My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 98
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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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Kanna felt someone’s presence and woke up, rubbing her eyes. At first, she seemed unable to distinguish between dream and reality, but when I called her name “Kanna,” her eyes widened. Kanna came running with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Miss, I really missed you so much…”
Kanna was shorter than me. I patted her head as it bobbed in my embrace. It had been a very long time since I’d seen Kanna. The affection that had been given to me as naturally as breathing had been cut off for a while, and now that it was reconnected, my heart felt a little more at peace.
“Are you completely out for good now?”
“No. I just escaped for a moment. There’s a patient, so we need to lay them on the bed. Will you help me?”
“A patient? Oh… Count Gabriel.”
Kanna only now noticed that I had brought an extra person. After greeting Gabriel lightly, Kanna was startled when she realized Jeremiah’s condition was serious and quickly prepared the bed.
“Excuse me.”
Gabriel asked for my understanding and laid Jeremiah on the bed. The white bedsheet was quickly stained red with the blood Jeremiah was spilling.
“The wound is serious. The fever is severe too… Miss, who is this person?”
“This is Princess Jeremiah.”
Since there was no reason to hide it from Kanna, I spoke honestly.
“The Princess…? Why is the Princess so severely injured…”
Kanna trailed off. She seemed curious about why I had brought the injured Jeremiah to the Rohanson Manor. However, she chose to nurse Jeremiah instead of interrogating me about the whole story. Wow. Our Kanna’s consideration is truly outstanding.
When Kanna went to get a wet towel, only the unconscious Jeremiah and Gabriel remained in the room. Gabriel was still looking at my hand clasped with Jeremiah’s when he suddenly frowned deeply.
“You’re injured.”
Gabriel noticed my wound. Actually, I had been exaggerating; it wasn’t that serious a wound. Who was he worrying about with a dying person right in front of us?
“You’ve been holding hands with your injured hand this whole time?”
It was Jeremiah who was holding my hand. I just left it alone. Gabriel separated Jeremiah’s hand from mine and placed it on the bed. Then he stared intently at my hand that had lost its clasped companion.
“May I dare… examine your hand?”
Since I had pushed his hand away, Gabriel hadn’t touched me carelessly. Feeling guilty for no reason, I obediently offered my hand to Gabriel. Gabriel looked distressed as if I had suffered fatal injuries like Jeremiah.
But he couldn’t lick the wound like Pudding. His trembling hands very carefully caressed my fingertips and the back of my hand from a distance so as not to irritate the wound. Gabriel’s worry for me was palpable and made me feel very ticklish.
“I didn’t want to… feel that you were alive in this way.”
Gabriel fell into contemplation.
I wondered what he meant, but it seemed like he was feeling sad because he hadn’t received visits in prison and couldn’t hear whether I was dead or alive, only to have me appear injured. He was happy to see I was alive but sad that I was hurt, right?
“But now that you’ve confirmed I’m alive, doesn’t that put your mind at ease?”
“I…”
Gabriel, who had been hesitating and trailing off, continued as if he had made up his mind.
“I’ve made a resolution now. Even if you, Evangeline, were a dead corpse, I wouldn’t let go of your hand.”
Uh… I think I just heard something incredible…? He’s planning to live with my corpse even if I die? It seemed like the keyword had changed from indifferent Male Lead to devastated Male Lead who lives embracing corpses. My guess about seeing signs of obsession before wasn’t wrong. Where did the faithful Holy Knight go…?
Could it be that my cold treatment of Gabriel had a bad influence? No, that can’t be. What influence could I have had? Of course not. This is the genre’s fault.
“We should hurry and get treatment.”
“…After we finish with Princess Jeremiah.”
Since I only had a torn hand, calling a doctor would be sufficient even without holy water. Then I suddenly realized something strange. Despite how much Pudding and Jelly cared for me, they never once suggested treating my wound. If they were so worried about me, why wouldn’t they suggest treatment? Their concern seemed genuine though…
Before I could delve deeper, Kanna returned. Gabriel couldn’t wait and shared the news that I was injured, making Kanna burst into tears again after they had just stopped. Why are both of them so tearful?
While I was calming Kanna down, saying it wasn’t a serious wound, Jelly returned with Melek. Perhaps mindful that Gabriel was present, he appeared as the original Melek with his eyes covered, not in Rider’s body.
“Lady Evangeline, I heard you called for me… Ugh.”
Before he could finish speaking, Melek dry-heaved.
“I’m sorry… There’s a smell of blood…”
“Endure it.”
Jelly forcibly made the retching Melek stand up. Jelly had raised Melek to be tough. No wonder Melek, who used to speak casually to Jelly and Pudding at first, now naturally hunched his shoulders and showed deference.
“Melek, do you remember what happened when you first entered another body?”
“The moment I entered this body…?”
Melek hesitated while glancing at Gabriel, as if wondering whether it was okay to say this. Gabriel already knew I was a possessor anyway, so it didn’t matter. I intended to possess Jeremiah into another body like Melek. Jelly had said Jeremiah’s body was hopeless, so I just needed to find another body.
“Um… As I mentioned, it’s been so long, and my memories from that time are hazy, so I can’t remember clearly.”
Melek answered reluctantly. To put it nicely, it was possession, but in reality, my request was no different from asking him to retell the moment he died. It would be a terribly horrific memory for Melek. I felt a bit sorry for Melek… But I was someone who just woke up to find possession complete, and I hadn’t personally chosen a body to possess. So right now, Melek’s experience was my only option.
The way to boost Melek’s morale was quite obvious.
“A girl is dying. Recovery in this body is impossible, so I want to save her by other means.”
“Like me?”
“Yes. So tell me everything you remember about the circumstances then, the situation you experienced, how you died and were able to wake up again.”
Melek was too tender-hearted to refuse to dig up his wounds to find a way to help someone else. Melek spilled out his past again. How a devil-like person and the headmaster locked the orphanage children in the basement and abused them. How one day the headmaster stopped coming to the basement, and among the children who starved to death, Melek was the last survivor.
Listening to the story again, I came to understand why Melek, aside from possessing a beastman, so detested blood and wouldn’t eat meat. They say in places of severe famine, people sometimes eat the dead. Melek would rather starve to death than treat the children as meat, so even after possessing a beastman, he had no choice but to avoid blood and meat.
Melek’s story was so miserable and tragic to hear again that I felt like trash for making him dig up and spit out those memories again. I guess being a villainess means that even when acting with good intentions, I end up tormenting others… However, it was consoling that there was a harvest. I would have felt more sorry if I hadn’t gotten hints from Melek’s story.
“I understand what happened.”
Gabriel’s eyes lit up at Jelly’s words.
“Mr. Jelly. Please tell me. What should we do?”
“Why should I tell you?”
It wouldn’t be our Jelly if he just obediently explained. I was about to scold him for joking around when the situation was serious, but Gabriel beat me to it.
“Because Lady Evangeline wishes it.”
“Cunning bastard.”
Jelly clicked his tongue and mocked Gabriel, but honestly, my feelings weren’t much different. Where did the upright and sincere knight go… Please let it not be my fault that Gabriel became like this.
Jelly opened his mouth as if to explain, then glared at Gabriel. Right now Jeremiah was on the verge of death, and suddenly they’re having some kind of power struggle…
“Before I speak, I need a definite answer from you. Will you stay by our master’s side no matter what happens in the future? I can’t trust children who were loved and raised by the Sun God. Who knows? Next time, you might try to burn our master with fire.”
Was he pointing out that Gabriel was a Holy Knight? Well… I could understand why Jelly was being so sharp. If Gabriel stopped defending me and changed his attitude to confess everything, I might really be branded a witch and burned at the stake.
Gabriel smiled faintly after hearing Jelly’s words. It wasn’t surprising that his gaze was directed toward me.
“Sunlight has never once touched me.”
Our eyes met with his blue ones. If Gabriel’s blue was not the sky but the depths of water, then his words about sunlight never reaching him would be true.
Before Jelly could find fault with anything, I stepped forward to sort out the situation.
“Stop it and let’s hurry. Jelly, will you please explain?”
Jelly was thoroughly sulky, displeased that I had taken Gabriel’s side, but still told us what he had figured out.
“The basement of the orphanage was where Melek’s sacrifices were gathered.”
“Me?”
“Not you, the original Melek.”
Melek immediately became dejected at Jelly’s harsh treatment.
“Melek was a disgusting bastard, unlike this gentle fool. Well, it would be rarer to find one among our kind who isn’t disgusting.”
Jelly shrugged.
“Melek enjoyed playing with people. Especially children, so he played with the orphanage kids in exchange for doing the headmaster favors. When the headmaster stopped coming, how anxious he must have been.”
Gabriel added as if he had guessed.
“There are records of the headmaster of Ainoah Orphanage being executed as a heretical group.”
He seemed to be referring to the heretic massacre from 20 years ago. Jelly continued in an indifferent tone.
“Right. Well, he must have stopped coming for that reason. When the human who provided him with toys died, Melek probably went back to the orphanage to assess the situation, and there he found all dead except for one child.”
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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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