I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 256

* * *

“Lord Rodrigo.”

 

Rodrigo’s heart raced. At last, she had opened her eyes. And then she looked at him and smiled brightly. At him. Really at him… She was smiling at him.

 

“Say it again,” Rodrigo said, struggling to hold back a sob. “Say it again, just once more.”

 

“Lord Rodrigo.”

 

Ah, she called his name again with a smile. It was a sweet and lovely voice, like a little bird. Not a voice cursing him or condemning him…

 

“Lord Rodrigo.”

 

A voice overflowing with love…

 

His heart pounded, aching with intensity. Rodrigo opened his arms. “Come here, Dana.”

 

Dana smiled. Unsteadily, she rose from her seat. As she did, her pearl-colored hair cascaded down her waist, revealing her naked body before his eyes. There truly was not a single part of her, from head to toe, that wasn’t beautiful.

 

“Hurry. Come to me.”

 

Dana stretched her delicate legs and approached him. One step, then another.

 

Yes. Come to me. Hurry and come to me. With every step she took, every moment she drew closer, Rodrigo felt his chest grow so hot he thought he might burst into glorious flames.

 

“Dana, quickly…”

 

It was then.

 

“Ah.”

 

On the fifth step, Dana staggered and collapsed. Thud. She crumpled as if broken. And then she began melting at an astonishing speed. Just like ice beneath the blazing sun, she streamed into liquid. Her beautiful hair, her skin, her eyes, everything… All of it melted into a sticky solution.

 

“…” Rodrigo slowly lowered the two arms he had stretched toward her.

 

Dana had melted away. No, Dana’s empty body shell had.

 

The next moment, tears flooded from his eyes. He covered his face and wept.

 

“Lord Rodrigo is crying again…”

 

“He’s always crying…”

 

“What a huge crybaby…”

 

Ignoring the murmurs of the anti-church leader faction priests, Rodrigo continued sobbing helplessly. How long did he cry like that?

 

“Cheer up, Lord Rodrigo.” Natty, a priestess of the Daiana Church, approached and patted his back. “I’m begging you, please fix this habit of crying at every little thing. Aren’t you embarrassed in front of the other priests?”

 

“What am I supposed to do when the tears just come out?” After wiping his tears with the handkerchief Natty handed him, he blew his nose loudly. “I really hoped this one would succeed…”

 

“It’s impossible. Lady Dana’s soul isn’t here.”

 

“I know.”

 

“No matter how many bodies you create, it’s useless. Without her soul, they’re bound to collapse like that.”

 

“I said I know. Stop talking.”

 

This was the anti-church leader faction’s laboratory. Inside the tanks floated countless bodies of Dana. Ever since Danaena Rolland’s accident on the Red Ship, Rodrigo had been attempting to awaken those empty shell bodies. And very occasionally, he succeeded, like now.

 

In those empty shells, Rodrigo had input Dana’s expression, tone, manner of speech, and behavior. Then the shells would act accordingly. According to the data values he had set, like the Dana he worshipped. But every time, it ended in failure just like now.

 

“How long did that shell last without a soul this time? Was the record a week?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

And during that one week, it was like heaven and hell to Rodrigo. She was fake, nothing more than an empty shell. Yet she was enough to utterly enchant him. Though after a mere week, she disappeared without a trace, just like the Dana that had melted away before his eyes now.

 

“It doesn’t matter if we make hundreds of those things. Without a soul, she can’t even manifest purification power.” Natty spoke firmly. “Our experiment exists to efficiently manifest purification power, doesn’t it?”

 

Rodrigo nodded slowly. “Of course. To purify the rotten land. To awaken that power.” Because that was the mission of Daiana Church, the Windsor family, and himself.

 

Dana was his destiny. Chasing after her was not something Rodrigo had chosen. He had simply been born that way. That’s why he couldn’t live without Dana. But Dana hated him, despised him, loathed him, and wanted to escape from him.

 

Rodrigo’s heart ached terribly. Perhaps this was how a lifelong believer felt, abandoned by their god. Unable to hate or give up the god who had left them, they would ultimately hunt that god out of love and devotion. They would shoot arrows into the god’s back, loop a noose around the god’s neck, bind them by force, and lock them behind iron bars. Then kneel beneath them in prayer. Just as he was doing now.

 

“Lord Rodrigo.”

 

Then someone approached his side.

 

“So this is where you were.”

 

It was a familiar voice.

 

Rodrigo turned. The man stood cloaked in the pillar’s deep shadow.

 

“Come closer.”

 

Obeying, the man stepped near. Sunlight filtered down, revealing his face. Rodrigo marveled anew.

 

“You really are handsome.”

 

Indeed, from any angle, he was dazzling. That smooth skin, those strangely seductive eyes even for a man, those red lips… Dana had liked this face too.

 

“So, are your wounds all healed?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Be careful not to damage that handsome face.” Rodrigo clicked his tongue while stroking the man’s cheek. “Tsk. Really, why did you even go to the Red Ship?”

 

At his scolding, the man smiled and defended himself. “How could anyone have expected the Red Ship to explode? We should be grateful I wasn’t caught directly in the accident.”

 

“Don’t ever go to dangerous places like that again.”

 

“Yes. Anyway, now that my injuries are fully treated, I think I should return.”

 

“Right, you should. There must be people waiting for you.” Rodrigo gently stroked the man’s silver hair. “While traveling, don’t forget to wear a mask to hide your face. For the sake of the family’s dignity, at least.”

 

“Don’t worry.”

 

“Then travel safely.” Rodrigo smiled and bid him farewell. “Rumie.”

 

* * *

“Rumie.”

 

Rumie looked up.

 

“So you’re Rumie.”

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I am your maternal grandfather.”

 

Maternal grandfather? Rumie looked up at the man with suspicious eyes. The man was a noble who seemed completely out of place in this back alley.

 

“I don’t have any family.”

 

“There’s no life that’s born without family.” The noble bent down to meet the boy’s eyes. “You were simply abandoned by your mother, Sandra.”

 

“…”

 

“My daughter, Sandra. That troublemaker.”

 

“…”

 

“She hid away my grandson all this time without ever showing him to me and then discarded him without even consulting me.”

 

“…”

 

“You’re eight now, aren’t you? Yet your build is already impressive.”

 

The man knew his mother’s name. And he knew she had abandoned him as well. Could he really be his grandfather? Rumie didn’t know. After all, until the age of eight, Rumie had been a son secretly hidden away and raised by his mother.

 

At that moment, the nobleman lifted Rumie’s chin. Like a jeweler appraising a gemstone, he carefully examined the boy’s face. Then he sighed in admiration. “Look at your elegance.”

 

“…”

 

“Even without receiving proper education or care all this time, you possess such noble grace and beauty. Who could possibly mistake you for a street child?”

 

“…”

 

“You’re a jewel.”

 

A jewel. At those words, Rumie instinctively frowned. He hated that word. Because there had been far too many people who tried to lure him into their beds with promises of jewels.

 

“My mother abandoned me.”

 

Rumie had no guardian.

 

“So I’ll take care of myself. Leave me alone.”

 

The boy rejected the old man coldly. He had met far too many terrible adults to believe those magical-sounding words so easily. This man could be another one of those vermin. Rumie turned to leave immediately. But then…

 

“Hi.”

 

A boy stepped out from behind the nobleman.

 

“So you’re Rumie.”

 

Rumie froze in shock. It wasn’t because the boy was extraordinarily beautiful. But because his face, his eyes, and his voice were all unbelievably gentle and kind.

 

“I’m Carl Windsor, who will become Sandra’s husband.”