My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 244

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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 244
* * *
Since Kasil’s return, Silvien Valentino had become increasingly on edge.
I understood the reason halfway. I simply couldn’t accept it.
I let out a dry chuckle as I skimmed through the documents—a report on Ju-hwa’s recent movements.
What made me even more irritable was the fact that Ju-hwa and Kasil were having secret meetings.
Of course, it wasn’t jealousy. It was simply suspicious that a Black Apostle and the son of a Black Apostle would maintain regular contact.
‘Besides, there’s a common point between them: Kanna Adis.’
After carefully probing Ju-hwa’s psyche, I discovered she harbored inferiority and rage toward Kanna Adis. Though she pretended otherwise, she seemed to want Kanna Adis eliminated.
‘And Kasil’s purpose is likely the same.’
Since the reason for their meetings was so obvious, I merely scoffed.
‘I should look into this.’
Not specifically because of Kanna Adis. From the beginning, I had been an existence that fought the Black Apostles my entire life.
After roughly grasping Ju-hwa’s identity, I deliberately made her my fiancée to observe her from close quarters.
The information I subsequently obtained was considerable. Thanks to the clues she inadvertently let slip, I even grew suspicious that Teresa was a Black Apostle.
‘At this point, she seems like one of our spies embedded in the Black Apostles’ ranks.’
A pathetic and foolish woman.
That was the extent of my impression of Ju-hwa.
I was somewhat surprised when I learned that she and Kanna Adis had switched bodies, that she was my wife….
But that was all.
There was remarkably little emotional resonance.
I had certainly felt guilt, and even harbored such foolish thoughts of trying again….
Yet when I realized the other person wasn’t Kanna Adis, it all vanished like bubbles—a mere illusion.
“I was dumped.”
In that instant, my insides twisted, and I let out an irritated laugh.
Ah, yes. You certainly lead an amusing life.
You divorced me, became the mistress of the crown prince of a neighboring kingdom, sought out new love and dated again, and now you’ve even been cast aside.
I gazed at the thoroughly intoxicated Kanna Adis for a long time.
A woman who never once properly looked my way.
Well, it made sense. When Prince Casil hunted her, I merely tried to cover it up.
That moment was likely it—the turning point where my connection with Kanna Adis completely severed.
‘If only I had…back then.’
I shook my head.
No. I would not dwell on the irreversible past and imagine what-ifs.
Nothing would change anyway.
* * *
Afterward, Ju-hwa met with Kasil several times and secretly devised a plan.
‘This is perfect—if problems arise later, I can just blame Kasil!’
Even if the plan failed and Arzenian and Argon came to criticize me, I could claim Kasil had coerced me.
That’s why I felt so good. Everything was proceeding smoothly.
But then.
“Let’s call off the engagement.”
I never thought I’d hear such words.
Ju-hwa’s complexion drained to a ghostly pallor. The carriage swayed, yet she felt nothing—not even its rhythmic jolts.
On the way to the Purification Ceremony, to attend the Emperor’s address, Silvien Valentino had declared it the moment he stepped into the carriage, his expression glacial.
“I know you are one of the Black Apostles.”
At those words, Ju-hwa was utterly robbed of speech.
“Even so, I wished to bind myself to you as husband and wife.”
What…?
“Because I love you.”
What was I hearing?
“But it seems you do not feel the same.”
“No, no, what are you saying!”
Ju-hwa seized his arm with trembling hands.
“I love you! Silvien, you know! From the beginning, there’s been no one but you for me…!”
“I am aware you are committing adultery with Prince Casil.”
Ju-hwa fell silent as though her tongue had been severed.
“You deceived me each time we met.”
There was no room for excuses. It was the truth.
“I can accept that you are a Black Apostle, Ju-hwa. But I cannot forgive lies.”
“I, I was not committing adultery with him! I swear!”
“Yet you did meet with him. That much is true.”
Ju-hwa’s lips trembled. Lee Ju-hwa, you fool, think. Conjure something more plausible. A better lie…
In that instant, their gazes locked deeply. Eyes like sapphires gathered into irises—more beautiful than any jewel—those eyes of his pierced through her.
In that moment, Ju-hwa felt like a bird with its wings torn away.
Seized by complete helplessness, Silvien Valentino spoke in a quiet voice.
“If you lie to me again, I will never see you again.”
In her confusion, Ju-hwa blinked. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“The truth is, I was being threatened by Prince Casil. About Kanna…”
This isn’t a lie.
Yes. Now that I think about it carefully, it does seem like Prince Casil was demanding it of me forcefully. I really didn’t want to do it.
“He said he wanted to kill Kanna, using a doll…”
* * *
Once a year, the Imperial Palace opens its doors to commoners.
During the Great Purification, when the Emperor addresses the people of the Empire. Thousands of invited citizens could enter and exit the Imperial Palace.
When Silvien Valentino took his seat in the chair positioned directly behind the Emperor on the dais, the address had already begun.
“There is… a doll.”
The confession Ju-hwa had made through tears in the carriage moments ago echoed in his ears.
“It’s Prince Casil’s doll. If he were to act directly and be discovered, he created a doll with all five senses connected to kill Kanna instead.”
“…”
“So, without directly killing her myself, I could experience the sensation of having killed her… I, I destroyed the doll’s face so that no one could recognize who it was.”
Near the Emperor delivering his speech, a man seated in the throne becomes visible. A man observing the thousands of commoners gathered below the platform.
Prince Casil.
The master of my regrets.
“When I attended the purification ceremony speech, that’s when I said I would execute it. I could prove I was here, and besides, Orsini and Kalen wouldn’t be at Adis either.”
Among those seated, the red-haired figure stood out distinctly. Orsini, wearing an overtly irritated expression, and the white-haired youth seated beside him.
“I said I would kill Kanna Adis by taking advantage of the weakened security.”
It was an exceedingly crude plan.
Did Adis’s security appear so lax?
Silvien Valentino leaned back leisurely in his chair. It wasn’t information dangerous enough to warrant going so far as to fabricate declarations of love to extract it.
But then again….
Every rule has its exceptions.
‘What if, by some stroke of fortune, Prince Casil’s doll manages to infiltrate the Valentino Estate?’
An imagination I didn’t know I possessed bloomed into being. It grew larger and larger.
‘What if it approaches Kanna Adis?’
He clenched his fist, then released it. His fingertips had been tingling since earlier. Perhaps it was the weather.
‘What if Kanna Adis dies?’
In that instant, a scene from the past materialized vividly before his eyes.
The Dark Forest, Kanna Adis crouched down, the blade descending toward her. If he hadn’t appeared at that moment, she would have died.
Perhaps it could be the same even now.
Perhaps Prince Casil’s doll is strangling her breath at this very moment. Perhaps it’s extending a blade toward her throat.
No.
Perhaps she’s already dead.
Silvien Valentino touched his cravat. It wasn’t even tied tightly, yet he couldn’t understand why his breathing was becoming constricted. Why his heart was racing.
‘Perhaps, right now, she’s being pierced by a blade.’
Perhaps she’s in a critical situation at this very moment. Perhaps she’ll die soon. In a few minutes… no, in a few seconds, or perhaps now, this very instant.
“So, how do you kill that doll?”
“It’s the same as killing a person. And….”
“And what else?”
“If, if you kill the original body, the doll dies too. It returns to dust.”
Should I approach Orsini or Kalen, pull them aside, and explain this situation?
But by then, it might already be too late. If I approached Prince Casil right now and ended his life, perhaps I could save Kanna Adis from the crisis she might be facing… but.
‘But that’s something only a fool would do.’
Silvien Valentino let out a soft chuckle and rose from his seat.
In the brief moment of lifting himself from the chair, a thought flashed through his mind.
What if.
What if, instead of interrogating her about what happened with Prince Casil back then, I had protected and guarded her.
If I had done so, perhaps I would have earned the right to feel jealousy toward the man who rejected Kanna Adis.
When I learned that Kanna Adis wasn’t my former wife, perhaps I would have had the right to tell you that you need not feel guilty toward me, that we should properly get to know each other, to ask you to have tea with me.
If I hadn’t let Prince Casil slip away back then, she wouldn’t be in danger now….
This tedious karma of mine.
“Haha.”
Silvien Valentino rose from his seat and burst into laughter. What began as a soft chuckle soon erupted into something far more unrestrained.
“Hahahaha!”
In an instant, every eye in the hall snapped toward him. Even the Emperor paused mid-speech and turned to look. Silvien Valentino felt the weight of their gazes and continued to laugh, a peculiar sound that echoed through the silence.
“S-Silvien? Why are you suddenly—?”
The moment Ju-hwa spoke, Silvien Valentino began walking toward the podium.
The atmosphere shifted instantly. Everyone stared at him as though he were a madman—the nobles seated in their rows, the commoners listening to the speech, all of them.
“The D-Duke Valentino?”
“What is he doing?”
Silvien Valentino walked toward Prince Casil. With each step, certainty crystallized within me.
This was no fleeting impulse. Perhaps it was an opportunity I had been waiting for, a cycle of the past repeating itself.
And I had never made the same mistake twice.
Silvien Valentino finally stood before Prince Casil.
No one moved to stop him.
In that moment, I was as I always was—the very embodiment of aristocratic elegance, radiating such refinement that one would never suspect me capable of anything base.
Which is precisely why no one could believe what happened next.
Crack!
The nobles seated behind Prince Casil’s chair widened their eyes in horror.
What was that?
That thing piercing through the chair where Prince Casil sat.
A hand-like appendage, dripping with crimson liquid, as if—
It withdrew with a wet sound.
Then blood erupted like a fountain. As the crimson spray painted the air, the magic finally dissipated.
“C-Casil!”
Prince Casil convulsed, spewing blood, and collapsed. Teresa, seated beside him, shrieked and lurched to her feet.
“What are you doing, Duke!”
Silvien Valentino smiled as he looked at her—just as he had at the party.
Then he hardened his hand into a blade and slashed across her throat.
Thud!
Teresa’s severed head tumbled to the floor like a ball, rolling until it came to rest at the Emperor’s feet.
“Y-Your Grace the Duke!”
“Why are you doing this!”
Screams erupted belatedly. Nobles scrambled over one another in their rush to flee.
Knight Guards drew their swords a heartbeat too late, encircling him. The commoners who had been listening to the speech cried out in shock at the sudden carnage, their voices rising in a cacophony of panic.
At the center of this madness, Silvien Valentino laughed. With blood-soaked hands pressed to my chest, I bowed with perfect courtesy.
“My sincerest apologies for the disturbance, everyone.”
At that moment, the Emperor, who had been watching the tragedy unfold in stunned silence, roared with fury.
“Seize Duke Valentino at once!”
Silvien Valentino lowered his hands obediently. I had no intention of harming the innocent Knight Guards. And besides, I had left no evidence.
The testimony of Ju-hwa, merely a physician at the Imperial Palace, would never hold weight. Prince Casil’s puppet would crumble to dust and vanish without a trace, or so he had claimed.
This was simply meant to end as the murder of a mad duke.
Knowing full well what I was doing, I harbored no regrets.
Silvien Valentino stared blankly at the shackles binding his wrists. The deafening sound of a perfect life collapsing echoed in his ears. The absurdity of it made him laugh.
It was ruin.

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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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