My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 307

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Side Story Episode 38
Side Story 8. Kanna’s Life
After regaining my senses, I went straight to find Kalen.
‘You’re dead.’
How dare he try to lock me away on that island again. This was the perfect opportunity to break him of that habit once and for all.
I picked up the whip he’d given me long ago, intending to threaten him, and Kalen startled in panic and began making excuses.
“Sister, you’re misunderstanding.”
“Don’t make me laugh. I heard everything from Raphael and Silvien. Kalen Adis, you tried to take me to that island again!”
I remembered that part perfectly.
The blissful hours spent in the carriage and the moment he led me to the island. But since I was insisting on “I don’t know! I don’t remember!” I cited what Raphael and Silvien had told me.
“Sister.”
Kalen dropped to his knees at my feet without hesitation.
“It’s truly a misunderstanding, Sister.”
In that moment, his eyes held a sincerity and transparency so genuine it startled me. Like a young fawn….
‘No, a fawn? That’s ridiculous. A snake would be more accurate.’
I mustn’t be deceived. This man was someone who changed his face whenever it suited him.
Even Silvien acknowledged Kalen’s cunning. He’d even given me a subtle warning to be cautious of Kalen Adis.
“I simply wanted to do something good for you. Since the island holds painful memories….”
Kalen paused for a moment before continuing.
“I still have nightmares from back then.”
Back then.
When she had me create a doll and stab its chest with a blade, staging my own death.
In that moment, my mind shattered into a thousand pieces. After that day, my hair turned white, I suffered from mental derangement, and eventually I threw myself from the Cathedral Spire.
“…What does that have to do with anything?”
Thinking back to that time, I wasn’t entirely comfortable either. When I heard that Kalen had taken his own life, I felt unsettled too.
“I thought that if I could create good memories with you there, it might help me heal.”
Kalen murmured with a self-reproachful expression.
“But I couldn’t possibly make such a request of you… So I thought, just for a few days while you had forgotten everything, we could visit.”
Transparent tears rolled down his cheeks.
“I only thought of myself. I’m sorry, Sister. Please forgive me.”
Then he took my hand and pressed his face against my palm.
“Sister, please forgive me….”
I looked back and forth between his tears soaking my hand and his reddened eyes.
‘Good grief.’
A sigh escaped me naturally.
I’d only recently realized that I was weak to crying men. And it seemed Kalen had figured that out before I did.
“Sell that island immediately.”
“Yes. Of course. I’ll do that.”
“Good.”
After saying that, I stroked Kalen’s white hair. The tension vanished from his face. I had forgiven him.
“Thank you for trusting me, sister.”
Then he began to lick away the tears clinging to Kanna Adis’s hand. The moment the moist, soft sensation passed over my skin, goosebumps erupted down my spine.
“What are you doing? Stop.”
“No. Allow me to wipe them away. I was the one who soiled your body, after all….”
“I said that’s enough.”
When Kanna Adis forcibly withdrew her hand, he wore an expression of regret. Yet soon he broke into a radiant smile.
“Sister, now that you’ve cleared up the misunderstanding, shouldn’t you whip me as punishment?”
Why did the conversation take such a turn?
“I’m grateful you understand my sincerity, but that’s separate from the matter of my wrongdoing. I did commit a fault, so shouldn’t I receive punishment for it?”
Kalen spoke with practiced ease as he casually undid the buttons of his tightly fastened shirt.
“Please punish me at once.”
This man was truly insane.
* * *
When I visited Silvien Valentino, I found his eyes darkened by vivid bruises.
“Silvien Valentino! What on earth happened!”
Kanna Adis cried out in shock.
“Who did this to you? How did this happen!”
Bruises marring a face as noble and celestial as his—what kind of beast would commit such cruelty!
“Raphael did it.”
In an instant, my fighting spirit deflated. Kanna Adis shrugged her shoulders.
“It seems he deserved it.”
“You’re being too harsh, Kanna Adis.”
Silvien Valentino took her hand and brought it to the bruised area around his eye.
“He’s marred the face you favor so much. Surely you should be angry with Raphael instead.”
“What on earth did you do to provoke this?”
“Well, I simply….”
Silvien Valentino pressed his lips to her fingertips and chuckled softly.
“I was a bit mischievous because Raphael had forgotten me. It seems he suffered considerable distress over it.”
Then he burst into laughter.
“But my prank was discovered. It appears Raphael has recovered a substantial portion of his memories as of yesterday.”
“Is that so? That’s wonderful.”
“It is wonderful. Though not for my face.”
“What kind of prank could possibly….”
For the area around his eyes to be this darkly bruised—did Raphael strike him with his fist?
‘I can’t imagine it. Raphael throwing a punch.’
At that moment, Silvien Valentino pulled me toward him and seated me upon his lap. Before I realized it, I had wrapped my arms around his neck, then froze.
‘Oh no. That old habit surfaced.’
Kanna Adis. A habit from those audacious days long past had emerged.
‘I mustn’t let Silvien Valentino discover this.’
I retained only fragments—mere slivers—of memories from my time as Kanna Adis.
Of course, I pretended to remember nothing… yet still, old habits from the days when I followed him as an older brother would occasionally slip out unbidden.
Just like now.
‘He didn’t notice, did he?’
I cautiously studied Silvien’s expression. Then he broke into a radiant smile.
“Why do you look at me that way, my beautiful lady?”
In that moment, I lost myself entirely. I couldn’t help it.
Resisting the allure of his deliberately enchanting smile was an almost unbearable struggle.
When I first saw him, I thought no one could be more beautiful than that, yet someone was—the future version of Silvien himself.
“What do you mean all of a sudden? ‘Beautiful lady’—how embarrassing.”
“What else? I’m being coy.”
As I let out a soft laugh at his jest, Silvien gently pressed his lips to my forehead, the bridge of my nose, and my cheek—just as Kanna Adis had done to him.
In that instant, a sharp premonition struck me.
‘He definitely noticed, didn’t he?’
I studied him with suspicious eyes. Silvien simply smiled as he always did.
“Silvien.”
“Yes?”
I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head. What did it matter?
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
Silvien gazed at me without answering, then traced his finger over the bite marks lingering on my neck.
“They’ve faded quite a bit. What a shame.”
“What do you mean ‘shame’? And the ones lower down are still quite vivid. Just how hard did you bite…?”
“It was unavoidable. You were simply too delicious.”
“….”
* * *
Spring had returned to the Garden where the World Tree once stood.
“Silvien has a black eye?”
Sitting beside Raphael over a flower bed blooming abundantly with purple violets, I basked in the sunlight.
“It appears he collided with something.”
“You hit him, didn’t you?”
At those words, Raphael paused briefly before continuing with composure.
“That scoundrel tormented my mind with his frivolous words, so I did administer a small measure of retaliation…”
The fact that Raphael would say even that much meant he must have suffered greatly. What kind of prank had Silvien pulled?
“I wouldn’t call it violence. Merely a light tap.”
“….”
“I do not favor violence. I pursue only peace.”
I narrowed my eyes and stared at him. Raphael’s expression remained as impassive as always.
‘That false modesty of his.’
I suppressed my laughter and spoke.
“Anyway, your memories have returned, haven’t they? Congratulations. Do you remember everything now?”
“Yes.”
Raphael hesitated for a moment before adding his words.
“Thank you for understanding me during those foolish years when I had lost my memories.”
“Hmm?”
“I understand that I caused considerable trouble during that time.”
“Trouble? Not at all. You were simply a bit irritable and temperamental, that’s all.”
“I apologize.”
No, I should be the one apologizing.
I swallowed those words. Compared to the outrageous behavior of Kanna Adis, the adolescent Raphael was practically a saint.
“Don’t apologize. There’s no need for that between us.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
I smiled once, then rested my head against his thigh. Raphael carefully arranged my disheveled hair with tender care.
‘Ah, how peaceful.’
Receiving such infinitely gentle touches naturally brought tranquility. Just as drowsiness began to wash over me, Raphael placed a necklace around my neck.
“I’ve replenished the holy power within it.”
I fingered the white stone hanging at my neck.
It was a holy stone—an artifact from the Southern Continent that Orsini had recovered for me before.
‘This is far more useful than I expected.’
It could store a considerable amount of holy power, so once filled, I could manage alone for about a week.
“Thank you, Raphael.”
“I’m glad it’s been helpful.”
With those words, Raphael touched my hair once more.
“Are you feeling sleepy?”
“Yes, a little.”
“Shall I take you to the chamber?”
“No. Your thigh is more comfortable. Though it is rather firm….”
“I apologize. If you give me time, I’ll make it softer.”
“What are you saying? Absolutely not. I like your thigh just as it is now.”
“Thank you. It’s an honor.”
Well, there’s no need for it to be an honor.
I smiled silently and closed my eyes again, feeling his gentle touch on my hair as I drifted into an afternoon nap.
It felt as comfortable as being home.
* * *
It was when I returned to the Adis Mansion after finishing my business at the Divine Temple.
“Hey! Kanna!”
I pretended not to hear and crossed through the Garden.
But it was no use. Orsini rushed to my side in an instant.
He was grinning widely.
“You’re finally here?”
Why is he so excited? Irritation welled up in me, so I turned away from him.
“Hey, hey. Can’t you hear me? Kanna.”
“Be quiet. Don’t call me.”
“Your love is calling you—you should answer.”
This was exactly why I’d been trying to avoid him.
Apparently, during a moment when my mind had gone haywire, I’d thrown myself at Orsini and spouted off about how much I loved him.
…Truth be told, I remember it. Very clearly.
“You tackled me, Kanna. You came at me like a beast, drooling everywhere.”
Don’t be ridiculous. When did I ever drool?
I wanted to shout and deny it, but since I was pretending to have lost my memory, I couldn’t. All I could do was clench my fists and speak.
“Orsini, calm down and think about this again. It was probably you who was drooling, not me.”
“No, it was you. You came at me like you were going to devour me down to the bone.”
Orsini spoke with an irritatingly serious expression.
“I begged you to stop, but you covered my mouth and tore my clothes apart, then tied my arms with the scraps and forced me to—”
What kind of fantasies does this bastard indulge in daily for such scenarios to flow out so effortlessly?
“Enough, Orsini. Don’t you understand I was temporarily insane?”
“That madness was you too. Those were your own words.”
Truly, what an optimistic and positive way of thinking.
“I probably tried to use you because I’d lost my mind. You’re such an easy mark, after all.”
“What.”
“Huh?”
“So what.”
Orsini fixed her with a piercing gaze and spoke.
“You said you love me. That’s all that matters to me.”
Good heavens.
I didn’t know what to say. All I could think was how convenient life must be for someone so simple-minded.
“Hey. Since we’re here anyway, say it again.”
“Are you insane?”
“Say you love me.”
“No.”
“I love you.”
“….”
What?
I opened my eyes wide and turned to look at him. And I found his face even more flustered than mine.
Orsini seemed more shocked by his own words than I was.
His expression was like spilling water that had accumulated unplanned, unthought-of, filled entirely with mistakes.
But soon he met her gaze with resolute eyes. It was almost a glare. Then he spoke harshly, as if threatening.
“That’s how it is. I said it—what are you going to do about it?”
He seemed to expect cutting remarks laced with contempt to come flying back. The absurdity of it made me laugh despite myself.
“What is it, Orsini. That doesn’t suit you at all….”
In that moment, I panicked. Because my own voice as I spoke was trembling ever so slightly.
Startled by that sensation, I turned my head away sharply. Hiding. Concealing.
“…You’re acting strange?”
Yet Orsini caught that subtle shift in her demeanor and tapped her shoulder.
“Hey, Kanna Adis. Look at me. Look.”
Tap, tap—he continued striking her shoulder. He resembled less a man who had just confessed his love and more a ruffian spoiling for a fight.
“Hey….”
But in the next moment, Orsini’s words faltered. Kanna Adis had quietly taken hold of his fingertips.
“….”
Kanna Adis gazed silently at his hand—the hand that had permanently lost its pinky finger. She adjusted her grip slightly, then spoke.
“Let’s go inside. I’m tired.”
“Huh? Uh, uh….”
Pulling the entranced, dazed Orsini along by his fingertips, Kanna Adis found solace in this moment.
‘Thank goodness.’
It was evening, and the reddish glow of twilight concealed the flush creeping across her cheeks.
Truly, she was grateful.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————