My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 6

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

Chapter 6
* * *
“Your Grace, if I may, there is something I must tell you.”
Silvien Valentino’s footsteps halted abruptly as he made his way toward the study.
In the dim corridor, a butler approached, lantern in hand.
“What is the matter?”
His tone was courteous and formal—no different from how he addressed Josephine Elester.
It was nothing unusual, so the butler felt no surprise.
Silvien Valentino, the Duke, had always been this way. Regardless of station, he extended the same courtesy to everyone.
Yet somehow, despite this, Silvien never appeared warm-hearted. Rather, he seemed arrogant—as though surveying all from some rarefied peak where even the air itself grew thin.
“The truth is….”
The butler explained the day’s events from beginning to end.
The conflict that had erupted between Kanna Adis and Josephine Elester. And now, Kanna’s legs were nearly torn open, burning with fever.
Silvien listened without so much as a flicker of his brow, then posed a question.
“And?”
“What should be done? The injury is severe. If left unattended, it will become dangerous.”
The answer required no deliberation.
“All domestic matters within the household are managed by the Countess Elester.”
Whether she lived or died, whether she became crippled or not—leave her be. A death sentence delivered without ceremony.
That was the end of it.
Silvien Valentino simply walked past the butler.
Josephine Elester’s prediction had been accurate. No one would care what became of Kanna Adis.
Silvien Valentino cared nothing whether his wife lived or died.
* * *
‘God, she really is trying to kill me.’
In the pre-dawn hours, I finally regained consciousness.
And with it came a creeping dread—the very real possibility that I might actually die.
My condition was dire. Cold sweat drenched my entire body, fever burned through me like molten fire. And above all else.
“Ugh!”
The pain.
My calves screamed with a burning agony that wrung involuntary gasps from my lips. I forced myself to look, trembling with fear.
The moment my eyes fell upon them, my breath caught in my throat.
I’d expected it, but.
‘It’s horrific.’
If left untreated, infection would spread and my legs would fester.
And that wasn’t all. Without proper disinfection, I’d almost certainly develop a bacterial infection, and in the worst case, the nerves in my legs could suffer permanent damage, leaving me crippled, or….
‘I could die.’
This wasn’t Earth, with its antibiotics and vaccines in abundance.
In this era, if you allowed a bacterial infection to take hold or let inflammation spread unchecked, death was a very real outcome.
‘But she’s just going to leave me here? No medicine, no one to care for me?’
These people really are trying to kill me. Or maybe they want to cripple me instead.
“Truly despicable. Though I suppose the people of this world have always regarded human life as insignificant as ants.”
I laughed bitterly at the absurdity of it all.
I’m sorry to disappoint them, but I’ll manage to treat myself just fine. This is nothing I can’t handle alone.
“Ugh… oh, this hurts like hell.”
Dizzy and on the verge of collapse, I crawled down from the bed and dragged myself across the floor.
I desperately wanted to stay in bed, but….
‘Nothing gets solved by lying down.’
After rummaging through the room for a while, I found something useful. Clean pillow sheets, a handkerchief, and whiskey.
‘First, I need to disinfect the wound.’
I leaned my back against the wall and grabbed the whiskey bottle. This was going to hurt like hell. I was taking a deep breath to prepare myself when—
‘…Wait. What is that?’
My gaze locked onto the window.
Beyond the large window, thick branches stretched nearly to the pane itself.
A room obscured by trees from the outside—hardly the kind of space befitting a duchess. Though it did reveal my position within the estate….
But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
‘That tree… it looks like that one.’
The moment I threw open the window, I was certain.
The fragrance emanating from the tree, the shape of the leaves…!
‘It’s a camphor tree.’
A treasure trove of medicinal material—from the wood to the bark to the leaves, nothing was wasted. In Korea, it was actually used as a traditional medicine herb.
Camphor leaves in particular were remarkably effective for treating bruises and inflammation, making them the premier emergency treatment herb.
And here, conveniently, the tree stretched right before my window. This was….
‘Does the camphor tree even grow on this continent?’
The camphor tree is a plant of the Eastern Continent.
Yet here it stands, thriving in the garden of a Western Continent noble family?
‘Josephine, that woman does collect plants from the Eastern Continent, doesn’t she? So it was true.’
Recalling the memories of my previous self, I leaned my head out the window.
‘Just as I thought.’
The trunk of the camphor tree was embedded with dark mana stones. There were probably more tangled around the roots.
The power to sustain life in a land where the climate is unsuitable, where nothing should survive—without those mana stones, the tree would have withered long ago.
Prolonging a plant’s life with mana stones? How tasteless. And yet such things are popular among noblewomen!
‘Still, this works out perfectly for me.’
I harvested some leaves. Then, settling back against the wall, I picked up the whiskey bottle again.
Now I truly had to disinfect the wound.
I swallowed hard, then tilted the bottle toward my shin. The alcohol poured across the wound. And then—
“…!”
Light flashed before my eyes and a groan escaped between my clenched teeth. The pain was so intense it felt like my skin was being seared by fire.
‘Endure it. I can’t pass out.’
With whiskey-dampened hands, I crushed the camphor leaves until their juice flowed, then carefully applied them to the wound on my shin.
“Phew.”
I ignored the sharp, stinging sensation spreading across my skin and tore strips from the sheet to wrap around my wound like a makeshift bandage.
That’s done. I’ve done everything I can. Only then did a sigh of relief escape me.
‘I was lucky. If I keep treating it like this, the wound will heal quickly.’
I leaned my head against the wall with a soft thud and closed my eyes.
Truly, it had been a day like a tempest.
Just last night before falling asleep, I was living in Korea with my family, planning to go to work the next day, and I had a date scheduled for the weekend….
‘Mom. Dad. Sun-hong. Toto.’
And my wonderful boyfriend.
In that moment, a wave of longing crashed through my heart. I almost let myself cry, just a little, but I gritted my teeth and held it back.
I would not cry. Not ever.
This wasn’t the time for that. I couldn’t afford to become weak now.
“Ju-hwa, in times of crisis, tears solve nothing. They only make you weaker,” my mother’s words echoed in my mind like a mantra, and I endured.
I would not cry. I would overcome everything.
And I would think slowly about what to do next. But for that to happen.
‘I must survive. No matter what.’
I must survive no matter what.
* * *
Ten days had passed since then.
Josephine Elester was taking tea in the Glass Greenhouse.
The greenhouse, filled with plants from the Eastern Continent, was maintained by magic stones and stood as one of Josephine’s greatest sources of pride.
“Mary, what’s become of Kanna Adis?”
Quite some time had passed since she’d beaten Kanna Adis like a dog, yet no word had come of the body being disposed of.
Moreover, the fact that the meals pushed into the room like dog food were being eaten consistently suggested she hadn’t died yet.
“She appears to still be alive, madam… but given the severity of her wounds, I suspect it will be a matter of days.”
“Good. You’re certain no one is attending to her?”
“Yes. I have personally instructed every employee in the Valentino Estate not to enter that room, madam.”
“Very well. You may go.”
Mary bowed to Josephine and left the Glass Greenhouse.
‘Foolish girl. Why did she have to provoke me and invite such punishment?’
The memory of that girl Kanna Adis striking her calf was still vivid. Her anger remained unquenched.
‘I won’t feel satisfied until I see her dead.’
How dare she defy me, the head maid favored by the madam!
“H-Head Maid!”
Just then, a maid came rushing over in an unseemly manner. Mary’s face twisted in disapproval at such undignified behavior.
“Who told you to run like that? If the madam were to see you….”
“Miss Kanna Adis!”
Gasping for breath, the maid’s words tumbled out. At the mention of Kanna Adis’s name, Mary’s eyes widened.
“That girl finally died! Didn’t she!”
The maid’s face went deathly pale as she struggled to catch her breath.
“What? Why are you doing that?”
It was then I realized the maid’s gaze was fixed on something behind me. A sudden chill ran down the back of my neck.
Then came a voice.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
Thump! Mary’s heart plummeted to the depths of her chest.
That voice….
“I’m alive.”
Footsteps echoed from behind, drawing steadily closer.
“So you really did wish for my death, didn’t you, Mary?”
Mary’s fingers trembled.
Kanna Adis walked toward her with perfect composure. In fact, the color in her cheeks visible beneath her bangs looked even healthier than before!
“You there.”
Kanna Adis’s gaze shifted to the maid behind her.
“Bring me a cane.”

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