My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 176

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

Chapter 176
Orsini’s shock was brief.
This wasn’t Kalen.
Those eyes, that tone of voice—the Kalen Adis he knew would never speak like that.
‘He’s lost his memory.’
Or perhaps he was pretending to have lost it.
“Then what are you?”
Orsini finally released Kanna Adis and turned around.
“Not a knight guard.”
His gaze swept rapidly from the man’s head to his feet.
“A mercenary, then.”
The puzzle pieces fell into place one by one.
A white-haired man who made waves in mercenary circles—Orsini had heard whispers of him before. Never did he imagine it was Kalen, stripped of his memories.
“I have no intention of fighting you.”
“Too bad. I do.”
Ren grinned, baring his teeth, and unleashed a merciless flurry of blade strikes.
Clang! Orsini lifted his scabbard entirely to block the assault.
“How cowardly. Attacking someone who hasn’t even drawn his sword?”
“I don’t concern myself with such knightly codes.”
There was no need for further words.
Kalen swung his blade, and Orsini parried. He focused purely on defense, clearly unwilling to truly engage.
But Kalen was not an opponent one could brush aside so easily.
When his scabbard shattered completely, Orsini had no choice but to draw his sword.
“You’ve lost your memory, yet your skill has grown.”
“Shut it. Do nobles chat while they fight?”
“Fine. I’ll oblige you. It’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure of crushing you.”
Meanwhile, Kanna Adis was quietly attempting to slip away. Unfortunately, at that very moment, the Knight Guards of Adis drew near.
“Lord Orsini!”
The instant Kanna Adis spotted the knight leading them, she spun around hastily.
Claude Azel—her former personal guard!
“Why did you suddenly rush out? Surely not the Black Mist again… Eh?”
A rather foolish sound of confusion escaped Claude’s lips.
“Eh?”
It wasn’t only Claude. The Knight Guards following behind him began murmuring as well.
“Isn’t that Lord Kalen!”
“Lord Kalen?”
As the Knight Guards swarmed in, the two men’s duel ceased.
“Lord Kalen! What in the world are you doing here…?”
“He’s lost his memory.”
Orsini stated it plainly.
“It seems he doesn’t even know his own name.”
“Pardon?”
Claude’s expression twisted sharply. He approached Ren and extended his hand.
“Is that truly the case, Kalen?”
“Get away.”
Ren pushed away Claude’s outstretched hand, then walked past Orsini to reach Kanna.
Kanna was bowing her head as low as she could. Ren whispered softly.
“Must they not see your face?”
When she only moved her head without answering, Ren removed his jacket and draped it over her face, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
Then he spoke to Orsini, who was watching them intently.
“Move aside.”
Orsini stared silently at his younger brother and at Kanna, who rested obediently in his embrace.
His lips twisted. But he stepped aside to let them pass.
‘He’s letting her go?’
Just as Kanna was startled by this fact.
“Claude.”
“Yes.”
“The Physician Tatiana from Yalden and the mercenary escorting her—bring them to the Lord’s Castle with the Knight Guards.”
Of course, that man wouldn’t simply let her go. Still, it was a small mercy that he hadn’t revealed her identity immediately.
‘No, this is already the worst.’
Kanna swallowed a bitter sigh of anger.
If only Claude had discovered her, but Orsini of all people.
This was truly the worst of the worst.
* * *
After that, Kanna attempted to slip past the Castle Gate several times.
‘Why are Adis Knight Guards stationed at the gate?’
Orsini seemed determined not to let her escape.
Under the pretext of guarding against Black Mist infected and monsters, he had stationed Adis Knight Guards throughout the castle. And he remained, ostensibly to treat the wounded.
‘How much longer must I hide in this room!’
The suffocating days dragged on.
Then one day, an unexpected visitor arrived—the Gatekeeper.
“Physician Tatiana, I will help you escape.”
“Why would you?”
“Well, you see, I’ve fallen head over heels for you, Physician Tatiana….”
What was this nonsense?
Kanna narrowed her brow.
“So you’ll help me because of that?”
“Of course. It would be an honor to aid such a distinguished physician as yourself.”
Kanna stared at him for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but….”
…Wait a moment.
This conversation doesn’t make sense.
A belated realization sent chills racing down my spine.
‘Help me escape?’
Tatiana Evgenia was trying to flee from Adis. No ordinary person would ever conceive of such a thing.
‘What is this person’s true identity?’
Asking “who are you?” would be foolish.
I manufactured a composed smile.
There was no need to ask. It had to be one of two possibilities.
Someone who would recognize who she was.
Someone who knew she was fleeing from Adis.
‘Either a Black Apostle, or.’
Someone from the Divine Temple.
And determining which one was remarkably simple.
“Well, what should I do….”
I turned around and pretended to touch the flowers, then let out a scream as if pricked by a thorn.
“Ah, blood.”
In that instant, the Gatekeeper lunged forward.
The moment I sensed him charging, I grabbed the vase and spun my body around, striking the Gatekeeper’s head with it in one fluid motion.
Crash!
“Ugh!”
The Gatekeeper collapsed with a final cry.
‘Fortunate that it was a marble vase.’
Thanks to that, I could knock him unconscious in a single blow.
‘So he was a Black Apostle after all.’
That explained why he had lunged forward in a frenzy upon seeing my blood.
‘Madmen obsessed with alchemy.’
For the past three years, I had not touched alchemy at all.
Using alchemy cracks the world, and through those cracks, the Black Mist seeps in. From the moment I learned that truth, I abandoned alchemy.
I laughed softly.
Orsini alone was enough to make my head spin, and now the Black Apostles were getting involved.
‘Has Tatiana Evgenia’s fate run its course?’
If names themselves possessed life, perhaps Tatiana’s lifespan was already drawing to a close.
‘Or is my fate as Kanna Adis simply too strong?’
An inescapable destiny seemed to be calling me back.
After three years of sufficient rest, it was summoning me to return to my world.
‘That’s right. Hiding accomplishes nothing.’
I bound the Gatekeeper securely to a chair and made my way to Orsini’s room.
Orsini was, oddly enough, reading a newspaper.
“Bold of you. Coming to find me first.”
Fury flared up in an instant. Kanna Adis strode toward him and snatched the newspaper from his hands.
“What?”
“What do you mean ‘what’? You confined me so I couldn’t leave, and now you say that?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“There’s a Black Apostle in my room.”
“….”
“I’ve tied them to a chair. Go take them away.”
Orsini stared at her intently.
“Why would a Black Apostle target you?”
“How should I know? They probably thought they could use me to blackmail you.”
Kanna crumpled the newspaper and hurled it roughly at his face.
“Seeing how obsessed you are with me, they figured I was worth using. Don’t ruin my life—get out of here, you bastard.”
Orsini didn’t react to the insult. Instead, he raised his voice and called out.
“Estea.”
The door burst open.
It was the female Knight Guard who always stood watch at Orsini’s door—the one I had seen before.
“Go with Claude to Tatiana’s room. There’s a Black Apostle there.”
“Yes, understood.”
As the door closed, Kanna spoke with unmistakable sarcasm.
“Since when did Orsini Adis get a personal guard? Have you become quite fearful?”
“After Kalen’s suicide, I had guards assigned. If he’d had protection, I could have stopped him from falling off the Cathedral Spire.”
The words struck like a blade through her chest.
As Kanna lost her words, Orsini’s lips curled upward.
“I have no intention of leaving this place without Kalen.”
“Then take him. Get out of here with him.”
“He’s not in his right mind. No matter how I explain things, he refuses to believe me.”
Then he laughed crookedly and muttered.
“It wouldn’t be easy to accept that he threw himself from the Cathedral Spire in shock over his sister’s death.”
Kanna bit her lip hard, glaring at him.
The incident of Kalen throwing himself from the Cathedral Spire—whenever that story came up, Kanna’s words would catch in her throat.
“What about me, then? What do you plan to do with me?”
“You? I’ll kill you.”
Orsini said it flatly. Kanna found his bluff amusing.
“Then do it.”
As if you could.
Now she understood. He was an even greater fool than she had thought.
Before Ren arrived, there had been no strength in his hands as they closed around her throat.
Words she hadn’t thought to say then came back to her now.
“Aren’t you the mistress of Crown Prince Alexei?”
Kanna’s words caught in her throat once more.
It wasn’t a question. He already seemed to know.
“Tatiana Evgenia. Crown Prince Alexei’s mistress.”
Orsini recited it like a machine. Then, without warning, he rose from his seat.
Their eye levels shifted in an instant. Orsini looked down at her arrogantly and sneered.
“You fled just to play the role of a mistress?”
Then he leaned his face close to Kanna’s ear. He whispered softly.
“Does it feel good rolling around with another man?”
“Watch your tongue.”
“You’re a vicious woman. A demonic creature who seduces and manipulates men.”
Crack! Kanna’s hand lashed across his cheek.
Orsini’s face snapped to the side. He touched his reddened cheek, then smiled with the corner of his mouth raised.
“Leave if you want. I won’t stop you.”
Won’t stop her?
Kanna glared at him with eyes full of disbelief. Orsini spoke.
“I’ll take out my frustration on someone else instead of you.”
“…What?”
“You’ve built quite the network. I hear Prince Lorenzo follows you well too?”
In that moment, Kanna’s face twisted with rage. Orsini laughed.
“I’m curious what kind of men they are. I’d like to visit the Royal Palace soon and meet them.”
He was threatening her. A threat that if she disappeared on her own, he wouldn’t spare Alexei and Lorenzo.
“If you lay a hand on them, I won’t spare you.”
“Stay by my side and watch me then. Who knows—I might let them be out of pity for how anxious you’d be.”
“You despicable bastard.”
“You taught me that. I’ve learned so much from you.”
He grabbed her by the collar. He pulled her toward him.
He savored her face, filled entirely with hatred, and whispered.
“I’ve learned so very much.”
Kanna glared fiercely into his eyes, now mere inches from her own. She spoke like a curse.
“I should have killed you for certain back then.”
“Kill me.”
Orsini answered quietly, his gaze lowering. It stopped at her lips.
“Try killing me right now.”
They were red lips—so very red.
His hand, gripping the collar of her garment, trembled slightly with tension.
But in the next moment, Orsini stepped back. He turned his head and muttered.
“If you’ve said all you have to say, get out.”

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