My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 72
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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 72
The handwriting matches the Crown Prince’s?
‘Could someone have switched the letters?’
Who had taken the letter? Surely….
‘Father had taken it.’
A chill ran down my spine. An absurd possibility had crossed my mind.
Could Father have…?
Could it be Father?
‘No, that’s impossible. Get a grip.’
I let out a soft laugh.
As if Father could have seen through my scheme. And even if he had, would he have gone so far as to rewrite the letter in the Crown Prince’s handwriting and fabricate evidence?
For what purpose?
I simply laughed. As I walked briskly forward, I suddenly caught my reflection in a glass window. The scar on the nape of my neck stood out distinctly.
“If this were a false accusation I had orchestrated, then I would have essentially thrown myself at Isaac’s blade. I am not a woman of such audacity.”
It wasn’t audacity. I had merely struggled to survive.
I had disguised a nutritional supplement as poison and sent it to Isaac, deliberately allowed myself to be captured by him, and pressed my neck against his dagger to create the wound.
It was a desperate struggle for life.
“Let’s go home.”
It was all over now.
I sighed and opened the courtroom door.
Night had already fallen.
‘I’m exhausted.’
Now that I had overcome the crisis, I could go home and rest properly. I would rest a little, then start again.
Through this ordeal, I had learned one thing clearly.
‘I must seize power.’
Only then could I survive in this harsh world.
‘I thought I only needed enough strength to live without being looked down upon, to live an ordinary life.’
But I was wrong. That wasn’t enough to handle unexpected crises.
‘Still, it’s fine. If I lack power, I can build it. After all, I have a good background. I am the eldest daughter of Adis and the mistress of Valentino.’
I would gain power by any means necessary. That was how I would protect myself. But then.
‘Where do I go now?’
My footsteps came to a halt.
I wanted to return home and rest, but….
‘Where is my home?’
Where am I supposed to go?
Adis? Valentino?
Then, a carriage stopped before me. And a man descended from it.
“…?”
Why is this man here?
A man with deep blue hair reminiscent of the evening sky and violet eyes stood before me.
It was Raphael.
A sudden gust of wind sent Raphael’s black priestly robes billowing roughly. He swept back his disheveled hair and furrowed his brow.
“What are you doing?”
He spoke flatly to her, who stood motionless.
“Please get in, madam. I’ll escort you to your destination.”
“…Me?”
“Yes.”
“….”
Why?
Kanna Adis’s weary eyes turned toward him—a gaze so exhausted it seemed she might collapse at any moment.
‘Could Silvien have sent him?’
Showing such kindness to the ungrateful wife who had stabbed him in the back?
‘That can’t be it.’
At this moment, he bore no responsibility, no obligation to care for her. There was no reason he would send a carriage for her.
Did he think her stare was meant to provoke him? Raphael spoke slowly.
“I am well aware that the Duchess finds me disagreeable, but the night grows late.”
“….”
“It is dangerous for you to return alone. Please, get in.”
But when Kanna showed no intention of moving, Raphael sighed as if he had anticipated this.
“This carriage was sent by Count Raphael Debor.”
Ah. Only then did her mind sharpen.
Count Debor.
Of course—he would owe her a debt of gratitude. She had saved his sailors from the brink of poisoning, after all. At least, that’s what he must believe.
Raphael appeared to be on intimate terms not only with Silvien but with Count Debor as well.
“Yes.”
Kanna finally answered.
“Please tell him I’m grateful.”
She offered Raphael a faint smile and passed by him.
Once inside the carriage, she spoke to the Coachman.
“To the Duke Adis Residence.”
* * *
Princess Lilienne felt hollow.
‘Casil, you foolish wretch.’
It had been a week since Prince Casil’s left wrist was severed.
Every day he sought nothing but drink.
“No one! No one protects me!”
Even now, Prince Casil, thoroughly drunk, was shrieking at the top of his lungs. He was so consumed with his outburst that he hadn’t even noticed Princess Lilienne enter.
“Damn it, why don’t you believe me! I’m not like that!”
Crash! As he hurled the bottle, glass shards scattered into the air.
“This is a frame-up! Your Majesty, Father! Why won’t you believe me? I did not order the poisoning! This is a frame-up, I tell you!”
Prince Casil burst into tears.
“I’ll kill her! I’ll kill them all! Kanna Adis! I swear I’ll kill her!”
After thrashing about for some time, Prince Casil finally collapsed to the floor. At last, he had fallen asleep.
‘What a pathetic wretch. All he knows how to do is blame others.’
Princess Lilienne regarded Prince Casil with a cold stare.
‘He should have been executed. Why did they bother keeping him alive?’
The one silver lining was that Prince Casil would soon depart for a Provincial City to recuperate.
Though calling it recuperation was merely a euphemism—it was exile in all but name.
Perhaps it was for the best. With his severed hands, Prince Casil would become a stain upon both her honor and Argon’s.
‘If only he had died instead. Then there would be no lingering complications.’
Princess Lilienne’s footsteps halted abruptly in the corridor. The Empress was approaching from the opposite direction.
‘Oh?’
But the Empress was not alone.
Beyond the maidservants attending her, she walked alongside a golden-haired woman bearing the Empress’s features. Could it be…?
‘Sister Amelia?’
“How disrespectful.”
The Empress, now within arm’s reach, spoke with severity.
“As the full sister of Crown Prince Casil, it seems the Princess is equally ignorant of Imperial Palace etiquette.”
“I—I apologize, Your Majesty. I was merely…”
“Yes, given what has befallen your brother, it is understandable that you would be distracted. I forgive you.”
The Empress smiled benevolently, yet her eyes gleamed with contempt.
“How fares the Crown Prince’s condition?”
“He has fallen asleep now.”
“I hear he spends his days drinking and tormenting the palace servants. Tsk, nothing changes with him.”
Given his lowborn origins, it seems he possesses no capacity for learning, the Empress added quietly to herself.
“Come now, let us continue, Amelia.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Princess Lilienne watched their retreating figures disappear down the corridor.
‘Has Amelia grown closer to the Empress?’
Rumors had circulated that the Princess’s skin condition was gradually improving. Perhaps that was why her relationship with the Empress, once fraught with tension, now appeared harmonious.
‘Though with her veil still in place, it’s difficult to say for certain.’
The last time she had seen Amelia, years ago, her face had been grotesque—like that of a corpse.
It was common knowledge that Kanna Adis had taken charge of her treatment. Word had spread that she was gradually recovering.
‘Surely that cannot be true? Not when so many renowned physicians failed to cure her.’
Princess Lilienne hoped Amelia’s condition would never improve. Preferably, never.
Amelia Isaberk. Should the Empress’s daughter—she who enjoyed the patronage of the Merci Family—make her debut in High Society…
‘My position would be threatened.’
Once, she had harbored dreams of Argon becoming Emperor, and thus of herself becoming the Emperor’s sister.
It had been a hollow hope.
Argon had no interest in the throne.
When she had once pressed him on why he did not seek the imperial crown, he had laughed and replied thus:
“There are so many fascinating things happening outside, and you’d give that up? Of course, you wouldn’t understand.”
I couldn’t comprehend it at all.
What could possibly be more interesting than standing at the pinnacle of power?
Yet foolishly, Argon didn’t grasp this.
He was a man who spent more time outside the Imperial Palace than within it.
‘So I must carve out my own path to survival.’
Princess Lilienne’s mother, Concubine Teresa, was a dancer by origin. In other words, half of Princess Lilienne’s blood was common.
Yet because she received the Emperor’s unwavering affection, she maintained her current power.
‘To maintain this authority even after Father passes away….’
There was truly no other choice but marriage.
Unless I married the finest man, my future held only the prospect of ruin.
‘It must be the Duke of Valentino.’
Adis, Valentino, Merci.
Only these three families could maintain power comparable to the Imperial Family.
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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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