They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System

Chapter 629: We All Knew

Nothing she could say would stop him from taking care of her.

"There's something I... | need to tell you," Nnenna began, her words slow and raw.

"Where's Arthur?" she asked without turning.

"I'm here," Arthur's voice answered from right behind her, calm, flat, a guard at her back.

"We should go inside first," Arthur suggested.

"No." Nnenna'’s reply was sharp, sudden. "I can’t keep carrying this."

"Carrying what?" Carl asked, voice low and steady, trying to read her through the rain.

Nnenna swallowed hard, the words dragging through her. "What happened at the cliff..." she started.

"That's in the past," Arthur interrupted, the way he always tried to close a wound before it bled more. "No need

to revisit it."

"No!" Nnenna snapped, more desperate than angry. The rain pattered against their umbrellas, like a metronome

counting down her confession. "You don’t know everything."

"It doesn’t matter—" Arthur began.

"It does," Carl cut in gently, looking straight at Arthur. "It matters to her."

Arthur's jaw tightened. He nodded, the silence stretching as he gave her the space she needed.

"Go on," Carl urged softly. "We're listening."

Nnenna pressed her palms to the armrests until her fingers ached. Her voice cout small and honest. "When

that thing was trying to killon the cliff, | tried to stop it. | don’t know how or why, but the wind | caused... it

swept Somto and you off the edge. | couldn’t control it. I- caused it."

The rain kept falling. The world narrowed to just those words, the confession sitting between them like an

exposed wound.

"I'm the reason Somto’s dead." Nnenna’s voice broke the rain. "I went after Athena even when he toldnot to.

| wanted to find out about my past, about what happened to my parents, by any means. | was selfish. | wasn’t

thinking straight."

She didn’t filter herself. The words tumbled out raw and painful. "The love system warnedagain and again to

always be careful, to think before acting. | didn’t listen. And now Somto’s dead because of it."

Carl and Arthur exchanged a look, the question "What's a love system?" written on both their faces. They

swallowed it down. They didn’t interrupt. Whatever she was saying made sense to her, and that was enough for

now.

"He would still be alive if | hadn't been in such a hurry," she went on, grief turning to rage then to shame. "If |

had made better choices, used my resources more efficiently, thought, he would be here. But | failed. And now,

he’ll never know, and he'll never forgive me. | don’t even deserve it. | don’t deserve anything. You all can,

should hate me. | would understand."

Carl stepped forward, rain beading on his shoulders. He put his umbrella on the ground and bent to meet her

eyes, not caring that the rain soaked him, Nnenna was covered, and that mattered more. His tone was soft but

firm.

"Listen to me," Carl said. "Going after Athena was reckless. That's true. But reckless doesn’t equal murder. There

are so many possibilities that don’t end with someone dying." He paused, searching for the right words. "... In

fact your overall actions were impressive. You reacted to save yourself. You did what your body and training

pushed you to do. That's not guilt, it's survival. It's exactly what we taught you."

Carl's face tightened. "The wind part... | don’t understand that. Controlling wind? That's not something we can

explain." He held her gaze, gentle but steady. "But let's set the wind aside. Even if you did something strange in

that moment, you couldn't have known the outcome. You didn’t see Somto or Arthur go over until Arthur

shouted. You didn’t even know they were there and you most definitely couldn't have known what would happen

after that... wind."

He squeezed her shoulder lightly. "We're proud of how you tried to fight," he added, voice rough. "Not proud

because of the outcome, never because of that, but proud you didn’t give up. Somto would have known that."

"You can’t blyourself for the outcomes," Carl repeated firmly. He glanced at Arthur, as if checking they were

aligned. "And make sure you never forget this—" his voice softened but carried weight, "—we could never hate

you. For anything. Even if you picked up a knife and stabbed it through my heart, Nnenna, | would still find a way

to justify it."

Her eyes flicked up at him, startled, but Carl didn’t flinch. "I—we, know you. You care about people, even those

who hate you. Somto told us what you did in Lionara, how you turned things around when no one thought it

possible. It’s remarkable, Nnenna, what you've achieved at your age."

Carl leaned closer, voice dropping with raw honesty. "And listen to yourself. Somto, never forgive you? Nnenna

—" he swallowed, finally letting it out, "—the man loved you."

Arthur stiffened at that. His jaw set, his gaze heavy, but he stayed silent.

Nnenna shook her head slowly. "I know..." Her voice cracked. She already knew Somto had cared, but what she

had always longed for was beyond sibling love, the kind she could never have from him now.

Carl shook his head back, resolute. "No. | don’t think you do know." He drew in a steadying breath. "On the night

of his coronation, he called me. We talked, about sfeelings he had started noticing... for someone."

Nnenna froze, her heart thudding.

"An underaged girl. | advised him to wait until she turned eighteen," Carl continued gently. "He agreed."

"What?" The word slipped out of her in disbelief. Her chest tightened. "He... had feelings for someone?"

The revelation rattled her harder than she expected. She had been trying, slowly, to let go, knowing he was gone

forever. The guilt of his death was already crushing her. But to hear that he had died with someone else in his

heart, it felt like another wound opening inside her, sharp and uninvited.

"Wait, Nnenna," Carl urged, lifting a hand as if to stop her from shutting down.

But she shook her head hard. "I don’t want to hear this anymore. | would rather not."

Arthur moved then. He stepped closer, letting his umbrella fall uselessly to the ground. The rain drenched him

instantly, but he crouched down until his eyes met hers. "I think you should let him finish," he said gently.

Something in Arthur's gaze, calm, unyielding, made her falter. Against her better judgment, she gave a small,

reluctant nod.

Carl exhaled, gathering his thoughts. "I didn’t know it at first... but after you cto Prigrian, | started noticing

patterns in the way Somto was around you." He hesitated, searching for the right words.

"Nnenna, the person Somto loved, till his last breath... was you. Not just as a sibling. Not just as a friend. But as

someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with."

The words hit her like a physical blow. Nnenna shook her head, almost violently. "That's impossible."

"It’s true," Arthur said suddenly, his voice cutting through her denial. His tone carried a strange softness she

rarely heard from him. "It's true. Ask Ava. Ask my parents. They all knew." He gave a small, bittersweet smile. "I

knew."

Her breath caught, fury and hurt warring inside her. "Wait, you all knew? And no one told me? Not even him?"

Carl lowered his eyes, guilt weighing

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on every syllable. "He didn't tell you

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| didn't want you distracted. | thought

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cracked with regret. "I'm sorry." The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

If he had known Somto would die before Nnenna ever heard the truth, he might have damned every

consequence. He would have told Somto to confess, no matter the risk. He would've just done everything in his

power to shield her heart afterward.

Carl braced himself for the blame, his jaw tight, but Nnenna didn’t lash out. She only kept her head bowed,

silent.

Minutes stretched before she finally lifted her face. Her eyes were calmer now, though still glistening with tears.

"You did the right thing," she said quietly.

Carl blinked, surprised.

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Eighteen is the age of adulthood,

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she continued steadily. "And even

though | believe | could have handled

it, with your quidapse, (hnawyolt

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Were\o ing out for me. And it

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wasn't really your decision, Carl.

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Somto made that choice himself. I've

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never seen him do anything he didn't

believe was right. If he agreed, then

he must have felt the sway you

did. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

Her lips curved into a small,

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bittersweet smile. "I'm glad you told

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