"Gush!"
The only sound in the bathroom was the hot water flowing from the tree trunk.
Having gone nearly half a month without a proper bath, Bell leaned against the edge of the tub with his eyes closed, letting the warm water wash away his exhaustion. After each long session of training in the Dungeon, he always took time to soak alone once he got home—to relax and unwind.
"The 'Sword Princess' has grown more than I expected. I didn't think she'd be affected by my Seven Deadly Sins."
Bell didn't have any power of foresight, so naturally, he hadn't anticipated this. If he had known, he definitely would've kept the Seven Deadly Sins in check to prevent them from activating on their own.
"But their influence didn't come out of nowhere."
The Seven Deadly Sins had always been his power. Power doesn't go haywire for no reason, and Ais's situation couldn't really be called losing control. If it had been, 'Envy' would have swallowed her heart instantly and turned her into a puppet ruled by it.
The fact that Ais was still doing fine meant he'd maintained solid control over the Seven Deadly Sins.
Still, Ais had clearly been affected.
'So it really was my thoughts? A subconscious thought triggered the Sins to act on someone I was thinking about...'
But the fact that this power could help others grow was terrifying. If word ever got out, he'd be in serious trouble. He was genuinely relieved that it was Loki who'd noticed.
That alone proved how unique the Seven Deadly Sins were.
If he managed to gather them all, maybe he could unlock something even more special—but that would only be possible once the remaining Sins were in his hands.
"Collecting the others won't be easy."
"Lust" was with Freya, "Sloth" with Loki, and "Wrath" was in Dionysus's possession.
He had relatively close ties with the first two, but Dionysus was already on Bell's kill list. The god had been the mastermind behind the plot against Orario—there was no way his fate would be a good one.
Without "Wrath," getting both "Lust" and "Sloth" still wouldn't be enough.
And besides, neither Freya nor Loki were the type to just hand over a Deadly Sin. There had to be some deeper reason behind it.
Freya... Freya...
Leaning against the side of the bath, Bell kept repeating her name in his mind.
'Maybe I should go talk to Freya.'
Thinking back, he realized he'd never taken the initiative to approach her.
In the past, they were on opposing sides, and staying away was the safest option—any strange behavior from that goddess could be a disaster.
But now? He kind of felt like a scumbag.
He'd already made up his mind to accept her, yet all this time, he'd never even spent a private moment with her.
Good grief... I really am a scumbag. Bell sat there awkwardly for a long while, not moving, until he finally couldn't keep soaking and got up.
After fiddling around a bit in the bathroom, Bell changed into fresh clothes and stepped out.
The bathroom was on the first floor. Freya's room was upstairs. Bell headed toward the living room, where the stairs were.
As he walked, he tried to talk himself into it.
After all, he was about to knock on Freya's door in the middle of the night. Then again, just the idea of knocking on Loki's door would've made him just as nervous.
Even if he wasn't totally inexperienced anymore, the only women he'd really interacted with were Hestia and Hephaestus. He kept his distance from everyone else. Now he had to knock on a goddess's door and talk to her?
No matter how he looked at it, he just didn't have the experience for this...
"Is it too late tonight?"
Standing in front of Freya's door, Bell suddenly became aware of the time. It was already quite late when he got back, and by now everyone had washed up and returned to their rooms to rest. Coming to see Freya at this hour—was that really appropriate?
Click!
Before Bell could make up his mind, the door opened. The one who answered, unsurprisingly, was Freya, dressed in a nightgown.
Her silver-gray hair was tied into a braid that rested over her right shoulder. Compared to her usual graceful appearance, she seemed much more striking tonight—so much so that she almost didn't look like a goddess, but a stunning, mature woman instead. Bell was momentarily entranced.
Freya stood at the doorway, looking at Bell with a smile.
"So late at night... what are you doing standing outside my room?"
"..."
Like a cat caught by the scruff of its neck, Bell couldn't get a single word out.
Seeing him frozen like that only lifted Freya's mood. How to put it? This boy was the one she most wanted to charm. Until now, he'd looked at her without the slightest trace of attraction. But at this moment, his eyes were completely locked onto her.
'So I'm not completely without charm in his eyes after all.' That alone made Freya feel delighted.
But it also made one thing very clear to her—so long as they were on opposite sides, Bell would never fall to her charms. Only by appearing harmless could she see this adorable side of him.
'If only he'd joined my Familia from the beginning.'
That thought had always been Freya's greatest regret, and seeing Bell so dumbfounded now only made that feeling grow stronger.
Bell finally snapped out of it, but now he just felt embarrassed. It wasn't like he'd never seen Freya before, but this really was the first time he'd acted so foolish in front of her.
"Freya... uh, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Now that's rare. Come in first. It'd be troublesome if we woke the others."
Curious about why Bell had come to find her, Freya stepped forward, took his hand, and pulled him into the room.
Once inside, Bell sat down on the sofa. Freya sat beside him, just about a foot away.
At that distance, Bell could clearly feel her breath. It made him a little uneasy.
Noticing his discomfort, Freya was the first to speak.
"Go on—what did you want to talk to me about?"