My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 4

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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 4
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Bang!
Kanna Adis, who had been dozing fitfully on the sofa, snapped her eyes open. She could have sworn she’d heard something just now….
The moment that thought crossed her mind, another thunderous crash echoed through the room.
“Open this door at once! If you don’t, I’ll break it down!”
A middle-aged woman’s sharp voice cut through the air, followed immediately by another violent blow against the door.
Bang, bang, bang! Three successive deafening impacts.
Kanna Adis stared at the door with a vacant expression before realizing it was locked from the inside. She bolted upright. She had no memory of locking it.
It must have been Mary’s doing!
“I’m opening it now!”
With that cry, I hurried to unlock and open the door.
And there I saw them—servants wielding hammers, led by a woman.
‘She’s arrived.’
The true mistress of this estate.
Silvien Valentino’s stepmother, and my mother-in-law.
‘Countess Josephine Elester.’
She was not Silvien’s biological mother. He had lost his mother at the age of ten.
After that, his father had taken a new wife—Josephine.
Even after the Duke’s death, Josephine had not left the estate, claiming the title of Countess Elester, one of the many titles held by House of Valentino.
But in name alone was she Countess Elester; in practice, she still conducted herself as the mistress of House of Valentino.
“What do you think you’re doing? Can’t you show proper courtesy at once?”
Josephine Elester swept into the room, snapping open her fan and fixing me with a contemptuous gaze.
“Mary brought me some rather peculiar news.”
Sure enough, beyond the doorway, Mary wore a malicious smirk. She must have gone straight to tattle.
“Have you forgotten the rule that you must pay your respects every morning? It’s already one o’clock in the afternoon. You’ve even neglected the noon courtesy call!”
“No, I haven’t forgotten.”
Seven in the morning, noon, and six in the evening.
Three times a day, without fail, I had to go pay my respects. One minute late, and I’d hear nothing but insults.
I recalled the years of suffering Lee Ju-hwa had endured and smiled bitterly.
“I simply chose not to follow it.”
Perhaps this was for the best.
I’d been planning to divorce anyway, so if the other side would create a scandal for me, all the better. Even better if they cast me out.
“Three courtesy calls a day? Other noblewomen would faint in shock if they heard that. Surely even your generation didn’t observe such archaic etiquette?”
Excessive shock breeds silence. I felt the truth of that as I straightened my shoulders.
“You… what did you just say?”
Even when Mary came to her crying with the tale, she’d doubted it.
That foolish, dim-witted girl Kanna Adis had actually talked back? That witless creature who was always anxious about others’ opinions?
She’d thought either Mary was exaggerating or something had gone wrong with Kanna’s mind….
‘She’s lost her senses!’
How dare you talk back to me so brazenly?
You, who would grovel and fawn over anyone just to be liked, acting as if you’d eat food off the ground for a scrap of affection!
“That is the code of our House. Now that you’ve married my precious son, you will abide by our family’s laws, whether you like it or not!”
“But Mother, isn’t that rule something you created yourself?”
“What?”
“It’s nothing but your spiteful whim, yet you speak of it as though it were family law. Doesn’t that embarrass you before the long and storied history of House of Valentino?”
A chilling silence descended once more. But it didn’t last long before the response I’d anticipated arrived.
“Is anyone there? Seize this wretch at once!”
The servants who had been watching hesitantly stepped forward and grabbed Kanna Adis by the arms.
“Today, I will teach you proper manners! Bring me the cane!”
Mary Goldian handed over a cane she’d prepared in advance. It was far thicker than the one Kanna Adis had used earlier.
“Mary! Lift her skirts at once!”
“Yes, madam!”
Mary Goldian rushed forward and seized the hem of Kanna Adis’s skirt.
Her expression remained composed on the surface, but inwardly she was giddy with malicious glee.
How dare this girl touch her, the madam’s favored maid—she deserved everything coming to her.
And yet…
“Move.”
With a sharp kick, Kanna Adis swept Mary Goldian’s plump hand away. Then, lifting her own skirts herself, she smiled coldly.
“I’ll do it myself.”
“….”
“Go ahead, Mother. Strike away.”
That icy smile sent a chill down not only Mary Goldian’s spine, but Josephine Elester’s as well.
The Kanna Adis she knew would be begging for forgiveness by now—yet here she was, openly mocking and provoking her instead!
“Do you think I’m joking? Fine! I’ll discipline you myself until you learn your place!”
Discipline. Discipline.
As Kanna Adis turned the word over in her mind, she suddenly burst into bright, innocent laughter.
“Beating your daughter-in-law as discipline? How befitting of a noble House’s dignity. I’m sure the Duke of Valentino himself would be immensely proud of Mother’s teachings.”
“Silence! How dare you answer back when your elders are speaking!”
Crack! A searing bolt of pain shot through her calf. Kanna Adis clenched her teeth.
She’d steeled herself, but the pain was so sudden and sharp that a cry nearly escaped her!
Josephine Elester, thoroughly worked up, raised her arm high once more. With all her strength, she brought it down.
Crack!
“It seems House of Adis didn’t teach you proper etiquette either. How shameless—bringing such an ill-mannered girl into my home as a daughter-in-law!”
Crack! Crack!
With each stroke of the cane, red welts appeared across her calves.
Soon, as flesh split open and blood began to spray, the watching servants swallowed their gasps of horror.
Yet Kanna Adis merely gripped her skirts tightly, her lips pressed firmly together as she endured.
‘I won’t scream.’
If she cried out, Josephine Elester would surely be satisfied.
I had absolutely no intention of satisfying that woman who had treated Lee Ju-hwa—me—like a dog all this time!
“Huff, huff….”
How much time had passed like this?
Josephine’s arms trembled violently with muscle spasms from exerting strength she hadn’t used in so long.
By that point, Kanna Adis’s calves had swollen grotesquely, completely drenched in blood.
“Do you still not understand your mistake!”
“I don’t understand.”
“This…!”
What a stubborn wretch!
Not only Josephine but even the other servants clicked their tongues. Mary Goldian, who had initially watched with amusement, had turned deathly pale.
The calves were deeply gouged with blood streaming freely, yet they swelled grotesquely like lumps of dough!
‘She’s insane. She must be insane. How could a person change so drastically in just one night!’
Kanna Adis’s face was also drenched in cold sweat, yet she showed no sign of surrender.
But Josephine was equally unyielding. She thrust the riding crop toward the attendant beside her and commanded.
“You whip her instead!”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you hear me! I’m telling you to whip her in my place!”
“M-Madam, but….”
Though merely in name, Kanna Adis was still a noblewoman of distinguished bloodline.
She wanted him—a man and a mere servant—to strike her? What kind of disaster might that invite?
“Now!”
The attendant reluctantly approached and halfheartedly moved the crop, barely grazing her with a light tap.
“What are you doing! Do it properly!”
“M-Madam. But the young lady’s calves are already….”
They were already a mangled mess of wounds and blood—how could he strike her further!
At the attendant’s hesitation, Josephine fell silent.
She had struck with all her might in her frenzy, but the attendant was right. Kanna Adis’s calves were so destroyed there was nowhere left to hit.
‘This should have broken her spirit.’
Josephine glared at Kanna Adis’s face and asked sharply.
“Do you still think you’ve done nothing wrong?”
Kanna Adis laughed weakly.
From gritting her teeth and enduring, her jaw ached, and her entire body was drenched in cold sweat. The searing heat rising from her legs burned through her whole being with excruciating pain, but….
‘I won’t live like that.’
Three times a day at set hours. I must pay my respects to my mother-in-law without fail?
That’s violence pure and simple. A silent threat telling me never to dream of going out freely.
‘Absolutely not. I won’t do such things.’
Somehow, she had returned to her own world.
She wanted to return, yet perhaps she could not.
That’s why she wanted to live properly. Treated as a dignified human being, not as a beast.
But if she yielded here, nothing would change. Nothing at all.
“Yes, I was wrong.”
Kanna Adis answered in a hoarse voice.
Finally admitting her mistake! Josephine was about to break into a triumphant smile when—
“I should never have done something I didn’t want to do from the start. I was wrong to suppress my feelings and push through with it all.”

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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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