24-Hour Hoebinghwan Consultation Office: Episode 2
“…….”
In the end, Benjamin couldn’t say a word.
After the grandfather passed away, the real estate agent Benjamin would come to see Laura whenever he had the chance, pestering her to sell this mansion.
And that pestering grew increasingly out of line.
*‘He must be acting like this because he has backing. There’s definitely someone behind him.’*
Countless were those who coveted the estate of Count Rien, situated in the best location in the capital after the Imperial Palace.
“Then please be on your way.”
Laura turned her back on Benjamin. She had nothing more to say to him.
“Ha!”
Benjamin let out an exasperated sigh, then raised the corners of his mouth and glared at Laura’s back.
“It will be entertaining to see how long you can endure! The noble council meeting will be held soon—will you even be able to maintain your noble status?”
*Squeeze.*
Strength entered Laura’s fist.
*‘Should I hit him?’*
The moment she pondered this—
*Thud-!*
Startled by the sudden loud noise, Laura turned her head.
*‘Ah!’*
Along with a considerable crash, the plaque that had been hanging on the pillar beside the main gate had fallen to the ground.
“Tch!”
Benjamin clicked his tongue, perhaps startled, and spoke to Laura.
“It would be best to discard this plaque with the incomprehensible engraving now. Before selling the mansion. That way, the estate’s value will likely rise.”
And just as his foot moved to clear the fallen plaque from the ground—
“Benjamin.”
Startled by the low voice, Benjamin raised his head.
*‘……!’*
The moment his eyes met Laura’s, the eyes of the former Count Rien, that stubborn old man, came to mind.
“Benjamin. I am not selling this mansion.”
The old man’s voice rose like an auditory hallucination.
*‘No. That old man is dead.’*
That old man who had thrown his weight around despite having nothing was gone now.
One of the Five Great Meritorious Subjects? A family that had nothing but the friendship with the First Emperor—it was ruined, so what kind of meritorious subject was it! Meritorious subject!
As Benjamin tried to shake off his thoughts with a jerk of his head, a smile formed at Laura’s lips.
“Leave, Benjamin.”
Benjamin recalled how he had flinched before the family head whose face had turned deathly pale, and forced the corners of his mouth up with a frown around his eyes.
“Very well. Please contact me anytime. I’ll sell it for the highest price.”
With a sneer plastered on his face, Benjamin glared at the crumbling, absurdly oversized mansion, then turned around and disappeared.
“That bastard, someday I’m going to bash him in.”
Laura Rien muttered in a murderous voice and opened the main gate.
*Squeak.*
Perhaps because there was no money for oil, the sound of the door opening was bleak.
Without paying attention to it, she picked up the plaque rolling on the ground.
[OOO Professional Consultation Office]
Most people cannot read the OOO.
Only a few can read it.
Regarding that, the grandfather had said:
“Laura, our House Rien, even before becoming a Count’s house, generation after generation, for a long time alongside the history of this land, has done one thing.”
[Hoebinghwan Professional Consultation Office]
“To inherit the will of the God ‘Rilien’ who governs time and fate, and to resolve the troubles of special customers. Of course, we have received compensation for that as well.”
The special customers could be divided into three types.
“Returners, possessors, reincarnators. Once every hundred years, one of the three comes to us through Rilien’s arrangement.”
The grandfather taught not the history of ‘House of Count Rien,’ but the history of ‘House Rien.’
“The next family head after me is you, Laura.”
“This is a record book containing information on the customers that the heads of House Rien have met over thousands of years.”
To that, Laura asked her grandfather:
“Grandfather, have you ever met a customer?”
The grandfather was silent before answering.
“The last customer of House Rien was His Majesty Ren, the First Emperor.”
“……That was 500 years ago?”
“……There hasn’t been one since.”
“……Is that okay?”
“……I don’t know.”
Laura roughly dusted off the plaque and hung it back beside the main gate, then locked the door.
And passing by the cracked fountain and the garden overgrown with weeds, she entered the mansion again.
“……Grandfather, I’m sorry.”
Truthfully, Laura wanted to sell this mansion too.
No matter how old it was, it was an absurdly large mansion—honestly, it was as big as the Crown Prince’s palace. The estates of Dukes and Marquises were smaller than this house. The First Emperor had given such a large mansion only to the House of Count Rien.
Anyway.
“……The maintenance costs are too high!”
If she sold even this mansion, Laura would have nothing left, but perhaps she would also be stripped of her noble seat through the noble council meeting that would soon be held.
So now was the time to decide.
“I’ve done enough, really.”
Despite truly being a noble and a family head, for two years she had worked without rest at various jobs including part-time work in secret.
Trying somehow to revive the family, she had knocked on the doors of both administration and the military, again and again.
“Now I have to survive too.”
In the large but empty mansion. At its center, Laura stood alone and spoke to the deceased grandfather.
“I’m putting the mansion up for sale tomorrow.”
And she planned to go to the provinces and try somehow to maintain the family.
Of course, that wouldn’t be easy either due to the checks from other meritorious families.
“Strangely, the other meritorious families keep checking our family.”
Even the grandfather hadn’t known the reason.
“Hmm.”
As she entered the bedroom, the only usable space in the mansion, Laura made a strange expression. As if hollow, as if she had forgotten, she let out a deflated laugh.
“No. There’s one more thing left besides the mansion.”
She looked at the white orb on the desk.
Information on Hoebinghwan customers recorded generation after generation by the family heads of House Rien over thousands of years.
Suddenly, the grandfather’s words came to mind.
“Laura. The plaque hanging at the main gate—keep that by your side wherever you go.”
Despite there having been no customers for 500 years, the grandfather had always harbored hope.
Hope that they might meet a customer.
“It’s a futile hope.”
Of course, Laura had long since abandoned such expectations.
“Yeah. The capital has been uneasy lately, right? It would be nice to go down to the provinces and live a leisurely life.”
The Emperor who collapsed last year.
The Crown Prince who fell into a coma due to a subsequent poisoning incident.
And the Empress and Second Prince suspected as the culprits.
“I can see it’s going to be a mess.”
If things went wrong, a civil war might break out.
“And this place seems to have bad feng shui.”
The Duke Cheeoseu family—one of the Five Great Meritorious Subjects—was right next door, and the eldest son there, a rampaging delinquent, caused incidents and accidents incessantly.
A complete mad dog even among mad dogs.
*‘Yes. Let’s leave this place!’*
Laura looked at the setting sun outside the window and resolved.
“Tonight, I’m specially grilling a sausage to eat!”
It was a sausage she’d gotten from a restaurant where she secretly worked part-time while hiding her noble status.
It was then.
*Weeee- Weeee-*
“……!”
Hearing the sound from outside, Laura opened the window.
“Why the alarm all of a sudden?”
Not long ago, when the Crown Prince poisoning incident occurred, the capital gates had been sealed.
At that time, this alarm had resounded throughout the capital, and soldiers and knights had patrolled to prevent people from going outside.
*‘What on earth happened?’*
It seemed something had happened at the Imperial Palace again.
“I should leave this place as soon as possible after all.”
As soon as she heard the alarm, Laura caressed the white orb she had unconsciously held close to her chest, then took her eyes off the window.
No matter what happened in the capital—
“It has nothing to do with me.”
With the ruined—or rather, already ruined—House of Count Rien, it would have nothing to do.
* * *
Right after deciding to put the mansion up for sale, with a somewhat relieved heart, a somewhat sorrowful heart. Nevertheless, after quite a delicious dinner, Laura went to bed early.
*Paah-!*
And she activated the white orb.
It was a white orb that reacted only to those who inherited the blood of House Rien.
*[……The 11th possessor customer was said to have originally been a Heavenly Demon in a place called Zhongyuan. However, the customer who possessed the body of a slave escaped from where he was bound and came to find me, the family head…….]*
“It is fun.”
This record book was more interesting than most novels.
Thanks to that, Laura was able to avoid thinking other thoughts until she fell asleep.
*Ding.*
“Huh?”
But then.
*Ding.*
The sound of the magic doorbell placed on the desk was heard.
*Ding, ding.*
Someone had pressed the doorbell.
*‘At this late hour? And right now when the capital lockdown order has been issued?’*
Laura picked up the axe she had hidden under the bed. She had thrown away her dignity as a noble long ago.
Since the last employee left, she had always kept an axe or dagger by her side. Because there were bound to be scoundrels targeting this mansion.
And Laura had more than enough skill to handle most intruders.
*Ding, ding, ding, ding-*
The doorbell sound rang constantly without stopping.
For some reason, that was even more hair-raising.
She opened her mouth toward the golden wing.
“Who is it?”
What kind of bastard comes to a house where a noble lives alone in the middle of the night, breaking through the capital lockdown order?
Huh? Does he want to be hit by an axe?
Laura forced herself to swallow the latter words.
At that moment, a man’s voice came from the other wing.
— ……Hoebinghwan?
“……!”