My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 198

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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 198
* * *
The moment Kanna Adis arrived at the Divine Temple, she demanded Seon-hee’s records.
“Follow me, please.”
Raphael led her directly there. To the Underground Dungeon.
‘Why would Mother’s records be in a place like this?’
Raphael guided her to the iron-barred cell located in the deepest recesses of the Underground Dungeon.
A bed, a shattered mirror hanging on the wall beside it, a worn desk, and upon it a towering stack of books and papers….
The moment I saw the shackles connected by a long chain, shock drained the color from my mind.
‘Could Mother have lived in this place?’
This was treatment worse than that afforded to any prisoner!
“If you wish, I can have the records moved to your chamber.”
“No. I’ll examine them here.”
After dismissing the disapproving Raphael, I settled into the worn chair and began scrutinizing the papers one by one.
Most were materials and ritual diagrams pertaining to ancient alchemy. As I read through each one, my astonishment grew by degrees.
The knowledge I had glimpsed in ancient alchemy texts paled to insignificance compared to this.
‘Such things are possible?’
I understood that ancient alchemy was formidable.
It was a miraculous power that transcended causality—creating new substances or transforming existing matter into entirely different compositions.
Yet that power was not confined to material things alone.
Invisible, intangible concepts could also be manipulated.
For instance, time itself.
‘It’s possible to touch time?’
I began to understand why the Black Apostles were so obsessed with alchemy.
‘To possess such power would be to become a god.’
It seemed Seon-hee had harbored the same thoughts, for they were scattered throughout the margins.
【Perhaps God was the first alchemist and the greatest. Alchemy is God’s secret—the creative force by which God forged the world.】
And following that, violent curses scrawled in haste.
【I’ll kill them. Kill them all. Every last one. I won’t let them live.】
My chest grew cold. The tips of my fingers trembled faintly as I gripped the paper.
【I want to go back. My daughter. My husband. I want to see them. I want to see them.】
【That bastard Divine Spirit. I’ll kill him.】
I could not bear to read further and squeezed my eyes shut.
Now it was certain.
‘The Ancient Deity imprisoned Mother.’
The moment I first saw my biological father remained vivid.
So beautiful, so impossibly similar to myself.
And yet I could not bring myself to trust him.
Perhaps I had sensed it from the beginning. That he was not someone to be trusted.
【I’m pregnant with the Divine Spirit’s child.】
【The Divine Spirit intends to use this child to commit madness. This child must never be born.】
Use me to commit madness?
‘What does that mean?’
I flipped through the pages anxiously.
But there was no continuation. After hastily searching through other documents, I discovered a small leather notebook.
The moment I turned to the first page, I saw roughly scrawled sentences.
【Someone has possessed my body.】
What does this mean?
【I finally escaped the Divine Temple.】
【But I can’t remember how I escaped.】
【I have no memory of the past several days.】
【During those days, someone possessed me and used my body.】
【The one who entered my body escaped the Divine Temple with the help of that unlucky red-haired woman.】
【The priests of the Divine Temple are still pursuing me. I hope I can escape safely.】
What does this mean?
Someone possessed Seon-hee’s body and escaped the Divine Temple?
It’s not impossible. After all, Ju-hwa once possessed my body.
After that, the records ended again. Presumably, the notebook was lost during the escape, and the Divine Temple’s pursuers found it and kept it here.
‘So what exactly is this “madness” the Divine Spirit intends to commit using me?’
The most crucial fact remained hidden behind a veil.
* * *
Surprisingly, Raphael showed no disturbance upon hearing of the Ancient Deity’s deeds.
“You already knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why….”
Why didn’t you tell me?
But I couldn’t bring myself to finish the sentence.
If I had? If I had told them the Divine Spirit of the Divine Temple was a Black Apostle?
Who would have believed the words of a defrocked priest?
“Not only the Ancient Deity, but countless priests were Black Apostles obsessed with alchemy. However, now…”
Raphael paused briefly before continuing.
“They have been purified. Rest assured—there are no more Black Apostles in the Divine Temple now.”
I finally understood.
The fact that he had killed more than half the priests.
Raphael had seized control of the Divine Temple and purged the Black Apostles.
“What did the Ancient Deity want that made him commit such acts?”
“Only he and Seon-hee would know that.”
That’s true. I exhaled slowly. If Seon-hee were here, I could ask her….
‘…If only Seon-hee were here.’
But Seon-hee exists in another world.
It seemed that magic circles capable of traversing worlds were also possible, but no records of them remained. The Ancient Deity surely possessed them.
‘That’s right—that’s how Ju-hwa was brought here.’
A mad thought flickered through my mind in that instant.
“Raphael.”
“Yes.”
“Among the records, there was a magic circle that reverses time. If I use it, I can go meet Seon-hee and return.”
Raphael did not answer. He stared at me with an expressionless face before parting his lips.
“I have heard how Seon-hee fared. She was treated worse than a beast.”
Raphael’s eyes sank with a sinister shadow.
“Did you see the chains? They were bound to prevent her from practicing alchemy and from escaping.”
Hearing it made my stomach churn.
“Reading books or leaving records on paper was only possible under the watch of the Enforcers. Otherwise, she lived perpetually chained like a dog.”
“I know it’s dangerous. But….”
“You.”
Raphael, rarely, interrupted my words.
“To bind you down, to chain you.”
His gaze slowly traced across my slender neck.
I held my breath without realizing it.
“Does it seem like a difficult thing to raise and keep someone chained like a beast?”
He asks in an utterly courteous tone.
“Does it seem difficult to you?”
For some reason, no words came forth.
Watching me rendered speechless, Raphael continued slowly.
“For some, it is a very easy task—something they can do whenever they wish.”
A heavy silence descended upon the room. Raphael pressed his fingertips against his furrowed brow and murmured.
“If you encounter the Ancient Deity in the past, he will certainly do exactly that.”
“….”
“I will bring you his head. Is that not enough?”
I did not answer.
Because it wasn’t.
“Raphael. Do you know where the Ancient Deity is?”
“Yes.”
“He’s in the Imperial Family of the Aslan Empire, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Just as I had suspected.
The scattered puzzle pieces aligned into one coherent whole.
The Black Apostles. Argon. Ju-hwa, who became the Imperial Physician. The Emperor and Empress driven to madness. And Teresa, who tends to state affairs.
There is a saying: when a crime occurs, the one who benefits most is the culprit.
“The Imperial Family is already under the dominion of the Black Apostles.”
It is Teresa who now controls the Imperial Family, who controls the Emperor. Teresa is certainly one of the Black Apostles.
“To eliminate the Ancient Deity, I’ll have to fight the Imperial Family.”
“It’s a matter of time.”
“Yes, ultimately time is the issue. What’s certain is that this won’t be resolved in a day or two.”
Whether it would take a year or five years, no one could say. Since I didn’t know how I might be manipulated, I would have to live in constant dread.
“Until the Ancient Deity dies or his true purpose is revealed, I’ll be tormented by uncertainty. And if things go wrong, I’ll truly become his puppet.”
It had happened before.
Hadn’t I naively offered my blood at the Grand Temple, knowing nothing of what awaited me?
“I won’t sit idle with my hands folded anymore. I’ll do what I can.”
I made my decision.
“I’m going to meet with Seon-hee.”
Raphael fell silent. After a moment, he spoke.
“There is a suitable place. Please follow me.”
* * *
He led me to the Garden where the World Tree stood.
Perhaps because it was broad daylight with brilliant sunlight?
The World Tree revealed its massive form in stark detail—a charred black trunk as if burned by fire, its surface densely studded with black magical stones like scales.
I hadn’t noticed before in the darkness, but seeing it now, it was a horrifying monstrosity.
“Please enter here.”
Raphael pointed to a large opening between the thick roots of the World Tree.
‘He wants me to go in there?’
Rather than explain further, Raphael acted first, bending low and stepping into the opening.
‘Why on earth would anyone go inside tree roots?’
But once I stepped inside, I was utterly dumbfounded.
“Where is this place?”
A grassy meadow with a stream flowing through it, peach trees in full bloom with pink blossoms filling the entire surroundings.
This was inside tree roots?
A garden this vast existed here? And I could even see a blue sky?
“This is a separate dimension created by the World Tree. A space isolated from the outside world.”
Raphael explained calmly.
“This place is safe. Even if the world were to perish, this space would remain unharmed.”
“Certainly, there’s no risk of being disturbed by others here.”
I took a deep breath, then swiftly cut my palm with a short blade.
‘Ow, that hurts.’
With blood flowing freely, I began drawing a spell array on the ground.
As I neared completion, Raphael spoke.
“I will wait for you here.”
I needed this spell array to return.
In other words, if someone destroyed this array, I would be trapped in the past. Fortunately, Raphael had agreed to protect it until my return.
“Thank you.”
With the spell array complete, I took a deep breath.
If I step inside, I will return to the past.
To the time when Seon-hee was in this Divine Temple, to before I was born, to thirty years ago.
“I’ll only talk for a few hours and come back. Wait for me—I won’t be long.”
“I will wait.”
Raphael swore an oath.
“Until you return.”
* * *
I blinked my eyes.
‘This place is….’
A room with a familiar structure.
It was the prison where Seon-hee had been confined.
‘Have I truly returned to the past?’
But why did I fall here of all places?
When I moved my arms, I felt the cold touch of metal. Both my arms were bound in long iron chains!
‘Why am I like this?’
I stared downward in a daze, then quickly spun my body around. A mirror hung on the wall came into view.
I gazed blankly at that reflection before realizing it was my own face.
‘What is this?’
This was Seon-hee. A young Seon-hee in her twenties.
‘Wait, wait, wait.’
Just a moment.
Confused, I struggled to gather my thoughts.
So then.
I succeeded in returning to the past, but I’m inside Mother’s body?
In the body of Seon-hee from the past? But why?
Then, her memories flashed through my mind.
【Someone has possessed my body.】
‘Could that be me?’
At that moment, I sensed a presence beyond the bars. I turned my head in alarm.
“All the Black Apostles in this prison are here.”
The Priest of the Divine Temple was speaking to a tall man. The man had red hair.
I stared intently at the man’s back.
Broad shoulders, a rigid spine.
It was a silhouette I had seen many times before….
Perhaps sensing my gaze, the man spun around sharply. I met his piercing eyes.
A chill ran through me in that instant.
‘That person is….’
Alexandro Adis.

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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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