My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 253

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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If I were to interpret that expression, it was a face that said even if he had been suffering from illness, not knowing about the prince’s existence was going too far.

“Do you mean Prince Gabriel?”

He nodded slightly.

“Prince Gabriel is the younger brother of Crown Prince. Well, there’s quite an age gap between them… so it’s understandable that you’d mistake that.”

“Since when?”

“Pardon?”

Lohengrin tilted his head as if I was asking a strange question, but perhaps my sympathy-inducing strategy worked well, as he answered without complaint.

“From the beginning, of course.”

From the very beginning. Gabriel had never been anything but a prince for even a single moment since birth. So it wasn’t a butterfly effect that occurred after my regression.

While talking with Lohengrin, the first dance between the Crown Prince and Princess had ended. This time, the Crown Prince didn’t end up dying at his daughter’s hands and hanging from the chandelier. It seemed Bishop Marik here hadn’t approached Tenebray.

Had it been Jeremiah or Tenebray who danced with the Crown Prince?

“Look at that, it seems Prince Gabriel is going to dance a song too.”

After the Crown Prince’s turn ended, Gabriel escorted another Princess and stood in the center of the stage. The conductor waved his baton and the music began to play again. Gabriel took the Princess’s hand and began to waltz, moving slowly step by step.

Ah, I’ve never properly danced with Gabriel either.

Fragments of the past painfully stabbed at my heart. I remembered when I practiced dancing with Gabriel at Rohanson Estate. Even after all that practice, it all became useless when the Crown Prince died.

“I’m sorry for asking strange questions.”

“Not at all. I’m glad I could be of help.”

After chatting a bit more, Lohengrin said he should dance with his partner too and headed toward the stage.

I remained alone, blankly watching Gabriel dance with the Princess.

Gabriel’s appearance truly befitted his reputation as a prince. From head to toe, he was well-groomed and adorned with luxury items, which was somewhat different from the Gabriel I knew.

Lohengrin said Gabriel had been a prince from the beginning. How could Gabriel be a prince? It was quite simple. That tattoo on Gabriel’s chest. The image of the ouroboros, symbol of the imperial family. The Gabriel here had that tattoo safely in place.

So quite simply, holy water worked on Gabriel. Unless he had a cursed body, the Emperor would have had no reason to hide Gabriel.

Lea had definitely granted my wish. The wish to save Gabriel was fulfilled. Since holy water worked, Gabriel’s life would no longer be in danger. Even if injured, one bottle of holy water would heal him completely.

Ah. Was that why? I think I understood why Rider died early.

Wasn’t it because Toten Madam didn’t have Gabriel as an ally? Of course, since holy water didn’t work on Rider, it wasn’t that he prolonged his life thanks to holy water that Gabriel secretly brought.

It’s just that the Rider here had no hope. Without even Gabriel, no one would have taken Toten Madam and Rider’s side. He must have been lonely and isolated beyond my imagination.

Black threads fluttered at the edge of my vision. It was because I had been unconsciously following Gabriel’s movements with my eyes.

I suddenly realized that the unfamiliarity I felt when I first saw him wasn’t simply based on his appearance. It wasn’t because he wore fancy clothes and was called a prince that he seemed strange. It was a more fundamental problem. That person is not the Count Gabriel I know.

The Gabriel here wasn’t abandoned. He would have grown up as the Emperor’s son, as precious royalty.

The Gabriel here had no unfortunate past. He didn’t grow up in the slums, nor did he lose a friend he depended on to a carriage accident.

The Gabriel here doesn’t wish for my salvation. There would be plenty of others to hold his hand even without me.

So Gabriel wouldn’t want me.

Gabriel… wouldn’t love me.

It’s strange. I should be happy that Gabriel is living comfortably and well… Even though I was the one who begged to save him, I felt abandoned.

I could no longer bear to watch Gabriel dance with the Princess and turned my eyes away.

Somehow it felt like a huge hole had been pierced in my chest. No, it stings, so maybe a nail was driven in?

The loss felt too overwhelming. So much so that I wondered if this might be the price I paid.

‘Price…’

It was possible. The fact that I had regressed was evidence of that.

At first, I thought time was turned back for me to try saving Gabriel. But Gabriel turns out to be a perfectly fine prince who responds well to holy water. Therefore, he could be sufficiently treated with just holy water.

But Lea deliberately made me regress. And to the moment when I had just possessed…, ah. She said it wasn’t possession. Let’s say when I just opened my eyes. Anyway, she turned back time to then.

‘And as a result…’

I had nothing left now.

I was no longer Pudding and Jelly’s owner, nor Kanna’s young lady. I wasn’t a special person to Gabriel either. What I had lost was all too clear.

‘Did I give Lea the relationships I cherished…’

Did I give as payment all the relationships I had built up? So they all scattered like illusions and disappeared without a trace?

‘Of all things.’

I wanted to grab my past self by the collar and shake her to vent my anger. As I realized how desperate I had been then, anger surged up. Even if I made a deal, I should have done it in moderation. What was I supposed to do after giving away my everything?

Should I have sacrificed something else instead?

“Evangeline.”

Then I heard that disgusting, slimy voice that annoyed me just by listening to it. I felt like I could sacrifice that bastard without hesitation, unlike other people. Ah. But that thing has no value, so Lea probably wouldn’t accept it either.

Rohanson Viscount walked over with heavy steps, his brow deeply furrowed as if desperate to show his anger.

“What are you doing here? I told you to stay by Hosaquin Duke’s side!”

The Viscount scolded me quietly and roughly grabbed my wrist. Would my wrist really break from being grabbed like that? I barely held back from making a sarcastic remark out of habit.

When he led me away, it was toward Hosaquin Duke as expected. Do my duty, that’s what this was about. The Viscount bastard brought me to the banquet to try to attach me to the Duke once, but since I was playing dumb, his meager patience must have worn thin.

The Viscount stopped in front of the Duke and greeted him with a bright smile. His face looked so convincing that a noblewoman who had been glancing at the Viscount’s cheerful smile blushed.

“It’s been a long time, father-in-law.”

“…Father-in-law? How dare a thing like you call me by such a title!”

At the words “father-in-law,” Hosaquin Duke’s eyes rolled. I reflexively checked whether Hosaquin Duke was holding a glass first.

Rohanson Viscount was lucky. Be grateful that Hosaquin Duke’s hands are empty right now. Otherwise, your head would have been cracked.

“Such a title… That’s really too much. You didn’t even come to Amaranth’s funeral… No matter how much you severed ties with my wife, don’t you feel sorry for my wife being denied by her father even in death?”

Hosaquin Duke’s anger parameter shot through the ceiling. Does Rohanson Viscount have no crisis detection ability? I’m genuinely curious, not being sarcastic.

What the Duke couldn’t accept was Rohanson Viscount being his son-in-law. The Viscount knew this but deliberately pretended to be oblivious and changed the direction of his attack. As if the Duke was angry about the title “father-in-law” because he had severed ties with Amaranth and didn’t even treat her as his daughter. It was very effective at provoking the Duke, who secretly felt guilty about Amaranth.

What bothered me was that I had provoked the Duke with similar words to Rohanson Viscount in the past. There was a reason why Hosaquin Duke got furiously angry when he looked at me.

“Moreover, to rebuke me even in front of your granddaughter.”

The Viscount pushed me in front of the Duke. Then he comforted me, pretending to be affectionate.

“Evangeline, don’t worry too much. Actually, your grandfather must think of you specially too.”

He must think of me especially terribly. Considering the Duke in the beginning, he treated me like some demon born after devouring his daughter. Actually, that wasn’t entirely wrong either.

“Right. How about you try mediating between your mother and grandfather once?”

The Viscount asked this while pushing me toward Hosaquin Duke.

“Go ahead and ask the Duke for a dance.”

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