I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 288

* * *

It was inside the dim bedroom. Rumie was bathed in the backlight, with his back to the moonlight. He was tied to a chair.

 

“…?”

 

Is this a dream? It was a scene that could make one think that for an instant. Why? Why is Rumie on this island? Why is he in this room? Why is he like that? Tied to a chair like that, as if he had been kidnapped? But that wasn’t all.

 

“…Brother?”

 

What on earth was that? There was a stain spreading across his bathrobe. That was… Blood?

 

The instant Dana recognized it, her entire body froze. Her spine went rigid, and her heart dropped. Why on earth is Rumie—!

 

It was that moment.

 

“Cough!”

 

Rumie coughed.

 

“Cough, cough!”

 

He violently vomited something out. That vivid red substance, that blood, overwhelmed the dozens of confused thoughts swirling through Dana’s mind. From then on, there was only instinct. There was no such thing as reason.

 

“Rumie!”

 

Dana frantically rushed into the room. She urgently stretched out her hand toward him. But just before her fingertips touched him, she barely managed to stop. No! If I touch him now, he’ll be contaminated!

 

Dana began pushing the contamination that had seeped into her body back inside the black pierce. She was so anxious that she began panting involuntarily. Hurry, hurry! She hurriedly pushed the contamination away, drove it out, and crammed it back in. Hurry, hurry, I have to examine Rumie’s wounds, hurry—!

 

It was the very moment darkness disappeared from Dana’s body. Bang! A powerful impact struck the back of her head. Her ears went numb from a thunderous ringing that shook her mind. Someone had struck the back of her head with tremendous force. Her vision turned black, and the balance in her legs gave way.

 

“Uh…”

 

Just as she staggered and fell toward the floor, a man’s face appeared in her blurred vision. It was Anton Rolland. With his cold gaze as the last thing she saw, Dana lost consciousness.

 

* * *

Anton Rolland guessed everything from the screams coming from outside the window.

 

“P-Please spare me! Sister Danaena!”

 

“Please, Lady Danaena! Spare me!”

 

Danaena was slaughtering the people inside Somora’s Grand Temple.

 

“I-I don’t want to rot, please, please!”

 

Anton calmly assessed the situation. Judging from the screams coming from outside, it seemed she possessed not only the power of purification, but also the power of contamination. With that power, she was mercilessly killing everyone who had toyed with her. So surely she would come to kill him as well.

 

Anton wasn’t flustered by that obvious truth. Having lived his entire life as a soldier, he had encountered the crossroads between life and death countless times, and always survived. This time would be no different. Fortunately, the weakness of that witch was in his hands.

 

“Rumie, I’m sorry, but I think you’ll have to get hurt for a little while.”

 

“It’s alright.”

 

Anton pushed a knife into Rumie’s abdomen, inflicting a fatal wound. Then he tied him to a chair. If he left him like this, Rumie would surely die. But if Danaena saw this scene, she would lose her composure and come running. It happened exactly as he expected.

 

“Damned b*tch.” Anton casually tossed the candlestick with which he had struck the back of her head onto the floor, then spat out a curse. He had become so tense in that brief moment that his entire body was drenched in cold sweat.

 

Anton tied Danaena’s arms and legs with rope and even gagged her. Just in case, he covered Danaena’s eyes with a blindfold as well. Eyes, mouth, everything was covered and tied. Only after completely subduing her did Anton treat the back of Danaena’s head with holy water. It would be troublesome if she happened to die. Then he hurried over to Rumie and untied the ropes.

 

“Rumie, are you alright?”

 

“Yes…”

 

Rumie was still tied to the chair, his face pale. He looked so pitiful. Anton hurriedly poured holy water over Rumie’s wound as well. It was while he was treating Rumie.

 

“We have to kill her.” Ingria, who had somehow entered the room, insisted with her face drenched in tears. “We have to kill that demon while she’s unconscious. Hurry, we have to go to the Somora priest and offer her as a sacrifice.”

 

“That won’t do.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Rodrigo is demanding Danaena. We can’t kill her.”

 

Damn it, how did things get so messed up?! Wasn’t Adma supposed to kidnap Danaena? Wasn’t the plan to take her to Rodrigo? Anton had definitely understood it that way. He had no idea where things had started going wrong.

 

“We have to kill her!” Ingria screamed as though having a fit. “Right now, right now, we have to offer her as a sacrifice to Somora and kill her! That woman is a demon! A demon, truly, truly a demon!”

 

“I told you. Rodrigo is demanding Danaena. We can’t kill her.”

 

“What are you talking about! What woman is a sacrifice of the Somora religion, so why is Rodrigo suddenly interfering?” As Ingria continued speaking, her eyes suddenly sharpened as though she had realized something. “Don’t tell me Rodrigo healed Rumie’s injured face not long ago, and now he’s making a fuss over something as trivial as that?”

 

“Ingria.”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous. What’s so important about treating one little wound that he can demand Danaena? Danaena has to die! Right now, we have to offer that woman as a sacrifice and kill her!”

 

“Somora religion has been annihilated, Ingria. You saw it clearly with your own eyes.”

 

At those words, Ingria’s lips stiffened.

 

Toward her, who had lost her reason in fear, Anton spoke with a sigh. “Or did any surviving shaman remain? Is there a priest left who can help the Aren royal family now?”

 

No. They were all dead. That woman had killed them all. Every last one of them, without leaving a single person alive. Only then did Ingria comprehend that Somora religion had been massacred.

 

“Cooperate with me. If you do, Rodrigo might help the Aren royal family.”

 

“…”

 

“As you know, Rodrigo leads a new faction that has become independent from the Daiana religion. Perhaps he might even join hands with the Aren royal family.”

 

After a while, having accepted reality, Ingria nodded as tears dripped down her cheeks. “I understand…”

 

Anton gestured toward Rumie with his eyes. Rumie approached and embraced Ingria. “Don’t cry, Ingria.”

 

“Ugh, Rumie, Rumie. I was so scared. That woman, that demon killed them all, Lisa, Ron, my poor younger siblings.”

 

“You must have been very frightened.”

 

“Sniff, sob. Yes. I was scared. I was really scared…” Ingria, who had burrowed into Rumie’s embrace, soon sought his lips. She kissed him as she sobbed. “I want to forget everything that happened just now. Hold me.”

 

“But—”

 

“Light the scented candle, scented candle… I don’t want to be in my right mind right now. I want to lose myself. I can’t stand being sober.”

 

As she sobbed, Rumie glanced at Anton as though asking for permission. Anton nodded with an annoyed expression. Rumie then took a red scented candle from the drawer and lit it. Soon, a sweet yet dreamy fragrance began filling the room.

 

“Hurry, kiss me. Rumie. Hurry.”

 

Ingria’s blonde hair spread across the floor, and Rumie’s shadow covered it. The kiss between the man and woman deepened.

 

Whether the two tangled together right in front of him or not, Anton did not care. It was not as though this was the first or second time he had seen something like that. It had not been merely a day or two, nor merely a year or two. He simply sank down onto the sofa, steeped in deep fatigue. Picking up a cigar resting on the table, he put it between his lips. It was truly a damn exhausting night.

 

The Daiana Religion didn’t create a saintess. They created a witch. Ha. A laugh escaped Anton’s lips. Truly incredible. To create something like that! That woman must become Rolland’s. As soon as the sun rose, Anton would take Danaena to Rodrigo’s laboratory.

 

Purification and contamination. If those two powers descended into Rolland’s blood, if he obtained that power… At last, I can overcome my vulgar bloodline. The power to save and destroy the world. In the face of that great ability, what meaning could the impurity of blood possibly have?

 

Anton sucked on his cigar as he watched the man and woman before him. He felt exceptionally good. Perhaps because at last he could achieve his goal. The scent of blood and the fragrance of scented candles flowing through the room were particularly stimulating. More than ever before, Anton was deliberately excited and absorbed, almost to the point of being violent. This place was practically paradise…

 

“This.”

 

At that moment, Anton’s hand stiffened.

 

“What on earth is this?”

 

Among the hot breaths of the man and woman filling the room, there was Rumie’s as he shared breath with Ingria. Over that man’s breathing came the exact same voice as his own.

 

“What on earth is going on here?”

 

Anton whipped his head around. There, Rumie was standing in the doorway.

 

* * *

Rumie simply could not accept this situation. A short while ago, he had arrived on Godom Island. And he had been horrified by the gruesome sight before him. Somora’s Grand Temple had been contaminated by the rotten.

 

Is Danaena safe? He searched for Danaena, taking care not to step on the contamination. Fortunately, finding signs of someone’s presence was not difficult. In the frighteningly quiet silence, noise was easy to detect. When he followed that sound, this chaos was waiting for him.

 

“…Grandfather.”

 

His maternal grandfather, Anton Rolland, was sitting on the sofa with his legs spread apart, dressed in a bathrobe.

 

“Ingria.”

 

His wife was lying on the floor in front of him. And…

 

“…”

 

And…

 

What on earth is that…? Goosebumps rose all over him.

 

It was him. Rumie was pressing down on Ingria’s body.

 

When Rumie’s eyes met those of a man who looked exactly like him, for an instant he thought he had fallen asleep while standing. It felt like he was dreaming. Right, like a lucid dream. Could it be that I am looking down on myself in the dream? Perhaps he was having an extraordinarily shocking and outrageous dream. Lately, he had been having very bad dreams. But he had never once even imagined a scene this disgusting, this filthy, this rotten-smelling.

 

“…!”

 

At that moment, the man with the same face as him quickly rose. He hurriedly adjusted his clothes and backed away. It was then that Rumie realized. That this wasn’t a dream, and that wasn’t himself. The man was shorter, smaller in build, and more delicate overall than Rumie. But his face was so remarkably similar that it made Rumie feel nauseated. No. What made Rumie feel nauseated was this situation. A scene that seemed to show the very end of human depravity.

 

“What are you doing right now, Grandfather?”

 

Everything was clearly disgusting, yet the air in the room was dangerously sweet. A sweet fragrance that numbed his mind. His stomach churned.

 

“Hehehe… my husband has come.”

 

Apparently feeling no shame, Ingria looked up at Rumie while still lying on the floor.

 

Had she been drinking? Or was she intoxicated by something? Her eyes were completely unfocused.

 

“Aah, are you curious who this man is?”