I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 98

* * *

It was on the way back with Carl.

 

“Excuse me, Lady Danae Windsor?”

 

A man approached them. It was the dormitory supervisor from the military academy whom she had met once before.

 

“Sorry to bother you, but could you possibly visit Cadet Noah Windsor?”

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

“That, Cadet Noah Windsor’s academic performance has been quite poor lately. And furthermore…”

 

“It’s alright. Please feel free to speak openly.”

 

Perhaps encouraged by her words, the supervisor quickly continued. “He has been violating the dormitory rules.”

 

“Which rules exactly?”

 

“There are quite a lot of them. We have issued warnings, but you know how it is. Such warnings don’t really mean much to him…”

 

In the end, what he meant was that the young lord of a great noble family was refusing to listen and causing trouble, so he wanted his family to do something about it.

 

At that, Carl patted her on the shoulder and pointed to himself. “Shall I go?”

 

“…”

 

Dana considered it for a moment before shaking her head. I can’t give him a role like that. She was going to remove him from the position of deputy head soon. That’s why she couldn’t allow him to take charge of a member of the family.

 

“No, I’ll go. Uncle, you should head back first.”

 

“Huh? Me first?”

 

“Yes. I’ll talk with Noah for a bit before leaving.”

 

“Can’t we go together? I’ll wait in the carriage.”

 

“No. You must be busy now, so you should go ahead.” Dana took his hand and gazed up at him with sparkling eyes. “Please don’t forget what I told you earlier. I’m counting on you, Uncle.” She smiled at him with an expression that clearly said, ‘Please make sure to bring me the clubhouse membership card.’

 

* * *

It was in the dormitory, in front of Noah’s room.

 

“Noah, are you in there?”

 

Knock, knock. She knocked, but there was no response.

 

The supervisor looked troubled and held out a key. “Here, we do have a spare key, but…”

 

“Thank you. I’ll go in myself, so you can leave now.”

 

“Alright, then.”

 

There was only one reason she had sent the supervisor away first. He’ll throw something at me as soon as I walk in. Noah would probably tell her to get lost and throw a pillow or a book at her. She didn’t want anyone else to witness that spectacle.

 

“Noah, I’m coming in.”

 

Creak. Dana opened the door and stepped inside. The moment she entered, she wrinkled her nose. The smell of cigarettes. And that wasn’t all. There was the smell of alcohol, along with another strangely unpleasant odor.

 

What did he do all night? The living room was littered with liquor bottles. Ashtrays were piled high with cigarette butts…

 

What’s that? Dana spotted something that definitely shouldn’t be there. Every single one of those things was prohibited in the dormitory.

 

Letting out a disbelieving chuckle, Dana made her way toward the bedroom. The bedroom door was slightly ajar. On the bed lay a man, fast asleep, with his platinum-blond hair in disarray. And he wasn’t alone.

 

“…Who are you?”

 

There was a woman. A completely naked woman, at that.

 

“Who are you, ah.”

 

Had she recognized Dana? The woman lying beside the man suddenly sat bolt upright. She hurriedly gathered her clothes and began putting them on.

 

“Uh, un, that’s…”

 

“It’s fine. You can leave.”

 

“Y-Yes!”

 

As the female cadet dashed out, Dana sighed and approached the bed.

 

“…What is this?”

 

Had he only just woken up?

 

Beneath the sunlight, the pale, radiant man raised his upper body. His face twisted into a variety of displeased expressions. The blanket slowly slipped down. His skin had the texture of steel, and his arms and back were tightly packed with firm muscles.

 

Dana paused for a moment. Is that really Noah?

 

It was indeed Noah. But for a moment, Dana had mistaken him for someone else. Perhaps the memories she had of him as a young boy were simply too vivid. Seeing his now fully matured soldier’s body, she felt a sense of disconnection.

 

Yet Noah showed no sign of surprise even after seeing her. He merely swept his disheveled hair back, then fumbled around on the bedside table until he found the cigarette pack. Placing a cigarette between his lips, he lit it up. Then he looked at her with an annoyed expression.

 

“Why are you here?”

 

Shocked by his debauched appearance, Dana was at a loss for words. He wasn’t even embarrassed, let alone making any attempt to hide what he had been doing. Well, setting aside the fact that he always ignores me… didn’t he know this would reach Viego’s ears? And yet he was still acting so brazenly. At that moment, Noah seemed utterly unfamiliar to Dana. And yet, he had become like this while she wasn’t looking.

 

Well, he was apparently quite close to Justin. They had been roommates ever since entering the military academy. His best friend had been murdered, so it must have been a tremendous shock.

 

That was about as far as her thoughts went. Dana wasn’t particularly worried anymore.

 

“There was a girl here. Your girlfriend?”

 

Noah furrowed his brows. “A girl?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I don’t even remember who she was. How could she be my girlfriend?”

 

For a moment, Dana felt a headache coming on. This boy had completely gone off the rails while she wasn’t looking.

 

Dana opened her mouth. She had intended to speak to him about what the dormitory supervisor had expected. To lecture him about all the things he was doing wrong. However… What a hassle. She lost her will to speak and closed her mouth. Just showing up for a visit was enough to fulfill her obligation. Besides, he wouldn’t listen to anything she said anyway. There was no need to waste her breath.

 

Just then, Noah got out of bed and stood up. Seeing that he was wearing nothing but the bare minimum of underwear, Dana was horrified and quickly turned away. Is he out of his mind? Could he still be drunk?

 

Noah casually threw a silk robe hanging on the clothes rack over his body and tied its belt. Then he spoke. “Anyway, it’s good that you came.”

 

…What? Wondering if she had heard him correctly, she slowly turned around. Noah was sitting on the edge of the bed again.

 

“I’ve actually been waiting to see you.”

 

“You wanted to see me?”

 

“That’s right.” Noah crossed his legs and casually tapped the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray on the bedside table. “Having fun lately?”

 

“What?”

 

“You’ve become even more popular recently.”

 

Dana immediately understood what Noah was talking about. The nude painting. He was talking about that nude painting.

 

“You’ve seen it too?”

 

“Ah, well.” Noah twisted his lips and shrugged. “Can’t exactly say I haven’t seen.”

 

Thump. It felt as though her heart had dropped violently to the floor. Clenching her fists, Dana glared at him.

 

“When did you work as a model? It’s not as though you’re short on money.” Noah looked at Dana with a scrutinizing gaze, then muttered as though speaking to himself. “Or is it a hobby?” He exhaled a long stream of smoke and chuckled. “Well, I respect that. Everyone has different tastes. Perhaps you’re the kind of woman who enjoys having yourself depicted in that state on a canvas.”

 

“…”

 

“Does Brother Viego know? Wait, maybe he already has one.”

 

That malicious joke carried a hint of self-destructive intent. But Dana could no longer hear anything else. She strode toward him, raised her hand high, and slapped him hard across the cheek. Slap!

 

Noah’s face turned to the side. His flawlessly fair skin immediately flushed red. But that was all. With an expression suggesting that slap hadn’t even tickled, he sneered. “Pathetically weak… I almost feel sorry for the life you’re going to lead with strength like that.”

 

“Shut up, Noah Windsor. I feel just as sorry for the life you’ll lead with that rotten personality of yours.”

 

“Haha. Didn’t know you could say things like that.”

 

Noah slowly rose to his feet. The perspective, the height difference, changed instantly. His eyes, which had been below, were now far above her. It gave a sudden wave of intimidation. Only then did Dana truly realize that Noah was just as tall as Viego. For the first time, she really felt it.

 

“Did I say something wrong? Modeling for such paintings, aren’t you ashamed?”

 

“Don’t jump to conclusions. I’ve never modeled. The painter just drew it based on their imagination.”

 

“Well, it looked exactly like you for something painted from mere imagination.” He crossed his arms and tilted his head. “Or why don’t you take it off right now?

 

 

For a moment, the back of her head went numb. What did I just hear?

 

“What are you doing? I said take it off.”

 

His angelic, utterly luminous face spoke like a demon.

 

“I’ll check whether you look the same as the painting.”

 

Dana raised her head once more, intending to slap him again. But this time, Noah didn’t simply let her hit him. He seized her wrist roughly and yanked her toward him. Thud. Her face collided with his chest.

 

“Let go!”

 

“Listen.” Noah leaned down and whispered maliciously into her ear. “Seems like my life got screwed because of you, you know?”

 

“Let go!”

 

“So, don’t show up around me. I might ruin your life too.”

 

Only then did his grip loosen. Rather than stepping back, Dana made sure to slap him across the face again. Slap—!

 

“Ah.” His lip split. As blood began to flow, Noah chuckled and wiped it away with his thumb. “That was better than before.”

 

“Don’t worry, Noah Windsor. From this very moment onward, I won’t even bother speaking a single word to you again.” Dana spat out the words coldly, turned around, and walked away. Bang! The door slammed shut with a tremendous noise.

 

“Haha…” Noah weakly collapsed back onto the bed. For some reason, he couldn’t stop the hollow laughter bubbling up inside him.

 

So this is the end. How boring. I thought we would fight some more. She hadn’t even asked why I was acting this way. Because she wasn’t interested in me at all.

 

Noah calmly accepted the fact he had finally come to understand so clearly, then clutched the blanket tightly. There was a faint warmth in it. That warmth soothed the chill in his body.

 

Whose body heat could it be? Come to think of it, there was a woman. I really couldn’t remember who she was. Actually, it didn’t really matter who it was.

 

Even now, the air filling his lungs felt cold, so Noah burrowed deeper beneath the blanket. He wanted to hold someone. At least while their bare skin was touching, he wouldn’t feel cold, and his mind would be empty. Empty of all thought…

 

Clatter. At that moment, Noah slowly opened his eyes. Clatter, clatter. A faint sound came from the room next door. He simply listened to it blankly. Clatter, creaak. Then he closed his eyes again.

 

The room next door belonged to Justin, who was dead.