Guiding the Male Lead out of His Trauma

As I thought of someone, I quietly swallowed a bitter smile.

The reason being, the most representative figure of such a disastrous outcome was none other than the current Duchess Brondearn herself.

A tragic Guide who, due to a high resonance with the Duke, ended up ensnared.

Yes, the Duke and Duchess of Brondearn did marry, but to this day, they have not ‘imprinted’ on each other.

Careful not to be rude, I avoided looking at the Duchess and instead secretly glared at the Duke.

‘Acteon or Cassiel better not act like the Duke.’

Originally, the Duchess had a fiancé she loved, and talks of marriage were already underway.

However, due to her high resonance with the Duke, her engagement was broken off and her former fiancé was brought to ruin by Brondearn.

In the end, she was forced into marriage to somehow revive the man she loved.

‘But after the marriage, the Duke continued seeing the lover he’d had from before.’

What he wanted from the Duchess was nothing but the efficient stabilization of his mana that came from her high resonance and grade.

Having secured a partner suitable for his status, he treated love as a separate matter and cheated with another.

‘If this isn’t a trainwreck, I don’t know what is.’

If you’re married, imprinting on each other should be a given.

For Transcendents, their power to stabilize their mana through guiding is limited to a single person.

It’s much the same for Guides.

In order to guide, a Guide must align and attune their strength to the specific mana of their partner, and once imprinted, they become fixed to one person. Just as a Transcendent cannot be guided by another Guide, a Guide cannot guide another Transcendent.

But the Duke refused to do this.

In short, he ruined the Duchess’s engagement, brought her to him as ‘his Guide’, yet refused to imprint and even continued to accept guiding from others.

‘I don’t know if Duke Brondearn simply didn’t want to create a weakness, or if it’s because he never loved the Duchess…’

But this much is certain.

‘There’s no excuse. He’s trash.’

On top of cheating, the Duke even had a child with his mistress.

And the child born as the victim of this tangled relationship…

‘Brondearn’s illegitimate son, Acteon.’

Such is the relationship between Transcendents and Guides.

Although, Acteon’s mother, who was both the Duke’s mistress and a Guide, passed away soon after entering the family.

‘That doesn’t mean everything can just be swept under the rug.’

What’s more, Acteon learned of this relationship at a young age and grew up wary of the Duchess’s gaze.

But the Duke, who caused all this, only cared about Acteon’s manifestation, showing not the slightest interest in how Acteon was actually growing up.

No matter how much he supposedly loved his mistress, to him, Acteon was nothing more than a useful prospective Manifester.

‘You could say he’s the second biggest piece of trash mentioned in this story.’

Who’s the first, you ask?

Obviously, the Crown Prince.

Especially considering he joined hands with Hyacine, the mastermind in the original story.

Either way, having all this knowledge from the original makes it hard to enjoy the food.

I decided to focus on conversation rather than the meal.

“I, too, am worried that my rank might bring shame to Brondearn’s reputation. There are surely Guides here of a higher grade than me, so I doubt I’ll be of any use.”

“Hmm.”

Seeming pleased by my awareness of my place, the Duke made a rather satisfied sound.

“My original purpose was to protect Hyacine. If it’s Brondearn, I can trust you to take good care of my younger brother, can’t I?”

“Li… no. Sister.”

“I’ll be returning to the academy in half a year, and after graduating, I’ll head straight to my post, so I won’t have any reason to be closely involved with this place. You need not worry.”

“For that half year…”

“I’ll stay as quiet as if I weren’t here at all. I’ll make sure that rumors about some B-Class staying here don’t even circulate.”

With such perfect behavior, there’s nothing more they can nitpick.

Even the Duke, unable to find fault, nodded.

‘With this, it’s clear Brondearn only has eyes for Hyacine, and sees me as nothing more than a leech attached to him.’

If I were to try to step in more actively, it’s obvious how much they’d come to despise me.

Even though I kept my feelings hidden, it seemed Hyacine could tell I was upset. He looked like he had a lot to say to me.

As I intentionally avoided Hyacine’s gaze, the Duke, not noticing my expression, offered me a perfunctory, benevolent-sounding remark.

“If you were at least an A-Class, things would be different. A pity.”

That remark was basically saying if my grade were even a little higher, he’d consider matching me with one of his children.

…Sorry, but I have to decline from my side.

Since Brondearn is filled to the brim with high-ranking Transcendents, there are also plenty of high-ranking Guides here. They were either the Duke’s children, branch family members, or Guides from other noble families already engaged early on.

But whether I’m S-Class or B-Class, I have absolutely no desire to become entangled with this family.

If I did, even if I avoided the death flag, I’d probably end up dying of a broken heart.

‘Honestly, what sane person would actually like this place?’

I kept chewing my meat, repeating to myself over and over—

Only change what I can, and then hurry up and get out of here.