I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 103

“Cadet Noah seems to have acted to protect his sister’s honor. Would you not say he has the makings of an excellent soldier?” It was clear that Raios was siding with Windsor. And his support carried more weight than any law.

 

Bang, bang, bang! The chief justice brought down the gavel. “I hereby sentence Noah Windsor to three years of imprisonment!”

 

It was an excessively lenient punishment. Nevertheless, the bereaved families had no choice but to suppress their anger and resentment.

 

“You should be grateful that your sons are already dead.”

 

What their children had done could have brought great disgrace upon their families.

 

“If they were alive, you would have been held accountable as well for failing to raise your children properly.” Raios Geranze sneered as he left the courtroom.

 

Not a single noble appealed the verdict.

 

* * *

“Then, please get ready to leave.”

 

The soldier assigned to escort Noah to prison left the room. He had given him an opportunity to say his final goodbyes. Even though the person Noah was saying goodbye to was still asleep.

 

“…” Noah carefully sat by the bedside.

 

Dana was still suffering from a high fever. On the day she had grabbed hold of him, she had apparently fainted. And even now, a week later, she had yet to regain consciousness.

 

So I’m leaving without even getting to say goodbye. Part of him was relieved that she hadn’t woken up, yet another part regretted it.

 

“I’ll see you in three years.” Noah murmured to her. “By then, I’ll be an adult too.” He didn’t know why those words had come out, but he had really wanted to say them. Yeah, he wanted to grow up as soon as possible.

 

While he was in prison, his brother had once asked him why he had done such a thing. So Noah had answered that he wanted to kill the people who had insulted that woman. His brother then told him that he was just a kid, suffering from the fever of adolescence. Yeah. Perhaps he was right.

 

Noah looked down at Dana.

 

When would this thing called adolescence finally end? Would even this desire to monopolize her heart, a desire that had twisted and warped because I couldn’t have you all to myself, eventually come to an end? I wish it would end.

 

Now Noah knew. These feelings would inevitably ruin him, and they would ruin this woman too. And so he desperately wished for everything to end. No, better yet, to disappear altogether. To vanish from this world.

 

Noah wished for it again and again, with all his heart.

 

* * *

After that, Noah spent a long time traveling by carriage. The prison where he was to be confined was located on Kazuta Island. It was a place reserved for high-ranking nobles and members of the imperial family who had committed misdeeds.

 

When they finally arrived at the port, Noah stepped out of the carriage. And then he stood there, frozen in place.

 

“Why are you standing there?”

 

“…”

 

Viego Windsor. His older brother was standing there.

 

“Why are you here, Brother…?”

 

“Follow me.” He gestured with his head and led the way.

 

Noah was momentarily bewildered. Follow him? But wasn’t I supposed to go to prison? Yet all the soldiers who had escorted him simply stood by and watched. Not one of them tried to stop Viego. In fact, they couldn’t even meet his eyes and were bowing their heads instead. It was as if Viego were their king. Feeling a strange sense of incongruity, Noah followed his brother.

 

“Get on.”

 

The place Viego led him to was a large ship. Noah instinctively realized something. This ship wasn’t heading for Kazuta Island.

 

“Where are you sending me?”

 

“At least it’s not a prison. Your double will go in your place.”

 

“What?”

 

It was something he simply couldn’t understand.

 

With a nonchalant expression, Viego gestured behind Noah. “Just in time, the captain is coming.”

 

Noah turned around. A young, slender woman with brown hair braided down her back was approaching. The woman bowed. “Hello, Lord Noah Windsor. I’m the captain of the ship that will be taking you to the island.”

 

“The captain? You?”

 

“Yes.” The woman smiled broadly- no, very broadly. “My name is Natty.”

 

Noah looked at her with suspicion, then turned his gaze back to Viego. “Where am I going?”

 

“To a place all Windsor men go.”

 

“What? Where is that?”

 

“Treasure Island.”

 

“…What?”

 

Treasure Island? Could it be that I’m going to the island our father had discovered? They knew its location? I thought the navigation map to Treasure Island belonged only to Danae…

 

“Otherwise known as—” Viego added slowly. “The sanctuary.”

 

The sanctuary. That was Danae Windsor’s recuperation retreat.

 

“The sanctuary is… Treasure Island?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Wait, what are you talking about? Daane Windsor, the place that woman went to recuperate was Treasure Island? More importantly, why am I being sent there?”

 

“…”

 

Viego stared at Noah without answering. For an instant, a chill ran down Noah’s spine. His brother’s expression as he looked at him was stranger than ever before. Had his brother always looked at him this way?

 

“Noah Windsor.” Just then, Viego placed a hand on Noah’s shoulder. He lowered his head and whispered in a quiet voice. “It’s time for you to become an adult too… Time for you to become a true Windsor. Isn’t that right?”

 

* * *

“Please refrain from strenuous exercise and start with light walks.” The doctor gave her strict instructions. “For the time being, you should only eat foods that are easy to swallow, like gruel. You must still consider yourself a patient.”

 

A patient. That word was accurate.

 

When Dana opened her eyes, she felt incredibly weak. It was only natural, considering she had been bedridden for an entire week. I’ve never been this sick before. Ever since using her ability to see time, the power she had arbitrarily named ‘insight’, she had always suffered afterward. But never to this extent.

 

I was able to use that power without even touching the ground. Walking in the garden, Dana looked down at her hand. Normally, she could only see things if this hand was touching the ground. It was almost as though… Did I level up? Though the price she had paid was an enormous loss of stamina.

 

“Dana!”

 

At that moment, a platinum-blond man spotted me and rushed over to her. It was Carl.

 

“Dana, are you alright? I was just on my way to see you after hearing you woke up.” Carl took her cheeks in his hands and turned her face this way and that way, inspecting her. “Just look at how haggard you’ve become. What to do?”

 

“I’m okay. Thank you for worrying about me.”

 

“Oh, you have no idea how scared I was. Poor Dana, how could you be so fragile?” After expressing his concern for a while, Carl cleared his throat and pointed to his own cheek. “Look here.” There was a small scratch. “I got hurt.”

 

“…”

 

“Goodness, don’t even get me started. Bilod Lancaster was so vicious that I thought he was some kind of monster. I’ve been traumatized. I don’t even want to go anywhere near the cathedral anymore.”

 

“I see.”

 

What nonsense… If anyone’s traumatized, it must be Bilod… Nevertheless, Dana looked up at him with concern and gently stroked the scratch on his cheek. “That must have hurt. Are you okay now?”

 

As her fingertips touched him, Carl’s eyes softened.

 

“Yes.”

 

“…”

 

“I’m fine now.”

 

The sunlight caught on his golden eyelashes, making them sparkle particularly brightly.

Carl Windsor was truly handsome. And terrifying. A madman. A monster wearing a captivating human face. Dana was genuinely frightened of Carl now. She had absolutely no idea what was writhing inside this man’s head.

 

“How is the Retillan mine project going?”

 

It wasn’t as though Carl’s position as her guardian was in jeopardy. There was no need for him to let himself be used by her to this extent. So why was he going this far?

 

“Ah, that. Of course, it’s going well.”

 

“Then, may I invest as well?”

 

Dana could no longer understand Carl Windsor’s true intentions. It made her incredibly anxious. That was what she wanted: for him to disappear quickly, from before her eyes and the Windsor family. Thus, she decided to accelerate her plans.

 

“If I invest a large sum, more investors will join in. That would help with what you’re doing, Uncle…”

 

Ah. At that moment, her lips stiffened. It was because a bitter emotion had surfaced on Carl’s face.

 

“If that’s what you wish, then do so.”

 

But it had lasted only an instant, so fleeting that she could have dismissed it as an illusion.

 

Carl smiled warmly once more. “You can do anything you want.” He said as he gently brushed her pure white hair. “Everything will go as you wish.”

 

Dana couldn’t remember what conversation followed after that. Carl left, and she stood there blankly before resuming her walk again. But she stopped after only a few steps.

 

No way. A foreboding feeling seemed to scratch the back of her head. Does he know? That the Retillan Mine was practically a sham. That the Windsor railway would never be laid in Kaltusa territory. And that, as a result, the mining operation and territorial development projects he was pushing forward would end in complete failure, bankrupting not only him but everyone who had invested in him. Does he know? And even knowing all that…

 

“Everything will go as you wish.”

 

Is he saying he’ll let himself be ruined, just as I wish?