My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 113

—————

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

—————

Chapter 113
There would be no second chance.
After that day, I couldn’t catch even a glimpse of Raphael.
I even made a point to visit his room, but it stood empty. When I asked the captain, I received the shocking news that he had changed rooms.
‘Does he not wish to see me?’
I wanted to ask which room he had moved to, but I refrained—doing so would make me no better than a stalker.
‘Isn’t he being rather obvious about avoiding me?’
It was clear that the trauma from being tormented by Ju-hwa still lingered within him.
I encountered him on the final day, as we disembarked from the ship.
He was easy to spot among the crowd—the tallest man stepping off the vessel.
“Raphael, have you been well? It’s been quite some time.”
He bowed silently in greeting.
“I wanted to thank you for your help back then, but the opportunity never presented itself.”
“There is no need.”
His response was curt, as if drawing a line.
“I merely did what was necessary.”
“I would like to at least treat my savior to a meal. Perhaps if the chance arises later….”
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
“….”
“Then, please return safely.”
Was that truly the end?
As Raphael bowed once more with perfect courtesy and walked past, I could no longer reach out to him.
I felt a slight pang of regret….
“Do not grow close to him.”
It was then that Claude suddenly interjected.
He watched Raphael’s retreating figure with suspicious eyes.
“There is nothing good to gain from closeness. You need not share meals with him. Rather, I would be grateful if you would grant me the honor of dining with you instead.”
What was he saying? I regarded him with a look of contempt.
Before Raphael, he had been all obsequiousness, spouting endless gratitude and pledging to serve him as an elder brother.
“You two-faced man. One face in front, another behind.”
“I shall take that as a compliment on my diverse charms. Now, shall we return?”
I let out a soft laugh at his words, then turned my gaze back toward where Raphael had gone.
He had already vanished.
* * *
In the end, I never properly expressed my gratitude.
However, the moment I stepped through the doors of home, I pushed everything else aside. There was a mountain of work awaiting me, and I had no leisure to dwell on other matters.
I summoned the maid Eriel.
“How are things progressing? Is everything going well?”
“Yes. I believe I shall have good news for you soon.”
I nodded with satisfaction.
That’s why I had the Information Guild search for Plan B—a means of escape.
“Good. Now I need you to do something else.”
There was no time to waste. Everything had to be finished before Father arrived.
“…What is this?”
“A ring.”
I placed a single ring on the table. It was one of the many gifts Kalen had purchased.
Watching greed kindle in Eriel’s eyes, I gave my command directly.
“Bring me the key.”
“Which key do you mean, my lady?”
Eriel answered respectfully, having already calculated the situation.
“The room Father forbade anyone from entering.”
But at those words, Eriel’s expression clouded.
“However, the Duke keeps that key with him.”
“I know. Search his bedroom, his study—everywhere. It has to be somewhere.”
“Duchess, if this is discovered… I will be dismissed.”
“You’ll be dismissed regardless if you don’t obey me.”
I threatened her gently.
“Remember the golden button you stole from me before?”
“…”
“Don’t be so pessimistic. It might not be discovered, you know? If you succeed, you can have this ring without being cast out.”
I wiped the smile from my face.
“So bring me the key.”
* * *
Two days later, at evening, I held the key in my hand.
‘And here I thought it would be difficult.’
As I handed over the ring as payment, joy blazed in Eriel’s eyes.
“I shall devote myself to your service henceforth. Command me as you will, Duchess.”
She was willing to sell her very soul for coin. A truly admirable attitude.
‘She’s every bit the talent I discovered.’
That dawn, I reached the Secret Room while avoiding the servants’ gaze. But I hesitated before the door.
Was this the right thing to do?
‘Father sealed this room so no one could enter.’
If I were caught, the punishment would be severe.
Yet it was worth risking everything to attempt this.
‘There’s definitely something… something Father is hiding.’
“A lie.”
That’s what he had said.
Clearly. In Korean.
Countless hypotheses raced through my mind.
Could Father have experienced possession in a Korean body, just as I had?
Or perhaps I had encountered another Korean who possessed this body like Ju-hwa did?
If not that….
Whatever it was.
‘I need to know what that secret is.’
Kanna took a deep breath and inserted the key.
The door opened.
* * *
‘It’s just an ordinary bedroom?’
A dark room. Kanna moved slowly, relying on the lantern clutched in her hand.
It was just like my own room that day.
When I returned to the Adis Mansion for the first time after my marriage, a room I hadn’t visited in ages. A chamber frozen in time, exactly as it had been.
This room too bore countless traces of someone’s presence.
A large bed. A nightgown carelessly draped across it.
In the vase beside the bed sat flowers long since withered, and a lace handkerchief embroidered with roses lay nearby.
‘Was this where a woman stayed?’
A woman.
The moment I thought of that word, a strange premonition crept up my spine.
‘Father kept a woman’s room?’
Had the person been anyone other than Father, I would have mistaken it for him being unable to forget that woman and wanting to preserve her memory.
‘But Father would never do such a thing.’
Kanna moved through the room methodically, examining each corner, until she suddenly stopped before a bookshelf.
“…?”
Kanna doubted her own eyes. The bookshelf was stacked high with letter envelopes….
Envelopes written in Korean.
“What on earth is this?”
In her shock, Kanna muttered aloud without thinking. She picked one up and examined it.
【To Alex.】
What?
Alex?
Who is Alex?
‘Surely not.’
Surely it couldn’t be a nickname for Alexandro Adis.
Father couldn’t possibly have a nickname… but this looks exactly like Father’s nickname!
Kanna’s fingertips trembled with a slight spasm. Her pupils quivered. The delicate, cute handwriting of a woman.
【To Alex.】
A woman, Father, Alex, a nickname, this was….
‘Surely. Surely. Surely.’
Her breathing grew ragged.
Kanna hastily pulled out a letter and unfolded it. Then she exhaled a pained breath.
Most of the characters had faded, as if weathered by the passage of time, making them difficult to read.
But one thing was certain—it was written in Korean.
【From Seon-hee.】
Kanna Adis finally discovered a sentence she could decipher.
Seon-hee.
And.
Seon-hee.
This was undeniable evidence.
Perhaps, just perhaps—this was a love letter!
‘But Seon-hee, of all people.’
A sinister premonition pierced through me, and I bit my lip.
Seon-hee, Seon-hee. That name was achingly familiar to me.
The name of someone I knew, and that person was….
“….”
In that instant, my thoughts froze. My breath stopped.
I, who had carelessly cast my gaze toward the wall, became utterly rigid.
From my head to my toes, I was suspended in that single moment.
Without thinking, I tucked the letter into my pocket and raised the lamp high. Then I leaned closer toward the wall.
The flickering light illuminated the portrait that had been buried in darkness.
“…!”
I nearly dropped the lamp. My eyes widened.
The subject of the bust, with shoulders exposed in the portrait, was an extraordinarily beautiful woman.
Long, jet-black hair cascading down. Dark eyes. Smiling lips. And most of all, a small beauty mark beneath her right eye.
In other words, this was my own portrait….
‘Me?’
No, it was not me.
I shook my head vigorously, my eyes widening. I stared at the portrait as though confronting it.
It was not me.
The eyebrows of the figure in the portrait were darker than mine, and her expression was subtly sharper.
Yet I could not deny the striking resemblance—so uncanny that one could be momentarily deceived.
‘And the date is before I was born.’
The year inscribed at the bottom of the painting predated my birth.
‘How could there be someone so identical?’
In that moment, understanding flashed like lightning. A tidal wave swept through my mind, obliterating all thought.
Only instinct remained, standing alone in that space.
‘This person.’
This person is my mother. That is why we resemble each other so….
“Kanna Adis.”
Then, a low voice resonated from behind me.
That quiet voice lashed across my back like a whip. A shock bordering on pain surged through me from head to toe.
This voice was.
“Kanna.”
My name echoed once more through the darkness.
The blood in my veins turned to ice.
Footsteps drew closer, each one deliberate and measured. A long shadow stretched across the ground, swallowing me whole in an instant.
“Kanna Adis.”
I clenched my fists so tightly that my knuckles turned white, then slowly turned to face him. I would have preferred for the world itself to stop rather than meet his gaze.
“…Father.”
The words escaped my throat in a hoarse whisper.
Duke Adis, obscured by the shadows, looked down at me with an unreadable expression.
“What are you doing here?”

—————

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

—————