My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 5

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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 5
The color drained from Josephine’s face in an instant.
Meeting that shock with an unwavering gaze, I continued speaking with deliberate precision.
“Why must I mortgage my days and hours to you, Mother? Why should I answer to you when you are merely a guest in my own home?”
“Your… your home? Did I say I was a guest?”
“Yes. I am the legitimate wife of Duke Silvien Valentino. This estate belongs to the Duke and his wife. You should have established your own household long ago, Mother!”
Each word she spoke scraped against Josephine’s rawest wounds.
Josephine refused to relinquish her grip on the Valentino Family’s power. She wanted to remain the mistress of this house forever!
But time flows, and eras change.
Josephine was forced to yield the estate to its new mistress, yet she could not bear it. So despite knowing that people whispered behind her back, she remained in this house.
Fortunately, her son—indifferent to household matters—paid no attention to her presence or absence.
‘I am still the true mistress of the Valentino Estate!’
To cement this undeniable fact, she had commanded Kanna to pay her respects three times daily. To establish the hierarchy of who truly ruled this household.
Until now, Kanna had never dared to resist this injustice, obediently complying with every demand.
But then… everything changed.
That hollow daughter-in-law had struck directly at her most vulnerable point!
“Kanna Adis…”
“Kanna Valentino, Mother.”
At least for now, I was still a Valentino. I corrected her with a hoarse voice, each syllable sharp and deliberate.
It clawed at Josephine with vicious intensity. She had reached her limit.
“You there! What are you waiting for? Resume the beating at once!”
But there was no need. My body, sustained only by sheer willpower, lurched violently backward and collapsed.
My head struck the carpet with a harsh, sickening thud.
‘Even so… if I hit wrong, I could die. Won’t someone, anyone, catch me…?’
My vision darkened into shadow.
Unable to endure the fever consuming my entire body, I slowly closed my eyes.
“Do not treat her until Kanna admits her wrongdoing. Give her no medicine!”
With Josephine’s final command, I lost consciousness entirely.
* * *
‘She’s lost her mind.’
That night, Josephine’s fury remained unabated.
‘There’s no other explanation. She couldn’t have changed so drastically otherwise.’
Kanna Valentino—or rather, Kanna Adis.
A bastard whom even House of Adis had treated as refuse.
Black hair and black eyes. That ominous symbol—always hidden beneath locks of hair, that slovenly wretch!
It had been a mistake to take such filth into the family as a daughter-in-law from the start.
From the moment Silvien announced his marriage to Kanna, she had disapproved, but there was nothing to be done. No one could oppose any decision Silvien made.
‘But that marriage was only to avoid Princess Lilienne. Everyone knows it was nothing but a hollow performance!’
Yet she dares to act as mistress of this house?
She dares to treat me, the true lady of this estate, as a mere guest?
‘I’ll have to kill her.’
I had allowed her to live like a rat—barely alive, barely present—but now that mercy had run its course.
‘I should never have let that girl into this house in the first place.’
If Kanna Adis hadn’t existed, the Second Princess would have become Silvien’s wife. I orchestrated everything to make it happen.
The Princess understood my efforts well. After the marriage, she would have treated me with the respect I deserved.
…If only the two of them had married.
If only Silvien hadn’t suddenly produced that card called ‘Kanna Adis’ one day!
‘That’s how it should have been.’
If it had gone that way, what would I have become?
A woman bound by marriage to the Royal Family, receiving deference from a daughter-in-law of royal blood, living grandly in High Society for the rest of my life.
But now, Josephine’s position was precarious.
Once I commanded High Society as the Duchess Valentino, but those days were gone.
I held a title, yes—but it was hollow.
No lands, no substantial wealth. That ungrateful son of mine, Silvien, gave me nothing but the title itself.
It was proof that he did not value me.
That was where my misfortune began.
Silvien refusing to grant me any real power.
When that happens, a noblewoman’s influence crumbles quickly.
Now I was merely a fading flower in High Society, with nowhere left to bloom.
‘But if royal blood had become my daughter-in-law, if I had been bound to the Royal Family, none of this would have happened.’
Yet that rotten stone had usurped not just the position I deserved, but now threatened to claim the mistress of this very estate. Josephine let out a bitter laugh.
‘I wish she would just die. That wretched daughter-in-law who does nothing but obstruct my future.’
Kanna’s calves had become gangrenous. She was now running a fever.
If I simply ignored it and let her be, she would surely waste away and die. Or some other part of her body would fail.
Josephine intended to do nothing.
After all, no one would care whether Kanna lived or died.
Not her father, not her siblings, not even her husband Silvien.
That was when it happened. A knock, followed by a maid’s voice.
“Madam, Duke Silvien Valentino has come to see you.”
What?
Josephine’s breath caught. Silvien was looking for her? At this hour?
‘Why is he doing something he never does?’
My stepson Silvien normally treated me as if I didn’t exist.
He was polite when we crossed paths, but that was all. He rarely sought me out!
Before I could even answer, the door creaked open. Josephine found herself clenching her fists and holding her breath.
“Silvien.”
A tall man strode through the open doorway with measured steps.
The moment our eyes met—those piercing blue eyes of his—it felt as though winter’s chill rushed in with him.
“Yes… What brings you here?”
Josephine heard her own voice tremble as she spoke.
There was no other choice. How many people could stand unfrozen in the presence of Silvien Valentino?
Josephine swallowed hard as she gazed upon Silvien’s face.
Silver hair tumbled across his perfectly sculpted brow, and his skin gleamed white as fresh snow.
Perhaps it was the way he shone so brilliantly—he resembled a sculpture carved from ice itself.
Undeniably beautiful, yet even his breath seemed to emanate a chilling coldness. Even the faint smile that graced his lips felt so glacial that it hardly registered as a smile at all.
But why had he come to see her?
‘Could it possibly be because of Kanna Adis?’
Silvien offered no answer.
Instead, he strode across the room and settled onto the sofa, crossing his long legs and leaning back against the cushions with practiced ease.
The casual authority with which he claimed the space as though it were his own left Josephine no choice but to sit silently across from him.
Then.
“I’ve heard some rather peculiar news.”
His voice cut through the air like frost-edged steel, and Josephine felt a chill race down her spine.
Peculiar news? She’d suspected as much—it had to be about Kanna Adis after all. What on earth had that wretched girl done now?
“Regarding Princess Lilienne’s birthday celebration.”
But what followed contradicted her expectations entirely.
“I heard you assured her of your attendance.”
A breath of relief escaped her lips.
Of course, that made sense! There was no way he’d come here because of that worthless creature Kanna Adis!
“Indeed. Princess Lilienne pestered me so relentlessly that I promised I would accompany you without fail.”
At this, Silvien interlaced his fingers and rested them upon his knee. He slowly lifted his downcast gaze, fixing her with an unwavering stare.
“A promise?”
His voice was measured, as though he’d heard an extraordinarily strange word.
Josephine’s breath caught in her throat once more.
Those eyes—so devastatingly blue. They pierced through her with such intensity that she couldn’t bear to meet his gaze. She lowered her head like a condemned criminal.
The corner of Silvien’s mouth rose ever so slightly.
“Do you possess the authority to make such a promise?”
“Silvien, I merely thought that since Princess Lilienne mentioned she hadn’t seen you in so long and felt quite lonely…”
“Then Count Elester, perhaps you should serve as her companion instead. That is the extent of the authority you possess.”
It was less a suggestion than an absolute command.
Immediately after, Silvien rose to his feet and swiftly departed, his business concluded.
Josephine could only clench her fists until her knuckles whitened, utterly powerless to voice any protest.

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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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