Dante had never seen himself as a good person, but he didn't see himself as evil either.

He hated those who did evil, and he didn't agree with those who did pure good either. He saw himself as a balanced person who leaned toward good, doing good only when it wouldn't harm him.

'Am I a hypocrite?'

He didn't know if that thought was truly his or not, but he didn't care anymore.

What was the difference between him and the evil people he disdained?

He took advantage of Elizabeth's blindness and showed her only what he wanted her to "see". So what if he was doing all that for what he thought was good for her? At the end of the day, he subconsciously treated her as an object that was his.

And even if that was ignored, the fact that he convinced himself that a small amount of misfortune was nothing to escape any sense of guilt was worse.

He felt irritated, disdained, and disgusted by his own actions.

His moral compass was now trembling violently. He didn't know whether he had to accept this nature or try to change it. He didn't know whether he had always been like this or if…

'Is it caused by the Greed Bloodline?'

As fast as that thought formed in his mind, the image of a centipede shaking its head replaced it: 'Trying to blame my innocent self now? Yes, the bloodline I created is supposed to turn you into a greedy person… But that isn't the case for you.'

Dante frowned as he continued listening to Greed, whose tone turned casual again.

'You met a few requirements to be chosen by the ritual and transmigrated. One of these requirements was having a greedy nature in order to possess the greed demon's body smoothly. In your case, the bloodline simply made you start showing it quickly.'

"What…?" Once again, Dante was dumbfounded by another realization.

His transmigration wasn't a complete coincidence. He was a perfect vessel, brought specifically for Sin of Greed to possess. The World Runes said that the living relic waited for his "long-awaited perfect vessel", which he assumed was simply waiting for a good chance to come to him.

But he was wrong.

Sin of Greed wasn't waiting for a chance, he was waiting for his arrangements to pay off. He had something to do with the ritual that brought Dante into this world.

'But… but how did he know? To do that, he had to know that in the future, a husband would turn his dragon wife into a demonic dragon with Greed Bloodline while she was pregnant. He had to know that the son, who'd be a demonic dragon, would be exiled into a forest in Ashton Kingdom.'

'He had to know that Fafnir would get the body swap ritual and be killed enough times to go into despair and discard his own body. He had to know that Fafnir had a regression ability and would decide to perform the ritual in the ancient ruins.'

'He had to know that I, the unlucky transmigrator, would pass through the dangers of ancient ruins, and would have silver Ether to break the chains!'

Dante held his own head in shock and confusion. How powerful a being had to be in order to do all that?

And if he could do all that, then did he really fail? Was Dante's life in this world up to now a part of Greed's plan?

While Dante's mind was in chaos, filled with guilt, confusion, unanswered questions, fear, and many other complex emotions, he felt that his consciousness was being invaded again. But this time…

Dante's resistance was struggling to resist the attack.

If he faced all these emotions one by one, he wouldn't have been affected that much. But Greed hit him with a realization after a realization without giving him time to recover.

His vision was turning into darkness. He was being replaced by something else, a different consciousness.

"...!"

But just then, his clarity returned. Something "unseen" had stopped Sin of Greed by force.

"Hehehe, did you forget about me?" The dark entity laughed as he stood up: "Oh, I love the emotions you are showing right now. After that long speech about guilt and misfortune, you still failed to invade his mind because of me. Maybe you're the unlucky one here."

He was able to "see" Greed's emotions. He was a bit angry and irritated, and the dark entity knew so well that it was rare for Greed to feel such emotions.

Dante looked at the dark entity in confusion. Why would he help him? Seeing how he killed the entire town brutally, he knew that he wasn't kind.

Despite his emotions, Sin of Greed fell silent, not responding, as though he had just lost the ability to use Dante's thoughts to speak.

The dark entity appeared behind Dante and whispered in amusement: "In the same way, you schemed for so long for the best possible vessel—only to fail miserably against the fateless soul. Maybe if you had reduced your standards, you'd have been walking among us like the old days."

'Oh, so that was the miscalculation…' Dante finally understood the cause of Greed's failure. Most importantly, the fact that Sin of Greed truly failed brought him some relief.

The dark entity crouched in front of Dante. Just then, Dante's blindfold disappeared. Dante could feel it, but he couldn't "see" its presence.

"Listen to me." The dark entity extended a claw of darkness, tapping Dante's mark: "I have originally come here for a hidden Ether treasure under the town. But seeing a fellow Crowned Existence alongside my old friend Greed gave me a funny idea, hehehe."

The dark entity let out a venomous laugh. Then his hidden gaze seemed to fall on the invisible left arm of Dante.

"I have always hated the regressor's. They pretend to know everything, it's difficult to stop them, and they are really hard to kill. But I'll allow you to regress this time."

In front of Dante, four fingers of darkness materialized: "You'll regress and go away from this town, as it'll turn into a battlefield soon. I'm now giving you four years to be immune to Greed's mental invasion and to have full control over him, which means he won't even tremble again."

"My only request is that you find a way to make him spit blood in anger!"

"Find a way to turn him into a true relic, collect or destroy his other scattered parts, take advantage of his weakened state, or even insult his mother!"

"You can do whatever you want with him. But remember—don't let him fool you. Last time I fell for his tricks, my entire kind was enslaved by him."

Dante stared at the dark entity in silence. He didn't know how to react. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to think.

No, even if he wanted to think, those thoughts might not have been his.

Suddenly, Dante realized that his neck felt empty, and the world was spinning in his vision.

'Ah… my head has been cut off.'

He couldn't "see" what killed him, but he "saw" his headless body for a brief moment while spinning.

Because of his chaotic mind, flicking between several emotions, he didn't register the pain immediately.

It was sharp, intense, horrifying.

He hated it.

The despair, weakness, pain, helplessness, guilt, suffering — he hated all of them.

'If only I could have full control over my destiny…'

Now, Dante realized that he wasn't controlling his own life, as Greed was the one manipulating it.

He also wasn't controlling his own misfortune, as it was still affecting those around him, no matter how little it was affecting them.

He wasn't even controlling his own death, as just a second ago, the dark entity cut his head off only because he wanted to.

It was… a tragedy.

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