Chapter 19: The Weight of Secrets

“If that male prostitute was Seth’s Guide, then I am Seth’s wife, your father, and the mother who bore you. Anyone listening would mistakenly think Henry Grace gave birth to you. So, stop pitying him. You’ve mourned enough, as befits the future head of the Moore family.”

“Weren’t you the one who declared you wouldn’t step foot in this place? Why have you come here?”

“Did I say that? Well, it’s understandable. But Bliss, Seth’s funeral has just ended, and the household is still in disarray.

I still can’t sleep thinking of Seth, yet his son received the mansion of his father’s killer. Moreover, he’s taken a vacation, something he’s never done before, under the guise of recuperation. How could I not be curious?”

Ethan, who had been listening to their conversation with a tense expression from behind Bliss, tilted his head in confusion. Three weeks had already passed, making it unlikely she had rushed down in surprise out of curiosity for her son.

As his face became slightly more visible, Annabelle’s gaze, which had until then ignored his presence, turned towards Ethan.

“Are you an Esper?”

Bliss let out a long breath and presented Ethan.

“He is a civilian.”

“I see.”

Her interest in Ethan vanished the moment she heard he was a civilian. Ethan’s brow furrowed at her indifferent gaze, as if he were merely another piece of furniture, but the pressure Bliss applied to his arm, a subtle warning, kept him silently rooted to his spot.

“You must be tired from your long journey. Please stay here today, and return tomorrow. This is not a suitable place for you, Mother.”

“Of course, I came prepared, knowing this isn’t a place for me to stay long. But what can I do?

If my son, who barely shows his face at the Ashilton main estate once or twice a year, is expected to hole up in his private residence again after his recuperation, citing overdue work, shouldn’t I come see him while he rests?

You don’t need to feel sorry for a mother who shows such consideration. I am your mother, after all. I understand the responsibility of having given birth to the Empire’s greatest Esper from its most prominent family.”

Ethan managed to compose his contorting expression and looked at Bliss. Though his face was devoid of emotion and unreadable, Ethan perceived a profound pain, as if torn by a wound.

‘This is not something I can get involved in.’

Ethan calmed himself. Lady Annabelle Moore treated him as if he were an inanimate object, and it seemed their private conversation was about to delve into matters he truly shouldn’t overhear.

Bliss Moore was someone who would leave in a week. As the owner of the mansion, he might occasionally come for a retreat, but he had no reason to be close to Ethan. Seeing Lady Annabelle Moore, who seemed the epitome of elegance, made the previously intimate atmosphere feel utterly absurd.

Even if he felt pity for Bliss, there was nothing a young man from a rural village, a nobody, could do for a central noble from the capital. In such matters, it was always better for one’s well-being to completely withdraw than to become clumsily entangled.

“I will take my leave now. My work for today is finished. If it’s alright, I would like to go to Uncle Hans’s as I mentioned earlier.”

Bliss, not wanting to expose Ethan to Annabelle’s tyranny, gave a brief nod. In response, Dale, who had been standing like a shadow, quietly gestured to Ethan.

“Excuse me, Marchioness Annabelle Moore.”

Watching Ethan bow with solemn grace and depart, Bliss wore an utterly dumbfounded expression. Philip and Dale’s faces mirrored his, but Annabelle, who had no knowledge of Ethan’s usual demeanor, seemed quite pleased.

She displayed a surprising magnanimity, elevating the ‘inanimate object’ she had previously deemed unworthy of notice to a ‘person’.

“Even in this backwater, there are those who understand proper etiquette. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but quite decent.”

****

“Uncle Hans!”

Returning to Hans’s grocery store for the first time in a while, Ethan tightly hugged Hans, who was checking inventory with his back turned. Hans, nearly dropping his tablet in surprise, calmed himself and turned around.

“Sometimes, I wonder if you’re not a civilian, but an Esper.”

He said this because he, an Esper, was rarely caught off guard, but Ethan, exhilarated by his newfound freedom, hugged Hans tightly once more, as if to prove his point.

“You missed me, didn’t you?”

Hans’s ki, which had been weak and unstable, instantly stabilized with Ethan’s touch. His face visibly relaxed, and he hesitantly, yet affectionately, embraced Ethan back.

“We talk often, and I see your face every time I go on deliveries. Why are you making such a fuss?”

“I’m sleeping at your place tonight and leaving tomorrow!”

“Didn’t you say you still had another week of your part-time job?”

“Marchioness Annabelle Moore came. It would be better if I were to avoid her presence…”

“…What?!”

Ethan looked up at the sudden rise in Hans’s voice. Hans’s face, usually adorned with a gentle smile, was uncharacteristically contorted.

“Uncle Hans?”

“Just a moment, Ethan. Let’s go home. I need to make an urgent call.”

Sensing the gravity in Hans’s hurried demeanor, despite still holding his tablet, Ethan helped him finish up at the store without a word. Hans immediately retreated into his study upon returning home.

Ethan quietly waited, sipping his favorite tea, until Hans emerged.

Eventually, the study door opened, and Hans appeared, looking somewhat fatigued. Ethan seated him at the table, poured him tea, and asked,

“…What happened, Uncle? I already know that Henry Grace was the one and only matched Guide to the late Seth Moore.”

Hans, whose eyes had widened at Ethan’s words, let out a self-deprecating sigh.

“Ah… I suppose it’s better to tell you, since I don’t know what else you might hear in that house. However, please don’t let the villagers know.

People here only understand the relationship between Espers and Guides in a very superficial way.”

“…Yes, I know.”

‘So that’s why Hans had remained silent all this time.’ Ethan fully understood his feelings.

“……Once, while on a delivery, I happened to save Henry Grace from an assassination attempt.”

“As-sass-ination?”

Ethan stammered, the topic far heavier than he had anticipated. Hans drained the teacup Ethan had poured for him in one gulp, then poured another.

“I don’t know much. Especially not about the affairs of the central nobility in the capital. Henry Grace was a perfect matched Guide, compatible with the rare-ability Esper, Seth Moore, with a matching rate of over 70%.”

“Se-seventy percent…! But why here…!”

As Ethan was about to ask why such a Guide was holed up in this rural corner, Lady Annabelle Moore flashed through his mind. A shiver ran down his spine.

“They were a perfect couple. Sometimes, when I saw them strolling in the garden, I, too, wished for such a love.

As the village’s only Esper, they treated me with a certain deference. At the time, Seth was a Marquis, so I just assumed they were apart due to his busy schedule.”

Seeing Ethan’s complete focus, Hans took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts for a moment.

“One day, when Seth wasn’t there, I went for a delivery, and Henry, as usual, invited me to stay for a cup of tea. I reluctantly agreed and went into the drawing-room. But something felt off.

Unlike usual, there were no Esper guards around Henry. Not a single one.”

Ethan’s eyes widened. It was truly strange that such a rare Guide would be left without a single Esper guard.

However, ordinary Guides, unlike Ethan, couldn’t distinguish an Esper from a civilian before physical contact, so Henry Grace likely harbored no suspicions.

“One of the servants who brought the tea stabbed the accompanying butler and then attacked Henry. They used the knife with such skill, it seemed they were a professional. They attacked Henry directly because they had no information about me.

Perhaps that was fortunate. If I had been even a C-rank, I might have moved the knife itself, but as you know, I don’t have that ability. I grabbed the man’s wrist just before he could stab Henry. Once I had him, it was easy.”

This was a story far too immense for their small village to handle. Ethan exhaled a sigh, like a gasp of admiration for Hans’s shrewdness.

If such an incident had become known to the villagers, cameras might have swarmed the village much earlier than they did for Enoch and Scott. And afterward, the village might have been erased to cover up a scandal involving high-ranking central nobles.

“Henry was extremely surprised, yet he calmly managed the situation. When I asked him later, he said there had been a couple of similar attempts, though the methods differed.”

“A couple of times?!”

Ethan cried out in shock. The very thing his parents feared most was the possibility of Ethan’s assassination. To eliminate the chance of an assassin targeting Ethan, a multi-Guide, his surroundings were always filled with Esper guards, including Mark.

The vigilance was particularly intense during wartime. While he had guardian gwi now and didn’t have to worry, back when he only had multi-guiding abilities, enduring each day with the constant readiness for a sudden death was quite difficult.

“…After that, I went into the city for guiding, and on my way home, I received an invitation. It wasn’t exactly a friendly invitation, but… I resisted a little. However, I was led to a private room in a magnificent restaurant. There, I met Marquis Douglas Moore.

He had passed on his title to Seth Moore, but reclaimed it recently after Seth’s death.”

“…!!”

“He thanked me, saying I had saved his son’s life. Despite being a civilian, he knew a great deal about Espers and Guides. I don’t know if you’ll understand, Ethan… but for a matched Guide with a matching rate of 50% or higher, Espers experience a kind of imprinting phenomenon.

He thanked me because he knew that saving Henry ultimately meant saving Seth.”

“…I see.”

Though it was a known fact, Ethan responded vaguely.

‘Guides can live without Espers, but Espers cannot live without Guides.’

This commonly spoken adage concealed a truth generally unknown. It meant that Guides were essential for Espers to alleviate or eliminate their pain, but for Espers who had imprinted due to a high matching rate, it was a matter of life and death.

If the matching rate was high, the Guide would not die even if the Esper died, but if the Guide died, the Esper would go into a rampage. This was a concept entirely different from a mere seizure.

Theoretically, the only way to stop it was for a Guide with an even higher matching rate to appear. If you ask why it’s only theoretical, it’s because there have been no successful cases of such a Guide appearing at the right time and place to calm a rampaging Esper.

Whether there are successful cases within Aitoolia is unknown, but at least from what Ethan, educated in Han’s village, knew, that was the situation.

And for Ethan, a multi-Guide capable of such a feat, this was precisely what he was constantly taught: ‘why you are important, why you must be safe, and why so many seek to target you.’

“After that, I received a small request to protect Henry. I increased my delivery days and separately informed Marquis Douglas Moore about any internal changes or suspicious individuals I observed.”

“Ah…!”

So that was it. That was why Hans had never mentioned Henry Grace, who lived in the mansion, to Ethan. Having revealed everything, Hans concluded his story with a slightly sad expression.

“I don’t know how many assassination attempts there were in total. I reported several myself. According to Marquis Douglas, it worsened after Bliss’s second awakening.

Among the names that came up then was Annabelle Moore, Seth’s wife. Ironically, that’s when I realized why Henry wasn’t Henry Moore.

I… truly cannot comprehend the world of nobles, where one must enter a political marriage even when leaving behind a beloved partner.”

“……Indeed.”

Ethan, who had been lost in thought for a long time, quietly agreed. Hans, having unburdened himself of a deeply hidden secret to the family member he trusted most, wore a visibly relieved expression.

As Ethan poured him another cup of tea, noticing his weariness from speaking, his own heart grew increasingly complicated.