Seven Sins System Chapter 578. A Disturbance

Seven Sins System Chapter 578. A Disturbance

I knew I had two choices here—I could either brush this off, pretend she hadn’t said it, pretend I hadn’t heard the weight in her voice. Or I could deal with it now. Rip the bandage off before it became something messier.

I tapped my fingers against the desk, then finally spoke.

“We’re partners in crime, remember?” I said, voice even. “You help me, I help you. Business.”

She flinched, just a little. “Business.”

I nodded. “If you want to take it deeper than that, I don’t mind.” My eyes narrowed slightly. “But I prefer to be professional.”

She let out a slow breath, her hands tightening around the crumpled paper bag.

“Mission is a mission, Puriel.” I kept my tone level, firm. “Failure isn’t in my dictionary.”

She didn’t say anything right away.

Then, after a long moment, she let out a bitter laugh. “Of course. That’s what you always say.”

I frowned. “And I mean it.”

She shook her head, gaze drifting toward the floor. “You make it sound so easy.”

“It is easy,” I said, leaning forward. “You’re the one making it complicated.”

Her head snapped up at that, eyes flashing with something unreadable. “Complicated?” she repeated.

I tilted my head. “Aren’t you?”

She let out a sharp exhale, then stood up suddenly, chair scraping against the floor. For a second, I thought she was about to storm out. But instead, she just crossed her arms, looking down at me like she was trying to decide whether or not I was worth arguing with.

I smirked up at her. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”

She clenched her jaw. “You’re impossible.”

“I get that a lot.”

She exhaled again, pressing her fingers to her temples like I was the headache now.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

Then, finally, she muttered, “I’ll be in the archives until dusk.”

I nodded, watching as she turned on her heel.

But as she reached the door, I spoke again.

“Puriel.”

She froze.

I leaned back in my chair, arms draped lazily over the armrests. “Don’t let this get in the way of the mission.”

She didn’t turn around.

Then, quietly, she said, “I won’t.”

And with that, she left.

I sat there for a while, staring at the door she had just walked through.

Then I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

Damn it.

This wasn’t what I needed right now. Not before a mission. Not ever, really.

I tilted my head, mulling over her words. “Can we just fuck already?” I muttered. Yeah, I really wanted to say that and hoped she’d just say yes. But of course, she wouldn’t.

Because Puriel was the Goddess of Chastity. A pure, untouchable force of divine discipline.

And I was me. A devil. The Lord of Wrath. Chaos, destruction, and sin wrapped in a human disguise.

Our relationship? Complicated as hell.

She wouldn’t let me have her, and honestly, I wasn’t even sure why I kept thinking about it. Maybe because every time she looked at me with those sharp eyes, I could feel something more underneath it. Like she wanted to break her own rules but was too damn stubborn to do it.

But me? Falling in love? That wasn’t in my dictionary.

Sex? Sure.

Lust? Of course.

But love? Nah.

I exhaled. ‘Right. More headaches.’

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples. This was getting annoying. My morning had started peaceful, but now I had Puriel’s words lingering in my head like a goddamn echo.

At least now that she was gone, I had some time alone.

I could use this chance to check on the park.

That place had been bothering me for a while now. There was something off about it, something in the air that had changed recently.

I needed to confirm it myself. I summoned one of my tentacles from the shadows, watching as it slithered forward before shifting—twisting, stretching, reshaping into a perfect copy of me.

My double.

I sighed. “You know the drill. If anyone comes looking for me, keep the act up.”

“You got it, boss.” My double grinned, slouching lazily into my chair.

I rolled my eyes before activating my Teleportation Skill.

And just like that, I was gone.

I landed near the outskirts of the park, my shoes hitting the soft grass without a sound. The air was crisp, the scent of damp earth mixing with the faint floral aroma of the academy’s carefully maintained garden.

To anyone else, this place looked normal. Peaceful, even.

But I wasn’t anyone else.

I could feel it—the faint hum of something wrong beneath the surface. Like an energy ripple, just barely detectable.

The park was mostly empty at this hour. A few people milled about in the distance. None of them noticed me.

Good.

I moved deeper in, past the benches, toward the secluded part of the park where the trees grew thicker.

That’s when I felt it.

A shift.

It wasn’t coming from people. This was something else. Something subtle. Something creeping in. It poisoned the atmosphere, twisting it ever so slightly. A faint, almost imperceptible hum of negative energy saturating the air, like a toxin dissolving into the environment.

Puriel wouldn’t feel it. Neither would Red.

It was too delicate, too well-masked. It wasn’t the kind of energy I detected with brute force magic or divine senses. This was something more insidious, seeping into the air like a slow-working venom.

Like…

I frowned, trying to put a name to the feeling.

But my thoughts screeched to a halt when I heard it.

“You dumb bastard, watch where the hell you’re going!”

I turned my head, watching as two men squared up near the park’s entrance.

They were just regular civilians and looked completely normal. Except for the fact that they were furious. Over nothing.

“You walked into me, you moron!” the second guy snapped, his face twisted in anger. “Maybe if you weren’t too busy running your damn mouth—”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault?” the first man shot back. “I swear to God, people like you—”