Chapter 4The Ghost of Vengeance

If I was going to leave, I had to do it now.

If I waited until nightfall when those things came out again, I might never be able to leave.

I knew perfectly well that once Arthur made a decision, begging him was completely useless.

And I wasn't going to beg.

I broke eye contact and struggled to stand up, preparing to walk away.

"You're leaving just like that?!"

"You were probably already sick of this too, right? I just gave you the perfect excuse."

My clean break seemed to infuriate him even more.

I didn't want to say anything else. My soul felt incredibly heavy, and every step was agonizingly difficult, but I refused to linger for even a second longer.

I heard footsteps rushing up behind me.

But then they abruptly stopped.

Followed immediately by a violent fit of coughing.

"Mr. Sterling? What's wrong?"

"We need to take you to the hospital to see Ms. Sinclair anyway. Why don't you get a checkup while we're there?"

"Could it be... that dark spirit wasn't satisfied with hurting Ms. Sinclair, and now it's trying to hurt you too?"

At this point, I had absolutely no desire to defend myself.

It was entirely pointless.

I didn't care what else Arthur had to say.

If he wanted to believe those lies, explaining myself a million times wouldn't change a thing.

After leaving the villa district, I wandered aimlessly.

Being a wandering spirit was a new experience. I didn't know why I ended up like this. I was dead, but I couldn't move on to the afterlife. Before Arthur explicitly told me to leave, I physically couldn't move far from him.

Was it really because, like he said, his love had moved the heavens, binding me to him?

Thinking about my current state, that theory was hilariously tragic.

Where was I supposed to go now?

I didn't know.

All I knew was that my body was becoming increasingly transparent.

It actually hadn't been that long since I died.

But I had already forgotten so many things.

Suddenly, I lost consciousness entirely.

When I opened my eyes again, I was inside a temple.

Even though I had no specific memory of it, being there triggered an overwhelming, inexplicable sense of familiarity.

There was no one else in the temple. Just me, and a single oil lamp.

The wick was burning weakly; the flame was incredibly dim.

But when the wind blew, the tiny flame didn't even flicker.

Memories suddenly flooded my mind, crashing over me like a tidal wave.

"I ask for nothing else. I only pray that my wife survives this, recovers quickly, and returns to me."

"If possible, I want to live with her, and die with her."

"I refuse to live in this world without her."

A man had climbed the massive stone staircase to the peak, performing a full prostration—kneeling and touching his forehead to the ground—on every single step.

When he finally stood up, his forehead was bruised, swollen, and bleeding.

I remembered now.

That was probably the year Arthur loved me the most.

He was giving a speech on stage at his company's annual gala when a massive chandelier above him suddenly broke loose. No one noticed.

I sprinted forward and shoved him out of the way, taking the full impact myself and falling into a deep coma.

While I was comatose, I occasionally drifted into semi-consciousness, hearing Arthur's desperate murmurs.

He said that if I didn't pull through, he was fully prepared to die with me.

In my subconscious dreams, I learned that Arthur's profound devotion had manifested a silent "Eternal Flame" in this temple.

The wick was forged from our intertwined souls.

If one soul disappeared from the other's side, the other would die.

I remember thinking: I can't let him die.

My sheer will to live dragged me out of the coma.

Back then, I thought an Eternal Flame like this was an incredibly beautiful thing.

As long as we loved each other, nothing could ever separate us.

Standing here today, floating as a spirit, I learned another secret.

The reason I remained on earth wasn't because Arthur's love moved the heavens.

It was because, shortly after I died, I begged the Judge of the Underworld to let me go back.