⊱Souriant avec du sang sur son visage⊰

Smiling with blood on his face

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Snowflakes danced in the air around me and a few gently touched my palm before disappearing within a second. There was no end and no beginning to the pure white expanse that stretched out to the horizon.

"Don't you feel cold?"

I smiled when Temperance laughed at Patience's question and stated the obvious.

"Sis... you do know that we're numb to temperature," the older chimed with a teasing tone and threw a handful of snow at the peach haired girl who wiggled around, trying to avoid the snow. "You're- ugh... My goodness, it's just snow, not dirt."

"Saejin looks like she's blending in with this place though," Patience chuckled, pointing at me. "Maybe you turned so white because you love snow. I know I wouldn't choose to have this cold, snowy place outside my dwelling. I still get shivers every time I come here."

"Yours is more boring though," Temperance coughed, earning an eye roll from the younger.

"I don't wanna hear that from the one who has a sea outside her place. Just a sea!"

The two continued to have small talks and bickers. I didn't want to burst their bubble, but they were only throwing random subjects to walk around the real reason they came to me. They were joking and laughing around but the way they were fidgeting gave away that they were, in fact, anxious.

"So why did you two come here?" I asked softly, wondering why they suddenly appeared when I was occupied with my thoughts, sitting on the snowy ground in silence to find some comfort in it. "Did something happen?"

Their expressions turned downcast as they sat upright on their cushions. Everyone was tense lately because of Chastity's agreement with the Sin of Lust. To say we were worried would be a terrible understatement. It was all because of the Deadly Sins making everything harder than it was supposed to be.

Centuries. That's how long I had been existing as Charity. Sometimes, I would forget who I was when I was alive, but Greed was always there to remind that. Sometimes, I would snap at him and destroy my surroundings whenever I lost control. Sometimes, it would be him who did that.

After a beat of silence, Temperance cleared her throat and held my gaze with a softer one.

"We just wanted to spend time together. With how things are lately, it's hard to just be... Chastity with her bet, Kindness with her guilt weighing more now, and you being hostile to Greed and vice versa." She sighed, holding my hand that I had opened to catch snow. "All I- and the others can do is be beside you like this. I'm sorry it's all we're allowed."

Trying to dispel the tension, I smiled at her and breathed out a chuckle. "I appreciate that very much. Also, it's not like we can escape from the Sins. We just have to be on our best behavior."

"It was simpler when we first met them," Patience sighed. "Remember when we had our first meeting with them?"

"How is that any better?" The blue haired girl grabbed her shoulder. "Half of them left the meeting all of a sudden. Half of us left, too."

"Oh wait," Patience exclaimed, widening her eyes and buffering in realization.

"You disappeared after Humility," I stated as a matter of fact, smiling in pain. "Bada had to do damage control after that."

"Yeah, well." She shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Hyunwoo left so there was no need to linger around."

"Speaking of meeting, there's one soon, right?" I mumbled and winced when Greed's face flashed before my eyes. "All the Sins except Lust will be there..."

Patience nodded. "Good for Jieun."

"Not really..."

•───────────⋅⚜️⋅───────────•

I gasped and my breath got stuck in my windpipe as soon as I teleported to the meeting room and my eyes landed on the blonde man sitting with one leg thrown over the other on the table.

Blood.

His face and velvety suit were painted red. It was the only thing I could see. The only thing I could focus on until his lips curled up into a smirk and our eyes met. The same cold piercing eyes that wanted to watch me tremble and suffer before him.

"Is that any way to turn up for the Meeting?!" Patience roared after a loud gasp, horrified by the view. "Greed, don't think we can tolerate such behavior."

"My humblest apology. I was just having so much fun in hell that I didn't realize I was going to be late for the Meeting." He bowed his head and his eyes slipped to me as his smile grew wider. "I didn't notice how long I was having fun there."

I suppressed a whimper and frowned deeper to challenge him. From the corners of my eyes, I could see the other Virtues and some of the Sins watching me.

"That's enough," Humility roared, his eyes burning silver. "Sin of Greed, you are to be dismissed immediately."

Greed's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"I apologize for his behavior," Pride announced, standing up and scanning all the Virtues who were standing before him before his eyes darted to Greed. "Clean up and come back. Now."

Rolling his eyes with a scoff, Greed brought down his legs from the table and stood up. When his eyes found mine again, I glared at him the hardest I could. It was after he was gone that my body relaxed instantly and I could breathe normally.

Silence drowned the whole room. The Virtues were all focused on me, not doing anything else. Not only had Greed made me anxious again, all their attention was nerve-wrecking. Trying to get their eyes off me, I pulled a chair and sat down.

After we all took our seats, not even a minute had passed when Greed appeared with a clean face and a new outfit. The tight golden vest hugged his waist over his frilly black button-up shirt. Not sparing me a glance this time, he sat down in the empty chair a few meters away.

"Personal attack? I see one of you is crossing the line again," Humility thundered, his voice dripping with fury. "There must be nothing personal used between everyone, Greed. You're just dying to be punished, huh?"

"Did he say anything out of line there?" Gluttony interjected and Sloth agreed. "From what I heard, I didn't notice anything personal or offensive. Only the blood was out of the line. Why are you so serious about nothing?"

"Stop blabbering about something useless and wasting our time and get to the main topic," Envy complained, leaning back in his chair and regarding us with contempt.

Using telepathy, I told Humility that I was fine and to start the Meeting. From the side, his jaw was clenched and he took a minute or so to calm down before beginning as I asked. The other Virtues emanated rage and displeasure and their eyes glowed slightly.

Greed ignored me the whole time but I knew he would try something like that again. Things wouldn't change unless I tried other ways.

For now, I had to manipulate my own feelings since they were somehow getting stronger everyday.

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As you can see, this chapter happens after Lust and Chastity's agreement which means many many years passed and Saejin is dealing with shet 🥲

Thank you for reading 🌸