Guiding the Male Lead out of His Trauma - Chapter 6.2
‘With that face, he could make a living doing anything he wanted, without ever having to become a soldier.’
Instead of replying to my greeting, I quietly averted my gaze from those eyes that were silently observing me.
Since I know his personality so well, if I had to choose, I’d rather leave a faint, blurry impression than force a smile.
‘It’s obvious we’re never going to get close anyway.’
And, as expected,
Acteon seemed to offer a slight smile, but.
“……”
He ignored my greeting.
“Blair, Father is waiting.”
His reaction, treating me as if I didn’t exist, was honestly a relief.
‘Actually, that’s better. This kind of distance feels just right.’
Blair, who’d been waiting ahead of time, gave a short order to the butler and led us inside.
Acteon didn’t look in my direction again. Instead, he was just listening as Blair told us he’d show us to our rooms.
“…Do we really have to stay here?”
Hyacine, poking me in the side, whispered.
Instead of answering, I just nodded a little.
If you don’t like it, then hurry up and awaken. Then you’ll be able to stay in the school dormitory.
In the meantime, Acteon silently led the way up the stairs, ahead of Blair.
It seemed like he was going to show us to our rooms himself.
‘That’s usually something the mistress of the house would do.’
Does this mean there’s currently no one else in the mansion to take on that role?
At that moment, someone appeared in the hallway.
“Acteon.”
Ah, damn it.
Before I realized it, I’d made a sour face. Fortunately, it seemed the other person didn’t recognize me.
‘I forgot he was also on a leave of absence.’
Who was it? The second Young Master of the house.
Vivid violet eyes glared at us, filled with wariness. He looked us up and down from head to toe with a gaze utterly lacking in courtesy, but couldn’t openly show any displeasure.
I quietly swallowed my bitter feelings.
Cassiel Brondearn.
Acteon’s older brother, and the sub-male lead mentioned in 『Taming the Calamity-Class Transcendents』.
Sensitive and prone to spitting venom at the drop of a hat, he eventually reforms thanks to Millia and becomes hopelessly attached to her.
And honestly, I hadn’t liked him since the moment I enrolled.
I tried to school my expression as much as possible and awkwardly turned my head.
Cassiel, with a crooked smile, spent a moment staring intently at Hyacine.
Then, his gaze halted on my face.
“So that’s what all the bustle in the house was about this afternoon?”
“You don’t need to worry about it. It’s an order from the royal family.”
Whether this was just another of Cassiel’s tantrums or not, Acteon skillfully soothed him.
But Cassiel was still uncooperative.
“Don’t tell me the reason we were summoned was to have dinner in the same space as a non-awakened and a B-Class?”
“Even if you don’t like it, Father won’t allow you to skip it.”
“……”
Only after Acteon delivered something close to a threat did Cassiel bite his lip.
“Well. I guess even if B-Classes are a dime a dozen, the fact that Father decided to sponsor a non-Awakened person means there’s a decent chance they’ll turn out to be a good rank.”
…Don’t tell me he knows who I am.
Just as I was about to ask if he did, Cassiel, looking at me with open disdain, simply walked past us and headed downstairs.
‘Honestly, I can see just how warped the standards of the people in this house are.’
A sigh escaped me.
Then, at some point, I met Acteon’s eyes again. He’d been watching me.
“……”
And once again, he ignored me.
At this rate, I might as well be a ghost.
I’ll say it again…
B-Class isn’t a low rank, but the people in this house clearly have such high standards that they only consider A-Class ‘decent’, and think only S-Class is truly worthwhile.
‘Down with this obsession with ranks.’
As I was composing myself, Hyacine spoke to me.
“…Why are all noble families like this?”
I’m wondering the same thing.
Still, as long as they only treat me poorly, it seems they’re at least relatively kind to Hyacine.
Maybe it’s not so bad after all.
What’s more, Acteon…
‘I’d imagined, after all that happened, he’d have a much darker impression.’
The starting point of Acteon’s trauma.
The Claire Brondearn rampage incident.
The catalyst for Acteon’s trauma in the original was the death of Cassiel’s twin, Claire, who went on rampage and died.
She was an S-Class Transcendent who had finished her second awakening at a young age and fought on the battlefield.
Claire Brondearn.
Realizing at such a young age that a flick of her finger could take dozens of lives, Claire was so shocked that she developed a severe aversion to killing.
Unable to withstand the collapse of her own mind, she ended up killing her own Guide with her own hands.
‘That Guide was the only person here Acteon ever opened his heart to.’
That incident had already happened by the time I regained my memories of the original, so there was nothing I could do about it.
That’s why I’d braced myself, expecting Acteon to be in a much worse state and almost untouchable.
‘But on the surface, he seems perfectly fine.’
Unlike Cassiel, who bristled at everyone, Acteon simply had a calm, quiet expression on his face.
He just wore a mask-like smile.
As I walked through the luxurious, beautiful interior of the mansion, I kept my eyes on Acteon’s back.
‘Maybe… maybe it’ll be okay?’
But I was being naive.
The hope I had for Acteon’s healthy growth and romance, free from trauma…
It took less than a single day for that hope to shatter completely.
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