The Prince I Met in Another World is a Wolf

Chapter 19: Trembling Night

"If it's the same as the picture book in the living room."

Craig nodded that that was enough to understand.

"Then you should have seen the same symbol as this."

Craig unlaced the collar of his shirt and moved it to show the black mark underneath his right collarbone. Shun couldn't clearly remember it from the heat of the moment, but now that he was looking at it again, it was certainly the same symbol as the one on the back cover of the book.

At first glance, it looked like a highly detailed cone-shaped mark, but the longer he looked the more it looked like the face of a wolf. Furthermore, the teeth and crescent shaped eyes that look like they had enough power to kill were raised by sharp lines.

"Oh, yeah. There was."

Shun acknowledged what he said, noticing a trace of fear stirring in him that he hadn't felt when he had looked at it on the picture book. Craig tied the collar of his shirt closed again without saying anything else.

It was different from the national emblem of the Wolf Country, which combined the wolf face with a bow and arrows. It went without saying that the national emblem represented their God, the founder, but then Craig has that.

"The reason why I left my country was because this symbol appeared on me in the winter when I was fifteen and turned into a wolf. It's the symbol of the wolf that must be slain."

It was an answer that Shun felt like he was better off not knowing.

"The knowledge of this is only passed down to the royal family — no, the history the public is told is completely different. The True King could not subdue the werewolf. On the contrary, he was consumed by greed and signed a contract with him for eternal wealth and prosperity on the condition that every thirty-third generation become his yorishiro(1)."

　　　1. I don't really think there's a good word to translate this to. A yorishiro, in this context, would basically be a vessel maybe? On wikipedia it says it's an object capable of attracting spirits called kami, thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. The word itself literally means approach substitute.

"You mean Craig is the 33rd...?"

He couldn't stop himself from asking this. Craig's explanation was as quiet as if he were reading a story. But Shun's heart was beating fast.

"I don't know the exact truth because I was stopped in the middle of learning it, but I can transform into a wolf. This mark is more than enough proof than anything else. When I turn into a wolf, my magical powers also double. I'm beyond the realm of ordinary men."

Craig, whose fingers fidgeted in front of his chest, had that self-deprecating smile on his face again. Shun didn't like it all for some reason.

"Even if you say that, you're normally rational and human. It's very different from the wild and frivolous creature described in the book."

"For now."

Those words rendered Shun speechless.

"It's true that at present I can turn back into a human being of my own volition, but the wolf has its own ego. I have control for now, but I don't know how long it will last."

A silence fell.

Shun wanted to argue with him, but he had no knowledge or information to refute anything. Craig's golden eyes scrutinized Shun's forlorn expression.

"The main reason I left the country was because when the full moon arrived, so did something else... estrus."

Craig looked like a child waiting to be scolded.