My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 276
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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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Side Story Episode 7
Side Story 2. Lies or Truth
“Save me!”
Cold. So bitterly cold. I felt as though I might freeze solid.
“Please, save me!”
My feet touched nothing beneath them. Terror seized me as I thrashed and flailed desperately.
But it was futile. At this rate, I would sink soon. Downward, to the depths of this Frozen Lake….
Each time I screamed in fear, water surged and crashed over me.
He reached out his hand. Toward that woman, toward her who watched him with such indifference.
“Save me!”
* * *
‘Wow.’
The moment I opened my eyes, laughter burst forth. Silvien Valentino chuckled softly.
How long had it been since I last dreamed such a nightmare?
Yet seventeen-year-old Silvien Valentino wiped away the sweat beading on his forehead, erasing all traces of the nightmare. He immediately pulled the bell cord beside his chamber.
Shortly after, his aide entered.
“You called for me, sir?”
“What became of that woman?”
“As you commanded, she remains in the Basement….”
“Thank you for your service. I shall go there at once—prepare everything for my arrival.”
“Yes, sir.”
Silvien Valentino smiled gently. A gift awaited him. Perhaps that was why this promised to be such a pleasant day.
* * *
Silvien Valentino had loved his nursemaid. Or rather, he had loved her once. She had cherished and cared for him in place of his mother.
Six years had passed since that nursemaid vanished.
At last, I had found her.
“Please, I beg you, save me.”
The nursemaid, reunited with Silvien Valentino after six years, clung to his feet with tears streaming down her face.
“Young Master, it’s me—Emma. Emma, your nursemaid. The one who cared for you from before you could even walk.”
“Yes, nursemaid. Of course I remember.”
Silvien Valentino gently stroked the graying hair of the woman before him.
“But why do you weep so? Are you afraid I might kill you?”
Even as he spoke, he found it amusing.
“Of course, I intend to kill you.”
Horror washed over the nursemaid’s face. Silvien Valentino spoke without the slightest emotion.
“Do not resent me. You yourself once tried to kill me, did you not?”
“Young Master, that was then, I was….”
“I know who ordered you to do it. Marquis Alsbayne, was it not?”
At those words, the color finally drained from the nursemaid’s face.
“The Marquis hid you well all this time. It took me six years to find you, Emma.”
“Young Master….”
“You’ve heard the news that the Marquis died in a carriage accident not long ago, haven’t you?”
Silvien Valentino’s lips curved upward.
“I was the one who killed him.”
Finally, the nursemaid burst into tears.
“Please forgive me, Young Master! I beg you, you have no idea how much I’ve regretted that day!”
A faint boredom suddenly settled across Silvien Valentino’s face. It was not as he had imagined.
This was the moment he had anticipated so long….
‘How tedious.’
I had disposed of Marquis Alsbayne and all the forces that had sought my death thus far.
Six years had passed to reach this point.
I had deliberately saved the nursemaid Emma for last. It was, in a sense, a kind of memento. She was the woman who had first taught me what betrayal meant.
So I thought I would feel satisfied finishing with her as the final piece….
“Please, sob, Young Master, have mercy.”
No satisfaction. No emotion. Far from cathartic, it brought me no joy whatsoever.
“Mercy, you say. Indeed, mercy is a virtue of the nobility.”
Silvien Valentino straightened from his bow. He gazed at her one last time, then smiled.
“I shall give it consideration.”
“Th-thank you! Thank you, Young Master!”
After leaving the prison that way, I issued an order to my secretary.
“Kill her.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And do clean up the prison. It seems we’ll be receiving a new guest this evening.”
“A new guest, you say…?”
“A distinguished visitor from the Grand Temple. Make the preparations.”
“Understood.”
Moments later, the nursemaid’s screams echoed from behind. A soft humming flowed forth, as though I were savoring beautiful music.
I was in good spirits.
It could not be otherwise.
Today was a historic day—the day I had succeeded in eliminating everyone who had betrayed me in my childhood.
‘Now I must make a fresh start.’
The Divine Spirit’s successor—was his name Raphael? He was a worthy opponent for a new beginning.
* * *
…What is this?
Inside the carriage heading to the Slum District, Silvien Valentino frowned as he scanned the document.
This was a report written directly by Prince Argon, the head of the Intelligence Organization he sponsored—and it was by far the most pathetic intelligence he’d ever purchased from him.
‘Well, the Grand Temple was such a closed-off place, after all.’
Moreover, if he’d grown up inside the World Tree, it made sense that information would be scarce.
Silvien Valentino tapped the document rhythmically.
‘An uncivilized boy, then.’
There was something distinctly bestial about him, it seemed.
* * *
Silvien Valentino’s premonition proved accurate.
Inside an alley drenched in crimson. There stood a boy like a beast that had finished its hunt.
Drip, drip. Blood droplets fell from the tips of the boy’s outstretched hands. Even from his slow, measured breathing, the scent of blood seemed to emanate.
Silvien Valentino held his breath.
So this was Raphael, the Divine Spirit’s successor.
If that were true, he should be the human closest to divinity—yet one might believe him a demon risen from hell. The scattered corpses of Enforcers throughout this alley had surely been torn to shreds by those very hands.
“Who are you?”
The boy opened his lips. His voice was like a husk.
“Did you come to take me to the Grand Temple too?”
If I said ‘yes’ here…
‘He’d tear me apart as well.’
Silvien Valentino was certain of it.
“I’ve come to protect you.”
“…Protect?”
As if hearing an unfamiliar word, the boy tilted his head.
“Why would you?”
“Forgive my late introduction. I am Silvien Valentino, head of the Valentino Family.”
Then, bowing respectfully, he continued.
“The Valentino Family are descendants of the ancient Holy Knights. How could we stand idle while a Priest who rejected the Grand Temple’s corruption seeks refuge?”
Silvien Valentino simply spoke whatever came to mind.
“Come to my estate. The Valentino Family will protect you from the Grand Temple.”
With those words, he smiled like the most devout believer in the world. And he thought to himself.
‘He definitely won’t follow me.’
But that didn’t matter. He’d take him by force if necessary.
First, he’d subdue him, break his ankles, sever his tendons, stuff him into a carriage, and then…
‘Lock him in the Underground Dungeon of the estate.’
The thought delighted him.
Though he knew it was a twisted taste, Silvien Valentino greatly enjoyed subjugating the proud. He also loved breaking strong opponents.
‘Yes, this will be entertaining.’
A beautiful boy of his own age who had torn the Enforcers like paper. Such an opponent had never existed before.
With mounting anticipation and competitive fervor, his spine tingled with excitement. The pleasure of trampling him would surely be considerable…
“Alright.”
Raphael nodded.
“Fine.”
“…Pardon?”
“Let’s go.”
Silvien Valentino stared at him blankly, completely at a loss for words.
He was actually going? Really?
“You’re certain about this?”
“Yes. Where should we head?”
Silvien Valentino pointed to the carriage behind them. Watching the boy board so obediently, I felt like a kidnapper abducting an innocent child.
‘Why is he complying so readily?’
Not boring—rather, suspicious.
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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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