Mom's Possessed (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15
“Her… her… her neck was cut off?”
Bonita’s stiffened eyes trembled wildly. Horrifying rumors she’d heard about Duke Lysianthus flashed through her small head.
“They say Duke Lysianthus has gone completely mad lately. Screams echo from his mansion every night.”
“That’s chilling. What if the rumors are true? You know, the one about locking away anyone he dislikes in the cellar and using them as test subjects for dark magic.”
“Oh come on, Arthur. Where do you even find dark magic in this day and age?”
“Then maybe instead of dark magic, he’s just torturing them? Haha.”
These were the very tales drunken patrons in her neighborhood used to gossip about over drinks.
“But why on earth has the Duke gone mad? Born into nobility with everything he could want—what more could he possibly lack?”
“How should I know? Maybe because he has everything, he’s bored and plays with us poor folk like children playing with toys.”
“That’s truly horrifying… Hmph, that’s exactly why I hate nobles.”
At the same time, Luke’s somewhat foolish, fidgeting face appeared before Bonita’s eyes.
“She really does resemble Elodie… truly…”
“She says she really likes it. May ‘Daddy’ open your present now?”
“Bonita, come sit beside Daddy.”
“Ugh…”
Bonita let out a tiny whimper.
Luke was the first grown man who had ever treated her with such kindness.
Therefore, those rumors must surely all be lies—but then why was her heart pounding so fiercely?
“But there’s not a single person around. Is the Duke’s garden always this quiet?”
“Hss. Don’t you know? His Grace doesn’t allow servants to linger much in this part of the garden.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, obviously—it’s because this is where the Duchess used to… Gah!”
The brown-haired man, who had been speaking in hushed tones, suddenly spotted Bonita and let out a startled shriek.
“Hic!”
Bonita, equally startled by his cry, hiccupped.
“A kid? What’s a kid doing here?”
“…You idiot!”
The red-haired man beside him kicked his companion sharply in the shin and hissed irritably.
“There’s only one child allowed in the Duke’s mansion, you fool!”
“Oh…! Right!”
“What’s going on here?”
While the two men bickered, Aria rushed over and quickly pulled Bonita behind her.
The brown-haired priest offered an awkward smile under Aria’s wary gaze.
“I’m Dominic, and this hot-tempered fellow here is Leo. We’re the priests summoned by His Grace.”
“Priests?”
Aria blinked.
Now that she looked again, the two men were indeed wearing plain white priestly robes. Without the distinctive temple insignia, she hadn’t recognized them at first glance.
“But why priests…?”
Aria muttered to herself, then suddenly realized the reason.
Bonita and Catherine. Priests.
‘They’re here to perform a paternity test.’
That was the only possible explanation.
She didn’t feel betrayed at all.
Judging by Luke’s demeanor, this paternity test wasn’t for his own sake but rather an official procedure to publicly declare to others that the child was truly his.
“I see. Then please follow me this way.”
“Thank you. Ah, if it’s not too impolite, may I ask for your ladyship’s name?”
Since Aria appeared to be a noblewoman in her early to mid-twenties, Dominic asked cautiously—using the title “lady” precisely because he couldn’t be sure if she was married.
‘Oh, right. That’s true.’
Aria hesitated awkwardly.
For nearly three years, everyone who met her for the first time had addressed her as “Madam,” assuming she was Elodie, the noble lady.
Trying not to show her discomfort, she cleared her throat lightly.
“I’m Aria Hilton. Come along, Bonita. The priests have business with us, so let’s return to the mansion.”
“Yes.”
Bonita took Aria’s hand—or rather, precisely three of her fingers. Aria bit the inside of her cheek hard.
‘She’s just too adorable!’
Who on earth did she inherit such cuteness from?
Meanwhile, Dominic and Leo exchanged subtle glances and whispered to each other.
“Hilton? Is there really a noble family by that name?”
“There are countless noble houses. Besides, a family as prominent as the Duke’s might employ noble maidservants instead of ordinary maids. She’s probably one of them.”
“Is that so? She looks vaguely familiar though…”
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of hitting on her or something?”
“Leo, what kind of man do you take me for?”
Dominic protested with an aggrieved look, then fixed his narrow eyes intently on Aria’s retreating figure.
‘I really feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before… Or is it just my imagination?’
[This is the timeline separator]A light knock sounded.
“Your Grace, the priests have arrived. Shall I escort you to the drawing room right away?”
“They came rather quickly.”
He stood up immediately, moving with slightly more haste than usual. Ed followed behind him, thinking.
‘Well, of course he’s in a hurry.’
Having witnessed how strangely the Duke had behaved ever since first seeing his daughter, Ed found his current state perfectly understandable—even if it still gave him chills.
After all, if this child was so precious to him, naturally he’d be desperate to officially declare to the world, beyond any doubt, that she was truly his daughter.
Indeed, rumors had already begun quietly spreading among noble families, with everyone chattering about it in their own way.
Opinions varied widely.
Some made the ordinary guess that this was yet another impostor; others claimed she was actually the late Duchess’s illegitimate child; and then there were utterly absurd rumors that the Duke had used dark magic to resurrect a stillborn baby as a zombie.
‘Good grief, how can anyone bring the dead back to life? People really do have vivid imaginations.’
Of course, Ed himself didn’t understand how Bonita, who had been stillborn and even given a funeral, could have returned.
Still, the idea that someone had switched the babies seemed far more plausible than the Duke resurrecting his dead child through necromancy.
And if the Duke truly had the power to bring only one person back to life, wouldn’t it have been his late Duchess rather than the child?
Thus, those speculations were truly ridiculous—there was a limit to how little one could know about the Duke.
“I’ll open the door for you.”
“No need.”
By then, they’d reached the drawing room. Luke brushed off Ed’s offer with a curt refusal and flung the door open with a stern expression.
And then…
“…Bonita?”
He froze upon seeing Bonita seated on the sofa, swinging her legs and nibbling on a snack.
His gaze swept across the room. Aria sat beside Bonita, while two priests sat opposite them.
Just then, a sharp voice sounded from behind him.
“What are you standing there like an idiot for? If you’re not coming in, move aside.”
“Mother? No—I am coming in.”
Luke made a displeased face upon seeing Catherine and stepped inside. Watching the two of them, Aria gave a faint, knowing smile.
“You’ve arrived quickly, Your Grace. Madam.”
“Naturally.”
Luke’s cold reply was followed by his sharp gaze turning toward the two priests.
“So, how exactly does this verification work?”
He had obsessively researched ways to resurrect the dead, yet had never once looked into paternity tests.
That was only natural.
His only child had already died, and after that, Elodie never had another chance to conceive.
It was more accurate to say he’d deliberately avoided learning about it. Since Elodie and he had been each other’s only one, there had never been any need for a paternity test.
Until now.
Luke’s eyes turned fierce. The two priests swallowed nervously under his chilling glare.
The red-haired priest, Leo, pulled a round, bead-like object from his bag.
The crystal sphere was about the size of an adult’s head.
“The procedure is simple. We place blood from both individuals into this device and observe the reaction.”
Though it required at least two high-ranking priests to operate, the process itself didn’t take long.
Leo anticipated Luke would react skeptically, asking, “Can that really work?” But the Duke’s actual words were entirely unexpected.
“Blood?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. Blood from both parties is absolutely necessary for a paternity test.”
At the mention of a paternity test, Bonita turned to look at Luke. Oblivious to her gaze, Luke frowned slightly.
“Is blood truly required?”
“Huh? Well…”
Leo stammered, flustered. Was there some problem?
‘Could it be true, as the rumors say—that dark magic has turned his blood black…?’
An image of the Duke as a bloodthirsty monster flashed through his mind.
“The test is finished. Now that you’ve seen my secret, you’ll all have to die.”
‘Oh no!’
He nearly jumped to his feet but forced himself to suppress the scream, tears welling up slightly.
‘If only I’d drawn a better lot. Damn it.’
…In truth, who would come to the Duke’s estate had been decided by drawing lots. When the other high priests drew the losing straws, they’d jumped up in such dismay that he’d almost died of irritation.
“Um, Your Grace…?”
Dominic cautiously addressed Luke, who had suddenly gone silent. But Luke seemed not to hear him at all.
The Duke folded his thick arms and muttered quietly.
“…they say.”
“Pardon?”
“They say blood is needed—but where on this tiny child do you expect to draw blood from?”
Flash!
His eyes, gleaming like a predator’s in the dark, swept over them. He asked, clearly displeased,
“Is there no other method?”
“W-well…”
Dominic answered timidly.
“There isn’t….”
“How utterly incompetent.”
Dominic’s mouth dropped open.
‘What?! Do I really deserve to be called incompetent?! In what way exactly?!’
He felt deeply wronged.
When there simply wasn’t any other method—what was he supposed to do about that…?!
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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😅😅 They are about to die mentally, sooo exhausting