I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 249

“Vi-Viego. I-I-I don’t want. To go crazy.”

 

Viego wrapped one arm tightly around her. Dana, trembling with anxiety, sniffled.

 

“I really, don’t want to, sob, I-I don’t want, sob, to end up like that man said, I’m so, sob, scared.”

 

“It’s okay. I’ll somehow—”

 

Somehow. Viego, who had been trying to soothe her, suddenly found his words stuck in his throat. He pressed his lips tightly together. Somehow? Do what? What could I possibly do? Viego’s neck burned hot. A sharp emotion seemed to tear through his chest and throat.

 

“Once the madness begins, there is no way to stop it.”

 

That was what the priest he had met today had said.

 

“The only way is to move her to a new body, Lord Viego.”

 

No. I will cure it no matter what. I’ll definitely cure Dana’s illness.

 

“N-New body.” Dana gasped for breath. “What does it mean, that there’s a new body?”

 

Had she been listening closely to his conversation with his uncle? Dana clung obsessively to that part of the discussion.

 

“Can I, move into a body, wi-without the madness?”

 

“…”

 

“C-Can I?”

 

Viego quickly forced the words out, as if cracking a whip. “Yes.”

 

“L-Let me do it.”

 

“Then you have to die.”

 

“T-Then, please, ki-kill me…”

 

Viego bit his lip. It felt as if darkness was closing in before his eyes. To kill her? For a moment, countless words clamored inside his mouth.

 

Dana. If I grant that wish of yours, you’ll live a new life in a new body. Everything that happened with me will be forgotten as if it were a dream. Like something from a previous life. It will mean nothing to you. And that’s not all. You’ll be captured by the sanctuary again. You’ll fall back into Grandfather’s hands and become his plaything once more. Will I be able to save you from Grandfather again?

 

The moment his thoughts reached that point, Viego suddenly realized something. No… The premise itself was wrong. It should never be like that. Until now, he had thought Dana needed to run away from his grandfather. That he needed to help her escape the sanctuary and give her even a false paradise. How foolish that goal had been.

 

I should have made it so she never needed to run away. He should have simply killed his grandfather. So that Dana would never need to flee in the first place. I should have turned this world into a paradise… The sanctuary. No, the empire. The entire continent. He should have made this world into a safe and comfortable land where she could live. Why didn’t he do that sooner?

 

“Just wait a little.” At that moment, Viego made a cold, razor-sharp resolution. Even if he had to stake all the time given to him. “I’ll make a safe world for you.”

 

What should he do first? He should go to the sanctuary and kill his grandfather. Then he would seize the position of the church leader. If he took control of the laboratories there, perhaps he could find a way to cure Dana.

 

“Dana. I’ll cure you. So—” Please endure until then. He was about to beg her like that, but the pain in his shoulder stopped his words.

 

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch… Viego looked down. Dana was biting him. Completely dominated by madness, like a wild beast.

 

“…”

 

But instead of pushing her away, Viego pulled her even closer, deep into his embrace. For the first time, he was grateful that his body regenerated quickly. Being torn apart by her teeth wouldn’t kill him.

 

Viego gently stroked Dana’s back and whispered, “That’s right. Just endure a little longer like this.”

 

I’ll save you soon.

 

* * *

It was one year after that day. Viego finally drove out Rodrigo and rose to the position of leader of the Daiana Church. And on that very day, he examined every experiment conducted by the church. Then he had to accept completely that there was no way to bring Dana back.

 

“Please.”

 

As if she had been waiting for that moment, Dana regained her sanity that day. It was the first time since the day she escaped the sheep ranch a year ago that her mind had fully returned.

 

“Please, Viego.”

 

Unfortunately, Dana remembered every moment of the past year she had spent suffering from madness. Held in Viego’s arms, she begged him.

 

“Please…”

 

It was almost the same as pleading for mercy.

 

“I’m begging you.”

 

“…”

 

“I don’t want to live with these memories.”

 

“…”

 

“I want to forget everything.”

 

“…”

 

“Let me do that, please…”

 

Viego held Dana tightly. The woman in his arms had withered to a miserable degree. Ever since the madness had erupted, nothing she ate could become nourishment. So she suffered from constant, violent hunger. For the past year, Dana had been no different from a monster.

 

Behind him, the priests whispered among themselves. They said the church leader was raising a monster in his bedroom. That he loved a monster…

 

So what if she’s a monster? She’s his Dana. It didn’t matter. Truly, not even a little.

 

“It may not matter to you.”

 

Suddenly, his uncle’s words from a year ago came back to him.

 

“But does it matter to Dana?”

 

Viego let out a low sigh. His uncle had been right. Completely right. Viego had known it all along, yet he had stubbornly clung to his desire. It was all his greed, his sin. And now it was time to pay for it.

 

“Dana.”

 

“Viego. Please.”

 

“Dana. Listen to me.” Viego rested his chin on the head of the woman in his arms. Holding her tightly, without the slightest gap, he whispered. “Do you remember that night?”

 

“Viego. I’m scared.”

 

“You asked me if I liked you.”

 

He could still hear it clearly. That night in the blue pasture, in the small cabin.

 

“You’re my favorite person in the world.”

 

Her voice whispered endlessly that she liked him.

 

“What about you? You like me too, right?”

 

That moment when he couldn’t give her any answer was a night just as deep and dark as this one. Remembering that moment, Viego spoke in a low voice. “I haven’t had much time in my life when I didn’t like you. So I’m not even sure what it means to like you.”

 

“Kill me.”

 

“Because it has already become my life.”

 

“I’m begging you.”

 

“You said you want to forget everything.”

 

“Please…”

 

“I’ll make you forget.” The trembling muzzle of the gun touched her head. Viego let out a sigh. “You just had a bad dream.” He closed his eyes. And pulled the trigger.

 

Did the gunshot echo? Viego didn’t know. All his senses felt distant. Everything felt fake, unreal. The only thing that was real was Dana. The only thing he could feel. And so he knew the movement in his arms had stopped. He knew the pleading had ceased. The sobbing had disappeared. Even her final heartbeat vanished.

 

An emptiness surged in, as if his heart and soul had been ripped out by the roots. With an expressionless face, Viego murmured, “This is a nightmare, Dana. So forget it.”

 

Thud. The gun fell from his hand. Feeling the last warmth of her body, he whispered, “I’ll be the one who remembers…”

 

That’s what he would do. He would remember everything. Every single thing. All the time he spent with Dana. The suffocatingly beautiful moments, and the despair of now, as if the world had ended.

 

“I’ll remember everything, so you forget it all.”

 

At last, Dana was still forever. But Viego did not let her go for a long time. Even until the warmth in his arms faded, and her body grew cold and stiff.

 

Finally, dawn broke, and the first sunlight seeped in. Viego stared at the window with empty eyes. The light was bright and clear, like the smile she once wore on a summer day.

 

“Viego, I like you. I really like you.”

 

It was the same sun as the day he had savored those beautiful sleep-talk murmurs all night, but… he knew he would never see that version of her again. His Dana. His lovely, beloved lover.

 

“Goodbye.” Viego kissed Dana’s bloodstained cheek. “Rest in peace, my love.”

 

Dana still carried the scent of lily of the valley. It was the fragrance that had ruled over him ever since that summer.

 

To be continued in Season 3.