The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 480: Care and Concern

Chapter 480: Care and Concern
It took Lane a moment to realize that Miles was talking to him. After all, Miles expressing any words of concern towards Lane? That was unheard of! Of course, his voice was cold as always, the supposed emotions not reflecting in either his tone or face, but still.
’We have been worried about you?’
As if!
But Lane’s brain did catch up to it eventually. Miles had said ’your mother and I’. To whom else could it be directed, other than Lane? Only Nyla, but she was nowhere in sight!
He threw a quick glance at his father, only to see Miles looking at him with a hint of fake concern. Good enough to maybe fool someone else(in a ’strict and cold on the surface father, who doesn’t know how to express his emotions well, but deep down cares about his children’ kind of way), but not Lane.
Still, he cautiously answered, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry."
It was better to play along, at least for now. This way, Lane might be able to figure out what Miles was up to.
"Mn." Miles nodded his head. "I know. Such is the nature of our job. We have to deal with injuries and casualties on a daily basis..."
CRASH!
Lane’s fingers tightened on his champagne glass until it couldn’t take it any longer and broke. It was just made out of regular glass, after all, way too fragile to withstand even a fraction of an SS-ranker’s strength.
At the sound of the noise, everyone’s eyes instantly moved to Lane’s hand. It was bleeding, with a few shards of glass embedded in it, with blood mixed with champagne dripping down on the floor, to where the remaining pieces of the glass were.
"Ah, are you alright?" Samantha and Eloise were the first ones to react, Eloise instinctively grabbing Lane by the wrist to take a better look at the wound. Clara just stared at him with an unreadable expression, while Miles...
"You need to be careful," he said. "Now that you are an A-ranker, you need to control your strength. Especially since you’re still unused to it. If you’re too reckless, you might end up getting hurt."
Lane’s eyes twitched, but he still forced a smile. "It’s no big deal, it’s just a cut," he said through gritted teeth, as he pulled the glass shards out of his flesh.
"Ah, careful with that! We need to disinfect it and treat it properly... Clara, do you have your spatial bag with you?" Eloise turned to her sister.
"...I do." Clara reached to her belt to retrieve the first aid kit that Eloise was undoubtedly asking for, but before she could get it, Miles stopped her.
"Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of that."
"There’s no need for you to, you must be busy..." Lane wanted to protest.
However, Miles had already swept his eyes over their surroundings, locking them with another person standing not far away from them.
Catherine.
She understood her husband’s signal instantly, and came over.
"Oh, my!" she exclaimed, as she noticed Lane’s injured hand. "What happened here?"
"Lane accidentally broke the glass. You know how it can be for the newly awakened Espers..." Miles explained.
If he weren’t so tense from everything that was going on, Lane would have rolled his eyes or scoffed in response.
Newly awakened? Even putting aside that he had his awakening at fifteen, he had been registered as an A-rank Esper for a better part of a year. And during that time, he had dealt with a dungeon break and been on several raids. It made no sense to treat him like a newbie who didn’t know his strength.
But Miles surely must have known that. He had been working in the field all those years as well. He had seen a lot, experienced a lot. It was obvious that Lane’s strength wasn’t the problem. It was his emotions that he couldn’t control.
Lane didn’t say anything, though. He just watched silently as his mother took his hand, activated her ability, and healed his cuts...
It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Back at the hospital, after that accident that Miles had been referring to earlier, she couldn’t have been bothered to properly heal him, even though he had multiple internal injuries and broken bones. And now she was suddenly worried about him because of a tiny little cut? To the point of healing him in public? Even when,
"Excuse me, Ma’am, but do you have a permit to use your abilities?" Clara asked, furrowing her brows.
Right. Unauthorized ability use was illegal. It applied not only to combat Esper abilities, but even to the healers and Guides.
And Catherine had just used her ability in front of Clara, who was a stickler for rules, just like Damien.
However,
"The Allen Guild has a permit to use our abilities without restrictions for the duration of the summit, in whatever way we deem it necessary," Miles explained.
Since he said it openly in public, it was unlikely that he was lying. It made sense that they would be given the permit, as they were responsible for most of the event’s security. They had to have at least this much right to execute the task properly.
Clara still wasn’t convinced, though. "And healing a small cut is considered ’necessary’?"
She didn’t mean to be rude, or to say that Lane wasn’t worth healing. It was just that it seemed like a clear overuse of the permit, that’s all.
And she was right. Healing a small cut on ’A-ranker’s’ hand during the gala was nonsensical. With the first aid or a Recovery Pill, Lane would have quickly recovered on his own. (In fact, he didn’t even need that, but no one here knew about his true rank, so...) Catherine’s ability was completely unnecessary.
"Ah, you’re right," Catherine admitted, still holding Lane’s hand. "I probably shouldn’t have done that... I just saw my son injured, so I acted on my motherly instinct. I hope you can understand that."
"Ugh." Hearing his mother’s words, Lane couldn’t help but groan. He was getting chills from listening to all of those absurd lies...
No one paid much attention to him, though. Only Clara gave him a long look, before saying to Catherine, "Whether I understand or not, according to the rules..."
"Please don’t worry, I will explain the situation in my to the Association," Miles interrupted her, ending the discussion. He wasn’t worried at all, since even if it wasn’t for the permit, neither he nor Catherine would get in trouble for that... At most, they would have to pay a fine, which was insignificant for a rich family like the Allens. Clara’s opinion didn’t matter much either.
But people around them also had ears. It was for them that Miles was putting this show to begin with. And arguing about Catherine’s rights to heal Lane had never been a part of his plan.
Clara hesitated for a moment longer, but eventually, she nodded her head. "...I understand. In that case, I have nothing more to say."
If Miles was going to his wife’s actions, there was no point in her speaking against it any longer.
With Clara placated, Miles turned his eyes back to Lane. "I won’t disturb you any longer. I’m sure you have your own duties to take care of. We can catch up some other time," he said. "Remember to come visit home once in a while. I understand that you’re busy, but you should at least stop by for dinner when you have time... We all miss you very much."
"...Right," Lane muttered.
As if.
"Give us a call when you can," Catherine gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, and she and Miles walked away. It seemed that whatever they had approached Lane for had been achieved, and now they were ready to move on to other stuff on their to-do list, such as socializing with other prominent figures in the field.
Lane walked them away with his eyes, watching their backs in silence, a dark expression on his face. One of the staff members came over with a broom and a mop to clean up the glass shards, champagne, and blood from the floor, but Lane barely registered her presence. He didn’t listen to what Eloise was saying to him either, he just mindlessly nodded his head. His thoughts were completely elsewhere.
It was all very suspicious. First acknowledging him as their son in public, then expressing their supposed ’care’ and ’concern’...
...The Allens were planning to get rid of him for good, weren’t they?