The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 209: Alike

Although Lane was able to temporarily save himself from going on dungeon raids, it wouldn’t last long. At most two weeks, since that was the recovery time he had told his father (and would undoubtedly be confirmed with the doctor in charge of Lane). Therefore, if he wanted to figure out what was going on before he was tossed back inside, he had to act as soon as possible.

So, the very next day in the early afternoon, around the time Ava was going to be out of school, he headed out. Excited despite the gravity of the situation, especially with the discovery he made last night...

Just as he went down the staircase, though, a sudden gust of wind tore off the front doors, and swept through the hall, wreaking havoc. Lane barely managed to dodge the massive wing of the door that flew his way and crashed at the bottom of the stairs where he was just a split second prior.

But, to his surprise, he realized that there was not even a scratch on him. It seemed that his speed and reflexes suddenly improved... A lot.

Of course, he still couldn’t be compared to the walking hurricane that was his Grandmother Diana, who slowly stepped into the mansion through the gaping hole of what used to be the front door, her back straight and her steps confident, as if she owned the place.

Well, technically she and Cyrus Allen were still married, according to the law. They were just separated, and she had left decades ago, after which she was announced to have perished from an illness in the social circles to avoid any scandals.

Dusting himself off, Lane stood on the side, hesitating. Should he try to flee back to his room, or to the basement, or through the back door... Or simply pass by Diana, and get in his car (if it still stood in front of the mansion, of course. Because knowing Diana, it might have been blown away)? Until now, the woman had never done any harm to him or Nyla... But she was so unpredictable, that Lane couldn’t even begin to guess at what was going on through her head.

Before he managed to make up his mind, though, Diana’s eyes fell on him.

And she smiled. "I’m sorry about that," she said, approaching Lane. "I didn’t hit you, did I?"

Lane pressed his lips, hesitating. Diana didn’t hit him... But what if it was actually her goal? Would she lift the door, and throw them again?

As if knowing what he was thinking, the woman soon added, "I didn’t mean to startle you. Using my ability feels so nice, that sometimes I can’t hold myself back!"

So she didn’t mean to cause him harm, huh? At least not right now. However, Lane was still one of the Allens, all things considered. She might have been letting him and Nyla off the hook while they were still minors, but would that last? Lane had no idea how far she wanted to take her desire to destroy the Allens.

Diana tilted her head slightly, observing Lane. She had to look up, as the boy was a good six or seven inches taller than her, but even then, she felt like such a towering presence.

"You know, I think we’re quite alike," she eventually said after a long moment of silence.

Alike? Lane couldn’t help but lift his brows. In what way were they alike? Diana was so powerful and free, while Lane... Lane was still trapped, and although he wasn’t completely powerless, it seemed, his ability was... Well, perhaps not the most pleasant one out there, to put it nicely. Even their appearances were nothing alike, as both Miles and Lane took more after Cyrus rather than the grandmother!

"You remind me of myself when I was your age," Diana explained, noticing the doubt and confusion on her grandson’s face. "Tied down by your family, crushed by the weight of the expectations you don’t want to meet, wanting to free yourself, but with no way out... Don’t you feel that way too?"

"H-huh?" Lane blinked. Well, yes. That was exactly his life. Was Diana trying to say... that she also was like that once in the past, when she was young? Then did that mean that Lane could also one day...

"Don’t worry. Just follow your path. As long as you try everything you can, I’m sure one day you can also be free from the Allens. You just need to be willing to make some sacrifices. Remember, nothing worth keeping in life comes free! Sometimes, you need to put yourself first, and be willing to trample on others to achieve your goals!"

Having said that, Diana flashed Lane one more smile, and riding on her wind, she flew upstairs, heading toward the home offices.

Lane followed her with his eyes, completely awestruck, rooted in place even long after she disappeared. Only when loud thuds and crashes came from the upper floors, did he finally snap out of his daze, and went out, searching for his driver and the car to go meet up with Ava.

He was so taken by Diana’s words, that he didn’t even stop to consider how similar she sounded to the ’values’ the Allens believed in. Weren’t Lane’s whole family, which he hated so much, also trampling on others? Making sacrifices - for example throwing out trash, such as Miles and Catherine’s firstborn son - for the sake of their goals? The only difference was that Diana spoke about things like ’freedom’ or ’revenge’, while the Allens were all about business, reputation and money.

This tiny detail was enough for Lane to completely disregard everything odd about Diana’s behavior, even though it was literally blaring right in front of his eyes in red. He just made sure to keep her advice in mind for now, and think about it all later, as he rushed to pick up Ava from school. After all, her class was already over, and Lane just couldn’t wait to finally share with her everything that happened!