My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 22

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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 22
A memory from childhood suddenly surfaced.
Was I ten years old? Following the instructions in an alchemy book, I conducted several experiments, and when I finally produced a proper result, I was utterly astonished.
“Wow. I… I did it!”
It was a potion that could revive wilting flowers instantly.
It was miraculous. I wanted to boast about it. I thought that if others knew of this achievement, I might receive praise.
So with a racing heart, I rushed to Father with the result in hand.
What did Father say when he saw it?
“Get that out of my sight.”
“And don’t show it to anyone else. If you go around carelessly spreading word of this, I’ll shut down the Research Laboratory.”
With that warning, he left.
That was all.
‘Yes. He didn’t just ignore my talent—he tried to bury it. If he truly wished for my happiness, he would never have done such a thing.’
That’s right, this was a gift. Alchemy was a discipline that required an innate ability to extract magical power from magic stones—something impossible without natural talent.
Yet Alexandro Adis dismissed it. No, he actively tried to suppress it.
Underground.
Into a dark place where no one’s eyes would fall upon it.
‘I hate this.’
But I no longer wanted to live that way.
I wanted to live as I did when I was Ju-hwa.
A life of continuous achievement, mingling with many people, socially successful. I had tasted how abundant such a life could be.
Because of that, I could never return to how things were before.
‘Perhaps I may never return to being Ju-hwa again. So I cannot abandon this life in the gutter.’
Returning to Ju-hwa’s life would be the ideal scenario.
‘But right now, I am here, in this place.’
So I must elevate this life. I must steer it in the direction I wish to go.
Kanna Adis reaffirmed precisely what she wanted.
‘Divorce and establish my own household. And practice medicine. Open my own hospital.’
Opening a hospital under my own name. That was a goal I had harbored when I lived as Ju-hwa in Korea.
Though the setting and exterior have changed, the essence remains the same. No matter what anyone says, I want to open a hospital bearing my name.
But for now, I can do nothing. Until Father permits the divorce, I am nothing but the ‘Duchess of Valentino.’
A duchess treated without proper respect.
A duchess regarded as filth even by the maids.
‘I want to throw off such a duchess title right this instant.’
But should I simply wait with bated breath for divorce, doing nothing else?
Like this? As a duchess scorned by everyone?
‘Damn it, I won’t live like that!’
Kanna Adis picked up the invitation that had been cast to the floor.
The birthday gala of the Second Princess, Princess Lilienne Isaberk. Surely all the most powerful nobles in the realm would gather there.
“You think I won’t attend?”
At Isabel’s words, laughter bubbled up within me.
Regardless, Kanna is nobility. When a noblewoman is scorned in High Society, she’s condemned to a wretched existence.
A life just like Kanna’s until now.
“I won’t live like that.”
Damn these fools.
“Never. I will never live that way.”
By this point, the fury that had twisted my heart began to settle, and cold reason returned.
Right now, I cannot divorce, cannot leave this house, cannot open a hospital. Yet I refuse to abandon everything and surrender.
‘There’s only one conclusion.’
I will not turn away from this wretched situation—I will overcome it.
To do that….
I turned my gaze slightly. A woman’s reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall caught my eye.
Disheveled, gloomy, dreary. Unkempt long hair, especially thick bangs that looked filthy.
By any measure, a pitiful appearance.
This country values beauty even more obsessively than Korea. Walking around like this, everyone would regard me with contempt.
To live properly, I had to stop wandering about looking like a ghost.
‘First, I need to cut these bangs.’
Because I’d grown them long to hide my dark eyes, all that showed was my jawline and lips.
‘Rather than hide what cannot be changed, it’s better to flaunt it.’
I stepped close to the mirror and swept my bangs back sharply. Staring at my own face, I burst into laughter.
‘I’m actually looking forward to this.’
Everyone believes me to be hideously ugly. Orsini even calls me plain to my face.
It’s hardly surprising—I’ve always shuffled about with my hair hanging over me like a ghost, cowering.
Perhaps because I now had a goal, energy began returning to me bit by bit.
Until the day before the party, I would dedicate myself entirely to beauty treatments. Traditional medicine had recently become widely used for cosmetic purposes, and I was an expert in it.
‘While I’m at it, I should create a fragrance too. Something exquisite—something absolutely impossible to find in this place.’
After this transformation, I’ll attend Second Princess Lilienne’s birthday party. And when I meet her….
‘We’ll form an alliance.’
A princess who desires marriage to Silvien Valentino.
Myself, who desires divorce from Silvien Valentino.
Our interests align perfectly.
Then surely we should join hands, should we not?
Now that I faced Duke Adis’s opposition, I desperately needed someone to help her.
‘Yes, I must go speak with the princess.’
It was then.
“May I enter?”
Along with a knock, Kalen’s voice reached me.
I hadn’t even heard his footsteps, so I startled. I quickly lowered my bangs and answered.
“Come in.”
For some reason, Kalen seemed to hesitate. But soon the door opened and he entered.
“I heard Father refused to grant the divorce.”
Was he here to protest my continued stay? I quickly added more before he could grow angry.
“If you want me gone, tell Father. He’s the one who ordered me to remain here.”
His expression hardened further. Was he truly upset?
“I have no intention of staying here either. I’ll find a way to obtain Father’s permission and leave. Until then, just pretend I don’t exist.”
At those words, Kalen’s jaw clenched. My presence clearly bothered him greatly, but there was nothing he could do about it.
After a moment, Kalen washed his face with dry hands and exhaled a heavy sigh.
“Then you’ll continue living in this place? Move your Research Laboratory upstairs. Don’t stay down here in the Basement.”
“…?”
What was he talking about? I couldn’t fathom his intentions.
After staring at Kalen for a while, an old memory suddenly surfaced.
“Now that you mention it, I remember the old days.”
“Yes?”
“You locked me down here before.”
Kalen’s complexion darkened.
I laughed softly, recalling that memory from back then.
“We ran into each other four days in a row. So you said you couldn’t stand the sight of me and told me not to come up. You locked the Research Laboratory door and left—I was so panicked, you have no idea.”
I must have been thirteen or fourteen.
Young me was trapped in the Research Laboratory for days. I cried and screamed for someone to let me out, but my cries from the Basement reached no one above.
“Please save me!”
“The Research Laboratory door is locked, please save me!”
“Please… save me….”
But no one came to rescue me. No one.
I thought no one in the family would come looking for me, and that I would be forgotten forever, trapped in the Research Laboratory, starving to death.
It was a plausible hypothesis.
Fortunately, after four days had passed, I was discovered by a Servant who had come to the Basement storage room.
My eyes were dry of tears, my body twisted and skeletal.
“You remember, don’t you, Kalen?”
I smiled faintly.
The boy who had locked me in the Basement back then was now offering me the upper floors. I couldn’t even guess what scheme lay behind it.
Kalen lowered his gaze.
His downcast green eyes were tinged with shame and guilt, but I didn’t notice. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have believed it.
After a long silence, he finally opened his tightly closed lips.
“…Back then.”
Was he trying to make excuses? Or was he about to curse and say it didn’t matter?
Either way, I didn’t want to hear it.
“I’m not blaming you now. It’s not even worth it.”
I shrugged my shoulders and cut off Kalen’s words.
“I just wanted to say—if you have no particularly important business, don’t come down to this Basement. It’s better if we manage to live without running into each other, don’t you think?”
“Sister.”
“Sister?”
I let out a hollow laugh, my tone sharp and cutting.
Sister? Did you just call me sister?
“Didn’t we settle this already? Just call me ‘you.'”
The meaning behind those words was unmistakable.
You have no right to call me sister.
I will not permit it.

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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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