In Narl, the capital of the Mosenrui Kingdom.

That day, Stano Bansen, the child of a kingdom general, had no idea what date it was, what season it was, or what the world around him was like.

All he knew was that the weather was nice.

It should have been a day that left no mark on the young son of a general's memory. But something happened, and it was destined to become a day little Stano would never forget.

He discovered that sometimes he couldn't make his own hands and feet move properly just by willing them to—and strange scenes would often flash before his eyes.

It looked like a very backward village, where people lived in poor conditions.

Backward. Barren.

That was all he could remember about the village.

After all, the dark-skinned child had learned very little about places like that in his past education.

“What’s happening to me?”

His mischievous nature and a child’s curiosity kept Stano from telling the maid who looked after him—or his parents and siblings. He treated it as “his own little secret,” eager to see what else he might discover.

All day, Stano Bansen hid in the garden behind his family’s manor or stayed in his room.

His parents found it a little strange. Stano wasn’t usually the sort to sit quietly by himself. Most of the time, he’d make a fuss about going out to ride horses or play with his friends.

But his mother thought a little quiet time wouldn’t hurt, so she asked his father to give the boy some space to think about “life.”

And so the dark-skinned little rascal got some time to play with his new “toy,” and he was having the time of his life.

Because he’d discovered that this time, his toy was a person.

......

Leticia would never forget this day, either.

First, she’d nearly made a fool of herself at the church. She’d managed to talk her way out of it, but that had still created a whole pile of possible complications down the line. Then she’d been unable to control her own movements, nearly getting spotted by the unsuspecting villagers and risking being called “possessed”—or even “a devil’s host”......

Way too dangerous!

In the end, Leticia realized she wasn’t suffering from some incurable illness, and she hadn’t been possessed, either. It seemed there really was another person’s will inside her body, fighting her for control......

From what Leticia had observed and tested, the other person seemed to be a young child, a boy. He spoke in a pretty arrogant tone, seemed to come from some prestigious family, and definitely wasn’t one to listen to others.

She couldn’t picture what he looked like in her mind. They could only communicate through her own mouth, so Leticia had gotten a firsthand taste of what it meant to have words trapped in your throat.

After going around in circles, it took Leticia the whole afternoon to sort out what was happening.

At some point today, a piece of the consciousness of an outgoing noble brat (probably) from outside this country had suddenly barged into her body and seized part of its control. It was obvious he wasn’t from the Kingdom of Intis: people from there had an official-sounding accent, and she hadn’t heard that quality in the brat’s speech.

The most miserable part was that Leticia, the original owner of this body, couldn’t even overpower him!

And by “couldn’t overpower him,” she meant that if this brat—who wouldn’t even tell her his name—wanted to use her body to do something, she couldn’t stop him by sheer force of will!!!

What the hell was this messed-up priority system?!

Even as she grumbled, Leticia had her own theories. Maybe this was happening because of her. She was a transmigrator, not the original owner of the body, so there might have been some sort of natural barrier between them. Or maybe the body hadn’t fully accepted her yet?

Whatever the reason, not being able to control her own body really pissed Leticia off—but there was nothing she could do about it.

At least the brat wasn’t completely unreasonable. After Leticia talked it over with him at length, he agreed to keep things peaceful for the time being, giving her a little room to breathe.

“Uncle, I’m home.”

When Leticia got home, she saw that Uncle John had already returned a little before her and was putting away the farm tools he’d brought back.

“Oh, Leticia. Welcome home. You were gone a long time.”

John glanced back and smiled at the little one. “You must be hungry. I’ll make us something to eat.”

“Okay! I’ll help, too!”

Leticia nodded, tossed her hair, and followed Uncle John into the kitchen.

Their dinner was two pieces of hard black bread and two bowls of wheat porridge.

Calling it porridge was generous. It was really just slightly thickened soup with no flavor. Leticia treated it as nothing more than something to wash the bread down with.

“Good thing that damn brat can’t hear my thoughts. He can only see what I see and hear what I hear. Otherwise, this would be a real mess......”

Leticia took a sip of the flavorless porridge and bit down hard on the bread as she thought to herself.

“And even that brat seems just as confused as I am about what’s happening between us. Does that mean he didn’t cause it, either......?”

“Leticia? Leti? What are you thinking about?”

“Huh? Ah! Cough, cough...... What? Sorry, Uncle. I spaced out for a second......”

Leticia had nearly choked. She coughed for a while before finally stopping, then apologized. “What is it, Uncle?”

Leti was short for her name. Her family usually called her that.

“Nothing. I just wanted to ask what the priest called you over for.”

Once he saw that Leticia was all right, John lowered the hand he’d used to pat her back and asked with concern.

“Oh, that......”

Leticia smiled. “Uncle, have you ever heard of the ‘Path of Veneration’?”

She’d meant to ask her uncle whether he knew what it was. But then her mouth started moving on its own again. “The ‘Path of Veneration’ is a form of reward the Church occasionally offers when it receives good news significant enough to shake its upper ranks. It’s aimed especially at believers, and allows the Church to recruit additional members beyond its regular intake of priests and monks. It’s a blessing.”

“Ugh......!”

Startled, Leticia hurried to explain to Uncle John, who was staring at her in a daze. “I was just repeating what the priest said! The priest called me over this time to say I have the potential to join the Church! Yeah!”

Weren’t we supposed to keep quiet for now?!

Sure, she’d heard some things she didn’t know from that damn brat. But if the information came out whenever it pleased him and she couldn’t control it, she’d rather not hear it at all!

“Oh, that’s good news!”

John’s eyes lit up at once. He grabbed Leticia by the shoulders, visibly excited. “You’ve got to make the most of this opportunity, child. If you really can enter the church, it’ll be a tremendous honor!”

“Uh, I’ll do my best......”

Leticia’s expression turned a little strange, and her voice came out weak.

How could she possibly do her best......

After that damn brat’s antics today, she was already caught between a rock and a hard place, with nothing to do but leave everything to fate......

As if! The last thing she wanted was to enter a place where mysterious powers might be at work. If this were a world that was open-minded about people training in special powers, that would be one thing. She wouldn’t stand out too much. But the problem was......

This was a terrifying world ruled by the Church, where Heretics were killed, killed, killed—and burned, burned, burned!