Chapter 82: Beginner’s Guide to Guiding.

Day two.

Lumi sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the closed door as she waited for someone to come and save her.

Someone or anyone.

She kept imagining the door suddenly bursting open, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps and a familiar voice calling her name. Someone who would barge into the Pei Residence without caring about her father’s objections, take her hand, and bring her out of this suffocating place.

But as the minutes passed, the door remained firmly shut, and the only sounds reaching her ears were the occasional footsteps of servants passing through the corridor.

Lumi slowly pulled her knees closer to her chest, wrapping her arms around them before lowering her gaze to her hands.

Her fingers were slender, with no visible signs of the strange ability she had begun to discover in the Hell Dungeon. They looked just like any ordinary girl’s hands, incapable of doing anything extraordinary, incapable of protecting the people she cared about when it mattered most.

She stared at them for a long time before a small, broken whisper escaped her lips.

"Am I really bad luck?"

The question lingered in the empty room.

Lumi lowered her head, her thoughts sinking deeper into the familiar pit of self-doubt. Perhaps her father was right. Perhaps she really was useless, a girl who had mistaken a little bit of luck for something extraordinary, only to bring trouble to everyone around her.

Just as those thoughts began to overwhelm her, a faint rustling sound came from the door.

Something slipped through the narrow gap beneath it and landed quietly on the floor.

Lumi blinked.

For a moment, she simply stared at the small piece of paper, wondering whether she had imagined the sound. Then she quickly wiped her cheeks and scrambled off the bed, hurrying toward the door before crouching to pick it up.

The paper had been folded several times, and there was no name written on the outside.

Her heart began to beat a little faster.

Who had sent this?

She unfolded it carefully, her eyes moving over the hurried handwriting.

[Whatever happens, don’t tell anyone about your ability.]

Lumi froze.

Her fingers tightened around the paper as she read the next line.

[The incident at Hell Dungeon wasn’t an accident. Someone deliberately released the Anomalies.]

For several seconds, she couldn’t move.

The words seemed to blur before her eyes, and she had to read them again to make sure she hadn’t misunderstood.

Someone had deliberately released the Anomalies?

Then the attack that had nearly killed Evan, the injuries that had left Leon in critical condition, and the chaos that had forced Raphael into Rampage might not have been a coincidence at all.

A chill crept down Lumi’s spine.

But what frightened her even more was the first sentence.

’Don’t tell anyone about your ability.’

Her gaze slowly dropped to her hands.

How did the sender know?

"Celestine?" she whispered instinctively, thinking that her twin was the only person in the Pei Residence who knew about her ability.

After all, Celestine had discovered her secret when they were children and had been the one to tell her to keep it hidden. Lumi had never forgotten that conversation, nor the fear she had felt when she first realized that her body could heal itself in ways that shouldn’t have been possible.

But was Celestine the one who had sent this note?

Lumi stared at the handwriting again, searching for some familiar detail that might help her identify the sender. Unfortunately, the message was too brief, and the hurried strokes offered her no clear answer.

She glanced toward the door, hesitating.

If Celestine had sent it, why hadn’t she come to see her in person? Had their parents been watching her too closely, leaving her no opportunity to speak freely? Or had something happened that made even a simple conversation too dangerous?

Lumi pressed her lips together.

She wanted to believe that her sister was trying to warn her, but after everything that had happened in their lives, she no longer knew what to think. Celestine had intervened when their father was hurting her, yet she had also remained silent through so many other moments when Lumi had needed someone to stand beside her.

Perhaps there was a reason for that silence.

Perhaps there wasn’t.

Lumi had no way of knowing.

Her fingers curled around the note, careful not to crumple it. Whatever the truth was, one thing had become clear, she couldn’t afford to be careless with the secret she had spent years hiding.

Especially now that someone had deliberately released the Anomalies at Hell Dungeon.

And if that person was somehow connected to the Pei family, then even her own home might not be a safe place to reveal what she could do.

Lumi’s thoughts spiraled as she tried to make sense of the warning, her fingers tightening around the note while countless questions filled her mind. Who had caused the incident at Hell Dungeon, and why?

Before she could reach any conclusion, a sudden, loud bang against the door jolted her out of her thoughts.

Lumi flinched, hurriedly folding the note and slipping it into her pocket as she turned toward the door.

"Open up!" a familiar voice barked from the other side. "Why did you lock the door from inside?!"

Rei’s voice sounded annoyed, as though being forced to interrupt whatever he had been doing was the most troublesome thing that had happened to him all day.

Lumi stared at the door in confusion.

She hadn’t locked it herself. Their father had ordered the servants to keep her confined, so why was Rei acting as though she had deliberately locked herself inside?

"I’m coming!" she called, quickly wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks before hurrying over to open the door.

The moment the door swung open, Rei stood before her with his usual indifferent expression, one hand still resting on the doorframe. His gaze briefly swept over her face before dropping to the hand she had used to wipe her eyes.

"Have you been crying?"

Lumi stiffened, instinctively lowering her head. "No..."

Rei stared at her for another moment, seemingly unconvinced, but he didn’t bother questioning her further. Instead, he clicked his tongue and glanced down the corridor.

"Whatever. I was just passing by to make sure you didn’t try anything funny... like running away." He deliberately raised his voice a bit.

He reached into the crook of his arm, pulled out a thin book, and tossed it toward her without warning.

Lumi barely managed to catch it before it slipped from her hands.

She looked down at the cover, blinking in surprise.

Beginner’s Guide to Guiding.

"Huh?"

"Don’t look at me like that. I found it lying around in the study." Rei shoved his hands into his pockets, his expression as indifferent as ever. "Since you’re apparently so determined to be useful now, you might as well learn something instead of sitting here feeling sorry for yourself."

Lumi stared at the book, unsure how to respond.

Rei had never been particularly interested in her affairs, let alone gone out of his way to bring her something. Even now, he spoke as though he had merely picked up a piece of unwanted rubbish and decided to dump it on her.

"Thank you, Brother..."

"Don’t thank me. It’s just a beginner’s book, and I doubt it’ll teach you anything useful." He turned away, already looking as though he regretted wasting his time.

"Besides, if you’re going to keep causing trouble for others, at least try to understand what you’re getting yourself into."