My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 51

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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 51
As I reflected on the seven years that had passed, my fear dissolved entirely.
Josephine straightened her shoulders with confidence.
“Now Kanna is part of my family. She is the daughter-in-law of the Valentino Family. As an elder, it is only natural for me to correct her improper habits….”
“Correct her habits, you say?”
But the situation unfolded differently than expected.
Kalen, whom I thought would let the matter pass without fuss, rudely cut off Josephine’s words.
“Is it the Valentino way to strip a noblewoman of her clothes, force her to kneel in the dirt, and strike her before others?”
Yet Josephine was not intimidated.
“Do you think I would do this if I had any other choice, Sir Kalen? Kanna told a lie. She dared to do so before Her Highness the Princess!”
Then she cast a pleading glance toward Princess Lilienne, but the Princess pretended not to notice, as though she were a third party entirely uninvolved in this affair.
“…Step aside.”
Kalen took a deep breath.
He clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, breathing as though forcibly suppressing his rage—as if that were the only way he could control himself.
“I said step aside.”
Josephine glared at Kalen with gritted teeth.
In that brief moment, she wrestled fiercely with the choice: should she retreat with her tail between her legs, or should she stand her ground and fight?
And she decided.
“How disrespectful, Sir Kalen. This is the Valentino Mansion. This is not a place where you have the authority to issue commands!”
Having made her choice, there was no room for hesitation.
Josephine roughly lifted Kanna’s chin with her fan for all to see.
“Do you know what Kanna has done? Last night, she cast a spell on the Knight Guards and rendered them unconscious. Moreover, she trespassed into the Duke’s Bedroom without permission! And that is not even the end of it. She dared to tell lies before the Imperial Family.”
Josephine straightened her posture with unbridled confidence and cried out.
“Furthermore, recently she bore the name of Valentino and faced a public trial! This is an unprecedented disgrace in our family’s history!”
Yes, that is why there is ample justification for punishment!
“The House of Adis may tolerate such behavior, but Valentino cannot! I will not stand idle while my daughter-in-law tarnishes the honor of this family. So cease your meddling in family affairs and leave!”
While Josephine rambled on, Kalen was struggling to contain his fury.
He suppressed the emotion that had made his head spin and examined Kanna carefully.
Kanna, her chin forcibly raised by the fan’s edge. Her appearance was far more pitiful than what I had observed from a distance.
Her lips were split, blood trickling down, her hair disheveled….
‘Why on earth?’
…She was regarding him with a look of annoyance.
In that instant, Kalen forgot every word.
Had his eyes deceived him?
Was he seeing things incorrectly?
No, it was not so. Kanna truly was annoyed. The light in her eyes as she looked at him was irritation itself.
It was as though she were looking at a nuisance, was it not?
‘Why?’
He was utterly bewildered. It felt as though he had been struck on the back of the head, his mind reeling.
Why was she looking at him that way?
Why isn’t she sending a signal asking for help?
Even as she’s being treated like that, why on earth isn’t she?
“Leave, Sir Kalen Adis. If you do as I say, I will overlook this rudeness.”
Kalen’s face froze over.
Perhaps thanks to Josephine’s outburst, he had now become completely composed. More levelheaded than ever, he made his judgment.
What he needed to do right now.
“…Sir Kalen!”
Josephine’s eyes widened in shock. Princess Lilienne too stifled a short scream.
Kalen had drawn his sword without warning!
“W-what are you doing!”
The Valentino Knight Guards drew their blades in response. Yet Kalen didn’t even spare them a glance, speaking calmly instead.
“I have no wish to escalate this matter, Count Elester.”
“L-look at what you’re doing! You’re escalating it! Drawing a sword—surely you don’t intend to turn this into a dispute between houses!”
“That depends on you, Count.”
“…!”
Kalen fixed his gaze directly on Josephine and declared slowly.
“Decide now whether this becomes a conflict or not.”
“What exactly…?”
“I can handle either outcome.”
Josephine bit her lip.
Kalen Adis was openly threatening her now.
He was declaring, staking his house’s name, that there would be war if she didn’t release Kanna.
‘Why is he acting like this!’
How could he behave so irrationally? I’d heard he was the composed gentleman of House Adis, but it was all mere rumor!
‘But escalating this will only hurt me.’
A conflict between House Adis and the Valentino Family. Rivalry between descendants of the Holy Knights. Discord between the continent’s protectors.
It would surely spread across the entire continent.
Moreover, Silvien, her stepson, despised troublesome matters. If I fell out of his favor, I might be cast out of this mansion…
“Do as you please! Whether you take that child or not, I don’t care!”
Only then did Kalen sheathe his sword.
He stepped forward to embrace Kanna’s body. Or rather, he tried to.
“Don’t.”
Kanna whispered so softly only Kalen could hear. Then she pushed his hand away and rose to her feet on her own.
Kalen’s lips twisted. He clenched his fist, then removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
“Let’s go.”
Kanna nodded. She meticulously wiped her face with Kalen’s handkerchief that had been tucked in the jacket, then tossed it onto the Greenhouse floor.
“Until next time, Mother.”
Josephine’s fury began to boil over.
She watched Kalen and Kanna’s departing figures as they left the Greenhouse, and unable to contain herself any longer, she fanned her fan vigorously.
“I never dreamed Sir Kalen could be such a barbarian! Wouldn’t you agree, Your Highness?”
I was so furious that spittle flew from my mouth.
Josephine wiped her lips with her hand and made another appeal.
“How dare you draw a sword before the Imperial Family! Even if it wasn’t aimed at the Princess, that’s something only ruffians would do!”
Yet the Princess, maintaining her neutrality, merely smiled without saying a word.
That only infuriated me further, my face burning hot. I fanned myself vigorously and cried out.
“In any case, you’re truly the son of Alexandro Adis! The Duke of Adis tears monsters apart with his bare hands, doesn’t he? How utterly ungraceful!”
Utterly ungraceful!
The moment I poured all my strength into that word.
“…?”
A sharp, pricking sensation stabbed at my skin.
‘Was I bitten by an insect?’
As I scratched the back of my neck.
“…!”
Pain engulfed me like a tidal wave in an instant.
A sensation as if my entire body were wrapped in scorching flames. Followed immediately by searing pain that mercilessly burned my flesh.
“Aaaahhh!”
I leaped from my seat and brushed at my skirts. I flailed my sleeves and thrashed my entire body.
“F-fire! My body’s on fire!”
The maids rushed over. They lifted my clothes to check, but found nothing.
“Hurry! Ah, ahhh! Please! Put out the fire, I’m begging you!”
With the sensation of my skin burning, I couldn’t help but tear at my clothes. Buttons snapped off roughly and my body was exposed.
Yet no matter how hard the maids searched, there was no burning area. Josephine simply kept shrieking nonsense about her flesh burning.
“D-Duchess?”
Lilienne looked at me in bewilderment, but in this moment, I could see nothing.
“N-now! My flesh is still burning away! W-what are you doing! Do something, anything!”
“M-madam. Please, do calm yourself….”
“Aaaaaaahhh!”
* * *
From far behind, screams echoed.
The plan had worked perfectly.
‘I should have witnessed it with my own eyes.’
If Kalen hadn’t shown up, I could have seen that entertaining spectacle!
‘This bastard just had to interfere….’
I’d provoked him in every way to make him hit me. I hadn’t applied that powder so generously to my face for nothing.
‘All that effort wasted.’
I’d naturally expected Josephine to strike my face.
So I’d taken the antidote I’d prepared beforehand to prevent poisoning, then carefully spread the toxic powder across my cheeks and jaw.
It would have gotten on her hands when she hit me, and rubbed onto her fan when she tapped my jaw.
When she fanned herself, the powder would naturally drift toward her nose and mouth. It would be over the moment she brought her hand to her lips.
“What seems to be troubling you so?”
Inside the Carriage.
Kanna clamped her mouth shut and glared out the window, and Kalen, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
“Don’t be upset.”
Because of you, I missed out on something truly entertaining, so I can’t help but be irritated.
Kalen probably thought he had rescued her, but from her perspective, he was nothing but an infuriating meddler.
“Why on earth did you come to this place?”
“You violated our contract.”
“A contract? Ah, surely not that one?”
You came all this way to apprehend me over that?
Kanna glared at Kalen with an expression of utter exasperation.
It wasn’t even a significant contract for him, yet he had the audacity to storm into the Valentino Household. Truly, he was an insufferably persistent man.
“…You.”
The silence that had stretched on was finally broken by Kalen.
“Am I truly so abhorrent to you?”

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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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