CHAPTER 64: SEVEN DEADLY SINS

(Four days ago during Arthur’s and Nathira’s outing)

Nathira laughed heartily as she hugged her doll like a little child. "Hey Art, isn’t this dragon so cute?"

Arthur glanced away, his cheeks slightly flushed from her adorableness. "You could say so."

Nathira suddenly stopped as her eyes shifted to a small child crying on the street.

Arthur also looked at the child, and they both moved without exchanging a word.

Nathira crouched down to meet the little girl’s eye level. "Hey pretty girl, where are your parents?"

The girl gazed at her, slowly lowering her hand from her eyes. "Uhmm..."

She turned to Arthur, and her face lit up.

She immediately dashed behind him. "Handsome big bro."

"Huh?" Arthur muttered as she clung to his sleeve.

The girl, barely seven, grinned brightly and asked, "Is big bro a prince or a god?"

Arthur let out a soft chuckle, bent down, and gently patted her head. "I’m both of those, you see."

The girl’s eyes sparkled with wonder. "Then will you be my big bro?"

"Yeah, call me big bro."

The girl giggled. "Then Melissa’s big bro is a prince."

Arthur was about to laugh, but stopped as his gaze met Nathira’s.

He swallowed hard and said, "Hey Nathira, she’s just a kid, okay?"

Nathira smiled and lifted the girl. "Your name is Melissa, right?" she asked with a gentle smile.

Melissa puffed out her cheeks. "Don’t call me. Only big bro can say my name."

"Why is that?" Nathira asked, visibly irritated.

Melissa smirked. "You’re ugly."

Nathira exhaled deeply and put the girl down. "Husband, can you please take that child far away from me."

Arthur didn’t hesitate and carried the girl over to the nearby police station.

At the station, he met the girl’s mother, who bowed and left.

When he returned, he sighed, holding two ice creams. "Here. Don’t stay mad."

Nathira puffed her cheeks. "So you’re into kids now."

"Please don’t say that. I might actually get arrested." He shook his head. "As someone who knows about my world, don’t you know that in every show, when a couple finds a kid, they take care of them until the parents show up?"

Nathira scoffed. "Well, that’s in shows. You’re my husband, and I don’t like sharing." She added, "You could even say I’m the devil instead of an angel."

As if something clicked, she snapped her fingers.

"Wait..." she muttered, making Arthur, who had been looking ahead, turn toward her.

"Don’t you think our family is like the seven deadly sins?"

Arthur thought for a moment. "How so?"

Nathira nodded to herself, affirming her own idea. "I’m the devil. Cassie, who never admits her feelings, is pride. Amelia, who never has the energy for anything and relies on her spirit, even for spying on you, is sloth. Ellie is lust. Isabella, or rather the gold digger, is greed..."

Arthur waited as she thought through the rest. "I don’t think we have wrath or gluttony yet."

Arthur then asked, "What about envy?"

Nathira turned to him, almost surprised he hadn’t figured it out. "Don’t you know?"

Arthur shook his head.

Nathira paused briefly, then said one name slowly:

ANNA.

The only girl who truly loved him but never got a chance because they started on the wrong foot.

------

Arthur inhaled deeply as he jumped from tree to tree. ’Why am I remembering that day so suddenly?’

Maybe Anna came to mind for some reason he couldn’t place.

Arthur suddenly came to a halt as his gaze locked onto the bushes some meters ahead.

Landing quietly from the tree, he brushed aside the foliage, only to find a large dead monster behind it with five words written in blood:

I STILL LOVE YOU, HUSBAND.

Arthur swallowed hard, not just because of the message but because the sender had deliberately created a trail out of blood.

He finally understood why Anna had surfaced in his thoughts.

Arthur’s expression darkened as he blinked to the treetops, then began moving swiftly from branch to branch until he could see the end of the trail.

A cliff resembling the one atop Hollow Mountain stood there, though instead of snow, it was covered in trees and wild overgrowth.

Arthur let yellow color wrap around him as he used Lysandra’s transmission spell.

In an instant, he was at the end of the blood trail.

Before he could begin searching for the writer of the message, someone called out to him.

"Husband..."

Arthur slowly turned his head toward the very edge of the cliff, where Anna stood with a soft smile on her face.

"Anna, what are you doing here?" Arthur asked, his tone serious.

She tilted her head. "You’re not going to ask how I knew who you were?"

Arthur stared at her without a word, then finally answered, "No, I already figured you might break the spell."

"It was the system, right?"

Arthur’s eyes widened. "What?"

She smiled. "I know you’re not from this world, Art... No, Lee Beom-seok..." Her eyes narrowed. "I know everything."

Arthur quickly feigned ignorance. "I don’t know what—"

Before he could finish, she cut him off. "Born on April 12th, 2007. Died on August 2nd, 2023. Had a traumatic childhood, both family and relationship-wise.

It took you over three years to get over your first girlfriend who died because of you. You love cute things and reading but never had anyone to share it with except your otaku friends who you never really fit in with..."

With every word she spoke, Arthur’s eyes widened. ’How did she...’

Anna wasn’t shouting. She spoke softly, as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear. But every single word was true.

She recounted everything that had happened in his life.

When she finished speaking, she extended her hand. "All your wives only know the Arthur they see now, but none of them know what you’ve endured or how much pain you went through in your past life..."

She clasped her hands over her chest as the wind swept through, causing both their uniforms to flutter. "But I know everything..."

Arthur stepped forward, sensing something terribly wrong. "Hey Anna, you’re right. Everything you said is true. Now, can you step away from that cliff?"

Only after she finished speaking did Arthur notice she had completely cut off her mana source.

He didn’t know how she’d broken through the memory erasure or how she knew about his previous life, though he had a guess.

But right now, the only thing that mattered was getting her away from the edge.

Anna smiled tenderly. "I love you, Art. And I’m sorry for what I did to you or how we started off poorly. So..." She extended her hand. "Why don’t we start over?"

Arthur stepped forward again, his eyes widening. "If you’re thinking about using reincarnation as an escape, don’t. It isn’t—"

Anna cut him off once more. "Reincarnation?" She let the wind carry her body’s sway. "No, Art. Let’s go to hell."

"What?" Arthur asked, startled.

She looked directly into his eyes. "You’ll dance with me in hell, won’t you? My only lover."

Anna observed Arthur like a hawk—his hesitation, the sadness in his expression as he reached out, trying to stop her from falling.

He was still too far, so she knew the gesture wasn’t to join her but to save her.

’You’re such a kind soul, Art...’ Her smile softened slightly, then faded.

She withdrew her outstretched hand. "So that’s how it is, huh?" she added. "You chose them over me."

Opening her arms and embracing the wind, she said one final word:

"Husband."

─── ✦ End of Chapter ✦ ───