Becoming the Guide of the Mysophobic Villain? Absolutely Not! - Chapter 267
Claude managed to catch Rose just before she entered the room.
“Promise me. Promise me you won’t do something like this again.”
Even if it was just empty words, he felt he needed to hear it at this moment. He wanted to hear that she regretted it, that she wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
But Rose, instead of agreeing, flared up and questioned him.
“Lord Claude, what if everything I said is true?”
“…What?”
“What if, after curing your guiding allergy, I can also cure Lord Daniel’s? What if I really am the variable causing all these changes in the story’s flow and events? And what if… what if the reason you’re being sent on missions for events that weren’t in the original story is all because of me?”
He was used to Rose spouting nonsense. Claude had long given up trying to fully understand her way of thinking. The two of them were just too different.
Instead of getting confused by trying to rationalize everything, it was easier to just accept the parts he couldn’t understand.
But this time, Claude wasn’t sure if he could just brush it off like that.
“This time, I really have a bad feeling… Lord Claude, the reason you can stay alive without going on rampage is because of me. But look. Even if the original story gets twisted because of me, other problems keep cropping up like a butterfly effect. What if something happens to you when you get deployed alone? I told you, I’m the variable. But if I’m not there… what if the things you were supposed to experience happen anyway…?”
Claude was at a loss for words.
Rose was nearly in a panic. He had always known she was fearful, but she had never been this bad.
She used to tease him so much that he doubted she was really afraid of him. She acted as if she subconsciously knew he wouldn’t actually hurt her no matter how much he threatened.
But now it was different. Rose was uncharacteristically and extremely terrified. She was always creative to the point of being unbelievable, but today she had gone too far.
“Lord Claude, I don’t want that. I’m not sure if all this is happening because of me, but I don’t want to just wait here in the Center, knowing nothing while you’re out there. That’s such a cowardly and irresponsible thing to do…”
“Then…”
Claude cut her off gently.
“If being called a coward is something I can bear alone?”
“…What?”
“If you don’t want to be a Guide who lives comfortably while leaving your imprinted Esper alone… is it better to be the Guide of a cowardly Esper who doesn’t care what happens to others?”
“……”
“Don’t you understand, Rose? You’re the only one who matters to me.”
Claude was practically begging now.
“My reason for staying at the Center and my reason for leaving the Center are both you. If you were the type of person who could live ignoring everyone else and only focusing on me, then I would have no reason to leave you and go so far away.”
Until he met Rose, there was only one reason Claude went on missions.
To finally go on rampage and meet his death.
Since manifesting as an Esper, there wasn’t a single day he hadn’t thought about dying. The only way to escape the persistent torment of his guiding allergy was through death.
In a life focused solely on death, there was no room to consider the existence of others. Thus, it didn’t matter to him that others called him a hero.
Naturally, he felt no sense of responsibility for the immense power he possessed. To him, that power was merely a shackle binding him.
Therefore, to Claude, there was only one being he needed to protect in this world—his Guide.
Physical protection was something he could provide endlessly. Whether it was intelligent mutants or something even more formidable, it didn’t matter.
