My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 30
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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 30
Silvien Valentino had seen nothing, after all.
No evidence. No witnesses. He could only harbor suspicions on his own.
Therefore, there was nothing that could harm me.
“….”
Silvien Valentino did not answer immediately.
As if observing some peculiar phenomenon, he scrutinized me slowly before opening his mouth.
“What Miss Kanna Adis does is of no concern to me. However, I would appreciate it if you showed more consideration for the honor of House Valentino.”
Then he pressed his shoe firmly into the grass and lifted it away.
“Rolling about in the grass outdoors. Is that not beneath even beasts?”
What?
A crack appeared in Kanna Adis’s composed facade. What had he just said?
“Beneath beasts? Did you just say beneath beasts?”
At that, Silvien Valentino smiled with utmost courtesy.
“Your tastes are hardly refined, are they?”
Kanna Adis clenched her fists.
Yes, it was intentional.
I had deliberately steered the conversation to twist Silvien Valentino’s insides and drive him to push for divorce with vigor.
‘Who does he think he is to say such things?’
The fury welling up inside me was unstoppable.
Not because of myself, but because of Ju-hwa.
What made this man so special when he had never spared her a single glance while she desperately craved his affection?
‘What would he do if I were with another man? After seven years without so much as a finger’s touch, and not even appearing on our wedding night.’
On that first night, Ju-hwa sat alone on the bed, waiting for Silvien Valentino. Hearing nothing, she naturally expected him to come, her heart racing with anticipation.
Only when dawn broke did she realize the truth.
Silvien Valentino was not coming.
‘Fine. I suppose that’s acceptable. It was a contractual marriage, after all.’
But this? This was different.
He had never regarded her as an equal human being, yet he dared to call her base for rolling about in the garden with another man?
Did Silvien Valentino have any right to judge?
He who had abandoned me to my fate?
Kanna Adis glared at Silvien Valentino.
He had plunged me into fury, yet remained aloof like the moon in winter—elegant, composed. That made me angrier still.
“How refined must your tastes be, Duke.”
I swallowed hard and lashed out.
“I fail to understand how you can speak such words.”
“….”
“You did not appear on our wedding night, and for seven years since, you have kept your wife in solitary confinement. Do you truly possess any taste at all?”
Lee Ju-hwa, if I ever meet you, you’re in for a scolding from me. What could possibly be appealing about such an icy man that you clung to him so desperately?
With such thoughts, I glared at Silvien Valentino with fierce intensity.
‘…What?’
The longer I held his gaze, the stranger something felt inside me.
Because.
‘Have I ever locked eyes with someone for this long before?’
Silvien Valentino had always looked at me in passing, never once bestowing such prolonged attention upon me.
Then, lips that had been sealed like stone parted open.
“Is that why you’re upset?”
“…Pardon?”
“Because I haven’t held you?”
….
….
….
After three seconds of silence, I marveled at my own restraint.
Thank goodness. I nearly called him a madman without thinking.
“I’m not sure why you’d think that. I simply wanted to mock you a little.”
“It seems the past has wounded you deeply.”
Silvien Valentino laughed quietly.
The past? What on earth could he mean?
“….”
Ah. Right.
Lee Ju-hwa. She hid in the bedroom once… about half a year ago.
My face nearly flushed crimson in that instant, but I bit my tongue and suppressed it. I refused to let my expression crumble.
Instead, I scoffed as though hearing some trivial matter.
“Ah yes, now that you mention it, such a thing did occur. But worry not. It is certainly not because of that. Rather….”
I sparkled my eyes and smiled mischievously. My expression was that of a spiteful child.
“After that incident, I became convinced that the Duke and I would never share a marital relationship.”
“What do you mean?”
“You must be exhausted from your heavy workload, and surely lacking vigor in many respects. Despite your youth… Tsk. How pitiable.”
I knew it was a terribly crude insult. Yet I felt not the slightest hesitation.
He had insulted me first, so now it was my turn.
I was not the type to endure in silence. If I received something, I had to return it—preferably doubled or tripled.
Since Silvien Valentino had treated me like a beast unworthy of regard, I was simply doing the same.
“But do not worry. My lips are sealed. I won’t spread rumors.”
How’s that? Does it sting?
Being treated as though he were impotent—surely that was unpleasant.
“Had I known the Duke was such a man from the start, I would never have married him in the first place….”
“Is that so?”
Silvien Valentino’s lips curved upward. He smiled.
Yet his eyes did not smile. A flicker of curiosity passed through them, but they were blue eyes growing gradually bored.
“I do hope you’re not expecting me to dispel your doubts about me, Miss Kanna Adis.”
Why was the conversation drifting in that direction again?
Did she think I was doing this to attract his attention?
Kanna Adis wiped away her playful smile and assumed a stern expression.
“Not at all. Not in the slightest.”
“….”
“Listen carefully. I have no feelings whatsoever for the Duke anymore.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I want to divorce him immediately, but my father won’t permit it, so it’s only delayed. But someday, I will absolutely go through with it—the divorce.”
“I understand.”
In that instant, my blood pressure spiked rapidly.
I don’t believe him. Not even a shred of it!
…Though, to be fair.
‘Lee Ju-hwa, you should have shown more restraint!’
Ju-hwa should have been more composed.
Just days ago, she had clutched at that man’s trouser leg, weeping and begging him to look at her, sobbing pitifully….
It was only natural that Silvien Valentino would harbor such a misunderstanding.
“Then, have a pleasant evening.”
Silvien Valentino, no longer interested in Kanna Adis, walked past her lightly. Kanna Adis glared fiercely at his retreating figure.
He was truly an insufferable man.
* * *
After returning to the Valentino Estate, Kanna Adis released a relieved sigh from beneath her blankets.
It was over safely. I had conquered the great mountain that was my first venture into High Society.
Whatever I do from now on will be easier than today.
‘Unexpected things did happen, but all things considered, this was sufficiently successful.’
Certainly, troublesome matters will arise in the future. But I will surely succeed. I will manage it well.
‘Yes. I can do this.’
Just as I did in Korea.
‘I adapted well in Korea too. So I should be able to do well in this world as well.’
Sleep came to me swiftly.
Had the dream already begun?
The moment I first possessed Ju-hwa’s body flashed through my mind.
When I was so shocked that I stopped eating and locked myself away at home. When I hid in bed and refused to venture outside.
“Meow.”
The cat that had squeezed through my blankets and rubbed its face against my arm—my Toto.
“You don’t want to go outside? That’s fine. Don’t go. You don’t want to go to school either? That’s okay too.”
“….”
“Even if you don’t go outside, even if you don’t go to school, you won’t die. It’s not a big deal. Just tell me later what you want to do, and I’ll help you.”
Ju-hwa’s mother didn’t forcibly drag her outside. She didn’t treat her like a sick child or one with problems.
She simply waited patiently until she expressed what she wanted.
And that was how I was able to step out of bed so quickly.
Yet I never attended high school. The unfamiliar world still frightened me.
I simply frequented my mother’s study, often withdrawing books on herbal medicine. She found them utterly fascinating, given her research into alchemy.
My mother, observing this quietly, made a suggestion one day.
“Take the high school equivalency exam, Ju-hwa. And enroll in a university where you can continue studying what you desire.”
But fearing it might burden me, she quickly added:
“I’m merely presenting such a path as an option. If you don’t wish to pursue it, you needn’t. Whatever you choose to do, your father and I will love you.”
My younger brother never treated me carelessly either.
“Sister, if anyone mistreats you outside, tell me. I’ll punish them for you.”
In the end, I laughed. Their affection was so precious, so joyful. Like paradise itself.
Would Ju-hwa be happy returning to that place?
Surely she would be.
Where my mother and father and brother are. Where Toto is. And.
“Lee Ju-hwa.”
…Where he is.
“I love you, Lee Ju-hwa.”
I sank into deeper sleep.
My dream world overflowed with everything I cherished. Love, love, a world filled with nothing but love. My beautiful paradise.
A serene smile bloomed across my sleeping face.
* * *
The next day.
Word arrived that Orsini had departed for sword training.
A martial pilgrimage—something apprentice knights undertook.
Never before had a knight of Orsini’s caliber, counted among the Empire’s finest, embarked on such a journey. In other words, he had.
‘Made a spectacle of himself.’
He had fled. To escape me.
I understood his feelings well enough. Of course he would be ashamed to face me.
“Duchess, you have a visitor.”
While I spent time in the Research Laboratory, Maid Lea came to find me.
“A visitor?”
“Yes. The First Imperial Prince is waiting for you.”
“Who?”
“The First Imperial Prince is waiting for you.”
“Who did you say?”
I thought I had misheard. Understandably so. The First Imperial Prince? Suddenly? Out of nowhere?
Fortunately, Lea was a patient maid.
“Prince Argon Isaberk has come to call, Duchess.”
What nonsense is this?
I have no acquaintance with him whatsoever.
* * *
“At last we meet.”
Lea’s words had been the truth.
In the Reception Room, a platinum-haired man I’d never seen before sat with his legs crossed in an insufferably arrogant manner.
He lowered the cigar from his lips and exhaled smoke with a deliberate flourish.
“I’ve been waiting long. But that’s fine. Beauty is worth the wait.”
Argon Isaberk rose from his seat.
“…!”
I was taken aback.
In mere steps, he closed the distance between us and seized my hand, bringing it to his lips for a kiss on the back. With his lips still pressed against my skin, he lifted his eyes and smiled wickedly.
“You’re even more beautiful up close.”
Those violet eyes seemed to pierce through me entirely, as if dissecting every layer. For a moment, he felt like a predator assessing its prey.
The intensity of his gaze was enough to make me instinctively look away, yet I managed to meet his eyes and respond.
“It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”
“Your voice is lovely too. And what a pleasant fragrance.”
I subtly withdrew my hand from his grasp.
“What brings you here?”
“Her Majesty the Empress has instructed me to escort you.”
Not even twenty-four hours had passed, and she was already sending someone to fetch me?
She must be quite desperate.
I had planned to go soon anyway. I nodded in agreement.
“I shall prepare myself and come down shortly.”
“Take your time. I don’t mind waiting for a beauty. It’s rather thrilling, actually.”
What kind of person was this?
Despite his words, Argon Isaberk smiled with the innocence of a young boy.
“I’ll wait in the carriage then.”
No, that’s unnecessary. I can go alone.
How wonderful it would be if I lived in a world where I could say such things.
I swallowed my sigh.
This cursed system of rank and station.
As I left the room, I scanned my surroundings. Curiously, I couldn’t spot a single attendant accompanying him.
Not even a Knight Guard, let alone any retainers—he traveled alone?
Could a member of the Imperial Family truly do such a thing?
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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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