Chapter 7
. The Consequences of a Choice
No guide in this novel’s world could possibly soothe that energy.
I was a veteran guide, and I could sense the energy of every guide present here.
They couldn’t do it.
If anything, they might only accelerate the rampage.
“Your Grace, are you feeling unwell?”
A mage, mustering up courage, approached and spoke to me.
Damn. I must have lost control of my expression so badly that even someone who didn’t know me well could notice.
“No, enjoy the banquet.”
Without realizing the mage had walked away, clearly disappointed, I turned my gaze again.
The Emperor was gone.
‘Where did he go?’
Ah. I caught sight of the hem of his ceremonial robe vanishing through the right exit.
And his knights, who guarded him from all sides, acting as though nothing had happened.
It felt as if an invisible fork in the road had appeared before me.
‘Do I ignore this and walk away? Or do I follow the Emperor and see how this situation plays out?’
My heart pounded.
That energy was terrifying.
But what if things didn’t go according to the original story?
What if no guide showed up to calm that power?
‘He’ll lose control.’
And everyone will die.
Horribly.
Am I supposed to go through that agony again?
Everything before me turned white.
Maybe I was having a panic attack.
‘Status window, status window—aren’t you working?’
Even though I was this scared, the status window remained eerily quiet.
As if it had never once tried to take over my body on a daily basis.
In the end, I had to make a choice.
Thankfully, everyone’s attention was on the Emperor, so no one was watching me.
‘If I’m going to move, it has to be now.’
Gazing silently at the exit where the Emperor disappeared, I began to move slowly toward another exit.
From there, I could still make my way toward where he had gone.
‘Please.’
Please let this not be the worst decision I’ve ever made.
This was just a desperate act of a civil servant and guide who wanted to live a peaceful second life.
* * *
Kaisis knew he was not in his right mind.
‘They drugged me.’
A goddamn mistake.
He knew there were always those foolish enough to fantasize about high-level espers who lacked the right guide—yet he’d let his guard down for a moment.
Hilaria.
Duke Ariel.
That woman had acted so unlike herself, doing something attention-grabbing.
The way she had firmly held the child’s hand had stunned him so much that he’d stared in disbelief.
Their sharp, familiar conversation had continued as usual, but his mind had been entirely fixated on that side.
‘Louias.’
His younger brother was the thorn in his side.
Seeing that child always reminded him of their mother.
He hated her—but she was still their mother.
Even if she had shunned him and clung only to his brother, even if that brother happened to be a mage, he was still family—his last remaining human connection.
He had tried, in his own clumsy way, to be a pillar of support for his traumatized brother who had lost their mother and his voice. It wasn’t easy.
And that’s why he couldn’t stand the leader of the mages who had taken his brother as a political hostage and treated him coldly.
But what was that?
Despite her usual cold expression, she had held Louias’s hand gently. His brother had smiled shyly.
When she knelt to meet his eyes—just like that—all his usual irritation and pain vanished.
‘Ha?’
That damn duke—she’s finally lost it, he thought.
“I’m not… in my right mind.”
The memory of her unnecessarily flashy red hair coming to mind—it was clear he was truly losing it.
“Urgh!”
His heart seized violently.
His vision twisted.
A monstrous force surged within him as if seizing the perfect moment.
‘Pathetic.’
The last threads of reason he’d held onto with all his might were about to snap.
If he let it all go, completely—he would be free.
‘Haa…’
He knew it. He would finally be freed from the pain that had followed him every moment of his life.
His vision turned red—or rather, split apart in blue light.
Could this really be the end?
“No… not yet.”
At that moment, Kaisis clenched his teeth.
His brother was still in the banquet hall.
He had to get away. Far away.
From himself. From the monster he was becoming.
But this cursed power never listened to him.
The destructive impulse engulfed his mind.
And something—something touched him.
He couldn’t remember anything in the darkness that followed, but… it felt like something did.
* * *
I’d never believed in a god before, but right now, I was willing to pray to anyone to save me.
Just as I feared, Kaisis had collapsed at the end of the hallway.
Espers and guides who were supposed to be guarding the banquet hall probably sensed the danger and were deliberately keeping their distance.
And me?
I was standing in front of him.
‘Oh my god.’
My teeth chattered like I’d been thrown out into the dead of winter.
What the hell was I thinking, following him here?
Feeling the vicious energy swirling violently around him, I trembled like a rookie.
‘That’s really…’
In ten years of working as a guide, I had never seen anything so horrific.
It was terrifying. Nightmarish.
And at the same time… strangely pitiful.
‘Is he insane? How did he live with this?’
As a guide, I couldn’t fully understand the pain espers experienced.
Watching them rampage and suffer never sparked any guiding instincts or sympathy in me.
After all, every esper I’d ever seen would recoil in disgust or faint just from holding my hand.
For me, guiding had always been a series of rejections.
But in that moment, that cursed instinct—whatever it was—began to stir.
I wanted to help him.
I wanted to calm him.
I wasn’t some sunshine heroine, and I knew even if I reached out, he might flinch or reject me like all the others.
Still, the urge was there.
He looked like a statue, unable to even open his eyes, barely holding himself together to suppress his overwhelming power…
It was…
Tragic.
‘I knew it.’
He always wore that cold, annoying face, but I knew he was enduring something terrible.
But now that I was facing it up close, it was on a whole other level.
‘If I touch him… I’ll get dragged in.’
Most guides would probably pass out or die from heart failure just from physical contact.
The power beginning to fully unleash was suffocating even from a distance.
‘Can I… really handle this?’
My confidence plummeted.
Even as an S-class guide, this was beyond my level.
My frozen feet screamed at me to run.
But…
If I turned back?
If I held his hand and then ran away?
Either way, I’d regret it.
There were no good options.
I hesitated, unable to decide.
“Wh… who…”
And then it happened.
As he collapsed completely, the man opened his eyes.
His dazed blue eyes focused directly on me.
‘Did he recognize me?’
No. That wasn’t it.
But his gaze never left me.
My mind blanked, as if pierced by a spear.
He didn’t call me. Didn’t say anything.
His lips moved, but no words came.
Still, at that moment—I was already running.
‘Damn it!’
Even when his power slammed into me like a tidal wave, crushing my chest in pain—
I couldn’t look away from those eyes, silently begging, “Save me.”
So don’t remember this. Got it, you bastard?
This is just like firefighters putting out a fire.
Just duty. Nothing else!
You’d better understand how rare this is for me!
I whispered,
“Please, don’t remember anything.”
With my eyes squeezed shut, I held the large man tightly in my arms and—
“Don’t remember a thing.”
With all my strength, I shoved him into the open doorway and prepared to face the violent power of a rampaging esper—something I had never dared before.
So then…
With my eyes shut, I moved my head closer.
A kiss. A brush of lips. A shared breath.
“Ah.”
It was a strange sensation.
Soft, warm lips.
The biting cold energy burrowing into my skin.
His glowing, electric blue eyes staring at me as if trying to understand who I was.
‘He’s going to reject me too. Push me away, like everyone else.’
Just as that bitter thought passed—
He grabbed my arm.
“…!”
He didn’t push me away.
He clung to me.
As if trying to stop me from fleeing.
‘Ah!’
His hot breath surged between our gently touching lips.
A devouring kiss.
The energy surged even more wildly.
‘He… didn’t reject me.’
It was the first time an esper ever pulled me in—as if craving my power.
It was shocking beyond words.
That it was this annoying man made it even more so.
‘He didn’t deny my power.’
It almost felt… reassuring.
Before I knew it, my arms were on his broad shoulders.
I think I pulled him closer, to help him receive more of my power.
More. I’ll give you more and calm you down.
I’m a guide. You’re an esper.
That was the last coherent thought I could manage.
