My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 152

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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 152
The world collapsed with a deafening roar.
Everything in its path shattered and crumbled. Flames erupted from all directions.
Raphael’s arms, back, nape of his neck, his long strides—the inferno licked across his entire body, consuming him.
Yet, impossibly, the grip of the hand cradling Kanna Adis remained absolutely steady, without a single tremor.
Kanna Adis watched the scene unfold through the gaps in her clothes, her eyes wide open.
Raphael burning away in the flames.
* * *
“Someone’s coming out!”
“Physician! Physician, over here!”
Kanna Adis coughed violently. People were rushing toward her.
‘Raphael.’
Kanna Adis gripped Raphael’s collar. Her head spun dizzily. She had inhaled far too much smoke.
‘Raphael.’
If I’m in this state, Raphael must be worse off.
He might even be dying.
“Physician, this way!”
Kanna Adis’s consciousness began to fade.
‘Raphael, Raphael first….’
I held tight to Raphael’s clothes.
I’m fine, so….
But soon my grip weakened and scattered away.
I let go.
* * *
While unconscious, I was dreaming. An old memory.
Was I fourteen years old then?
The moment I first attempted to escape Adis.
I had planned my runaway and visited the Slum District many times. And there I met countless people.
Half of them were beggars and half were the sick. They had no money, no food, no medicine to cure their ailments. All they possessed was bodies waiting for death.
‘How pitiful.’
It was there that I learned compassion for the first time in my life. And after that, every time I went to the Slum District, I would smuggle out food.
It wasn’t just food. I brought armfuls of every medicine I had made.
And I distributed them to those in need.
I gave food to the hungry and medicine to the sick. I helped countless people—more than I could remember.
“Thank you so much, sister. This is the first time I’ve met someone so kind.”
“You are my savior, little lady. To treat me without asking for anything in return—the world is more beautiful than I thought.”
“I was going to die. But you made me want to live.”
Countless words of gratitude passed through me.
At fourteen, I felt compassion for someone for the first time, helped someone for the first time. And I heard gratitude for the first time.
“Sister, when I earn a lot of money later, I’ll definitely repay your medical expenses.”
“What a luxury for this old man to experience in his lifetime. I’m grateful.”
“I wish to give my life to you. And someday, I will repay this debt.”
Saving someone on the brink of death was a magnificent thing. More sacred and wondrous than anything else in this world.
“Without fail.”
* * *
“Raphael!”
For some reason, that name was the first thing that escaped my lips the moment consciousness returned.
Kanna Adis jolted upright in bed. In that instant, a sharp, piercing pain lanced through her body, and she swallowed a cry.
“Sister, you’ve awakened!”
Kalen rushed to her side. Kanna gasped for breath as she surveyed her surroundings.
It was her own bedroom.
Bandages wrapped her legs, arms, and head as though she had been treated for injuries from a terrible fall.
“Where is Raphael?”
“Pardon?”
“The man who saved me.”
Kalen’s expression clouded over. He fell silent for a moment before answering slowly.
“I’m not certain whom you’re referring to. When I arrived, you were already receiving treatment from the Physicians.”
A wave of despair crashed over her.
I had suspected as much.
He would vanish without proper treatment, without reward, as he always did.
That was simply his way.
‘Is he at least unharmed?’
Anxiety gripped me.
Kanna Adis sent Kalen away under the pretense of exhaustion, then hung a handkerchief from the Window.
Perhaps he wouldn’t come.
Because Raphael must have been gravely wounded. Or perhaps—
‘He might be dead.’
Terror struck like lightning.
Kanna’s fingertips trembled faintly. She held her breath beneath the blankets and waited for him.
Every second stretched unbearably long. It was agonizing. Until dawn, when all had fallen asleep, Kanna kept her eyes wide open, waiting.
How much time had passed?
The door creaked open. Kanna bolted upright.
“Raphael?”
A tall man stood in the darkness.
“Is it you, Raphael?”
“Yes.”
A deep, resonant voice descended. It was indeed Raphael. Kanna Adis felt a wave of relief wash over her like a collapsing wave.
He was alive.
At least he was alive.
“Come here. Let me see your face.”
“I would advise against it.”
“Why?”
“It will be unpleasant to look at.”
“Please.”
He fell silent for a moment, then stepped forward three paces. As he extended his fourth step, moonlight pouring through the window illuminated him.
“…!”
I gripped the blanket tightly.
Raphael was disfigured.
The skin along his once-sharp jawline had melted away, and his neck was similarly stripped bare, exposing raw crimson flesh beneath.
Severe burns that made one dizzy merely to behold. Scarlet wounds consumed his entire body.
My knuckles turned deathly pale. It was the only emotion I allowed to show.
I asked calmly, my face expressionless.
“Why haven’t you sought treatment?”
“If left alone, it will heal on its own.”
“Heal on its own? What do you mean by that?”
“Two days will suffice. So please, do not worry.”
For an ordinary human, such a thing would be impossible.
Raphael spoke of something utterly unbelievable as though it were the most natural thing.
Yet what surprised me more was that I found myself scarcely concerned with that fact.
My attention was focused elsewhere entirely.
“Even so, that doesn’t mean you’re free from pain.”
How much must it hurt?
“Once scarring begins, even I cannot intervene. But if we act now, I can heal it perfectly, so leave it to me.”
“….”
“Come here and sit. All right?”
Fortunately, he complied without resistance. I sat beside him and began examining the burns on his face first.
Up close, it was far more gruesome.
My heart clenched painfully, and I bit my lip. Then I exhaled deeply in relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
I was truly grateful that I possessed the ability to heal these burns.
I carefully applied medicine to the burns on his face and upper body. For the lower body, which was within his sight and reach, I handed him the salve.
“Use these three medicines in order. Apply the red one first, then the blue one next, followed by this white salve, and then wrap it with bandages. And….”
My words trailed off.
“…Raphael?”
Was he even listening properly?
Raphael’s gaze fixed upon me felt more intense than ever before.
Just as I was about to ask why he was looking at me that way—
Raphael reached toward me without warning.
I stared blankly at his approaching hand.
For a moment, time seemed to slow.
His hand reached for the cascade of hair spilling across her shoulder, then gently threaded through the strands and brushed them back with deliberate care.
In that moment of her surprise, he grasped her hair softly, then pulled. It was a firm, unhesitating force—a silent command.
For reasons I could not fathom, I could not refuse. The thought of refusal never even crossed my mind. I simply yielded to that pull, tilting my head. His lips, pressed solemnly shut, filled my vision.
For an instant, I thought he meant to kiss me.
What a foolish misunderstanding that was.
His attention had settled instead on my neck. His eyes examined the exposed skin, the swollen marks of fingers left upon it.
It felt eternal, yet in truth it lasted only a fleeting moment.
“Who did this?”
At last he released me. My hair tumbled down, covering my nape once more.
“Who did this to you?”
I exhaled slowly and answered.
“Don’t worry. He’s already dead.”
It was a voice utterly unfamiliar to me—yet it was my own.
Silence fell. In that stillness, I lowered my gaze.
Perhaps because of that absurd misunderstanding, my mind suddenly snapped clear, as if struck by something.
Pity for Raphael. Guilt. Sorrow. I had been consumed by such emotions, losing myself entirely.
The moment I recognized this, my eyes—which had been clouded with sentiment—turned cold and sharp. In an instant, I returned to my usual state.
Then I regarded Raphael with a perfectly objective gaze.
At him, twisted and broken as he was. At this entire situation.
No matter how many times I looked, he still seemed pitiful. And I understood.
This simply made no sense.
“Raphael, I’m curious about something.”
“Please, ask.”
“If I weren’t the Divine Spirit’s daughter, you wouldn’t have cared about me at all, would you?”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“It is not solely because of that.”
Not solely because of that.
His meticulous courtesy, his reverence—surely stemmed from my being the Divine Spirit’s daughter. That was why he treated me with such deference.
I could understand that much. But.
‘Staking one’s life is an entirely different matter.’
He would throw away his life to save me because of that? A fallen Priest?
If faith had mattered more to him than his own life, he would never have left the Divine Temple in the first place.
‘Something is wrong.’
The pieces didn’t fit. I could not comprehend what emotion drove his actions.
I stared at his profile for a long moment, then asked.
“Did we perhaps meet long ago?”
At that instant, Raphael’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.
“Did we meet before I married the Duke of Valentino?”
“….”
“Raphael left the Divine Temple twelve years ago, didn’t he?”
I was fourteen then. It was when I was planning my escape.
“Did you meet me back then?”
It was an abrupt question. Yet he showed no confusion.
Instead, he lifted the eyes that had been cast downward to meet mine. He gazed at me directly. Our locked gazes became deeply entangled.
I noticed that this man, with his ruined and twisted features, was tense.
“Yes.”
“Did I save you?”
He breathed deeply. Then exhaled shortly.
“Yes.”
I see. Suddenly, laughter bubbled up.
It was like a fairy tale.
A man who could not forget the rope thrown down in that moment of desperation during childhood.
How could he be so kind? His innocence was almost pitiful.
“I don’t remember you.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
It had been far too long ago. There were not just one or two people who had helped me.
Besides, the rage from the moment my escape failed overwhelmed everything else, so everything else faded dimly into the background.
This man must exist somewhere in my blurred and erased memories.
Yet I don’t even remember him.
For something so trivial, this man walked through scorching flames.
‘How pitiful.’
In that moment, a languid impulse surged through me.
Should I hold back?
I hesitated briefly, but it was only a fleeting conflict.
I found no reason to hold back. I didn’t want to.
So I reached out. Just as he had done to me, I buried my fingers into his hair. Then I pulled strongly, drawing him down to my shoulder.
In that moment, Raphael’s hand trembled as if struck by electricity. Then it went quiet again, as if dead.
I rested my chin against his hair. I whispered softly.
“Thank you.”
“….”
“I survived this time because of you. I’m truly grateful.”
But don’t risk your life for me again.
You once for me, me once for you.
We’ve exchanged once each, so let’s call the debt settled now. Because.
‘I’m going to leave now.’
And I won’t take anything with me. And that includes you.
The sincerity I couldn’t quite voice, I swallowed back down. I knew there was no point in speaking it aloud.
“With me….”
Raphael, unaware of her inner turmoil, parted his lips. His voice emerged rough and scorching, as though his throat were being scraped raw.
“Will you leave with me?”

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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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