My Body Has Been Possessed By Someone - Chapter 9

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

Chapter 9
A man with neatly swept red hair.
Those piercing eyes and the sharp, meticulously carved features of his nose—they resembled Duke Adis’s.
Kanna recognized him immediately. Time had passed, but there was no way she could fail to recognize him.
That was what family meant.
“Duchess of the Valentino Family.”
As I gazed into his green eyes, memories from the past flickered through my mind.
“Sister. Stop being in the way and move aside.”
“A book fell in the garden. Go pick it up, sister.”
“Don’t speak to me. You reek of filth.”
That boy who had called her “sister” while treating her like a maid.
My half-brother, Kalen Adis.
The child who had seemed so small in my memories….
“What brings you to this place?”
He had become a full-grown man, and now he regarded her with eyes even colder than before.
“I came because I had business. But….”
My gaze shifted behind him.
Kalen was not alone in the carriage. Was she asleep? A young girl sat quietly. However, she wore a wide-brimmed hat with a thick veil attached, so her face was not visible.
‘Who is that girl…?’
Just then, a breeze blew past.
The veil fluttered dramatically. The girl’s face was completely exposed.
The moment I witnessed it, my eyes widened.
That was…!
“Did you see?”
A chilling voice fell like frost.
Kalen stared at her as though he wanted to kill her, his words clipped and precise.
“Did you see Lucy’s face?”
Lucy Adis.
The youngest daughter of House of Adis, born seven years ago.
Shortly after Josephine married, I heard the news that Lucy Adis had been born.
Naturally, I had never met her until now. I only knew of her from what I had heard….
“Did you see her face?”
Of course I had seen it. It was not intentional, but I had seen it clearly.
That face, which was different from any ordinary person’s.
After a brief silence, I could not resist my professional curiosity and asked.
“Have you taken her to a physician?”
“Be silent!”
The carriage door swung open, and Kalen Adis descended in one swift motion. He strode directly in front of me.
“What you just saw.”
Kalen Adis threatened her in a menacing voice.
“If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will not forgive you.”
The girl—Lucy Adis—her face was completely contorted.
As though someone had forcibly wrenched her facial muscles, her features were grotesquely twisted. I knew precisely what affliction this was.
‘That looks like facial paralysis.’
Facial paralysis. In this world, it was a condition with no reliable cure, and those afflicted were treated as though possessed by demons.
“Do you understand? If you reveal this to anyone, then….”
“Is the treatment going well?”
“…What did you say?”
“I asked if the treatment is going well.”
I dismissed my brother’s threat without a second thought and posed the question.
“Are you just returning from seeing a physician? What did they say? Can they cure it?”
“….”
In that moment, Kalen’s eyes filled with intense suspicion.
This was the sister who had left the estate upon her marriage. The sister he had not seen even once in all these long years.
And yet.
“How long has she been ill? Did you begin treatment immediately after the onset?”
Kalen was utterly bewildered.
This was the first time he had ever seen his sister speak with such clarity and composure, her head held high.
“This is not your concern. Return to the Valentino Family at once.”
I sensed immediately that Lucy’s treatment was not progressing well.
That look in Kalen’s eyes, that tone of voice, that expression—I had seen them only in the guardians of patients showing no improvement.
“Would you let me help?”
“…What did you just say?”
“Let me treat Lucy. In exchange, permit me to stay here for the time being.”
“Ha!”
A sneer flickered across Kalen’s eyes before transforming into fury.
He suppressed his rage with sharp, dry washes of his face. Veins bulged prominently across the backs of his large hands.
A moment later, he issued a warning in a very low voice.
“Leave. What skill do you possess that the greatest physicians of the Western Continent could not accomplish?”
Lucy Adis. My seven-year-old sister.
The illness had struck suddenly one day. Lucy had been running a fever when her face suddenly twisted grotesquely.
No physician could cure it, and some were even suggesting she be sent to the Divine Temple, claiming she was possessed by spirits.
And now? To speak of a cure so casually?
“Stop spouting nonsense and leave.”
“It’s not nonsense. Give me a chance to attempt treatment.”
I could endure no longer. Kalen seized my shoulders and brought his face close to mine.
“What makes you think you know anything!”
In that instant, the corner of his mouth stiffened. Kalen’s words caught.
Our faces were now inches apart. Through the tangle of his dark hair, our black eyes met….
“Kalen Adis.”
The silence was terrifying.
“Don’t be emotional. Listen to what I’m saying.”
His coldness—untouched by even a shred of anger, his composure, that quiet gaze—made Kalen realize just how agitated he truly was. The tension drained from his clenched fists.
“You do want to cure your sister, don’t you?”
Don’t you want to cure her?
Of course I do. Of course I want to cure her.
But no one could. Every physician had shaken their head.
“I apologize. It is beyond my capabilities.”
“Your only option is to seek the Divine Temple.”
The Divine Temple—it was absurd. That was truly a last resort.
Then who else could I turn to?
My vision darkened. I felt as helpless as being pulled into the depths of the ocean. I wanted to grasp at anything, yet there was nothing to hold onto in this moment.
“I’ll ask one last time.”
Suddenly, a straw of hope appeared before my eyes.
“I might be able to cure her. So give me a proper chance to examine her.”
“….”
“If you refuse this time, I’ll just leave.”
Kanna Adis had presented the choice.
“What will you do?”
* * *
It was fortunate, perhaps.
The estate had no other family members at the moment. They had all been invited to a party at the Imperial Palace.
“First, I’ll need needles.”
“Needles? What are those?”
“They look similar to regular needles. I’ll give you the exact measurements and dimensions, so have a mana stone craftsman make them. Make sure they’re crafted from the highest grade mana stone available.”
Kalen couldn’t hide his skeptical expression.
Though I had been drawn in by Kanna Adis’s words and let her into the estate, what exactly did she intend to do with tools that were essentially needles? And she wanted them made from expensive mana stone at that?
‘Am I grasping at straws for no reason?’
Yet in this moment, I was desperate enough to clutch at any straw.
‘Still, it’s better than sending her to the Divine Temple.’
The Divine Temple—the domain of the divine spirit that purifies the Western Continent through the World Tree.
Imperial law does not apply within the Divine Temple. Neither social order nor common sense holds sway there.
A sacred yet transcendent place, and therefore dangerous. One cannot enter or leave it at will.
I could not send Lucy Adis to such a strange place.
“Did you study medicine?”
Kanna Adis delivered her prepared answer immediately.
“You know I was obsessed with alchemy, right?”
“Yes.”
“When I delved deeply into alchemy, I discovered it was connected to healing arts. Somehow, I ended up learning healing arts as well.”
“Alchemy is related to healing arts? I’ve never heard such a thing.”
Of course you’ve never heard this before—I just made it up.
Yet Kanna Adis pressed forward without a shred of hesitation.
“At least, that’s what my research into alchemy revealed. First, I need to examine Lucy Adis’s condition more carefully.”
Kalen Adis regarded Kanna Adis’s retreating figure with an inscrutable gaze.
‘She’s changed, just like anyone else would.’
Had time transformed everything?
Kanna Adis no longer hunched her shoulders in that timid posture, nor did she shrink her neck and shoulders inward. Moreover, she spoke without stammering, her opinions delivered with unwavering confidence.
She bore almost no resemblance to the sister he once knew.
‘How could she change so drastically?’
What could have possibly happened during all this time to transform her so completely?
Kalen Adis shook his head.
He would not concern himself with it. This was not the moment to indulge in frivolous thoughts.
He followed after Kanna Adis, his footsteps quickening.

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