My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 117
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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 117
Kanna Adis sifted through her memories of the day she ran away.
A tall man with his hood pulled low, his face obscured, had lifted her like baggage and hoisted her onto his shoulder. Then he had delivered her to House of Adis.
That man had been Silvien Valentino.
“If you were going to run away, you’d want to leave the Empire entirely so you couldn’t be found easily, and naturally, I thought you’d head to Yalden Kingdom.”
Argon Isaberk spoke as if he were reading straight from her heart. His tone carried the certainty of someone who had glimpsed into her very soul.
“Yalden is the nation on the Western Continent where women’s rights are highest. You’re a skilled physician, so even starting without connections there, you’d flourish. There’s no better country for you than that one, is there?”
Kanna Adis did not answer.
Argon Isaberk. A perfect stranger with whom she had exchanged only a handful of words.
‘He understands me well.’
At least in this world, no one comprehended her as thoroughly as Argon did. Remarkably, that was true.
That level of information-gathering ability, that insight into another’s psychology, that capacity to draw conclusions—if he possessed all that, then perhaps.
‘He might have investigated Father completely.’
But Argon was the brother of Kasil, that damnable Crown Prince. Might he not harbor resentment toward her?
“I cannot trust Your Highness.”
“Why?”
“You are the brother of Crown Prince Kasil.”
At that, Argon Isaberk’s brow furrowed with displeasure.
“Don’t lump me in with that vulgar wretch.”
“Perhaps the Emperor himself ordered it. To discover the weaknesses of the audacious Kanna Adis, who cornered Crown Prince Kasil.”
At that, Argon Isaberk burst into laughter and waved his hand dismissively.
“Pointless worry. I’m a traitor to my family. Didn’t you know?”
“I know nothing of what kind of person Your Highness is.”
“Hmm.”
“So without evidence that you mean me no harm, I cannot do anything.”
“Evidence.”
Argon Isaberk leaned back against the chair’s backrest. He tilted his head at an angle.
“I’ll give you anything.”
His eyes gleamed with an uncanny light.
“So make your request.”
Kanna Adis gazed at him in silence. Since things had come to this, why not take a gamble?
“A blood oath, perhaps.”
“A blood oath?”
“You just called yourself a traitor to your family, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“If you give me a blood oath written with those words as collateral, I will trust Your Highness.”
In that instant, Argon Isaberk’s brow hardened. It was an audacious demand. A proposal so far beyond the line that he might well have drawn his sword.
‘So this is a gamble, then…’
But there was no choice. She refused to become a helpless piece of meat for him to devour at will.
“Alchemists who work with mana stones can track their owner through blood, or so I’ve heard. So please leave me a letter written in your blood as proof that it came from Your Highness.”
Silence stretched between us.
I masked my composure and waited for his decision. Argon stared at me intently, his mind clearly wrestling with something.
Was he deliberating whether to kill me or let me live?
“That’s a brilliant idea.”
Finally, his lips parted.
“And an extraordinarily audacious one at that.”
He withdrew a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. After unfolding it, he placed it on the table.
“I brought this in case I needed to write a contract, and how fortunate the timing is.”
In one swift motion, he sliced his thumb with a dagger. Blood dripped—dark crimson droplets falling onto the paper. He began writing with his own blood.
【O Divine One, I beseech you to bring ruin upon the corrupt House of Isaberk. I, Argon Isaberk, pledge my name and implore you.】
“What do you think of my treasonous declaration? Does it please you?”
Argon licked the blood that had streamed down to his wrist. His lips, stained crimson, curved into a smile.
“If it pleases you, you should praise me for it, Kanna Adis.”
The intensity was far greater than I’d anticipated—almost overwhelming. Yet I forced a satisfied smile.
“Yes. I trust Your Highness now.”
At those words, Argon burst into laughter. Then he spoke.
“Now you hold my lifeline in your hands. Yet you treat it merely as proof of trust? I never realized my life was worth so little.”
The moment this blood contract reached the Emperor, Argon would face execution. Treason—even against a relative, it was an unforgivable crime of the highest order.
In other words, Argon had wagered his life simply to satisfy his curiosity. He truly was not in his right mind.
“To make such a demand of a prince—you must have multiple lives. Anyone else would have had their head severed.”
“I am grateful for your mercy, Your Highness.”
“Speak truthfully. It’s not mercy, Kanna Adis—it’s favor.”
This was not a bad bargain.
I assessed it as such. I had been at the mercy of this madman Argon, vulnerable to being torn apart at any moment. But now I had placed a leash around him.
“Will you tell me now?”
“Of course. Provided you successfully complete my commission.”
“Good. What do you want?”
“Investigate Alexandro Adis—my father. Every detail of his life from birth to the present.”
I continued quickly.
“I wish to know who my mother is. Since her identity is so obscure, investigating my father should yield clues.”
It was the truth. It was also a plausible cover story, should word of this reach others’ ears.
Was it not natural for a bastard child ignorant of her mother’s identity to seek out her roots?
But Argon was never the sort to concern himself with his client’s true intentions.
“Understood. Trust only me.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I trust you. Please investigate my father thoroughly.”
I spoke with firm resolve.
“Everything about Alexandro Adis.”
* * *
After concluding my contract with Argon, I left the terrace with him. And as if to make a show of it, I danced once more. It was a performance directed at Claude.
‘By now, he’s watching from somewhere else.’
He would report this matter to Kalen. To avoid any unnecessary suspicion, we were pretending to be on a date.
“Do you mind if I smoke?”
As Argon placed a long pipe between his lips, I smiled faintly.
“Of course not. But I do dislike the smell.”
“Then I won’t. How about a drink instead?”
“I dislike the smell of alcohol too.”
“Then juice?”
“That’s acceptable.”
“Childish tastes. How adorable.”
“Calling a lady childish? How rude of you.”
We whiled away the time, exchanging such trivial banter in affectionate whispers that looked like intimate conversation to anyone watching.
To any observer, it appeared to be a date.
* * *
Argon personally escorted me to the front of the house.
Inside the estate, Claude followed behind me as if he had something to say. Perhaps he intended to apologize or make excuses.
But I pretended not to notice and entered my bedroom.
‘It’s not that I’m angry with Claude, exactly.’
Claude was a Knight Guard assigned by Kalen. It was only natural that he prioritize his orders.
Still, I couldn’t help feeling hurt. No matter the reason for the surveillance, it stung nonetheless.
‘He followed me without a word. It infuriates me. Isn’t that the same as deceiving me?’
I wasn’t virtuous enough to let such a transgression pass without complaint.
‘I can’t sleep.’
Perhaps it was because so much had happened in a single day. Sleep eluded me that night.
‘There must be others who suspect me.’
Father and Argon had merely surfaced now, but there were surely more who harbored doubts about me in the shadows.
‘What’s the point of telling the truth if they won’t believe it anyway?’
I closed my eyes and tossed restlessly. My mind spun with confusion.
‘So Silvien Valentino was the man who stole my hope.’
The man who had caught me when I ran away and handed me over to the House of Adis. All I remembered was the deep hood pulled low and his massive frame.
‘Of course, any normal person would have done the same upon discovering a noble lady had run away.’
Yet discovering that my captor had been Silvien Valentino filled me with inexplicable irritation.
‘A cursed connection, truly.’
I wished we had never met at all.
* * *
Several days later, Kalen and Orsini returned. I heard that nothing had occurred on Paeylon Island.
‘Well, that makes sense. Jerome is gone.’
They would have learned from Raphael, Claude, and the others what had transpired.
That Jerome had been a Black Apostle and had manipulated the Black Mist.
And that he had attempted to harm me.
“Sister, it’s Kalen. May I come in?”
“I’m busy right now. Come back later.”
Kalen Adis, that infuriating wretch who had deceived me.
And he’d already received a full report from Claude, no doubt. He probably intended to lecture me after hearing about my secret rendezvous with Prince Argon at the Masquerade Ball Hall.
But that wasn’t why I’d refused his visit. I had something more pressing to attend to.
A messenger had arrived from the Valentino Family.
I accepted the letter the messenger handed me and read it.
【We wish to prepare divorce documents. There are matters we must discuss and settle, so please inform us of a date that is convenient for you.】
And then came the postscript that followed.
【We understand that you have been quite occupied with social activities of late. If you would share your available hours, I shall ensure my schedule accommodates yours.】
Was it merely my imagination? The tone seemed oddly barbed.
‘Could he have heard about me pretending to court Argon?’
But I quickly shook my head.
‘Silvien Valentino wouldn’t mock me over something like that. It’s just my nerves.’
Of course, he wouldn’t care in the slightest what I did with other men. I let out a scoff and immediately dashed off a reply.
【I shall call upon you tomorrow at noon.】
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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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