Chapter 158

Phil’s head dropped heavily. We decided to hear him out a little longer.

“We had promised to meet the day I returned from my travels. But Kama didn’t show up.”

Kama was the kind of person who never missed an appointment. Worried that something had happened, Phil had gone to his house.

Kama had been crying. And he was heating a branding iron in a hot brazier.

“I asked him what he was doing. And Kama said, ‘My body doesn’t feel like my own.’”

And Kama had asked Phil to help him. Phil tried to pull Kama away from the brazier, but it was impossible. Instead, Kama pushed Phil back. Kama forced him out into the living room and locked the door.

Afterward, horrific screams echoed from the room. Soon after, the house was filled with the smell of something burning.

Phil, realizing something was terribly wrong, knocked on the door. But the locked door wouldn’t open.

“It was only when the screaming stopped that I realized I had to break down the door.”

Since the house belonged to a lifelong student, there was nothing useful to break down the door with. He turned the entire living room upside down and finally found a hammer, which he used to break down the door.

Then, once again, he witnessed a horrific sight.

“Kama was hanging from the neck.”

It was suicide.

I closed my eyes.

Until now, I had believed it wasn’t a suicide, but now it seemed Kama really had hanged himself.

“But there was something strange.”

There was something more?

I opened my eyes and looked at Phil.

“Kama didn’t want to die. He begged me to save him. Even while hanging by the rope, he said he wanted to live. Kama looked like he was being controlled by someone.”

Phil spoke quickly, as though the emotions from that moment were rushing back, and he began to sob uncontrollably.

“I… I couldn’t do anything!”

I was in shock. I had only assumed that someone had staged his death as a suicide. But my assumption was wrong.

One thing, however, was certain — Kama’s death had not been his choice.

“Is it possible to control someone like that?”

While I was still reeling from the shock, Helios calmly asked a practical question.

“That…”

“What are the chances that Kama was mentally ill?”

“Kama is…”

“You said you hadn’t seen him for a long time. So, you might not have known how much he had changed. Isn’t that right?”

The situation was so unusual that it was reasonable to suspect such a possibility. But Helios’s pushy tone, almost as if he were cornering Phil, was too much. I grabbed his arm to get him to ease up.

Helios exhaled a long, drawn-out breath. His barrage of questions came to an abrupt halt.

Phil, unable to breathe properly, continued crying.

“Your Highness, how about reopening the investigation based on this person’s testimony?” I suggested.

Helios remained silent.

“Your Highness…”

“We can’t catch the culprit with just a testimony. It’s not enough to claim it’s a homicide instead of a suicide.”

“But it’s strange. Similar incidents have been happening repeatedly. We should investigate forcing someone through mind control.”

“Mind control… is unnecessary. Controlling someone isn’t that hard, Rienna. For example…”

Suddenly, Helios kicked the table. The table slid forcefully across the floor, crashing loudly.

Both Phil and I jumped in surprise, looking at Helios. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at Phil. His voice dropped to a chilling whisper.

“Pick it up.”

His commanding tone and cold stare made Phil’s eyes twitch.

“Pick it up.”

Helios repeated the same words again.

Phil, wiping his tears as if he had never cried, stood up and set the table back upright. After finishing the task, he sniffled and stood there, glancing at Helios. His posture resembled that of a soldier waiting for an order.

Helios gestured with his chin, indicating Phil.

“You can control someone through fear too. There are many ways to manipulate someone. It’s not that different from training a dog. You can reward them, punish them, or make them believe that everything I say is right.”

Gaslighting.

Helios, explaining while counting on his fingers, continued.

“But even with all these different methods, there’s a common thread. The other person has to believe I hold the leash. They have to think that if they don’t listen to me, they’ll die.”

“…The imprint.”

As I listened to Helios, the words naturally came to mind and slipped out of my mouth.

Helios stared at me, as if waiting for an explanation.

“With a one-sided imprint, Your Highness, wouldn’t the person be forced to listen to the one they imprinted with?”

“So?”

“The fact that Kama erased the name — I suspect that the person Kama imprinted with is involved.”

Helios thought for a moment and then gently patted my head.

“I think so too.”

“Then, now we…”

“We need to find out who Kama imprinted with.”

Helios and I exchanged smiles. Although we were still stuck in place, we felt satisfied knowing the direction of our investigation had been set.

It was then that Phil, who had been crying the whole time, interrupted the conversation.

“I… I think I know who Kama imprinted with.”

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