CH 66

When she opened her eyes again, she woke up to the sight of people dressed in strange clothes praying over her, utterly moved to tears.

What’s even more strange about that strange scene was the fact that she could understand the unfamiliar language that they spoke in. So, she could talk to them and get a grasp of her situation without any difficulty.

“It’s exactly like a romance fantasy novel.”

Her experiences were similar to the plot points of a book that her older sister, who she lived with at a Guide dormitory, had read before.

“Can’t I go back?”

Seo-yoon swiped at the screen and opened the app that suddenly appeared on her phone after she arrived in this place. Right now, it was showing her letter-grade rank as a Guide and a numerical value that corresponded to that.

“C-Class…”

She was still the same rank anyway, so why did this app appear? It certainly didn’t look like its sole function was to show her what rank she was.

With peculiar expectations, she rummaged through the app.

“Oh?”

When she tapped the book icon, the screen changed.

〈 Be the world’s first Guide and gather your peers! 〉

“…If you do so, you’ll be able to increase your abilities and… Wait, so I’m not the only Guide here?”

This thing was telling her to find other Guides…

“Why should I?”

She was being treated with only the utmost care as the one and only Guide, so why did she have to find other Guides and reduce her own value?

At the unbelievable message she had read just now, Seo-yoon just wanted to turn off her phone right now. However, she searched the app again.

“What’s going to happen if I turn the phone off? Am I going to keep living here?”

It’s nice that she was being treated warmly, but as a person from the modern era, she was facing many inconveniences here. Besides that…

“I won’t be able to mee Esper Kang Tae-joon, will I?”

She liked the crown prince enough, but she wanted to be treated kindly and be loved by Kang Tae-joon, an S-Class Esper who she had feelings for. If only they could imprint, then he’d be able to see only her…

“There’s gotta be a way for me to return. Since it brought me here, it should be able to bring me back.”

Muttering to herself, Seo-yoon did not take her eyes off the phone.

* * *

Ciel had been following Irene for days now, but today, he left the mansion with Aiden. He suddenly remembered something that he had not been able to take care of thus far.

It must be true that if you’ve fallen in love, you won’t be able to see anything else. Ciel felt as if this was something that would never abate until the day he’d die.

“Brother, where are we going?”

“We’re going to a smithy in the center of the city, and after that, we’re heading to the garrison. Our family’s knights are commendable, but I believe it would be good to learn from them.”

Agreeing to everything his older brother just said, Aiden nodded. Then, as something else came to mind all of a sudden, he asked.

“But Brother, I can’t hear other people’s thoughts these days.”

“You can’t?”

The unexpected remark surprised Ciel, and his eyes went wide. While looking at the estate’s scenery from the carriage window, Aiden answered in a casual tone.

“No, well, I can hear them if I want to, but it’s not like before when I keep hearing them even if I don’t want to. The thoughts trickling into my mind have lessened. That’s why I’ve been so relaxed these days.”

“……”

While listening to Aiden, the first person that popped into Ciel’s mind was Irene. No matter how hard he thought about it, it’s unlikely that she was just a Guide of an ambiguous rank.

She had never met a higher-ranked Guide than himself, but if such a Guide was near him, he’d certainly be affected by them even if they weren’t doing any radial guiding.

With her, it felt as if he was taking a refreshing stroll in the woods, receiving such good energy.

Maybe Aiden got affected by that energy and managed to calm down?

It’s frustrating because there weren’t any apparatus to determine one’s letter-grade in this world. He even felt the impulse to steal the machine that could measure ranks back in Korea.

As Ciel was lost in thought, Aiden asked him another question.

“Is it because of Lady Closch?”

“…What?”

“I still can’t read Lady Closch’s mind. But if she’s not an Esper like you and me…”

Ciel could already predict what would happen from now on, but he felt conflicted. 49% of him wanted to be honest with his younger brother, but 51% of him didn’t want to share anything about her.

Amid his fierce internal conflict, the carriage arrived at its destination.

“We’ve arrived at the only smithy in our territory, Your Grace.”

After hearing the coachman’s words, the two people inside the carriage stopped talking and went out. Unlike the smithy in their duchy, this one had a bit of a shabby exterior. Even so, Ciel was excited to see what’s inside.

This was because he roughly found out a few things about the store from the conversation he had with the baron last night.

“Aiden, let’s finish this conversation later. Let’s go in.”

“Alright, Brother.”

Cowardly, Ciel thought that it’s fortunate that he now had an excuse to avoid answering.

Even if it’s his own younger brother, he did not want anyone else to know that she’s a Guide.