I’m Trying to End This Possession - Chapter 149
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 149
* * *
Whenever they docked at a port, Lumiere always went to the cathedral.
“Colonel, are you going to pray again?”
“How about coming with us this time?”
Every time they set foot on land, the navy soldiers generally sought out alcohol or women.
“No.”
Lumiere always smiled and shook his head.
And as always, he went to the cathedral.
Lumiere liked the quiet and solemn atmosphere of the cathedral.
Looking at the brilliant multicolored sunlight filtering through the stained glass made him feel like he was naturally becoming an ascetic.
He took off his white naval cap and walked steadily to sit on a long bench.
And he clasped his hands together.
Just before praying, he recalled all the prayers he had offered until now.
For the past few years, Lumiere’s prayers had been consistent.
‘Let this feeling end.’
Danae Windsor. Let the wicked desire that arose after that child appeared before his eyes be exhausted.
‘Please let me regard Dana as a younger sister again, like when I first met her.’
At first, he had simply regarded her as a cute younger sister.
At first, he really had.
“Brother, you’re really like my real brother.”
So he had answered those words with “I feel the same way, Dana.”
It had been sincere.
He had even wished that Danae, not Alice, could be his real younger sister.
Alice had been very strange since childhood, and he had never once been able to communicate with her.
So he had been happy when Dana appeared.
He had been truly happy to have a cute younger sister who followed him like a duckling.
And yet.
“You know, Brother. I have a man I like now. He likes me too.”
Well.
If he had really thought of her as a younger sister, he should have been happy together with her at those words.
But he wasn’t happy.
Rather, he lost sleep from a bone-deep sense of loss.
“I love you, Dana.”
“I love you too, Lyos.”
When Dana didn’t cross the Dimensional Gate, when Lyos held her back and she remained in this world, he wasn’t happy then either.
Rather, his head ached from sharp jealousy.
When I begged you not to leave, you so indifferently shook off my hand.
‘But you stay because your love tells you not to go.’
What a great love indeed. Lumiere sneered inwardly.
And in that moment, he realized his unrequited love was transforming into love-hate.
How ugly and pathetic he looked to himself.
From then on, Lumiere often visited the cathedral to pray.
‘I don’t want to hate the woman I love.’
‘I don’t want to love alone a woman who has a fiancé.’
‘I don’t want to secretly desire my cousin who follows me like a real brother.’
For the past few years, it had always been only such prayers.
But today, Lumiere’s prayer was different.
“When we’re alone, I want to call you by name.”
“Lumiere.”
On that island, Dana had called his name.
And she had held his hand. Like lovers just beginning.
Of course, Lumiere knew.
Dana hated him.
All this time, unable to overcome his jealousy, he had acted cruelly, so she hated him.
So she might be playing a trick on him, or perhaps taking revenge. Or she might be using him for some reason.
Even so, it was fine.
‘Please let there be even a fragment of sincerity in Dana.’
He thought himself truly shameless for praying such a thing.
Even so, it was fine.
* * *
An order came down from Crown Prince Lyos.
To capture alive the enemy commander—the barbarian tribe fleet commander who frequently invaded Imperial Waters and provoked them—’without injury,’ ‘amicably,’ ‘with the opponent’s consent.’
It was an impossible order.
It was tantamount to exile, telling him not to think of returning to the capital for several months.
However, Lumiere wasn’t surprised.
This wasn’t the first or second time such a damn order had come down.
“Lumiere, it seems you’ve thoroughly gotten on Crown Prince’s bad side.”
It was something acknowledged even by his grandfather, Duke Roland, who was the Navy Commander-in-Chief.
“This time too, just pretend to obey as usual for a month or two. After that, I’ll protest.”
By then, the Crown Prince would also pretend to be defeated and correct the order.
That is, he would cancel the ridiculous orders of ‘without injury,’ ‘amicably,’ ‘with the opponent’s consent.’
So he just needed to endure a little, as he had done until now. He was a soldier, and no matter how unreasonable a superior’s order was, he had to follow it.
But.
But…
[I miss you so much I could die.]
In front of that letter, all reasons to endure disappeared.
* * *
That late night, Lumiere Windsor swam alone across the Black Sea and secretly infiltrated the enemy ship.
He approached like a shadow behind the enemy soldiers who had become completely careless due to the Empire’s sluggish response.
“Shh.”
Covering their mouths.
“Quietly.”
Slitting their throats with his dagger.
“Enemy!”
“The Imperial Army has infiltrated!”
When he was belatedly discovered, he hid from the rain of bullets, then appeared like a ghost, and whenever he appeared, he always killed his opponent.
“Mon, monster!”
In the process, he was hit by bullets in his shoulder, chest, and thigh, but it was fine. As it always had been.
“You coward, how can you call yourself a soldier!”
After slaughtering all the enemy soldiers like that, he succeeded in obtaining their surrender by cutting off one of the captain’s arms.
“Sneaking in like an assassin and killing everyone! You dishonorable filthy— Ugh!”
In the end, he had no choice but to cut out his tongue as well.
The Barbarian Captain who lost his arm and tongue went mad from the unbearable pain, finally reaching a state where he could no longer give proper testimony.
This was what Lumiere had intended.
To return, he needed to fabricate the truth.
Thus, Lumiere abandoned his honor as a soldier.
It didn’t matter.
“It seems like a coup happened within the Barbarian Tribe.”
He dragged the Barbarian Captain back to his ship and said.
“The Barbarian Navy did this to their own captain.”
Of course, no soldier believed those words.
It didn’t matter.
The Crown Prince probably wouldn’t believe it either.
It didn’t matter.
“For now, escort him to the capital.”
“Colonel, what about you…?”
“I’m going ahead.”
With those final words, Lumiere rode his horse with all his might.
It was a distance that would take half a day, but he succeeded in arriving at the estate around dawn by riding without resting for even a single second.
It was an impossible journey for an ordinary human. Sure enough, as soon as they arrived, the horse foamed at the mouth and collapsed unconscious.
It didn’t matter.
He just kept moving like someone possessed by a ghost.
[Lumiere.]
Because Dana is calling for me.
[I miss you.]
No, because I miss Dana.
He climbed over the wall of Windsor Estate and ran through the garden at full speed. Even the time to go through proper procedures seemed precious.
[When are you coming back?]
With each step he ran, his heart trembled. The sentences from the letters Dana had sent echoed in his head.
[Don’t you miss me?]
Is she teasing me?
That could be it.
[Please come to me quickly.]
Is she using me?
That could be it.
Lumiere climbed up the building’s wall in one go and reached Dana’s bedroom window.
“Dana.”
Tap tap tap, his fingertips stung as he knocked on the window.
[I think I’m going to die from missing you.]
Is she trying to hurt me?
That could be it.
“Dana. I’m here.”
It didn’t matter.
Even so, it was good.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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