Husband in the Underworld
1
Three years after my death, my husband Mitte came to the old estate seeking me for the first time—for his mentor’s daughter.
“Get Elara to the hospital. Anna needs her uterus,” he commanded coldly.
The butler replied truthfully, “Sir, the lady passed away three years ago. As you instructed us not to bother you with her matters, we arranged her burial ourselves.”
Mitte sneered. “Still playing games? She even bribed the Thornes’ butler. I’ll find her myself.”
He stormed in with Anna Vance, ransacking the house—but found no trace of me.
They left in anger.
On the road, Anna whined, “Last time it was just a kidney—why the drama? How can I give you a child without a womb?”
“Relax,” Mitte said. “She can’t hide forever.”
No sooner had he spoken than their car veered and crashed into a monastery wall.
When they woke, they were in the Netherworld.
And I was nearby, processing the newly departed.
…
Perhaps the crash had addled their minds, but neither of them realized they were dead.
When Mitte saw me sitting there, perfectly fine, a wave of relief washed over him, quickly followed by a surge of fury.
He pointed a finger at me, his voice sharp with accusation. "Elara! Did you bribe the butler and go into hiding? How can you be so petty? It's just a uterus. It's not going to kill you."
I ignored him, busy guiding the new arrival in front of me to sign their final confirmation.
Infuriated, he strode over and swept the desk clean with one violent motion.
"I'm talking to you! Holding a grudge for three years… you've really got some nerve."
My work now thoroughly interrupted, I looked up at him calmly, my voice low and steady. "Wasn't one kidney enough?"
It happened on our wedding day. Anna, a guest of honor, never showed up. Mitte, frantic after a dozen unanswered calls, abruptly announced the wedding was postponed and left me standing at the altar without a backward glance.
I waited in my heavy wedding gown until darkness fell, only to hear he was at the hospital.
Anna was gravely ill and needed a kidney transplant. She produced a tissue-typing report claiming I was the only match.
I refused, vehemently. In the end, Mitte had his men drag me to a hospital bed.
He held up a marriage certificate, telling me that as my husband, he had already signed the donation consent form on my behalf.
"One kidney won't affect your life," he had said. "No matter what, you are my wife. I'll take good care of you from now on."
After the surgery, too weak to even sit up, I accidentally knocked over the soup Anna had supposedly made herself. For that, Mitte had me locked away in the old family estate to "reflect," before I was even strong enough to get out of bed.
If Anna hadn't needed a womb, I doubt Mitte would have ever remembered I existed.
"How could it be enough?" he scoffed now, then paused. "You are still my wife. Besides, Anna and I have already discussed it. If you feel uncomfortable, she'll leave the country as soon as the baby is born and never come back."
"I won't see them, either," he added. "I'll stay home with you, and we'll raise our children together."
"Our children?" The idea was so ludicrous I had to laugh. "With my womb inside Anna, where exactly am I supposed to grow these children?"
Mitte shot me a disdainful look. "Do you think Anna is as selfish as you? She said she'll have two. One for us."
I looked over at Anna with a wry smile.
She clung to Mitte's arm, her expression soft and fragile.
"Did I make Elara angry? Maybe… maybe we should just forget it."
"Ignore her," Mitte snapped. "She forced you to leave the country once before and you never said a word of complaint. They say childbirth is like walking through the gates of hell. She gets to be a mother without any of the pain. She should be grateful, not angry."
"I made a sacred vow to your father on his deathbed that I would take care of you for life. Since you've decided not to marry and only want a child to keep you company, it's my duty to make that happen."
Tears of gratitude welled in Anna's eyes. The two of them were lost in their own world, their gazes locked in a tender, intimate embrace.
But I had a job to do. I had no choice but to interrupt. "These are the gates of hell. You two are new arrivals. Please register here."
2
The tenderness vanished from Mitte's face, replaced by a simmering rage. "That's enough, Elara. Anna's health is fragile. Who are you trying to curse with that kind of morbid talk?"
He glanced around, a smirk playing on his lips. "You hired quite a few people, didn't you? It's a convincing setup. Now, come with me. The operating room is prepped and ready. Don't waste the doctors' time."
He reached for my hand. In that flash of contact, I saw the last few hours of his life.
After failing to find me, he had forced the butler to tell him where I was hiding.
The old man sighed, his voice weary. "Ma'am is truly gone, sir. I handled her funeral myself, three years ago. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself at the monastery outside the city. Her ashes are kept there. She had no family, and without your permission, she couldn't be interred in the Thorne family crypt. It was the only arrangement I could make."
"Enough of your lies! You tell Elara my mind is made up. If she doesn't show herself, I'll deal with an old fool like you, too."
He shoved the butler to the floor and sped towards the city outskirts.
At the monastery, they immediately spotted the urn bearing my name.
Ignoring the protests of a young monk, Mitte pried it open without hesitation.
"It's just ash from a fire pit," Anna goaded from his side, fanning the flames of his anger. "To think she'd even deceive the church. Elara is determined to defy us to the very end, isn't she?"
Rage consumed him. Mitte tossed the contents of the urn into a nearby pond.
He called his assistant, ordering him to hire every private investigator in the city to find me.
"I don't care if I have to dig up the entire country," he seethed. "She will give you that womb."
He didn't notice the triumphant smirk on Anna's face behind him.
Neither of them realized that just a few minutes later, their journey would end in the Netherworld.
Seeing his disbelief, I grabbed a passing soul. "How did you die?"
"Drowned while swimming in the river."
"Gas leak. Asphyxiated."
"I was too focused on my game… held my pee until my bladder burst. They couldn't save me," a young man behind them added with a grimace.
"Hahaha!" Amidst the collective sighs of the dead, a jarring laugh rang out.
"These actors are quite dedicated," Anna giggled, nestled in Mitte's arms. "They even have their lines down."
He looked at me with a cold smile. "And you? How did you die?"
How I died. If he had lived just a little longer, he would have found out.
Back then, I was thrown into the old estate while my wounds were still bleeding. The only people there were the old butler and the guards stationed to prevent my escape.
The room was damp and cold. My surgical wound became infected. When the butler called Mitte, he'd snapped, "As long as Elara's still breathing, don't bother me. Let her learn some humility. It's not like being a pampered wife is some great hardship."
I couldn't get out, and no doctor could get in. The butler, helpless, could only buy some over-the-counter medicine and tend to my wounds himself.
Day after agonizing day, my body wasted away. My organs began to fail.
When I finally died, the butler called Mitte one last time.
He was in the middle of throwing a lavish birthday party for Anna.
"She's always scheming for attention. Just hearing her name annoys me," he'd muttered, blocking the estate's number without a second thought.
From that day on, he never heard another word about me.
Mitte's hands clenched into fists. He didn't want to believe it, but a suffocating tightness gripped his chest.
"Mitte, it's not just me who's dead. The two of you are dead as well. A car crash."
His pupils contracted. He snapped his head up, his eyes locking with mine.
3
"Mitte, darling, you don't actually believe her nonsense, do you?"
Before Mitte could answer, the Adjudicator floated over, holding a stack of files.
Anna shrieked and buried her face in Mitte's chest. "A ghost!"
"What's with all the screaming? Honestly, some of you newcomers take forever to accept reality," the Adjudicator grumbled, handing the files to me.
"Elara, you've accumulated enough merit. You have two choices: a promotion in rank, or reincarnation into a wealthy and powerful family. Of course, you could also give your chance to a newly deceased relative, allowing them to return to life. But it's your merit to use. You might not get a chance this good again."
Shaken from his shock, Mitte asked the Adjudicator hesitantly, "Are we… really dead?"
"Indeed. Though Elara has been here for three years. You two are fresh arrivals. Do you know each other?"
"Yes," Mitte said quickly. "I am her husband."
The Adjudicator eyed the clinging couple with suspicion, and Mitte hastily let go of Anna.
"What you said just now… about a relative returning to life. Is that true?"
"I don't lie to the dead. Elara's ancestors were people of great virtue, and she herself was a victim of malice. The Lord of this realm has granted her this opportunity to earn her way back to the living."
"Elara," Mitte said, his voice dripping with affection.
"What?" I took a wary step back. "You want to go back?"
"How could you think so little of me? When have I ever put myself before you?" he explained, a wounded look on his face. "Please, could you give the chance to Anna? Let her go back. Consider it my way of repaying the debt I owe her father."
I refused without a moment's hesitation.
The story of his debt to his mentor was one he had drilled into my ears countless times. He was the illegitimate son of the Thorne family. After his mother was forced to her death, the killer came for him next. It was Anna's father who saved him.
Anna's father was a widely respected professor. His reputation shielded Mitte from the wrath of the Thorne family's matriarch, allowing him to grow up and eventually secure his inheritance.
So, in his mind, his favoritism was justified.
When he gave Anna extravagant gifts that crossed the line, my anger was just jealousy.
When he abandoned me on the side of the road in a downpour to take Anna's dog home, my accusations were just pettiness.
When he said Anna's health was poor, it became my duty to give up a kidney, and then my womb.
His so-called debt of gratitude was paid entirely with pieces of me.
And now, even in death, he wouldn't let me be.
"You're as stubborn and ungrateful as ever," Mitte said, his voice laced with disappointment. "If it weren't for Anna's father, I wouldn't have survived. And without me, where would your precious status as Mrs. Thorne have come from?"
Seeing that I was unmoved, he turned to the Adjudicator.
"In life, she was a member of the Thorne family. Doesn't that mean her merit and her opportunity belong to our family as well?"
The Adjudicator mulled it over. "That's not an entirely incorrect way of looking at it."
"Then, as the head of the Thorne family and Elara's husband, I demand that this chance to return to life be given to Anna Vance."
I watched in shock as he lunged for the Ledger of Merits in my hands.
In the struggle, the ledger fell, its pages scattering across the floor.
As the Adjudicator helped pick them up, he glanced at a page. "Wait a minute. According to this, Elara was unmarried in her mortal life. She received no formal betrothal, nor was her name ever entered into your family's official records. What kind of husband are you?"
While he spoke, the Adjudicator pulled up Mitte's mortal file.
"The only wife you ever officially registered was named Anna Vance."
Mitte's hands froze. He shot a furtive, guilty glance in my direction.
"It was your fault," he stammered, trying to explain. "You insisted on posting photos of my proposal on social media. Anna felt insecure. I had to do something to appease her."
4
It was true. I had been a fool. The day Mitte proposed, I was ecstatic. I thought, He wasn't lying. He really does love me, and Anna is just like a sister to him. I even chastised myself for my own paranoia.
But half an hour later, Anna stormed into our engagement party and smashed a glass against my forehead without a word.
On the way to the hospital, Mitte explained that she was just young and impulsive. As her future sister-in-law, I needed to be more tolerant. The doctor warned that I might have a concussion and needed to be monitored through the night.
But Mitte left in a hurry in the middle of the night, not even bothering to arrange for a nurse.
He returned the next afternoon with a beaming Anna by his side.
Seeing the blood seeping through the bandages on my head, she offered only a feather-light "sorry."
And now I knew. Even that hollow apology was bought with a marriage certificate bearing my fiancé's name and hers.
"What about the marriage certificate from the day you forced me to donate my kidney?" I asked.
"I… I had no choice. Desperate times call for desperate measures."
Though I should have been numb to it by now, a bitter, pained laugh escaped me. In all our years together, all I ever warranted was a "desperate measure."
"Elara, even though I legally married Anna, you were still Mrs. Thorne in name. Everyone knew you as my wife. That's a fact that can't be changed. Once we send Anna back, you and I can be together, reunited as husband and wife, even here in the Netherworld."
I shook my head, the taste of ashes in my mouth. "Mitte, I am not your wife, and I don't love you anymore. My seven years with you on earth… let's just call it a trial I had to endure. From this moment on, we are strangers."
"Mitte, darling," Anna whispered, tugging on his sleeve. "Does this mean Elara still hasn't forgiven me? It's okay. As long as I have you with me, I don't care about life or death."
"Look at Anna, and then look at yourself," Mitte spat at me. "You used to say you loved me. Did you love me, or my status? You know the answer. And what about me? Was the love I gave you worth nothing?"
"Whether you see it as compensation or atonement, I don't care. This chance must go to Anna."
Mitte lunged forward, snatching the Ledger of Merits and thrusting it at Anna. "Go. Quickly."
Anna scurried over to the Redemption Counter.
"I want to return to the world of the living."
The attendant checked the amount of merit, then placed the Scale of Sins against her wrist.
The moment it made contact, the Scale let out a piercing shriek.
"Irredeemable sin. Condemned to the Abyss."
Thinking it was a mistake, the attendant tried again. The result was the same.
His expression turned grim. He confiscated the Ledger and ordered the other attendants to restrain Anna.
"A severe mismatch. Report this to the higher authorities immediately."
By then, the Adjudicator and I had arrived.
"Why are you chaining her?" Mitte demanded, grabbing at the shackles on Anna. "I'm the one who took the ledger. If there's a problem, deal with me."
"Anna is kind and gentle," he insisted, glaring at me. "This must be Elara's doing. You're selfish and cruel, and now you're framing Anna. I'm so disappointed in you. We don't want your charity if you don't agree, but—"
He seemed to have a sudden realization and turned to the Adjudicator with renewed confidence. "While I was alive, I donated a great deal of money to a charity in Anna's name. She used it all for good deeds. Even if she doesn't deserve special treatment, it's impossible for her to have committed any sins."
"The Scale of Sins does not make mistakes," the Adjudicator stated flatly. "In that case, bring me the Life Record of this Anna Vance."
An attendant soon returned with a thick, heavy book. The Adjudicator's face grew darker with every page he turned.
"So, you're the one who caused Elara's death. And not just hers. You killed her child, too."
This time, it wasn't just Mitte who was stunned. I was, too.
"Lies! He's slandering me! He's in league with Elara!" Anna shrieked, struggling to reach Mitte. The guards held her fast. "Mitte, darling, you have to believe me!"
"When did I have a child?" I asked the Adjudicator, my mind reeling.
He laid the Life Record open before me. There, in stark, clear script, it read: "Sin Ninety-Eight: The murder of Elara's unborn child."
"See? Even she doesn't know!" Anna pleaded desperately. "I'm being framed! The records can't be trusted!"
Mitte, finally regaining his senses, turned his disbelief on me. "Elara, you were with another man?"
"This is too complicated to explain," the Adjudicator sighed. "Just watch."
With a wave of his hand, a scene materialized in the air.
Three years after my death, my husband Mitte came to the old estate seeking me for the first time—for his mentor’s daughter.
“Get Elara to the hospital. Anna needs her uterus,” he commanded coldly.
The butler replied truthfully, “Sir, the lady passed away three years ago. As you instructed us not to bother you with her matters, we arranged her burial ourselves.”
Mitte sneered. “Still playing games? She even bribed the Thornes’ butler. I’ll find her myself.”
He stormed in with Anna Vance, ransacking the house—but found no trace of me.
They left in anger.
On the road, Anna whined, “Last time it was just a kidney—why the drama? How can I give you a child without a womb?”
“Relax,” Mitte said. “She can’t hide forever.”
No sooner had he spoken than their car veered and crashed into a monastery wall.
When they woke, they were in the Netherworld.
And I was nearby, processing the newly departed.
…
Perhaps the crash had addled their minds, but neither of them realized they were dead.
When Mitte saw me sitting there, perfectly fine, a wave of relief washed over him, quickly followed by a surge of fury.
He pointed a finger at me, his voice sharp with accusation. "Elara! Did you bribe the butler and go into hiding? How can you be so petty? It's just a uterus. It's not going to kill you."
I ignored him, busy guiding the new arrival in front of me to sign their final confirmation.
Infuriated, he strode over and swept the desk clean with one violent motion.
"I'm talking to you! Holding a grudge for three years… you've really got some nerve."
My work now thoroughly interrupted, I looked up at him calmly, my voice low and steady. "Wasn't one kidney enough?"
It happened on our wedding day. Anna, a guest of honor, never showed up. Mitte, frantic after a dozen unanswered calls, abruptly announced the wedding was postponed and left me standing at the altar without a backward glance.
I waited in my heavy wedding gown until darkness fell, only to hear he was at the hospital.
Anna was gravely ill and needed a kidney transplant. She produced a tissue-typing report claiming I was the only match.
I refused, vehemently. In the end, Mitte had his men drag me to a hospital bed.
He held up a marriage certificate, telling me that as my husband, he had already signed the donation consent form on my behalf.
"One kidney won't affect your life," he had said. "No matter what, you are my wife. I'll take good care of you from now on."
After the surgery, too weak to even sit up, I accidentally knocked over the soup Anna had supposedly made herself. For that, Mitte had me locked away in the old family estate to "reflect," before I was even strong enough to get out of bed.
If Anna hadn't needed a womb, I doubt Mitte would have ever remembered I existed.
"How could it be enough?" he scoffed now, then paused. "You are still my wife. Besides, Anna and I have already discussed it. If you feel uncomfortable, she'll leave the country as soon as the baby is born and never come back."
"I won't see them, either," he added. "I'll stay home with you, and we'll raise our children together."
"Our children?" The idea was so ludicrous I had to laugh. "With my womb inside Anna, where exactly am I supposed to grow these children?"
Mitte shot me a disdainful look. "Do you think Anna is as selfish as you? She said she'll have two. One for us."
I looked over at Anna with a wry smile.
She clung to Mitte's arm, her expression soft and fragile.
"Did I make Elara angry? Maybe… maybe we should just forget it."
"Ignore her," Mitte snapped. "She forced you to leave the country once before and you never said a word of complaint. They say childbirth is like walking through the gates of hell. She gets to be a mother without any of the pain. She should be grateful, not angry."
"I made a sacred vow to your father on his deathbed that I would take care of you for life. Since you've decided not to marry and only want a child to keep you company, it's my duty to make that happen."
Tears of gratitude welled in Anna's eyes. The two of them were lost in their own world, their gazes locked in a tender, intimate embrace.
But I had a job to do. I had no choice but to interrupt. "These are the gates of hell. You two are new arrivals. Please register here."
2
The tenderness vanished from Mitte's face, replaced by a simmering rage. "That's enough, Elara. Anna's health is fragile. Who are you trying to curse with that kind of morbid talk?"
He glanced around, a smirk playing on his lips. "You hired quite a few people, didn't you? It's a convincing setup. Now, come with me. The operating room is prepped and ready. Don't waste the doctors' time."
He reached for my hand. In that flash of contact, I saw the last few hours of his life.
After failing to find me, he had forced the butler to tell him where I was hiding.
The old man sighed, his voice weary. "Ma'am is truly gone, sir. I handled her funeral myself, three years ago. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself at the monastery outside the city. Her ashes are kept there. She had no family, and without your permission, she couldn't be interred in the Thorne family crypt. It was the only arrangement I could make."
"Enough of your lies! You tell Elara my mind is made up. If she doesn't show herself, I'll deal with an old fool like you, too."
He shoved the butler to the floor and sped towards the city outskirts.
At the monastery, they immediately spotted the urn bearing my name.
Ignoring the protests of a young monk, Mitte pried it open without hesitation.
"It's just ash from a fire pit," Anna goaded from his side, fanning the flames of his anger. "To think she'd even deceive the church. Elara is determined to defy us to the very end, isn't she?"
Rage consumed him. Mitte tossed the contents of the urn into a nearby pond.
He called his assistant, ordering him to hire every private investigator in the city to find me.
"I don't care if I have to dig up the entire country," he seethed. "She will give you that womb."
He didn't notice the triumphant smirk on Anna's face behind him.
Neither of them realized that just a few minutes later, their journey would end in the Netherworld.
Seeing his disbelief, I grabbed a passing soul. "How did you die?"
"Drowned while swimming in the river."
"Gas leak. Asphyxiated."
"I was too focused on my game… held my pee until my bladder burst. They couldn't save me," a young man behind them added with a grimace.
"Hahaha!" Amidst the collective sighs of the dead, a jarring laugh rang out.
"These actors are quite dedicated," Anna giggled, nestled in Mitte's arms. "They even have their lines down."
He looked at me with a cold smile. "And you? How did you die?"
How I died. If he had lived just a little longer, he would have found out.
Back then, I was thrown into the old estate while my wounds were still bleeding. The only people there were the old butler and the guards stationed to prevent my escape.
The room was damp and cold. My surgical wound became infected. When the butler called Mitte, he'd snapped, "As long as Elara's still breathing, don't bother me. Let her learn some humility. It's not like being a pampered wife is some great hardship."
I couldn't get out, and no doctor could get in. The butler, helpless, could only buy some over-the-counter medicine and tend to my wounds himself.
Day after agonizing day, my body wasted away. My organs began to fail.
When I finally died, the butler called Mitte one last time.
He was in the middle of throwing a lavish birthday party for Anna.
"She's always scheming for attention. Just hearing her name annoys me," he'd muttered, blocking the estate's number without a second thought.
From that day on, he never heard another word about me.
Mitte's hands clenched into fists. He didn't want to believe it, but a suffocating tightness gripped his chest.
"Mitte, it's not just me who's dead. The two of you are dead as well. A car crash."
His pupils contracted. He snapped his head up, his eyes locking with mine.
3
"Mitte, darling, you don't actually believe her nonsense, do you?"
Before Mitte could answer, the Adjudicator floated over, holding a stack of files.
Anna shrieked and buried her face in Mitte's chest. "A ghost!"
"What's with all the screaming? Honestly, some of you newcomers take forever to accept reality," the Adjudicator grumbled, handing the files to me.
"Elara, you've accumulated enough merit. You have two choices: a promotion in rank, or reincarnation into a wealthy and powerful family. Of course, you could also give your chance to a newly deceased relative, allowing them to return to life. But it's your merit to use. You might not get a chance this good again."
Shaken from his shock, Mitte asked the Adjudicator hesitantly, "Are we… really dead?"
"Indeed. Though Elara has been here for three years. You two are fresh arrivals. Do you know each other?"
"Yes," Mitte said quickly. "I am her husband."
The Adjudicator eyed the clinging couple with suspicion, and Mitte hastily let go of Anna.
"What you said just now… about a relative returning to life. Is that true?"
"I don't lie to the dead. Elara's ancestors were people of great virtue, and she herself was a victim of malice. The Lord of this realm has granted her this opportunity to earn her way back to the living."
"Elara," Mitte said, his voice dripping with affection.
"What?" I took a wary step back. "You want to go back?"
"How could you think so little of me? When have I ever put myself before you?" he explained, a wounded look on his face. "Please, could you give the chance to Anna? Let her go back. Consider it my way of repaying the debt I owe her father."
I refused without a moment's hesitation.
The story of his debt to his mentor was one he had drilled into my ears countless times. He was the illegitimate son of the Thorne family. After his mother was forced to her death, the killer came for him next. It was Anna's father who saved him.
Anna's father was a widely respected professor. His reputation shielded Mitte from the wrath of the Thorne family's matriarch, allowing him to grow up and eventually secure his inheritance.
So, in his mind, his favoritism was justified.
When he gave Anna extravagant gifts that crossed the line, my anger was just jealousy.
When he abandoned me on the side of the road in a downpour to take Anna's dog home, my accusations were just pettiness.
When he said Anna's health was poor, it became my duty to give up a kidney, and then my womb.
His so-called debt of gratitude was paid entirely with pieces of me.
And now, even in death, he wouldn't let me be.
"You're as stubborn and ungrateful as ever," Mitte said, his voice laced with disappointment. "If it weren't for Anna's father, I wouldn't have survived. And without me, where would your precious status as Mrs. Thorne have come from?"
Seeing that I was unmoved, he turned to the Adjudicator.
"In life, she was a member of the Thorne family. Doesn't that mean her merit and her opportunity belong to our family as well?"
The Adjudicator mulled it over. "That's not an entirely incorrect way of looking at it."
"Then, as the head of the Thorne family and Elara's husband, I demand that this chance to return to life be given to Anna Vance."
I watched in shock as he lunged for the Ledger of Merits in my hands.
In the struggle, the ledger fell, its pages scattering across the floor.
As the Adjudicator helped pick them up, he glanced at a page. "Wait a minute. According to this, Elara was unmarried in her mortal life. She received no formal betrothal, nor was her name ever entered into your family's official records. What kind of husband are you?"
While he spoke, the Adjudicator pulled up Mitte's mortal file.
"The only wife you ever officially registered was named Anna Vance."
Mitte's hands froze. He shot a furtive, guilty glance in my direction.
"It was your fault," he stammered, trying to explain. "You insisted on posting photos of my proposal on social media. Anna felt insecure. I had to do something to appease her."
4
It was true. I had been a fool. The day Mitte proposed, I was ecstatic. I thought, He wasn't lying. He really does love me, and Anna is just like a sister to him. I even chastised myself for my own paranoia.
But half an hour later, Anna stormed into our engagement party and smashed a glass against my forehead without a word.
On the way to the hospital, Mitte explained that she was just young and impulsive. As her future sister-in-law, I needed to be more tolerant. The doctor warned that I might have a concussion and needed to be monitored through the night.
But Mitte left in a hurry in the middle of the night, not even bothering to arrange for a nurse.
He returned the next afternoon with a beaming Anna by his side.
Seeing the blood seeping through the bandages on my head, she offered only a feather-light "sorry."
And now I knew. Even that hollow apology was bought with a marriage certificate bearing my fiancé's name and hers.
"What about the marriage certificate from the day you forced me to donate my kidney?" I asked.
"I… I had no choice. Desperate times call for desperate measures."
Though I should have been numb to it by now, a bitter, pained laugh escaped me. In all our years together, all I ever warranted was a "desperate measure."
"Elara, even though I legally married Anna, you were still Mrs. Thorne in name. Everyone knew you as my wife. That's a fact that can't be changed. Once we send Anna back, you and I can be together, reunited as husband and wife, even here in the Netherworld."
I shook my head, the taste of ashes in my mouth. "Mitte, I am not your wife, and I don't love you anymore. My seven years with you on earth… let's just call it a trial I had to endure. From this moment on, we are strangers."
"Mitte, darling," Anna whispered, tugging on his sleeve. "Does this mean Elara still hasn't forgiven me? It's okay. As long as I have you with me, I don't care about life or death."
"Look at Anna, and then look at yourself," Mitte spat at me. "You used to say you loved me. Did you love me, or my status? You know the answer. And what about me? Was the love I gave you worth nothing?"
"Whether you see it as compensation or atonement, I don't care. This chance must go to Anna."
Mitte lunged forward, snatching the Ledger of Merits and thrusting it at Anna. "Go. Quickly."
Anna scurried over to the Redemption Counter.
"I want to return to the world of the living."
The attendant checked the amount of merit, then placed the Scale of Sins against her wrist.
The moment it made contact, the Scale let out a piercing shriek.
"Irredeemable sin. Condemned to the Abyss."
Thinking it was a mistake, the attendant tried again. The result was the same.
His expression turned grim. He confiscated the Ledger and ordered the other attendants to restrain Anna.
"A severe mismatch. Report this to the higher authorities immediately."
By then, the Adjudicator and I had arrived.
"Why are you chaining her?" Mitte demanded, grabbing at the shackles on Anna. "I'm the one who took the ledger. If there's a problem, deal with me."
"Anna is kind and gentle," he insisted, glaring at me. "This must be Elara's doing. You're selfish and cruel, and now you're framing Anna. I'm so disappointed in you. We don't want your charity if you don't agree, but—"
He seemed to have a sudden realization and turned to the Adjudicator with renewed confidence. "While I was alive, I donated a great deal of money to a charity in Anna's name. She used it all for good deeds. Even if she doesn't deserve special treatment, it's impossible for her to have committed any sins."
"The Scale of Sins does not make mistakes," the Adjudicator stated flatly. "In that case, bring me the Life Record of this Anna Vance."
An attendant soon returned with a thick, heavy book. The Adjudicator's face grew darker with every page he turned.
"So, you're the one who caused Elara's death. And not just hers. You killed her child, too."
This time, it wasn't just Mitte who was stunned. I was, too.
"Lies! He's slandering me! He's in league with Elara!" Anna shrieked, struggling to reach Mitte. The guards held her fast. "Mitte, darling, you have to believe me!"
"When did I have a child?" I asked the Adjudicator, my mind reeling.
He laid the Life Record open before me. There, in stark, clear script, it read: "Sin Ninety-Eight: The murder of Elara's unborn child."
"See? Even she doesn't know!" Anna pleaded desperately. "I'm being framed! The records can't be trusted!"
Mitte, finally regaining his senses, turned his disbelief on me. "Elara, you were with another man?"
"This is too complicated to explain," the Adjudicator sighed. "Just watch."
With a wave of his hand, a scene materialized in the air.
First, search for and download the MotoNovel app from Google. Then, open the app and use the code "247470" to read the entire book.
MotoNovel
Novellia
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