"Deeper."
Seven commanded, leaning against the shovel and trying to hold back his ragged breathing.
"Dig deeper."
"...!!"
Lythian could not respond and only dug deeper. It was not even an hour since he was freed from that prison, and yet he was already being forced to do hard labor.
And everytime he cursed, a lightning-like pain would strike his body just from Seven's command.
Again, Lythian was under the enslavement seal.
In all honesty, a master in the novel could only order the slave not more than thrice a day.
But since Seven's trait had a passive effect that made him immune to the compulsions of the seal, he could do it anytime he wanted.
Hff…
He took a deep breath as he watched Lythian dig a hole.
Before long, the hole was deep enough. He ordered him to stop and motioned for help, as his frail frame could not lift Iria's body on his own.
At his command, they gently lowered Iria on the grave.
As if in response, a cold breeze swept past them, carrying with it a delicate flurry of white flowers. The petals drifted down, settling around the grave.
"..."
Seven stared at Iria blankly.
Lythian then picked up the shovel he had tossed earlier, ready to cover the body.
"Wait."
He interrupted, and Lythian stopped.
Step.
Stepping forward, he knelt down and caught one of the fallen flowers that the wind brought before he gathered them carefully.
Slowly, he carefully placed the flowers on Iria's chest.
"Rest in peace, Iria."
He whispered.
It was the only way to, at least, calm down his trembling body as if the original Seven Hart was still mourning for her death.
He stood up.
Step.
He did not even bother to take one last glance before taking a step away.
Lythian remained silent.
'Fucker. Where do you think you're going?'
…Is what he wanted to say, but held back himself. Or at least, not until Seven suddenly stopped and turned around.
"Dig three holes outside the gate too."
Seven said.
The two will be used for the knights used to guard him in the exiled mansion, and the rest would just be dumped into one hole.
Lythian snapped.
"Fucker! I'm not— Arghh!!"
But before he could finish, he screamed from the lightning-like pain that crushed down into him.
***
In the Exiled Mansion
Inside his room, Seven did nothing and sat on the desk while looking outside the window.
The scene outside was just Lythian digging up the third hole on the ground to serve as the grave of those knights and mercenaries that somehow died for reasons he did not know.
"Was it sister?"
He mumbled.
But then he shook his head.
After all, Eden Hart killing him was already surprising enough but her gauging the hearts of those she killed one by one was not her kink— though she did it on his heart.
Judging from the wounds too, it was obvious that a claw was used and not a sword.
'...Abaddon?'
He thought.
After all, he could remember that among the Abaddon, there were at least three of them that belonged to the race of a Lycanthrope.
Though only one was mentioned in detail and it was a Lycanthrope, those who can transform into a wolf.
Haah…
He let out a low breath as he leaned down and opened the drawer.
The magic-inscripted parchments Seven used to study ways to ask Euryphaessa for a blessing were still there. To his surprise, there was another thing inside.
A sealed envelope.
"...?"
He took it out.
He quickly opened the envelope and saw a crest of both the Kingdom of Othrenis and the Academy.
"...Invitation Letter?"
He recognized it.
Again, none of it was given to someone for centuries. Even the novel only mentioned it exists as Eden Hart was given one but never used it.
Thus it was obvious that this belonged to Eden.
"She… gave it to me…?"
As much as he wanted to refuse to seek help from the one who killed him, and the one whom he had a goal now which is to surpass her, he needed this.
If he counted the days right, then today must have been the 25th day of Nocten, which means the entrance examinations were already over.
And this was his only chance left to enter now.
"Yeah. She must've left it by accident…"
He ran a hand through his hair as he tucked the envelope inside his pocket.
"It's not like this was for me or anything."
Though he did take it out again as he took a bath, changed his clothes, and put the envelope back into his pocket once again.
Step.
But as he leaned against the window one more time, watching Lythian dragging the corpses towards the hole, he frowned.
"...Who am I?"
He asked.
The reason for it was because though he gained some of the memories of the original Seven Hart recently, he felt like he had lost himself as Yoon Seojin.
And so he closed his eyes as he tried to remember what happened.
"Fudge."
He said.
Now, that word alone seemed out of place and he did not exactly know the reason why he kept saying that as he could not remember, but it seemed etched into his mind.
It must have been—
"FUCKKK!!"
Lythian screamed from the gate with a gaze locked at him as he gestured to the already covered graves.
Seven nodded.
"Right."
He remembered now.
It was not just a word, but his way of cursing at everything.
And he did not second-guess himself to curse at the original Seven for being so ignorant that his body began to fail him.
Instead of transmigrating in a powerful, godlike vessel like the heroes in those cliché novels, he landed in a body that barely held itself together.
"Fudge you, Seven."