I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 274

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Rumie Rolland. He was the bodyguard of Princess Danae Geranze. It was a direct order from Emperor Raios Geranze himself.

 

“Rumie. Take charge of protecting my older sister, Princess Danae Geranze.”

 

Therefore, Rumie had a duty to protect Princess Danae Geranze.

 

“You filthy witch!”

 

Including moments like this, when eggs came flying at her. Smack! Rumie reached out a hand beside her head. The egg struck the back of his hand immediately. It shattered on impact, splattering him with sticky liquid, but Rumie felt relieved. Because Princess Danae Geranze was unharmed.

 

“My son died because of you! Because of you!” The woman who had thrown the egg screamed. “Because of you, our faithful His Majesty fell into corruption and started this war!”

 

The woman was soon dragged away by soldiers. Yet until the very end, she hurled every curse she could think of at Danae Geranze. Witch, demon, heretic, do you know how many people died because of you? You corrupted His Majesty. Bring my son back to life… And Danae Geranze stood frozen, listening to those curses. She neither ran nor covered her ears.

 

“Let us return.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Escorted by Rumie, Danae Geranze boarded the carriage. Perhaps the shock had not yet subsided. Her fingertips were still trembling.

 

Two years and six months had passed since the religious war between the Ramun religion and the Daiana religion broke out. With each passing day, Princess Danae Geranze sank deeper into a swamp of depression. And Rumie, her escort, witnessed every change. He watched the princess, who had once radiated with confidence under the emperor’s favor, gradually turn into someone with the gloomy complexion of an old woman burdened by sin. He saw it all.

 

“Rumie.” The princess, who had remained silent for a long while after the carriage departed, finally spoke. “I don’t want to go back.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“I don’t want to return to the imperial palace.” Dana looked slightly tense. “I want to leave Raios’s side and run away somewhere very far away.”

 

Rumie immediately understood what she meant. Still, he feigned ignorance and replied politely. “Is that so?”

 

“Yes. Will you help me?”

 

“Of course.”

 

At that moment, the princess’s face brightened as though flowers had bloomed. However…

 

“Before that, let us first return to the imperial palace.”

 

“What?”

 

“If Your Highness wishes to run away somewhere far away, you must first obtain His Majesty’s approval.”

 

A moment later, Danae Geranze understood his meaning, and her expression stiffened. Soon, anger spread through her eyes like wildfire.

 

“Do you know why Raios suddenly became obsessed with war? It’s all because of me. Not a single thing that woman said earlier was wrong. I ruined Raios! It’s all my fault, my fault!” Danae Geranze raised her voice. “Who knows? If I disappear from Raios’s side, maybe he’ll come back to his senses like before.”

 

“What His Majesty does is not for me to judge.” With an unwavering smile, Rumie replied. “And my apologies, but this conversation will be reported to His Majesty exactly as it occurred.”

 

“…I can’t stand the sight of you. Get out of this carriage right now. Get out of my sight.”

 

“My apologies once again, but that is also impossible without His Majesty’s command.” He deliberately drew a firm line.

 

At last, Danae Geranze fell silent. For a moment, she seemed to struggle to steady her ragged breathing. Then she buried her face in both hands, her shoulders beginning to shake. Something started slipping through the gaps between her slender fingers. One drop, two drops, three drops… The falling tears looked exactly like jewels, at least to Rumie.

 

Rumie merely watched. Because watching over her was his role. Watching those jewel-like tears fall endlessly…

 

* * *

What a diverse relationship setting this time. Rumie stared down at the crystal orb with an expressionless face. This time Dana is a princess, and I’m a bodyguard assigned to protect her. It was one of the many relationship scenarios the orb frequently showed him.

 

The crystal orb displayed countless versions of Dana. Danae Geranze, Princess Dana, Danae Windsor, his cousin. And then Danae Windsor, his lover. Over the past three months, Rumie felt as though he had lived alongside countless Danaenas. Dana who sang for him; Dana who resented him; Dana who loved him; Dana who had no interest in him; Dana who betrayed him; and Dana who passionately threw herself into his arms…

 

“…”

 

Rumie had been keeping the orb around leisurely in order to track down the person who had given it to him. But after Danaena awakened, he made up his mind. This couldn’t continue. It absolutely couldn’t. If he failed to find the clue this time as well, he would destroy this orb.

 

“Rumie. You actually came.”

 

“Rika.”

 

The woman he had arranged to meet approached him. She was a classmate from the Naval Academy. Now she was a naval officer stationed on Eldiva Island. As such, she knew the island better than Rumie did. She even knew the exact whereabouts of the pirate shaman survivors, those few who had remained after Rumie had nearly exterminated them when he was sixteen.

 

Since he was already on Eldiva Island, Rumie intended to seek out a pirate shaman and have the orb examined. Given who the target was, the mission required secrecy. And because his guide happened to be a woman, Danaena seemed to have developed some strange misunderstanding. But it didn’t matter. Not in the slightest.

 

“Right here, Rumie.”

 

Rika led him into a secluded alley and stopped before an old house that looked ready to collapse at any moment.

 

“Thank you, Rika. I’ll repay the favor later.”

 

After exchanging farewells, Rumie opened the door and entered without hesitation. The stench of rot immediately assaulted his nose.

 

“Rumie. To think you would come looking for me.”

 

In the depths of the living room, an old woman sat on a sofa, looking well over a hundred years old.

 

“I foresaw that you would come. For a moment, I thought it meant my time to die had finally arrived. Hahahaha…”

 

“I’m glad to see you too, Kostel. Have you been well?” Rumie strode over and placed the crystal orb on the table before her. “I want to know who sent this to me.”

 

“You want to know? Hahaha, sorry, but my eyesight is poor. Have you forgotten that when you were sixteen, you stabbed a dagger into my eyes— Aaaagh!”

 

Rumie seized the old woman by the collar and lifted her effortlessly to eye level. Then he smiled as their faces met. “You still have one eye left, don’t you, Kostel? Stop exaggerating.”

 

“Ugh…!”

 

“If that remaining eye is precious to you, prove its usefulness and keep it. Otherwise, I’ll take that one too.”

 

Thud. When he released her, the old woman rubbed her throat and coughed repeatedly.

 

“Why, cough, why are you angry? You’re taking it out, cough, on me!”

 

“Taking it out on you? Not at all.”

 

“Then just, kill me, cough. I lost my family and my friends to your hands. What attachment could I possibly still have to life…?”

 

Thunk. As if feeding a dog, Rumie tossed a pouch of gold coins onto the floor.

 

The old woman’s face brightened instantly. Bending over, she hurriedly hugged the pouch to her chest. “You should have shown me this first, Rumie.” Holding the crystal orb, the old woman examined it from every angle. After staring at it for a long time, she muttered, “I can feel the power of the seven-headed serpent.”

 

“Was it made by a barbarian demon worshipper?”

 

“No. No. No. This. This is…” The old woman’s hands began to tremble. At that moment, a blue light burst forth from her one remaining eye. “This is… Oh, good heavens!” Staring into the orb with her glowing eye, she cried out in a cracked voice. “This orb is made by the seven-headed serpent itself!”

 

The seven-headed serpent? A wave of disgust washed over Rumie, and he frowned. He had known it was an evil object, but to think it had been made directly by a demon.

 

“Ooh, how did a demon’s orb make its way into the mortal world? Did a demon give it to a human? Or did a human steal it from a demon? Or did the demon bring it up into the mortal realm itself? Let’s see, let’s see.” The old woman was completely engrossed, almost like someone who had lost her mind.

 

“I’m not interested in the orb’s origins.” Rumie sighed. “What I want to know is who sent it to me.”

 

“Oh, right. Right. Just wait. I can already see it.” The old woman smiled ominously and pressed her face so close to the orb that she seemed ready to climb inside it. “I see him. The face of the one who sent you this orb. The face of that wicked traitor.”

 

Now we’re finally getting somewhere. Rumie asked quickly, “What does that person look like?”

 

“A man. A very handsome man. Oho. Sharp eyes and piercing gaze.”

 

“What color are his hair and eyes?”