When the Guide Stopped Playing a Villainess, the Obsession Began

Lea didn’t think much of her current situation.

Dreams are bound to end eventually.

It was simply lasting longer than expected.

With that short conclusion, she suddenly flinched at a stinging sensation in her left shoulder.

Ah, she had forgotten she’d been burned earlier.

She tried to lick her paw and somehow apply the saliva to the painful spot, but it was impossible.

Even in human form, applying saliva to her own shoulder was a difficult task.

So instead, she endured the pain and rested her chin on the top of her paw. In the pitch-black space, her golden eyes shone faintly like an afterimage.

Calix must have gotten back safely, right?

Because the knight had forcibly carried her away earlier, she hadn’t even been able to properly speak with him.

If this was a dream, shouldn’t it follow the dreamer’s will? Yet not a single thing was going her way—even in the dream.

Even that felt too realistic, and she let out a dissatisfied snort.

Lea stared blankly into the air, then closed her eyes while recalling Calix’s face.

At fifteen, he had looked so pure and adorable. She wished she could’ve seen him one more time before leaving.

Caught in the trail of her thoughts, Lea unknowingly fell into a deep sleep. Her exhausting day came to an end in the darkness of the basement.

***

The continent was largely divided into two great nations. Though small states existed between them, none could rival the overwhelming power of the two.

The Cantabrian Empire and the Leonis Empire.

In the past, the two empires had been evenly matched in strength, but as time passed, the Leonis Empire gained the upper hand.

The reason lay clearly in the existence—or lack—of one thing: Guides.

What allowed the two empires to surpass the smaller nations and grow so large was the presence of awakened individuals.

From a certain point in history, Espers and Guides began to appear. With the Espers’ superior abilities, they started conquering surrounding countries.

However, when an Esper used their powers, a harmful energy accumulated in their body. The more it built up, the more intense the pain became.

Guides were those who could purify that harmful energy. Through physical contact, a Guide could not only soothe the Esper’s energy but also enhance their abilities. To Espers, Guides were indispensable.

In the beginning, Espers and Guides existed in roughly equal numbers, but as time went on, the number of Guides began to decline.

The more wars were fought, the faster the Guides dwindled, and eventually, no Guides could be found in the Cantabrian Empire.

After that, Cantabrian Espers could no longer process their harmful energy, which continued to build up and caused them to go berserk repeatedly.

Many civilians suffered due to Espers who lost control and died in violent outbursts.

On the other hand, the Leonis Empire still had a considerable number of Guides. As a result, the general consensus was that it was only a matter of time before Cantabria was defeated by Leonis.

Then, like salvation, a Guide appeared in the Cantabrian Empire—Bianca.

The current Emperor, who had been participating in the war, suddenly returned one day. Not long after, he brought back a mysterious female Guide and made her empress.

As the position of empress had long been vacant, there was no resistance to Bianca, who was able to claim the role without issue.

Having received her guiding, the emperor began to rely on Bianca more and more, and her ambitions only grew.

Unwilling to share power, the person Bianca considered the biggest thorn in her side was the emperor’s legitimate heir—Crown Prince Calix sol Cantabria.

No matter how much the emperor obeyed her every word, he never allowed her to interfere with the crown prince’s position.

So the trick Bianca devised was to use her own daughter to disgrace the crown prince.

Even though she knew it would amount to no more than superficial torment, Bianca originally intended to bear the emperor’s child herself. But things didn’t go her way.

So she spread a rumor—that if she bore the emperor’s seed, the child might be born a Guide.

The hope that a new Guide might be born in a nation without any left gave the nobles ample justification to turn their backs on the crown prince.

Furthermore, since powerful Espers held sway over the palace’s political power, it was only natural that the new empress, rumored to be the sole Guide capable of guiding them, would become the true power of Cantabria.

But that wasn’t all. Another reason Bianca earned the Espers’ absolute support was because she was a high-ranking Guide.

She would personally provide guiding to high-grade Espers like the emperor, turning them into her own loyal followers.

To those of significantly lower rank, she would sit and have tea with them while offering broadcast-style guiding.

That alone was enough to bring the Espers easily to her side. Having seized control of Cantabria, Bianca saw everyone around her as tools.