24-Hour Hoebinghwan Counseling Office Episode 30
“Heh.”
A short laugh flowed from his mouth.
‘So I was devoured by blood.’
As his forehead grew cold, his mind cleared.
He could clearly grasp what sort of act he had committed moments ago.
‘To think I’d do such an unsightly thing.’
Before his regression, even when swept up in madness, he never attacked civilians.
Especially, he never raised his blade against someone who tried to show him kindness.
‘And yet I—’
Moments ago, he had tried to grab the counselor’s neck and twist it.
‘I’ve gone mad.’
He calmly assessed his own condition.
Swish.
Sorinte raised himself.
“Are you alright?”
Fresh and upright green eyes looked at him.
Eyes entirely different from blood— from his own red pupils.
His hand did not itch.
“Hoo.”
Sorinte lightly breathed in, then out.
Then he looked down at his hands.
The strength that had seized his wrist to subdue him.
“……Strong.”
Lora Rien. She was strong.
He had roughly guessed her skill from the calluses on her hands, but she was beyond expectations.
‘……And I’m still weak.’
He, who had been called the Blood Sword Master, had been subdued with ease.
While Lora Rien was strong, his current body was a mess.
Had it not been for his innate talent, this madman’s body would have been even more of a wreck.
‘But I’ll overcome that soon.’
Since he was currently training his stamina, this immaturity and weakness would soon disappear.
‘Of course, if I’d been holding a sword, the story would have been different.’
If a sword had been in his hand earlier, regardless of his physical condition, the counselor would have been a dead man.
‘……The counselor dies by my sword?’
Sorinte suddenly felt as if the temperature around him had dropped. He looked at the teacup rolling across the floor and thought.
From now on, he should avoid that red tea water.
The red berry pie had been fine; it was that red water that was the problem.
Finishing his thought, Sorinte met eyes with Lora, who was watching him.
Looking into her green pupils, he felt as if he stood in the middle of a forest.
For some reason, fresh air seemed to linger at the tip of his nose. The chill enveloping his body vanished.
“Customer, may I ask what has happened?”
“…….”
For some reason, Sorinte did not want to answer.
“Customer?”
But he also wanted to speak.
“Memories from before my regression surfaced for a moment, and my mind was confused.”
He saw the clever counselor’s gaze turn toward the teacup.
‘I killed so many people that the world looked red like blood because of it.’
Those words lingered at Sorinte’s lips. Yet he could not utter them.
For some reason, he did not want to say such things.
Knowing the preciousness of family, wanting to approach them with regret— this was different from that.
Very much so.
“I will never show such an appearance in front of others again.”
His body was still weak, and his own spirit dwelling within was temporarily confused due to the regression. That must be why this had happened.
“I’m skilled at controlling myself in this regard.”
Ignoring emotions and memories as he lived.
It was something Sorinte, who had no reason to live other than revenge, had always done to survive.
‘This is troublesome.’
And Lora, for once, did not believe Sorinte’s words.
Clearly, the eyes from moments ago had been deranged.
Eyes more cruel than when the eyes of Cross, the reincarnator whose memories of Kallien had awakened, had rolled back— because they showed no emotion.
“Let’s avoid the red water for now. And let’s put aside talk of the past for a moment.”
Sorinte pressed his lips tightly together. His long hair, which had been neatly tied, had come loose by now.
Lora continued.
“The past is reality, but the present is also reality.”
Our Hoebinghwan customers are always fighting memories.
“Don’t fall too deeply into the past.”
She offered Sorinte a faint smile.
“If a moment comes where you find yourself falling deeply without realizing it, try to feel the present reality.”
[Regressors often have moments where they cannot accept the present as reality and dismiss it as a dream or hallucination.]
[The more intense their life before regression was, the stronger this tendency.]
[In such cases, providing the regressor customer with a person, object, or sensation that makes them realize this place, this moment is reality helps greatly.]
It was a record left by one of the previous heads of the house.
Seeing Sorinte concentrating quietly, Lora continued.
“Instead of memories of the past, I think recalling the taste of this morning’s breakfast or the faces of your family members would be good as well.”
“…….”
At that, Sorinte fell into thought for a moment.
‘……Try to feel this present reality.’
Evidence that the present was different from before the regression.
Green pupils were reflected in his eyes.
The breakfast was one such thing, and the Crown Prince’s survival was another.
Everything had changed from the past.
And more than anything, there was a counselor by his side whom he had never met before.
‘Someone who knows me somewhat well.’
And who believes in me.
Someone who makes me realize that I am in a place that is not the battlefield.
“Counselor.”
Sorinte asked Lora something that had suddenly come to mind.
“Can I do well?”
In that instant, he could see the smile forming at Lora’s lips.
“We can do well.”
“…….”
It was an answer he had never expected.
‘We.’
Lora had said ‘we’.
She scrunched her nose lightly and added,
“Of course, we might go through some trial and error, but if we go together, won’t we be able to see the way?”
Sorinte recalled the day he first met Lora. She had said this then, too.
“Customer, let’s do it one by one.”
Sorinte opened his mouth.
“Is it enough to try one by one?”
“Yes.”
Lora smiled brightly.
Compared to past records, Sorinte was quite a favorable case.
‘Among regressors, there are those who lose their will after regression, go mad, or try to change the future excessively.’
Compared to them, he acted step by step, one thing at a time.
He tried to live his new life diligently so as not to experience the regrets of the past again.
How could she turn away from helping such a person?
Lora intended to faithfully carry out her role.
‘Yes, my customers this time all have strong wills to live, at least.’
There was no one who had given up on life or fallen into helplessness.
That alone put Lora at ease.
“How about we stop here for today?”
Lora cautiously suggested, observing Sorinte.
For Sorinte right now, his refuge would be the Ducal estate in its intact state.
The affection of his family and the lively lives of the employees. All of those things would heal Sorinte’s heart.
“Yes. Let’s stop here.”
Sorinte agreed to Lora’s words.
“Ah.”
Lora, who had been seeing him off, stopped and raised her head at a sudden thought.
“Customer, I think it would be good to set the consultation times in advance from now on.”
“Why?”
Sorinte paused and opened his mouth. His voice was somewhat weak.
“Surely it’s not because I show up unannounced all the time?”
Recalling Sorinte, who had come to her door each time, Lora let out a small laugh.
“No. It’s not because of that. It’s because I will need to enter and exit the Imperial Palace as His Highness the Crown Prince’s temporary teacher from now on.”
Sorinte was silent for a moment before speaking.
“The Crown Prince?”
“Yes.”
Lora briefly explained the situation in case Sorinte might make a wasted trip.
“So it would be better to schedule in advance through a servant from now on.”
She added,
“But if something is urgent, please come find me right away at any time.”
If Lora was not at the mansion then, the butler Tom would come to the Imperial Palace to let him know.
“……I see. Understood.”
Sorinte nodded without much change in expression.
“Thanks to you, Customer, and the Duchess, I had a delicious lunch. Thank you.”
“It is I who should be thanking—”
Lora saw Sorinte looking into empty air, his words trailing off.
‘He looks overwhelmed.’
Thinking he seemed somewhat overcome, Lora waited silently.
“Ahem, I too had a delicious meal thanks to you.”
“Yes. Let’s meet again soon.”
“Without fail.”
Without fail?
Lora wondered at Sorinte’s response, but he was already out the front door, walking away from the mansion at a leisurely pace.
Having come a few times, he now left very comfortably, finding his own way out.
“He’s leaving.”
“Yeah.”
To Tom, who had approached silently at some point, Lora asked without any sign of surprise.
“Tom, did you make sure to eat your share?”
“Of course.”
Tom had thoroughly taken his share from the food the Duchess had given.
“Good job.”
“I make sure to take care of at least my own meals.”
Tom looked strangely proud despite his expressionless face. Lora looked at him as she closed the front door.
“But Tom.”
“Yes.”
“The Emperor is scheduled to die in two months.”
“…….”
“The culprit is most likely either Her Majesty the Empress Dowager or the Second Prince.”
“…….”
Tom said nothing.
He looked past Lora’s shoulder at the old door.
“……Haah.”
Then he covered his eyes with one hand.
“Good heavens.”
A deep sigh flowed out.