decided he had more urgent business than lamenting his rejected flattery.
“…Did you even hear me? I said this engagement is a matter of life and death for me.”
“Yes, I heard. So?”
Selena tilted her head.
“You do know where I’ve just returned from, right?”
“……”
He had nothing to say to that.
“No more to say? I need another drink. The army’s supplies barely had any alcohol. I’ve basically been dry for three years.”
Selena lost all interest in Johannes—until he made an offer.
“Fine. What do you want?”
“?”
“No need for flimsy excuses. I’m not that oblivious.”
Johannes seemed convinced she had another reason for refusing the annulment.
It amused her enough to stay.
“Oh? And what can you do for me?”
“If it’s within my power, anything.”
That was a generous offer.
“But as I said, I’m a crown prince in name only. I can’t do much.”
“Who starts a deal by laying all their cards on the table?”
“I’m being honest. Whatever you’re imagining in exchange for breaking the engagement—it probably won’t be much.”
It sounded sincere. There was desperation in his eyes.
And it wasn’t a bad deal for her either.
“Alright. Then just find me one person.”
“A person?”
“Yeah. I’m looking for a certain guide.”
Johannes hesitated.
“…Wouldn’t there be a dozen guides who’d come running if you called?”
“No, not those people.”
Perhaps it was his imagination, but her smile looked a little off.
“You’ve probably read the reports—I’m picky about my resonance. My wavelength doesn’t match most guides.”
Officially, Selena’s average synch rate was 34%.
Given that most espers averaged around 60%, it was very low.
“But that person was different. That was the first time I’d ever felt that kind of satisfaction from guiding.”
Her eyes turned hazy with memory—then sharpened like a predator’s.
“I lost them that time because I was on the verge of going berserk. But if I find them again, I won’t let go.”
“……”
Johannes suppressed a rising sense of dread.
“Where did you see them?”
“In the middle of the battlefield. The Firen Gorge, between Valery and Maiern.”
“Description?”
“No idea. My vision was blurry.”
“Do you know what unit they were in?”
“Not at all.”
She knew nothing useful.
“If they were in the middle of the battlefield, they’d have been a guide from the Center. You’d know better than me.”
“Of course. I already checked them all. No match among the official deployments.”
The disappointment she’d felt then—Selena closed her eyes briefly, then opened them.
“So? Can you do it? Find me that guide, and I’ll agree to whatever you want—annulment or not.”
“…Do you think that’s possible?”
Find a guide with no name, no face, based only on meeting in the middle of Firen Gorge? Absurd.
“Between Valery and Maiern, chances are they’re foreign. How do you expect—”
“No. They’re from the Empire.”
Her tone was firm.
“I didn’t see their face, but I saw their sleeve up close.”
She tapped her wrist.
“There was a white dragon embroidered on the button.”
“…The symbol of Adelheid.”
That made sense—her guess they were Imperial was reasonable.
“Well, that’s the end of it then, right?”
“Wait, weren’t you going for a drink? That’s not the—”
“Mmm~.”
Selena rolled her eyes, then turned back to him.
“Forget the drink. I feel like going home!”
“?!”
Then she stepped onto the terrace railing. Her knee-high military boots gleamed.
“Wait, where—!”
Before he could stop her, she leapt.
“That’s the sixth floor!”
He rushed to the railing and looked down.
The garden below was dense with foliage, blocking his view.
Rustle.
“!”
She emerged from the bushes, leaves in her hair, smiling brightly up at him.
“…Hah.”
Only then did the reality hit—she was an esper.
A normal human would’ve broken bones from that height, but she walked away unharmed.
No wonder officers ranted about the danger espers posed.
“…Monster.”
Espers were unmatched military assets. Seeing it firsthand made the term inevitable.
And there was only one reason such monsters could roam freely.
Guides.
The only humans capable of controlling espers.
“Damn it.”
Johannes rubbed his face.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t get the annulment. It wasn’t that she wanted him to find a guide with no description.
It was because he himself was the guide she was looking for.
(Section break)
*”Espers are incomplete humans.
They may possess extraordinary physical prowess and mysterious supernatural powers, but that is all.
How can a human who must rely on others to survive be considered whole?
In that sense, espers are undeniably ‘lacking.’
The ones who fill those gaps are guides. Using their unique wavelengths, they stabilize espers’ instability.
The relationship between the two is so subtle and complex that outsiders often struggle to understand it.
For this reason, the Adelhite Empire long ago passed a law forbidding espers and guides from becoming emperor. This kept the Empire free from the countless issues that might arise from their bonds…”*
Selena closed the book. What a pile of useless nonsense.
This bookshelf was stuffed with books just like it. Selena began pulling them out one by one.
This one. That one. Soon the shelves were nearly bare.
“Hmm, hmm, hmm~.”
She tossed the books into the fireplace one after another, humming to herself like she was playing with fire.
The door creaked open, and a familiar face peeked in.
“…Sister?”
“Oh, Joshua!”
Selena greeted brightly.
“Wow, you’ve grown! Last time I saw you, you were about… here?”
She held her hand roughly at waist height.
“I heard you returned. They said you were going to the homecoming ceremony today… so what are you doing in Father’s study?”
“Cleaning out the trash! He’s piled up even more since I was gone.”
Joshua glanced at the roaring fireplace, where an unburnt hardcover still barely held its shape.
“……”
The flames licked at it, as if mocking him.
