24-Hour Hoebinghwan Consultation Office, Episode 14
The Crown Prince's emotions, along with his memories, were transmitted to Ion in their entirety.
"The Vice Commander deliberately stalled for time, delaying anyone from fetching a doctor, and furthermore, when Crown Prince Diant tried to vomit to expel the poison, he quietly shut his mouth."
"Hmm."
"There's no denying that."
The possessor who had donned the Crown Prince's skin showed a small smile.
In Laura's eyes, that appearance looked truly desolate and pitiable.
'Strange.'
And a sense of déjà vu came over her. Ion looked somewhat accustomed to 'that kind of situation.' As if he had experienced something like this before—
Laura felt her throat grow irritated for no reason, as if a thorn had lodged in it.
Ion's voice was calm, as always.
"So I judged that securing immediate safety was the highest priority."
His smile vanished in an instant.
"While handling the Vice Commander and rooting out those connected to him, I found many suspicious individuals and imprisoned them separately."
Only now could Laura grasp the truth of the incident.
'According to the records, there were also possessors who felt resistance toward killing people.'
But she had firmly kept in mind the fact that her first customer felt no resistance toward killing anyone or issuing such orders.
"The truth is—"
At that moment, Laura could see the Crown Prince's expression cloud over.
"Ion, please speak freely."
"Huu."
The Crown Prince swept a hand down his face.
Now that she looked, the Crown Prince's complexion was even more haggard and unwell than last night.
He looked tired. Very much so. Considerably.
"The truth is, I had no intention of killing the Vice Commander."
What?
At his following words, Laura was inwardly surprised but showed no sign of it, looking at him with a calm expression.
Ion checked her expression and continued.
"Originally, I had planned to speak with him alone and extract information."
Of course, the method of speaking would not have been gentle.
But living as a Rank 1 Hunter and fighting various monstrous lifeforms targeting Earth, he had to know how to do all manner of things.
More than anything, Ion had to keep the Vice Commander by his side to obtain information about the ferocious beast while his memories were incomplete.
"But in the middle of talking, the Vice Commander said to my body, 'Crown Prince, you are weak! A worthless life!'"
"And then?"
"At that moment, I couldn't control my body."
Ah.
Laura's eyes grew wide. Her mind began to race.
Hum. Hummm—
The white bead's vibrations grew stronger.
Laura reviewed her memories.
Even amid that, Ion continued.
"And I lost consciousness."
The Crown Prince's expression hardened.
"I only woke up hours later. And when I came to my senses—"
Taking over for the Crown Prince, who couldn't continue, Laura spoke.
"...The Vice Commander was dead."
"Yes."
Unlike his earlier appearance of being unable to speak for a moment, Ion calmly explained the circumstances.
"According to the knight waiting outside the prison at that time, I suddenly drew the sword kept in the prison interrogation room and plunged it into the Vice Commander's heart."
Laura suddenly thought that Ion's voice was excessively matter-of-fact.
The Crown Prince spoke in that unchanging voice.
"After that, I collapsed."
"How did you collapse?"
Ion hesitated briefly. The corner of his mouth twisted subtly.
"Flop."
"Pardon?"
"Flop, apparently, is how I collapsed."
"...Flop?"
"Yes. They said I collapsed just like a paper doll fluttering in the wind."
"Ah."
Laura let out a short sigh and pictured the Crown Prince before her collapsing limply like a paper doll.
"...The knight explained it quite well."
"...I suppose so."
In truth, it was something Ion had heard after asking several times.
"Hmm."
Laura's brows furrowed slightly.
'...More than that, losing consciousness.'
That meant losing control of the body.
'No wonder Customer Ion rushed to find me.'
Laura asked.
"Did you lose consciousness without any warning at all?"
"No."
Ion spoke, recalling that moment.
"'Weak.' 'Worthless.' The moment I heard those words, my body trembled."
"Your body?"
"Yes. And suddenly, rage welled up."
The Crown Prince's demeanor as he explained the situation was calm to the point of eeriness.
"That rage was clearly not my own emotion."
"It must be an emotion latent in the body."
At Laura's words, Ion's eyes widened, then he nodded with an expressionless face again.
"That's right. It wasn't mine."
At that, Laura briefly sorted through her memories.
"First."
When her mouth opened again, the Crown Prince focused on her.
"To date, there has never been a case where a possessor lost consciousness and simultaneously lost control, taking some action."
"Not in thousands of years?"
"No."
The Crown Prince flinched slightly at Laura's decisive answer.
'...Does she remember all the records of thousands of years?'
The Crown Prince's gaze shifted for an instant to the white bead held in her hand.
Hum. Hummm—
The bead was vibrating.
That was surely an artifact. One possessing some special ability.
"However."
He focused back on her at the sound of her continuing voice.
"Cases of simply losing control exist throughout Hoebinghwan's records as well."
Laura mentioned one of the existing records. Of course, briefly, to protect a past customer's identity.
"Among our possessor customers, there was someone who possessed a thief's body."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Originally, that person was apparently a famous scholar."
He was recorded as having extremely high moral standards.
[Also completely obstinate and inflexible.]
Putting aside the ancestor's words, which were full of resentment, for a moment.
"He said that a certain impulse arose occasionally, and he couldn't suppress it."
Laura continued speaking, recalling the record of that part.
Hum. Humm—
While in contact with the white bead, her memory improved considerably.
"When he saw valuable objects adorned with gold, his body would suddenly grow excited."
The moment she spoke up to that point, the Crown Prince opened his mouth.
"...Did he steal?"
"Yes. Of course, he was conscious."
"But he couldn't control the impulse."
"That's correct."
Hmm.
The Crown Prince leaned back against the sofa.
"For that person, 'gold' and 'valuable objects' were the triggers."
His gaze turned toward Laura.
"The body I have entered must have such a trigger as well."
"I believe so."
"I had roughly guessed as much."
A strangely crooked smile hung at the Crown Prince's lips.
"It seems the previous owner of this body terribly hated being called weak or worthless."
"It seems highly likely, but you mustn't jump to conclusions."
"Indeed, I'll have to learn little by little."
The Crown Prince nodded as if convinced, then suddenly met her eyes and asked.
"The original owner's soul isn't lingering in the current body, is it?"
"I thought about that as well."
A gentle smile bloomed on Laura's lips as if to tell him not to worry.
"There is a ritual to verify whether the soul has settled completely into a body. We should be able to confirm it with that, so let's proceed."
"..."
The Crown Prince was silent for a moment.
Laura felt she could guess, roughly, a little of what he was feeling.
'He lost control of his body and even committed murder. That must have been truly shocking.'
Not to mention.
'He even fainted.'
And after collapsing with a flop, he came to his senses hours later.
'If he thought the original owner's soul might still be in the body, this world would feel even more chaotic.'
The customer before her was quite rational.
So the moment he realized he had become the Crown Prince, he must have dealt with the ferocious beast and sought his own safety.
'Let's wait.'
Rather than mentioning the Crown Prince's heart that she had rashly guessed at, Laura waited for his words.
Because his thoughts would be contained therein.
"...You never hesitate in your answers."
Hm?
And at those words, Laura made a puzzled face.
But Ion, the Crown Prince, had spoken his honest feelings.
'She never panics and is always calm.'
He quite liked the way she worked.
'She examines various possibilities and gives advice based on existing cases. Moreover, she doesn't disregard even small possibilities and thinks of ways to verify them.'
Of course, it fell far short of the professional counseling he had received on Earth, but she was quite a good counterpart for 'adapting' to this world.
'To begin with, this world doesn't even have professional counselors.'
He found that it seemed priests or village elders played the role of counselors.
'As expected.'
The Crown Prince became certain of the thought he had while waiting for Laura.
"Counselor. I remember almost nothing. So I am very worried about my life going forward."
In truth, he wasn't 'very' worried.
[Synchronizing.]
At least he wouldn't have to worry about dying once all his power returned.
'I must use anything and everything that can be used.'
That was how Ion had survived alone in the world and carved out his place.