My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 170

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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 170
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“Aren’t you Tatiana Evgenia, the Physician?”
A voice called out from behind as I trudged along, cradling a bundle of medicinal herbs.
Damn it. That bastard.
I cursed inwardly and turned around.
“Astan.”
He looked to be in his mid-to-late twenties.
A man dressed in pristine white priestly robes approached with an ingratiating smile.
“My, you’re carrying something quite heavy there.”
“No, it’s not heavy at all.”
“That cannot be. I cannot allow delicate hands like yours to bear such a burden. Please, let me take it.”
The bundle of herbs was hardly heavy, yet this priest seemed convinced I lacked the strength to carry it.
“That’s quite all right, Astan.”
“Oh my. You’re doing it again, again and again.”
Astan drew closer and seized my wrist. For a moment, I nearly kicked him away, but I restrained myself through superhuman patience.
“To reject even such a small gesture of kindness each time—you truly have a gift for driving a man to distraction, Physician.”
“….”
I wanted nothing more than to kick him in the groin, but I couldn’t. He was a priest dispatched by the Grand Temple.
‘Damn it all. This is because of the Black Mist.’
The world had changed greatly over the past three years.
The Black Mist had proliferated explosively, and the Grand Temple had dispatched one priest to each major city across the nations to combat it.
All were priests of exceptional spiritual power, and they proved invaluable in controlling the Black Mist. In return, they received treatment befitting state guests.
It was a far cry from the Grand Temple’s previous approach.
‘Well, the leadership of the Grand Temple had changed, after all.’
Three years ago, the Grand Temple’s bloody purge had shaken the entire Continent.
After a succession drenched in death and slaughter, the Grand Temple’s policies had shifted.
In any case, assaulting a priest dispatched by the Grand Temple could result in being hanged for blasphemy.
“Let go of me.”
I wrenched my arm away from the priest roughly.
Leaving Astan’s lingering gaze behind, I hurried down the corridor.
‘Are all the Grand Temple’s priests out of their minds?’
As I sighed and walked through the corridor, someone suddenly yanked my arm. The bundle of herbs tumbled to the ground.
“Shh.”
The resistance drained from my arm as I struggled.
“It’s me, Tatiana.”
I glanced back over my shoulder.
Alexei, embracing me from behind, rested his chin on my shoulder.
We were in a corridor—
A secluded one where no one was present, but anyone could pass by.
Kanna grew anxious and tapped his arm repeatedly.
“Your Majesty, please let go. What if someone sees us?”
“Then will you come to my chamber?”
“Later, if I have time.”
Even if I had time, I wouldn’t go.
But to escape this situation, Kanna deflected vaguely. And Alexei saw right through her.
“You’re lying. You won’t come, will you?”
“Your Majesty.”
Then Alexei grasped her chin and pulled her close. As their lips met, Kanna nearly surrendered and accepted him.
Matching body heat with him was not unpleasant. More than unpleasant—it was actually quite pleasant.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help myself.”
Alexei murmured softly as he spun her around and pressed her against the wall. Then he brought their lips together once more.
Kanna glanced away as she watched the man pressing into her hungrily.
They were in a corridor, after all—shouldn’t one of them keep their eyes open to keep watch?
“Focus.”
He murmured against her lips, as if he’d noticed. His quickened breath scattered across her face.
“This isn’t an environment where I can focus, Your Majesty.”
“Then come to my chamber.”
“I said I would.”
“Really? Can you promise?”
Kanna smiled brightly and pushed his shoulder. Alexei yielded and stepped back.
“No. I can’t promise.”
“See?”
Alexei exhaled like a sigh and pulled her close by the waist.
“You really are….”
“What am I?”
“…a truly wicked woman.”
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over her.
When was it? Where had it been?
It felt as though someone had said something similar to her before….
She pondered briefly, but the memory wouldn’t surface, so she soon forgot about it.
‘How did things come to this?’
Kanna sighed.
The past three years. So much had happened.
So how had things between her and Alexei come to this….
* * *
Three years ago.
After treating Lorenzo’s illness, Kanna officially obtained her credentials as a physician at the Royal Palace.
“I believe I would feel more at ease managing your care myself. I wish to appoint you as my personal physician.”
Alexei, uneasy about Kanna’s presence, requested of the Queen that she become his personal physician.
“Very well, let us proceed with that plan.”
The Queen accepted readily.
Alexei managed Kanna directly. Though he called it management, it was surveillance in all but name.
Alexei regarded Kanna as a time bomb.
A woman stolen from House of Adis—a threat that could detonate and inflict catastrophic damage upon Yalden.
Yet when House of Adis made no particular pursuit and seemed to accept Kanna’s death as fact, he gradually began to relax his guard.
“It seems you have deceived everyone quite thoroughly.”
“I shall take that as a compliment.”
“Shall you? Is it truly a compliment?”
“Is it not?”
“If you can deceive House of Adis, then deceiving us would be equally possible. I cannot trust you.”
“Then do not.”
Irritated by his sharp tongue, Kanna refused to yield and countered with equal sharpness.
“I have no desire to win Your Majesty’s favor for advancement, nor do I seek power. Therefore, I require neither your trust nor your goodwill.”
Thus their relationship remained cold and distant.
Then came a day when Alexei fell victim to poison and hovered at death’s door. Kanna marshaled every ounce of her strength and saved him.
She kept vigil at his bedside through sleepless nights, until at last she dozed off, leaning against the edge of his chamber bed.
“….”
Had she slept for merely ten minutes?
Kanna’s eyes opened at the sensation of a hand brushing through her hair. It was Alexei.
He gazed at her intently, his fingers threading gently through her locks.
“Your Majesty?”
As Kanna stirred awake, Alexei visibly startled and withdrew his hand, flushing like a boy caught in an innocent transgression, as though bewildered by his own actions.
Yet such matters were inconsequential.
“You have regained consciousness. I am truly grateful to see your eyes open.”
What mattered was that I had saved him.
After that, Alexei’s wariness diminished noticeably.
Once, I even administered acupuncture to his thigh to treat his muscle soreness.
Alexei seemed displeased as Kanna touched his thigh with such casual composure.
“You appear quite accustomed to a man’s body. You touch it without hesitation.”
“Of course. Did you not know? Despite my appearance, I have marriage experience, so naturally I am quite familiar with such things.”
In that instant, fire flashed across Alexei’s eyes.
“Never speak of that matter again.”
He glared at her and issued a threatening warning.
“You must forget that man, forget that moment. Your name is Tatiana Evgenia.”
Looking back now, Alexei had been jealous.
As their prickly relationship continued, there came a day when Kanna shed tears—just once.
‘I no longer long for him.’
Standing on the terrace of her chamber, gazing vacantly up at the night sky, a single tear rolled down her cheek.
She no longer missed her former lover, Yeon-woo.
His face and voice had grown faint. Once, I thought I had loved him, but in the rush of living, I had completely forgotten him.
‘Live well. Be happy.’
Those were the tears of parting.
“Why are you crying?”
Kanna Adis spun around abruptly. Alexei was staring at her with an angry expression.
“Your Highness, why are you here…?”
“Do you miss that man?”
Was this about Duke Valentino again?
It was Alexei who kept bringing up that subject, even after warning me to forget him.
“No, Your Highness. It’s not like that. It’s just…”
Kanna Adis smiled sadly.
“It’s just that the moon is beautiful.”
Alexei, who had been silently gazing at me, stepped closer. And then he did something utterly unbelievable.
He raised his hand and wiped away the tears that had dampened my cheeks.
“Do not cry. It pains my heart to see you weep.”
In that moment when I was weak enough to shed tears, perhaps I had been enchanted by the moon’s magic.
Alexei kissed me, and I did not pull away.
Because I was so terribly lonely.
Because the warmth of his embrace, comforting and enveloping me in that moment, was so wonderfully tender.
So I did not wish to resist.
And from that moment on, it seemed I had come to care for him. In truth, I had wanted to care for someone.
Exhausted by isolation, I now wished to hold someone’s hand. I wished to give affection and receive it in return.
In that fleeting instant, it was Alexei who extended his hand.
I thought it was not so bad.
His face, his body, his voice, the warmth that enveloped my face—all were to my taste.
So I took Alexei’s hand.
But I regretted it the very next day.
‘The Crown Prince will not do.’
Once my mind cleared, I was tormented by profound regret. I had become so lonely and sentimental that I was swept away by emotion!
After that kiss, Alexei changed completely.
I had thought him merely a prickly Crown Prince, but it turned out he had been prickly from restraining his desire to touch me.
Once he no longer needed to hold back, the Crown Prince came at me with reckless abandon.
‘No wonder the rumors spread.’
Kanna Adis sighed as she recalled those days.
“Your Highness, in any case, please do not do this in the Corridor.”
“It is because you avoid me.”
Alexei stared at me with eyes full of displeasure.
“I hear you refused the title again.”
“Yes.”
“Accept the title. Become a noblewoman. Otherwise, you cannot achieve anything with me.”
“….”
“Tatiana Evgenia, I wish to declare to the world that you are my beloved. Do you not wish the same?”
Kanna Adis closed her mouth.
Did she not wish it to be known?
‘Absolutely not.’
The Crown Prince of Yalden was a man whom even Amelia had sought as a suitor.
If she became the beloved of a man who commanded the attention of the entire Continent, she would surely receive proportional scrutiny, and someone might uncover her true identity.
‘How I wish Alexei were not the Crown Prince.’
Had that been the case, she would never have been called Lorenzo’s mistress.
A commoner-born Physician and a Crown Prince.
Because of the insurmountable gulf in station that could never be bridged, Kanna Adis had become known as his ‘mistress’—not his beloved.
‘If you desire me so greatly, then you renounce the throne for my sake.’
Kanna Adis thought this only in her heart.
It was a truth she could never speak aloud.

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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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