I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 280

* * *

“Gasp, gasp…”

 

Dana ran through the hedge maze, then kept running. Her breath came in ragged gasps, but she never stopped. The words of the Somora’s priest had spoken earlier echoed in her ears.

 

“Please don’t worry. We just want to test if you are worthy of becoming the maiden for the Spring Water Ritual.”

 

“God Somora enjoys pranks. So we, too, intend to conduct this test in a somewhat playful manner.”

 

Those damn perverted fanatics!

 

“Ah!”

 

Dana lost her footing while running and nearly fell, but she managed to regain her balance before veering alongside the maze wall, avoiding those chasing after her.

 

“Catch her!”

 

“Please stop right there, ahahaha!”

 

They were playing tag.

 

“Thirty minutes. You just need to escape from us for thirty minutes. You’ve heard of tag, haven’t you?”

 

“T-Tag?”

 

“Yes. If you avoid being caught for thirty minutes, the game ends. But if you’re caught… well. What do you suppose will happen?”

 

“Wahahahaha!”

 

After frightening her like that, they laughed among themselves as though it were the funniest thing in the world.

 

It seemed like she was today’s only sacrifice. Which meant every one of their eyes was fixed solely on her, so she had to keep acting without a single moment’s rest. Suppressing her irritation, Dana let tears stream down her face as she pretended to sob. “Sob, sob.” Crying and screaming exactly as they wanted, throwing a proper fit the whole time, had completely drained her. More than anything, she was hungry.

 

Those pieces of trash… Dana trembled with rage at their cruelty. To make her go through all this without even feeding her!

 

“Kyaa!” Something brushed past her shoulder. Damn it, it hurt so much. A curse rose to the tip of her tongue. Those insane b*stards.

 

The fanatics were completely immersed in this game of tag. It seemed they had even made special weapons for today.

 

They’re out of their minds. They really put their hearts into preparing a game!

 

It was a magic arrow. Instead of arrowheads, they shot formless spells. Whenever Dana was hit, something terrifying would happen. One moment, an illusion appeared in which the ground was completely covered with snakes, spiders, and cockroaches. The next, headless monsters came chasing after her. Just moments ago, ghosts had appeared as well. They were the vengeful spirits of those who had died on this island.

 

[Help me, help me, help me.]

 

[Send me home. No, you can’t go home either!]

 

[You have to wander here with us forever!]

 

Yet none of it frightened her in the slightest. Yustio’s words that it’s rare for humans to become wandering spirits protected her like a talisman. Even so…

 

“Kyaaa!”

 

Dana screamed with all her might, pretending to be terrified. The more consumed by fear she appeared, the finer a sacrifice she would be. So she intended to show them, as quickly as possible, someone driven mad with terror. That way, they’d hurry and drag her to the altar for the human sacrifice!

 

Dana wondered what kind of illusion it would be this time. Let’s just get this over with already. Please, hurry and take me to the altar. Swallowing those words before they could escape, Dana prepared herself to cry and scream with everything she had.

 

Ah, it’s changing. Has the illusion curse finally begun? Her vision blurred once more, and she felt as though she were being pulled into another world. Here it comes. Dana obediently closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she would probably be inside the illusion.

 

What would it be this time? Anything is fine. Just start already. Let’s hurry, hurry, hurry!

 

“Your Highness.”

 

…Huh?

 

“Princess.”

 

That voice…

 

“Your Highness.”

 

Danaena Rolland suddenly opened her eyes wide.

 

* * *

Princess Danae Geranze snapped her eyes open.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

It was inside the bedroom.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

Danae Geranze lay face down on the bed, crying. “Hic, sob, hic.”

 

“Your Highness. Please stop crying.”

 

“Sob, hic, hic.”

 

She felt so sad and depressed that all she could do was cry.

 

Three months earlier, Princess Danae Geranze had miscarried. The doctor had told her it was a miscarriage brought on by stress. He had comforted her, saying miscarriages in early pregnancy were common, that she shouldn’t grieve too deeply, that she needed to stay strong.

 

How am I supposed to stay strong? How?! She had been devastated by the miscarriage. But at the same time, a strange hope had taken root. If she was suffering this much, maybe Raios would stop the religious war. Maybe when he sees that war costs their child, he’ll change his mind. She had believed that. But Raios had been astonishingly cold.

 

“Two years. Just wait two more years. I will end the war within that time.”

 

At those words, Danae Geranze had screamed.

 

“You insane b*stard! I’m never seeing you again until this war is over!”

 

Raios had remained silent for a long while after hearing her outburst before replying in a cracked voice.

 

“Then perhaps it would be best if you remained inside your room until the war was over. There are far too many assassins.”

 

All she could do was cry.

 

Raios had changed. He was no longer the young man she had once known. It was all her fault. She had ruined Raios. So she had to disappear. Only then would everything return to normal. But Raios kept her under such strict watch that it was practically imprisonment. Dana could neither change him, leave him, nor stop him.

 

All of it was so unbearably miserable that Danae Geranze buried her face in her pillow and wept. That had become her daily routine.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

But why…

 

“Your Highness, please stop crying.”

 

Why is that damned bodyguard always interfering!

 

“Your Highness.”

 

Unable to endure it any longer, Princess Danae Geranze abruptly sat upright. “What does it matter to you whether I cry or not!” She shouted at the top of her lungs and hurled a flower vase at her guard.

 

Crash! The vase struck his chest and shattered into pieces.

 

“Ah.” Danae Geranze immediately froze in shock. A shard from the shattered vase had grazed the guard’s fair cheek. A thin line of blood trickled down his sculpted, beautiful face. It hurt to see.

 

All I ever do is hurt the people around me.

 

Staggering to her feet, Danae Geranze approached her guard, tears dripping from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” She reached out with a trembling hand toward his cheek. “I’m sorry. It hurts, doesn’t it? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do this.”

 

The guard, Rumie, quietly looked at her.

 

Sobbing, Danae Geranze gently stroked the cheek she had injured with shaking fingertips. “What to do, what to do…”

 

The moment her fingers slid across his face, Rumie let out a quiet sigh. Then he gently took hold of her hand. He removed it from his face and lowered it.

 

“So.” He spoke in a voice as calm as a still lake. “What should I do?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“I asked what I should do.”

 

“…What?”

 

“I don’t want to see you crying.”

 

“…”

 

“So tell me. What do I need to do for you to stop crying?”

 

 

No. Danaena Rolland watched the illusion, that memory of the past, and silently pleaded. To Danae Geranze. To her past self. To the version of herself that belonged to a timeline that had already come to its end.

 

Please. Tell him you don’t need him. Please, Danae Geranze. Please.

 

“Will you help me?”

 

No. Don’t drag him into this.

 

“…I want to go far away. Far away from Raios.”

 

No.

 

“I understand. Please prepare to leave.”

 

“Liar. You’re the one watching me under Raios’s orders. And now you’re saying you’ll help me escape?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“…You’re going to tell me to get Raios’s permission first, aren’t you?”

 

“Is that what you want?”

 

“W-Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

 

“I told you. I’ve grown tired of watching Your Highness cry.” Rumie spoke as though he had completely given up. “But promise me one thing. That you’ll never cry again.”

 

In that moment, Rumie seemed like the light, the salvation itself. Danae Geranze broke into a radiant smile. It was a smile she had not worn in a very, very long time.

 

“Rumie, thank you, truly.”

 

Danaena Rolland was overcome with despair. Seeing Danae Geranze smile, she wanted to cover Rumie’s eyes as he stared at her, seemingly unable even to breathe. She wanted to keep him from seeing. To keep him from falling in love. No, to keep his love from growing any deeper.

 

The look in Rumie’s eyes, as though he had just witnessed something infinitely precious. The way his ears slowly reddened. The faint trembling of his eyelashes. She wanted to stop it all.

 

Please, I beg you, don’t fall in love with me. She wanted to beg him.