My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 21
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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 21
I will not grant you a divorce.
I will not grant it.
Will not grant it….
Will not grant it?
One, two, three. I exhaled slowly, still bent at the waist.
Regardless, the scratching sound of the fountain pen resumed once more.
I slowly straightened my body. Alexandro Adis continued writing documents without lifting his gaze from me.
The sunlight settled gently upon his hand, which appeared so utterly serene that I wondered if I had misheard him.
But I knew I had not.
“Why, Father?”
What? In that brief moment, what mistake did I make?
“Why, Father?”
“I owe you no explanation.”
“But you suddenly changed your word!”
“Changing my mind is also my prerogative.”
He declared this without even looking at me.
Yes, you would have no need for such things.
The all-powerful Duke Adis. For a thousand years, from the Southern Continent onward, a descendant of the great Holy Knight who protected humanity against the Black Mist.
Alexandro Adis—the strongest warrior on the continent, said to be as formidable as the Holy Knights of the Demonic Continent era.
Even the Emperor himself defers to him. He was born a man of power, his hands already full of countless privileges. He had no need to seek anyone’s consent.
And yet.
But.
“Father….”
I was engulfed in a despair so profound that my mouth felt hollow.
No matter how hard I thought, I could not fathom what I had said wrong.
What had displeased him? What?
“If you do not grant me permission, Father, I cannot divorce. Are you telling me to return to Valentino and suffer there again?”
“There is no need to return to Valentino.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Unless I give further instruction, you will remain in this mansion.”
No need to return to Valentino?
A hollow laugh escaped me. I could not follow the thread of this conversation at all.
Unlike me, swept away as if by a tidal wave and unable to gather my thoughts, Alexandro Adis spoke with tedious composure.
“You cannot leave without my permission. Do not even dream of moving to the Yalden Kingdom.”
Ah—I see now.
Only then did I begin to understand what Father truly wanted.
‘He means to torture me with false hope.’
He wanted to watch me grovel and beg for his permission to divorce.
‘He finds me repugnant, yet he is willing to endure that just to see how much I suffer?’
If I had my way, I’d send myself to the ends of the earth.
He never missed an opportunity to torment me.
As this realization crystallized in my mind, I finally understood my mistake.
‘Saying I wanted to live in the Yalden Kingdom—that was the error.’
Father doesn’t wish for my happiness. He cannot bear to see his despised daughter’s wishes come true.
‘That’s right. I keep forgetting. I keep forgetting how much Father hates me.’
What could I possibly say?
Countless words of resentment and persuasion swirled on my tongue, yet my lips remained frozen, immobile.
I knew it. Nothing I said would matter.
At least not now. Never.
It was a cruelly cold truth, yet I had to accept it. Even if I threw myself on the floor and wept and threw a tantrum, he would never relent.
“…I understand.”
The voice that emerged in the next moment was remarkably frigid. It carried an icy chill.
At that coldness, Alexandro Adis lifted his head. Kanna had never expressed defiance in such a manner before—she who had always conducted herself with impeccable courtesy regardless of circumstance.
“But please know this. I——”
Yet this time, I decided otherwise.
My feelings were hurt, and I would not hide it.
The moment Father’s gaze fell upon me, I seized it. I fixed him with an intense, unwavering stare, desperately hoping he would feel even a fraction of my burning anger.
“I am disappointed in you, Father.”
Was it an illusion? The fountain pen in Alexandro Adis’s grip seemed to tremble.
“I hope you’ll make a different choice in the future, Father.”
I immediately opened the door and left the room. Yet I was so angry that I couldn’t move for some time.
I stood frozen before the door like a corpse for several minutes. When my legs began to cramp, I exhaled a weary sigh.
‘That’s enough. Let me go back.’
As I finally took a step to return to my room, I suddenly realized the door hadn’t closed properly—it remained slightly ajar.
Then came another realization in quick succession.
From the moment I left the room until now….
I hadn’t heard the sound of the fountain pen. Not even the rustling of papers being turned.
Nothing at all.
* * *
My mood completely soured as I made my way back to my room.
My footsteps came to an abrupt halt. I nearly collided with someone walking ahead of me.
“…Sister.”
It was Isabel.
Isabel seemed startled as well, her face stiffening. I cast her a look of contempt.
‘So she does realize her mistake.’
Ever since that day, Isabel had been completely cowed, skulking about like a frightened mouse.
From what I heard, Kalen had summoned her and lectured her relentlessly for hours, and for days afterward, sobbing sounds had echoed from her bedroom.
It seemed Kalen had scolded her quite severely.
“Are you coming back from seeing Father? Surely….”
“Did you tell Lucy that you poisoned her?”
Isabel’s face drained of all color. Watching her lips tremble, I held back a bitter laugh.
“You know what you did was wrong, don’t you?”
I said nothing to Duke Adis. Even if I had, Alexandro Adis wouldn’t have spared it a glance, but that wasn’t why I stayed silent.
I didn’t want to be entangled with them in any way whatsoever.
I simply wanted to leave as soon as possible.
“…Wait.”
Isabel grabbed my wrist as I tried to pass.
“Sister, take this.”
Isabel thrust an envelope toward my chest.
“It’s an invitation from the Imperial Palace. You know the Second Princess’s birthday celebration is coming up soon, don’t you? Of course, you won’t be going.”
Her nails dug in harder and harder.
“No, you can’t go. Even if you tried, you’d just hide behind the curtains like before, avoiding everyone’s eyes.”
“What?”
“I don’t know why you’ve suddenly changed and started acting so strangely, but listen carefully.”
She flung my wrist away as if it were filthy refuse.
“No matter what I’ve done, I’m still Isabel, the beloved daughter of House of Adis. And you? You’re still an ugly piece of trash. Do you understand?”
What was she saying? I turned my back coldly and walked away without another word.
Isabel seethed at my indifference, but I didn’t look back.
I had no time to waste on someone like Isabel.
* * *
“Damn it!”
Only after entering the Research Laboratory in the Underground did I let my fury explode.
I hurled the invitation roughly to the ground and tore at my hair.
“Damn it, Alexandro Adis, you bastard!”
After clawing at my hair and seething for a long while, I collapsed face-first onto the floor.
“This cursed House of Adis—I’d spit it out if I could. May it all burn to hell.”
My plan had fallen apart. Completely.
At least for now, I couldn’t divorce or leave House of Adis.
Alexandro Adis would never allow me to leave the House of Adis and live happily elsewhere.
“He wants to see me suffering in the House of Adis. That’s what this is about.”
Alexandro Adis—this damned father of mine.
A perverse sadist. A psychopath!
“Does he think I’ll give him that satisfaction? Just wait and see. I’ll live happily anywhere I go!”
He wanted me to remain as I was before.
Kanna, cowering like a mouse. Kanna, desperately trying not to be noticed.
“That’s right… Father, that’s the version of me you want.”
I laughed hollowly and looked around.
The Research Laboratory filled with alchemical tools. A small window letting in thin rays of light, the dim candlelight—that was all the Underground basement held.
This was the only space Alexandro Adis had permitted me. Merely this much.
‘Yes, that’s right. Father doesn’t want me to escape this pathetic place. That’s why he completely ignored the fact that I have a talent for alchemy.’
A daughter he despised, a daughter he dismissed—he refused to acknowledge even her finest qualities, no matter how glaringly obvious they became.
Kanna twisted her lips into a bitter smile.
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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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