After dealing with the Evil Spirit born from Owen's fall as "Lust," Abner held the strange Sealed Artifact, the Proof of Losing Heart, and glanced at the corpse on the ground. He felt a little embarrassed.
After all, Pride, who had kept Owen trapped in a dream, and Vera, who had used a precious scroll, had done most of the work.
Abner's side had only swooped in for the final blow, yet they had claimed almost all the spoils. Frankly, the division hardly seemed fair.
But if I want to act as Owen later, I'll need the Proof of Losing Heart. Without it, people could easily grow suspicious.
Vera saw Abner hesitate and immediately guessed what he was thinking. She smiled. "We had an agreement. The spoils and Lust himself are yours."
"But when we made that plan, I didn't know you'd be so well prepared... You wouldn't have been in any danger even without me..." Abner shook his head. He didn't want to take advantage of her.
He had proposed such excessive terms partly to test Vera's attitude and what she had up her sleeve, and partly because he had believed his intervention could save her from a tragic fate...
But events had proved he hadn't been much help. If anything, he looked like someone stealing the credit.
He still didn't want to give up Owen's identity, though, so Abner began thinking of some other way to make it up to Vera.
Vera pointed at Greed, Sloth, and the Black Knight beside Abner. "Without you, all three would have been my enemies," she said sincerely. "I certainly wouldn't have had such an easy time of it!
"So you've earned everything I agreed to give you."
You can look at it that way? Her Highness really is generous! After considering