I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 213

* * *

This is a dream. Allice bit her lip.

 

“This merchandise is none other than the imperial consort of the empire!”

 

Right. It has to be a dream. There’s no way this could be real.

 

“Raios Geranze, as everyone knows, the impotent emperor who never received the blessing of Sun God Ramun!”

 

“Hahahahaha!”

 

Amid the peals of derisive laughter, Allice thought dully. Impotent? That might actually be true. No matter how she thought about it, Raios seemed like a eunuch. Is that why he looks down on me and torments me, even though I’m the imperial consort?

 

“Then we’ll start at five hundred million gold.”

 

Otherwise, why would he treat me so contemptuously!

 

“Five hundred fifty million gold!”

 

“Six hundred million gold!”

 

Placards shot up, flashing everywhere. The price soared higher and higher. It was terrifying and humiliating.

 

“Six hundred fifty million gold! Let’s see what the emperor’s wife is really like!”

 

“Wahahahaha!”

 

At that moment, Allice realized it with painful clarity. This really was Raios’s fault. That’s why she was suffering this humiliation.

 

“Seven hundred million gold!”

 

But how could the emperor allow her to end up in a place like this? She even gave birth to an heir not long ago, a son. And yet how could he let her fall into such a state? If it had been Sister Dana who gave birth, he would have treasured her and cared for her so devotedly! Anger and sorrow surged up, but Allice had no tears left to shed.

 

“One billion gold! We have one billion gold!”

 

By then, Allice had completely given up. There was no hope left at all.

 

“From here on, it’s a head-to-head between customer number 46 and customer number 66!”

 

She could only wish, even if just a little, that her owner would be a somewhat decent barbarian. With that faint hope, Allice weakly turned her head and looked at the man holding up the number 46 placard. And then—

 

Huh?

 

Her tears vanished instantly.

 

What is this? He’s kind of handsome…

 

His face was mostly hidden beneath a deeply pulled hood, but the bridge of his nose and his jawline, visible below it, gave off a wild, masculine impression.

 

So there are handsome men even among barbarians. Allice’s eyes darted about. The other contender, number 66. That one looks handsome too.

 

He had shaggy brown hair falling to the corners of his eyes and wore large horn-rimmed glasses. His skin was milky pale.

 

Suddenly, Allice’s mood turned strange. Two handsome men were competing for her. Because they wanted her. They’re fighting to have me. Only one of them would win and become her master. Thinking that made her chest flutter in an inexplicable way.

 

“Fifteen hundred million gold! Customer number 46 bids fifteen hundred million! Number 66, what will you do?”

 

Was it too much for him after all? In the end, number 66 shook his head and lowered his placard. Which meant— 

Number 46. That man… became my owner?

 

“Move!”

 

Dragged back behind the stage by a servant’s hand, Allice’s imagination began to spiral wildly. Come to think of it, I read a novel like this not long ago. An R-rated romance where a prince of a foreign land buys a fallen kingdom’s princess as a sl*ve and becomes her owner. Could something like that happen to her too…?!

 

It was while Allice was lost in such fantasies.

 

“Get in!”

 

Allice was shoved forcefully into a room. Inside the guest room, the man from number 46 was sitting on the sofa. The moment she entered, he sprang to his feet and strode toward her almost urgently as he pulled off his robe. With a soft rustle, the hood fell back, finally revealing his face.

 

Ah. For an instant, Allice felt her heart drop. Just as expected, he was stunningly handsome. However, Allice recognized that face. That blazing red hair and those crimson eyes.

 

“Uncle Ignis?” Allice murmured the name blankly.

 

Ignis de Windsor. A man who had once been adopted into the Windsor family and who had been her uncle. Allice had heard that Ignis had gone missing. What was he doing here? Could it be…

 

“D-Did you come to save me…?”

 

Ignis slowly shook his head. “No. I bought you.”

 

A wave of intense possessiveness and raw passion hit her, making Allice’s heart tremble. This man wants her. Right now. But since when? Had he harbored forbidden feelings for her all along?

 

“Take it off.”

 

Allice’s ears burned red. How could he say something so lewd with such a frightening face?

 

“There’s no time. We need to do what needs to be done.” Ignis smiled, baring his teeth. “I wonder what a child of Ignis and you would be like.”

 

Allice tilted her head. Ignis and me? Why was he referring to himself as if he were someone else?

 

* * *

Behind the stage, Dana saw Ignis. Though his robe was pulled low, the bridge of his nose, his jawline, his lips, everything was unmistakably Ignis. But that wasn’t all.

 

“Number 87! Customer number 87 bids sixteen hundred million gold!”

 

The man holding up the placard right now is also Ignis. This time, he only had a hat pulled down, but she was certain. That man is Ignis. To be exact, his duplicate.

 

The anti-church leader had freely cloned Ignis’s body and was using it however they pleased. In other words, they were all fake. Just shells molded to look the same, bodies infested like parasites by something else that had taken residence inside.

 

Disgusting… Her head spun. She was so angry her insides burned and ached.

 

Did Ignis know? That even after his death, his shell would be stolen and exploited like this by those cowardly humans, used however they wanted? Had he ever imagined it? That must be why he hated Windsor so deeply. The reason he so desperately wanted to go to the sanctuary. To stop that experiment, and reclaim his humanity, his dignity.

 

No. Stop thinking about it. Dana tried not to think any further. Thinking too deeply about him made one corner of her heart feel as if it were burning away. She only needed to act. Even if it was impossible, she would still try using the holy relic to bring him back. Even if he could not truly return to life.

 

I can’t allow Ignis’s body to be used like that. In his stead, she would destroy every single one of his cloned bodies.

 

Just then, the announcer shouted loudly. “Customer number 66 bids four billion gold!”

 

Snapping out of her thoughts, Dana looked toward number 66. Number 66, that man. It seemed likely that he would end up winning her. Frowning, Dana studied his face closely. He looks familiar. His shaggy hair and horn-rimmed glasses made his face hard to see, but that unnaturally pale skin and boyish impression—

 

“Five billion gold! We have five billion gold! Is there anyone willing to bid higher?”

 

At that moment, number 66 casually raised his placard and glanced at her. Dana didn’t miss the chance. She mouthed a curse silently. ‘Vermin.’

 

If it were that man, there would definitely be a reaction.

 

‘Trash.’

 

Because despite being a despicable con artist, he was deathly afraid of her sharp tongue.

 

‘Worthless waste that can’t even be recycled.’

 

Sure enough, the man flinched. His shoulders stiffened.

 

Dana smiled coldly and drove the nail in. ‘Go die, trash.’

 

Ah. As expected. Watching his lower lip tense up, Dana sneered. As expected, it was him.

 

“The lucky man who has won the Daiana Church’s experimental subject is customer number 66! Number 66!”

 

Bang, bang, bang! The sound of a wooden gavel echoed.