My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 139

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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 139
The Research Laboratory had completely collapsed.
Every research specimen I had created from childhood until now lay in ruins.
The magical stones were so severely damaged that finding intact ones was nearly impossible. The alchemical tools were all destroyed or broken beyond repair.
‘Damn those bastards.’
I desperately wanted to attempt ancient alchemy right now, but the environment simply wasn’t conducive to it.
I lodged a fierce protest about this.
“You and Orsini will take responsibility for restoring it.”
I stormed into Kalen’s Study to confront him.
“Restore everything—from the destroyed Research Laboratory to all the damaged tools. And.”
I slammed the documents down onto his desk with force.
“This is the valuation of my research materials that you destroyed. You’ll compensate me in full.”
Kalen looked down at the documents. Then he read aloud the sum I was demanding.
“30 billion Gold?”
“That’s right. My research materials are worth that much.”
“30 billion Gold is no small sum.”
“I know that.”
“What do you intend to do with this money?”
I frowned. Had Kalen ever asked such a question before?
“Why are you so desperately trying to accumulate funds?”
He spoke slowly.
“Lucy’s medical expenses, and the perfume sales revenue as well. You seem obsessed with making money.”
“You seem to have forgotten—you promised to give me the perfume sales revenue.”
“Didn’t you manipulate me into saying that?”
When he spoke so calmly, I felt genuinely taken aback. He had noticed it all along, yet willingly played along?
“Of course, I didn’t realize it then, but looking back over time, I’ve always moved in ways that benefited you. As if….”
His lips curved upward.
“I were a marionette puppet.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I exhaled a weary sigh with a bored expression.
“I’m simply receiving compensation for my labor. I have no intention of sharing my talents for free.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what exactly are you saying?”
Kalen rose from his seat. He walked over calmly and stood before me.
“I’m simply curious. What is it that you….”
His words trailed off.
His gaze swept across my cheek and moved toward my eyes. He continued slowly.
“What you wish to accomplish with that money.”
His lips curved up slightly.
“What could be hiding inside this small head of yours?”
A chill crept up my spine in an instant.
An overwhelming sense of wrongness crashed over me, and I stepped back.
As if regretting the distance, Kalen smiled subtly. He spread both hands open as if to show he harbored no ulterior motive.
“I’m merely curious. Please don’t misunderstand.”
What was that just now?
I felt inexplicably unsettled. It was as if, just then, something was terribly…
“I’ll provide a check.”
Kalen cut off my thoughts with a decisive statement. Then he returned to his desk. He withdrew a blank sheet from the drawer and signed it.
“Simply write the amount you desire and use it as needed.”
He then offered me the check. Kalen smiled with his eyes narrowed.
“Go ahead and take it.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead of asking where the money would be spent, he gives me a check. Wasn’t that a rather cunning method?
If I used it, every detail of what I bought, where, and when would reach Kalen’s ears.
‘I have no choice but to buy and sell jewelry?’
Then I’d have to use Raphael.
Kalen was making things complicated. I swallowed a curse and snatched the check away.
“Is there anything else you require?”
He asked with impeccable politeness. Finding his courtesy disagreeable, I couldn’t help but snap back.
“Kalen. Don’t you remember the conversation we had?”
“A conversation?”
“Yes. You and I have no relationship. I have no right to be called your sister. We don’t share a single drop of blood.”
“….”
“Are you saying you don’t believe it?”
Kalen’s smile deepened. In that instant, something like a strange heat seemed to flicker in his eyes.
“I believe you.”
I certainly do, he added quietly.
* * *
Kalen had changed.
In the past, he would visit without warning or ask to spend time together, but now he no longer approached first.
Yet occasionally, when I turned around, I found him watching me from several paces away.
He didn’t avert his gaze even when our eyes met. He simply stared with persistent intensity and smiled.
It was unsettlingly strange.
‘Why did he change like that after hearing we’re not family?’
I understood maintaining distance, but why did he observe me like prey?
My nerves sharpened, but I soon resolved to ignore it.
‘It’s a discarded hand anyway. I won’t concern myself with it anymore.’
There were mountains of other matters demanding my attention. Once the Research Laboratory was restored, I would begin experiments for my escape.
I meticulously devised escape scenarios.
They were perfect plans that even Alexandro Adis could not prevent.
‘I need Princess Joanna for my escape.’
Apparently, it was Princess Joanna who had summoned Orsini that day.
True to form, every time Joanna encountered her afterward, she wore an expression of deep concern.
Though with so many eyes watching, we hadn’t managed a proper conversation.
‘I need to find an opportunity for us to be alone.’
And of course, the most crucial matter remained money.
Once the great shield of Adis vanished from this world, she would be exposed to countless dangers.
‘So I need to accumulate as much wealth as possible.’
The money earned from selling perfume was currently stored in a safe.
The problem was how to extract such an enormous sum.
‘I have no choice but to use Raphael.’
Kanna hung a handkerchief from the window.
Hours later, in the depths of night, he arrived.
* * *
“You came incredibly fast.”
I had expected him tomorrow at the earliest, yet here he was within mere hours.
Kanna smiled with genuine admiration.
“Welcome, Raphael. I’ve been waiting.”
“You called for me?”
“Yes. Come, sit here. Let’s talk over some tea.”
Once he was seated, Kanna began.
“What became of the jewels I gave you before?”
“I exchanged them for gold as you instructed.”
“Good. Keep holding onto them for now. And take this with you when you leave today.”
Kanna gestured toward a chest she had prepared in advance.
“Each time you visit, I’ll hand over one more. Store them safely, and return them to me whenever I need them.”
“Understood.”
Kanna sipped her tea while observing him carefully.
‘He seems to have grown thinner.’
His face had grown gaunt, his jawline sharper. Because of this, his characteristic decadent aura had intensified, making him appear almost dangerous.
“Has something happened? Your complexion doesn’t look well.”
“I’m fine.”
“….”
He said he was fine, not that nothing was wrong. Kanna studied him, then issued a command.
“Remove your clothes.”
“….”
“Now.”
At her urging, Raphael immediately complied.
His attire resembled priestly robes—a long black cassock extending to his feet worn over a black shirt and trousers.
As he removed the cassock, Kanna gestured again.
“Your shirt as well.”
“Yes.”
Click, click. As each button came undone, a perfectly sculpted bare chest was revealed.
Kanna Adis regarded him with a disapproving gaze.
Wasn’t he being far too obedient?
Did he really undress without complaint, knowing full well what she intended?
‘Or does it not bother him at all to undress before me?’
Then again, this was a man who hadn’t batted an eye when he saw her naked last time. It was clear he didn’t regard her as a woman.
But that aside.
‘I knew this would be the case.’
Bloodstained bandages were wrapped around his chest, abdomen, and elbows.
“Have you received treatment?”
“No.”
“Are you in your right mind?”
Kanna Adis shot Raphael a look and patted the space beside her. He sat down without protest.
Kanna Adis carefully unwound the bandages.
“Good heavens…”
She clicked her tongue.
The wounds were deep. The bleeding at the time must have been considerable.
Since there was no sign of infection, at least the disinfection had been done properly.
“Fortunately, I still have some medicine left that I keep in my bedroom.”
Kanna Adis carefully applied the medicine to his wounds while muttering complaints.
“How on earth did this happen?”
“The Grand Temple sent people after me.”
Claude’s words had been correct. It seemed the Grand Temple was indeed sparing no effort to eliminate Raphael.
“You said you left the Grand Temple when you were seventeen. So for twelve years…?”
“Yes.”
“The Grand Temple is truly remarkable.”
And Raphael, who had survived all this time, was equally remarkable.
“Where do you usually stay?”
“…”
“Why don’t you stay here at the mansion instead? You’d be safe here.”
There was no place as safe as the Adis Mansion. If Raphael stayed here, he would never face attacks from the Grand Temple.
“That’s not necessary.”
“Why not?”
“…”
“Wouldn’t it be good for you too, living with me? You’d be safe, and you could keep watch over me more easily. I’ll give you the adjacent cabin. There’s nowhere else you’ll find safer than here.”
In the next moment, Raphael slowly lifted the gaze he had been casting downward.
And for the first time in a long while, I met his violet eyes.
For some reason, my breathing slowed. Our eyes had merely met, yet I felt the pressure of his hand closing around my throat.
“Is that an order?”
Raphael asked slowly. His voice was always courteous. Yet why did something feel off about it?
“If it is an order, I shall obey.”
A few seconds passed before I opened my lips.
“…It’s not an order. I was simply asking your preference, so do as you wish.”
“Since you’ve granted me the freedom to refuse, I shall exercise it.”
He lowered his gaze once more. That was the end of it. No further words were exchanged after that.
“You’re done. You can get dressed now.”
“Thank you.”
I watched his long fingers fasten each button of his shirt, lost in thought.
‘What was that just now?’
He had been as courteous as always, impeccably so, yet something felt twisted—different from his usual demeanor.
‘Does he have a temper after all?’
But Ju-hwa had struck him with a rock and he didn’t even flinch. He had silently accepted even when filthy water was poured over him.
So he shows his true colors over a simple suggestion to live together?
‘I can’t figure him out.’
I escorted Raphael to the door.
“Well then, take care, Raph…ael.”
My words trailed off.
What was he doing here?
Orsini was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. He looked between me and Raphael emerging from the bedroom, then laughed as if utterly dumbfounded.
“What are you two doing?”
“…”
“What were you doing in the bedroom?”

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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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