I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 294

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The holy relic. Originally, Dana knew only one holy relic. It was the deputy head’s ring, held by Carl Windsor. She learned it was a holy relic several years ago, back when she was Danae Windsor. When she had still been pure and innocent. The time when she and Raios were still happily in love. Back when she still believed in, followed, and loved Carl Windsor as nothing more than a good uncle.

 

“Dana. Shall we have some tea in the garden?”

 

“Sure.”

 

One day, she had tea with Carl Windsor at noon.

 

“The weather is really nice today. Don’t you think so?”

 

As Carl Windsor said this and lifted his teacup, his yellow ring glittered peculiarly beneath the sunlight. At that moment, her insight, this demonic eye of hers, suddenly opened wide. It pierced straight through the gemstone’s true nature.

 

That gemstone was a holy relic. A miraculous stone containing the power of the Sun God. That tremendous realization thundered through Dana’s head. She was so shocked that she dropped her teacup without realizing it.

 

“Dana? Are you alright?”

 

“Ah, I’m fine. My hand slipped.”

 

“You need to be careful. Why are your hands suddenly so shaky?”

 

Carl’s large hand wrapped around hers. The amber gemstone glittered noisily atop his long, thick middle finger.

 

A holy relic. So that was a holy relic. A gemstone possessing the power of God was right there with Carl. But her shock soon disappeared. At the time, Dana was satisfied with her life and wanted nothing more.

 

Then what is this? Now, at this very moment, here, beneath the Somora’s Grand Temple. Dana stared blankly at the gemstone clutched in her hand. Carl Windsor had removed the gemstone from the deputy head’s ring and thrown it here, onto the altar.

 

This wasn’t a holy relic. It was merely an utterly ordinary gemstone. Not the same holy relic she had recognized years ago when she looked at Carl Windsor’s ring. Which meant, when they had tea together back then, Carl had already replaced the gemstone in his ring with the holy relic of Godom Island.

 

Why? Her heart began beating rapidly. Why in the world would he do such a thing? Dana slowly breathed in and tried to regain her composure. Her body was beginning to ache little by little, but she ignored the pain. She simply tried to think as calmly as possible.

 

It was surprising that Carl had taken the Holy Relic from Godom Island. But, in truth, it was not surprising at all. Carl knew that there was a holy relic here too.

 

Yes. I definitely remember. It was when she was Danawin Windsor, Demian’s wife. Demian had once tried to find the holy relic. There had been several times when he turned Danawin into a severe idiot and brought her to the Windsor Mansion. There was one time in particular.

 

“Ah, Carl. You came.”

 

Demian had called Carl into his bedroom. Immediately after having sex with Danawin, without even washing himself, he wore nothing but a silk robe. The room was still heated from their passion.

 

“Why did you call for me?”

 

“Rather, what brings you to answer when I call?”

 

“…”

 

“How strange, Carl Windsor. Isn’t this the first time you’ve willingly answered my summons?”

 

At that time, Danawin was lying naked on the bed, staring blankly. She was no different from a doll that merely breathed. The hazy canopy concealed the bed, but Carl must have clearly sensed it. Beyond the translucent curtains was her disheveled figure, covered in a man’s bodily fluids.

 

Dana hadn’t understood it then, but she did now. Demian had done it deliberately. So that Carl would notice her. He wanted to flaunt the fact that she belonged to him. Typical b*stard’s mentality.

 

Clatter. The sound of something hard striking against another object rang through the silence. Demian asked irritably.

 

“What are those walnuts in your hand?”

 

“Just tell me what you want, Brother.”

 

“…”

 

“…I want to go to the Somora’s Grand Temple, and I need your help.”

 

“Why do you want to go there?”

 

“That is none of your concern.”

 

“You expect me to cooperate when I don’t even know the reason?”

 

Yes, she remembered. That conversation from back then came back to her with perfect clarity.

 

“There is something called a holy relic in the Somora’s Grand Temple.”

 

“A holy relic…?”

 

“Yes. But as you know, ordinary people can’t simply enter that place.”

 

“So?”

 

“I want you to lend me your son, Rumie. He should be able to get there without much difficulty.”

 

At those words, Carl’s low chuckle scattered through the room. Clatter. The sound of a walnut rolling around in his hand could be heard.

 

“Why don’t you ask Rumie directly?”

 

“Rumie said he needs the consent of his adoptive father, which is you.”

 

“Ah, then I refuse.”

 

“What?”

 

“How important do you think my son’s current circumstances are? Why would you ask him to do some trivial errand like that?”

 

“Carl Windsor!”

 

The next moment, something cracked apart. Carl scattered the walnuts he had crushed in irritation across the floor. Slowly and gently, he spoke.

 

“Don’t waste my time with something this pointless, Brother.”

 

Then Carl turned around and walked away with measured footsteps. That was how he left.

 

Right… That’s how it was. When Dana was Danawin, that happened.

 

Dana clutched her throbbing head and sank down. That was when Carl learned the location of the holy relic in the Somora’s Grand Temple. He pretended not to care, but remembered it and came to take it. She leaned against the altar, nearly collapsing onto it. Dizziness washed over her, and her stomach burned as though it were on fire. Cough, cough. A hot, feverish cough began rising from her throat.

 

But why? Carly didn’t even use the holy relic, did he? For some reason, he merely kept it like a decoration. He never used it. Why would he take a holy relic he had no intention of using? Why…?

 

And at that moment, another fragment of memory flashed rapidly through her mind. It was back then in the past, long ago. Even longer ago than when she had been Danawin.

 

“You idiot!”

 

It was when Dana had possessed the body of a very young girl, Danayu. She had formed a brief alliance with the young Carl.

 

“We have to go that way! That’s the grand temple!”

 

When she had ridden on young Carl’s shoulders like a horse, clutching his hair and making him do whatever she wanted.

 

“Carl, are you bad with directions?”

 

“Um, not that much.”

 

“Idiot! You really are an idiot!”

 

“Huh? Me?”

 

“Yes! Idiot! I hate you the most! If it weren’t for the holy relic, I wouldn’t have followed you around at all!”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“I said you’re an idiot!”

 

…Ha, ha, ha. Right. I did say that, didn’t I? Those words she had tossed out in passing, something that could easily be dismissed as the meaningless nonsense of a child. That moment, which even she herself hadn’t particularly remembered until now… Could he possibly remember all of it? There was no way.

 

Back then, Dana’s mental age had become younger, and she had spouted so much nonsense. Unless he had chewed over every single one of her words, every single one of her phrases, again and again, swallowing every last bit of them whole. There was no way he could remember something like that so vividly. That would just be too creepy. Even Carl had only been fifteen years old back then!

 

Yet her entire body trembled. Her fingertips, her eyelashes, even her vision trembled, and she could not control any of it. A terrifying thought kept creeping into her mind. A horrifying hypothesis, one that was terrifying even to think about. No way.

 

No. She could not be certain yet. But there was a way to find out. Staggering, Dana rose from the altar.

 

“Cough, cough!”

 

After coughing repeatedly, at some point Dana realized that she had vomited blood. Her physical condition was at its worst. Drawing out and using the contamination contained within the black core hadn’t been particularly difficult… but had using the insight, her ability, been too much for this body?

 

They had said that her heart was weakening and that she did not have much longer to live. But this was the first time she had experienced such severe aftereffects. She continued vomiting blood, and pain that felt as though her body were being torn apart surged through her.

 

“Cough, cough!”

 

Dana barely managed to get up and stagger forward toward the man who was waiting for her.

 

Rumie. Rumie, Rumie, Rumie. Where are you, Rumie? Like someone walking toward the light at the end of a dark tunnel, she clung to her consciousness, which was on the verge of breaking apart, using only that name as her guidepost.

 

It was the moment she emerged outside the grand temple.

 

“Dana?”

 

Brilliant rays of sunlight stabbed into her vision. And his voice sounded like salvation.

 

“Dana!”

 

Below the stairs, Dana saw Rumie. His dazzling face was so reassuring. She willingly released the strength from her two legs, which had barely been keeping her upright. She would roll down the stairs and hurt herself at this rate, but that would absolutely never happen. Because Rumie would protect her.

 

“Dana!”

 

As expected, Rumi flew toward her like an angel with wings and caught her as she collapsed into him. It was so natural that Dana was not even surprised. Of course. There was no way Rumie would let me get hurt.

 

“Dana, what happened!”

 

“Cough, Brother, Rumie.”

 

Still held in his arms, Dana clutched his collar. And she realized, with all her soul, just how much she trusted and loved this man.

 

She asked. “Brother. There’s something, I want to ask.”

 

“Yes, Dana.” Rumie’s hand trembled as he stroked her. Yet his face was eerily calm. “What happened?”

 

“I used, too much power, that’s all. Don’t, cough, worry. If I rest, I’ll, get better.”

 

But Rumie didn’t seem reassured. Because her face was as white as a blank sheet of paper, ready to tear apart at any moment.

 

“Just tell me, one thing.”

 

If she let her guard down for even a moment, she felt as though her consciousness would go dark. So she had to ask before that happened.

 

“Have you ever, come here, to Godom Island, with Carl Windsor?”

 

At that moment, Rumie’s face stiffened. Watching his lips grow rigid, Dana understood the answer.

 

“Please, answer me, cough, Brother. Okay?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“When did, you come?”

 

“When I was nineteen.”

 

“When, exactly?”

 

“After my adoptive father retired from his position as army commander, he asked me to do him a favor. So, I brought him here. Without anyone knowing.”

 

So Rumie had brought him here after all. Well, of course. Carl Windsor could barely even drive a carriage properly. There was no way he could have come here by piloting a boat alone…

 

“Dana!”

 

Her consciousness was growing dark. Strength drained from her entire body, and her thoughts began to blur.

 

When Rumie was nineteen. Before Danawin Windsor died, and before Danae Windsor appeared. During that interval, Carl Windsor obtained the holy relic of the Somora’s Grand Temple. He replaced the gemstone in the deputy head’s ring with it. Carl Windsor had obtained in advance the holy relic she would pursue in the future and attached it to his own ring.

 

“If it weren’t for the holy relic, I wouldn’t have followed you around at all!”

 

A fragment of words she had accidentally let slip exactly once, when she was Danayu. Carl had dug and latched onto those words with a persistence that went beyond obsession, almost like madness, using them as a clue! He obtained a holy relic he himself didn’t even use, attached it to his ring, and deliberately showed it to her again and again…

 

There was no way all of this could have been a coincidence. Faced with the truth that had become unmistakable, all Dana could feel was shame. It had all been bait. Nothing but a disguise.

 

Carl was a hunter who had laid a trap, while she was a beast circling its prey without even realizing that it was a trap. Because he knew that as long as he had the holy relic, she would follow him. Knowing that she would chase after him forever, like a ravenously hungry beast, even if it meant following him to the ends of the world. And that no matter how much she hated him or loathed him, she couldn’t leave his side…

 

And yet, Carl pretended to know nothing. Pretending to be innocent and naive. He put on every possible act. Aah, right, he even pretended to genuinely love me. If he could do that, what was there he couldn’t do?

 

Humiliation, anger, hatred, and loathing boiled up like erupting lava, until every single cell in her body seemed to scream and burn to death. She had been in the palm of Carl’s hand from the beginning. From the very beginning.