My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 111

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 111
* * *
That night, Kanna Adis claimed the finest cabin aboard the ship.
Perhaps that’s why I had such a pleasant dream.
“Ju-hwa.”
Yeon-woo appeared in my dream.
It had been so long since I’d dreamed of him that a bittersweet joy washed over me.
A man I’d once truly loved. A man I could never meet again—he spoke to her.
“Ju-hwa, can we talk?”
So he was speaking to ‘Ju-hwa’.
“We’re not the kind of people who end things this easily. This isn’t like you.”
In his pale brown eyes, longing rippled toward the figure before him.
“Why have you changed so much? Why are you like a stranger now?”
Seeing Yeon-woo’s hollow expression, my heart shattered with pain.
Though we would never meet again, I still wished for his happiness always.
Then my lips parted.
“The man I love is not you.”
How cold that voice was.
My heart ached as though I were dying, yet the dream version of myself—Ju-hwa—was utterly frigid.
Ju-hwa delivered the words like a death sentence.
“So disappear.”
* * *
A gasp tore from my throat.
My eyes snapped open with a start.
I jolted upright, my heart pounding violently, cold sweat beading on my forehead.
‘A dream…?’
Yes, it was a dream.
‘I thought it was a good one.’
But it had been a damned nightmare instead.
I buried my face in my hands, breathing shakily. What a strange, wretched dream to have…
“Duchess, you’re awake?”
In that instant, I nearly screamed. Someone was leaning against the wall at an angle!
“You…”
My eyes trembled as I identified the figure.
“Count Jerome?”
What was he doing here?
I swallowed hard, suppressing my shock and responding as calmly as I could manage.
“What are you doing here? I thought you’d be in prison by now.”
At that, he laughed with shameless audacity.
“It seems I’m not welcome, Your Grace.”
“No one welcomes a ruffian who breaks in during peaceful sleep.”
I spoke calmly, but my mind raced at lightning speed.
‘Where is Claude Azel?’
He was in the adjacent cabin.
Considering the protection he’d provided thus far, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed Jerome’s intrusion.
Then why wasn’t he coming?
Or perhaps… he was waiting for the right moment to enter.
“Count Jerome, was it? That knight won’t be of any help to you.”
At that moment, Jerome spoke as if he’d read my thoughts.
“The Black Mist has sealed off his cabin.”
“What?”
“He’s trapped inside, unable to escape—just like this room.”
He pointed toward the door. Through the slightly ajar gap, a pitch-black haze shimmered and undulated.
That was… perhaps… possibly.
“The Black Mist…?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
A moan caught in my throat.
“You created that?”
“Yes. Remarkably, I’ve finally succeeded in controlling it properly.”
It was unbelievable.
Manipulating the Black Mist? Was such a thing even possible? I’d heard the Black Mist was a natural phenomenon.
Questions churned through my mind, scattering my thoughts. Yet even as they did, my fingers moved with deliberate purpose.
Beneath the pillow.
And I kept his attention fixed elsewhere so he wouldn’t notice the movement.
“You’re one of the Black Apostles.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
My fingertip brushed against glass. I continued speaking.
“What about Rachel? Is she also a Black Apostle?”
“No. Rachel was simply a delusional patient.”
Damn it—my fingertip slipped and the glass vial slid away!
‘Please, please let me catch it.’
A defensive toxin I’d hidden beneath the pillow just in case.
That poison—the same one that had rendered even Orsini unconscious—inflicted excruciating agony the moment it touched skin, burning flesh away.
“I’ve wanted to have a proper conversation with the Duchess for quite some time, but there were always so many interruptions.”
Just a little more, just a little more.
“Now we’re finally alone.”
Just a little more…
“At last, we can have a real discussion.”
I had it!
I grasped the vial firmly, my thumb pressing against the cork stopper as I smiled wickedly.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I waste my breath talking to someone like you?”
“I’m not asking for your consent, madam—”
Now!
Kanna Adis sprayed the chemical directly onto his chest.
Splash! As his collar soaked through in an instant, Count Jerome looked down in bewilderment.
“What are you—?”
The pain came swiftly. A sizzling, horrific sensation of flesh burning seared through his chest!
“Ugh, gah!”
Count Jerome clutched at his chest and doubled over.
Kanna Adis seized the moment. She grabbed the lamp from the side table and brought it down hard against his head.
Crash! Glass shattered everywhere as Count Jerome’s body crumpled to the floor.
“Gasp… gasp…”
Kanna Adis stood over his motionless form, breathing heavily. Dead or unconscious—either way, he wasn’t moving anymore.
“Damn it, what a worthless bastard…”
I turned to leave.
“Hell.”
The doorway was completely filled with Black Mist. Unable to advance or retreat, a string of curses rose in my throat.
“Grrrrr…”
A strange, guttural sound echoed.
Right ahead.
The moment I instinctively stepped back, something massive burst from the mist almost simultaneously.
“…”
My breath caught in my throat. A monster. I’d never seen one before, but there was no doubt—this was a monster.
A towering frame that reached the ceiling, skin charred black as if burned, and crimson blood dripping steadily from fangs like daggers.
Whose blood was that?
“Grrr, grr, grrrrr…”
The monster stepped into the cabin. I held my breath and backed away, only stopping when my back struck the wall with a soft thud.
“Grrr…”
The monster halted before me. It extended a massive, weapon-like hand—blood-soaked and dripping. Just before those bloodstained fingers touched my throat.
“…!”
A sickening crack of bone, and the monster’s body convulsed violently.
I slowly lowered my gaze. And witnessed something utterly grotesque.
A human hand piercing through the monster’s abdomen like a spear through a cage.
In that frozen moment, the hand withdrew smoothly. The monster’s body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Thud! The cabin shook violently.
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and looked up. Our eyes met.
“Are you unharmed, madam?”
Suddenly, this entire situation felt like a dream.
Perhaps it was the serene expression despite the chaos. Or perhaps it was the unexpected arrival of this person.
“Are you injured anywhere?”
Raphael asked with his usual politeness.
“Raphael…?”
“Yes, madam.”
That courteous reply felt far too unreal.
A demon, a hand that pierced through demons, Raphael—these three things simply didn’t fit together. It felt like a grotesque discord, as if a misaligned frame had been forced into place.
Then.
“Ugh…”
Count Jerome, who had been lying unconscious, stirred and regained awareness. He pushed himself up unsteadily.
“Ugh, gah, ah, it hurts… it hurts! Damn it, argh!”
He glared at Kanna Adis with murderous eyes.
“You, die—!”
Choke! Count Jerome couldn’t finish. Raphael’s hand seized his throat. He lifted him effortlessly into the air.
“Gag, cough!”
“Madam, I apologize, but would you close your eyes?”
Such a polite request. The voice was one you couldn’t believe belonged to someone brutally strangling another person.
Overwhelmed by the oppressive weight of that horrifying dissonance, I closed my eyes obediently.
Crack! Almost simultaneously, something snapped violently. Then silence fell.
“You may open them now.”
“…”
I opened my eyes carefully. Raphael was looking at me again. Count Jerome, presumably…
‘Below.’
…was now neatly stacked atop the demon’s corpse.
Raphael spoke matter-of-factly.
“I’ve lowered a small boat below the bow.”
Then he flicked the demon’s blood dripping from his fingertips away. As if it were something he’d done his entire life, with practiced ease.
“If you follow me, you’ll be safe even within the mist. Stay close behind—”
That was when Raphael’s words cut off abruptly.
“…”
He lowered his gaze. And saw it—my hand gripping his wrist tightly.
“Raphael.”
At that call, his eyes turned back to my face. I was looking up at him with desperate eyes.
“Claude Azel is in the adjacent cabin. He might not be infected yet.”
I whispered in a strained voice.
“Can you bring him with us?”
“…”
“Please.”
Raphael hesitated. In that moment of pause, he opened his mouth. His voice returned, lowered and controlled.
“There is no need to ask. You need only command, madam.”
For some reason, I was seized by the absurd illusion that Raphael had been waiting for this very moment.
But it was a line I couldn’t stop.
“It’s an order.”
Raphael bowed at once, with the deference of a loyal servant who had spent a lifetime in obedience—profoundly respectful.
“I shall obey.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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