CHAPTER 58: FRAMED 2

Arya

This must be another nightmare. It can’t be real. I pinch the skin of my arm just in case it might be a dream.

But the grim reality is - it’s not.

The stares are real. The hatred is real.

Thousands of people mirror the same emotions - hatred and disgust.

Han looks the most hurt. From the little I know about them, they were quite close. He always seemed to look after her.

Now, she’s dead.

And he thinks I killed her.

I don’t even try to explain - my throat is tight and lumpy.

Even if I manage to get a few words out, what good would it do.

How would I explain being in the same room with Arigana’s hanging corpse?

I can hear Fang’s echoing laughter in my head.

She wanted this to happen? What good would it do her if everyone in the Blink wants me dead?

Han pulls out his sword and braces to attack me.

I feel frozen to the spot. Every fibre of my being is screaming for me to run, but I don’t move.

He lets out a groan of pain before charging at me.

Adrenaline shoots into action at the last minute. He had swung his fatal wind blade in my direction, but I managed to dodge it somehow.

His strike ripped the fixed-in metal table I had been sitting on off the ground and into the wall.

He is unrelenting.

I don’t want to fight him. He is trying to kill me for the wrong reason - but one thing is certain, he wants to kill me.

Unfortunately for me, I have only two options - run or kill him.

Or, let him kill me.

The prospect of dying is not a very unappealing one.

I should just run. Images of how I had cut down innocent officers who were just trying to get home flash in my mind for a brief second.

Fang is still laughing. Is she trying to turn me into a killer like her?

He pulls his sword back for another strike.

I realize that I am exposed as I lay on the floor.

I crawl under the nearest table for safety.

I realize that it is a very big mistake when he swings his wind blade in my direction.

The table rips off the ground, carrying me with it.

I slam against the metal and the wall, pinned and helpless.

I feel paralysed. Every part of my body is screaming in pain.

I am hoping that he would realize that my refusal to fight is evidence of my innocence.

If he strikes again, he might snuff me out.

His soul is outraged. I have seen the same emotion so many times.

The only release he’d have is in killing me, or seeing Arigana again - which is not possible.

I try pushing the metal pinning me to the wall with all my strength. As it moves slightly, I feel white-hot pain in my abdomen.

I look down with dread.

The metal is sticking through the right side of my abdomen. Blood is trickling down like soft rain in the summer.

I can’t get out of this situation. I’m as good as finished.

I grit my teeth. No one even considers helping me.

What is it about me that people never want to show me sympathy?

Why am I always doomed to fates I don’t deserve?

Fang’s laughter is still hovering over me like a dark and gloomy cloud.

I had vowed to no longer be weak, but in this kind of scenario, strength would not serve me.

If I kill him, everyone would be convinced without a doubt that I am a murderer.

But, I am not a murderer!

What I did to the Imperial army does not define me.

I close my eyes and wait for the last blow.

But it doesn’t happen. No fatal strike, just silence.

I slowly open my eyes.

Everyone is leaving the room. The Demon Enforcers are herding them back to their vaults once again.

For once, I am grateful for the interference of demons.

A few of them look back and shake their heads at me - reminding me of when I had been hanged at the age of sixteen for being a cursed necromancer.

Only Han remains. He is kneeling in front of me, his head drooping down as if he is praying.

His sword is lying a good distance away from him. He tossed it away?

I look down at his huddled frame from my confined position on the wall.

"She was the only good one among us all. She saved you! She had mercy on you! Why did you kill her? She always saw good in you - and she was never wrong. Why did you do it!"

His voice comes out cracked, etched with rage and a tinge of inner conflict.

I gulp down the lump forming in my throat.

How would I tell him that I didn’t kill Arigana?

No matter how I look at it, Arigana is dead because of me.

Fang had warned me to stop whatever I had been planning. I hadn’t stopped.

I was warned, but I didn’t listen. Xian Xi almost died, Hikaru died in front of me, now Arigana dies?

Is everyone going to die because of me?

Maybe Fang was right when she said I’m the Grim System.

All my good deeds have been tossed back in my face because of my past.

I was trying to find a way to set everyone free, but it has ended up as a guide to the noose for everyone in the Blink.

A thought suddenly filters into my hazy mind - would Xian Xi believe the accusation going around? Would he think I killed Arigana?

He already blames me for the misfortune of the continent, anything could easily destroy the friendship between us.

I look down at my black and veiny arm - a symbol of another good deed.

It leads me to question my beliefs.

Am I meant to be a good person?