Chapter 245: Her One Mortal Day
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Arthur turned, his violet gaze hard, prepared for more..but what he saw froze him.
Didi.
She wasn’t smiling or laughing anymore in her table. Her dress was streaked with red, small holes punched through her chest and stomach, blood staining her skin. She staggered once, almost gracefully, before her knees buckled.
Arthur was there in an instant. His arm swept around her slender frame, pulling her against him, cradling her as if he could shield her now when it was already too late. Her head rested against his shoulder, her breath ragged. His eyes burned with disbelief.
"What the hell is this, Didi?" His voice was sharp, almost demanding, but underneath it was almost fear, real, raw fear. "How is it possible... that you got hurt? By mere humans?!"
Didi’s lips curled weakly, the ghost of her usual mischievous smile, though blood slipped at the corner. "Silly Monarch..." she whispered, her voice barely a thread.
Arthur’s grip tightened, confusion and anger twisting inside him. "Don’t...You better explain what is going on here...as..."
Her fingers twitched against his chest, trembling as she tried to lift her hand. "I told you... that man... didn’t have enough time..."
Arthur blinked, words lodging in his throat until the realization dawned, bitter and heavy. He finished it for her, voice low, hollow: ’...as well..’
Didi’s fading smile widened, like she was proud of him for catching on.
"You meant yourself by that," Arthur whispered. He shook his head, eyes narrowing, as though denying reality could will it away. "But... how?" The word tore out of him like something breaking. Then the truth struck him with the weight of a hammer, his eyes widening.
Kara, still leaning against the wall, forced herself upright, her body trembling from the red sun wound. She saw them, Arthur holding the girl who always smiled, now pale and drenched in blood and her heart clenched. She tried to step forward but her knees buckled, dropping her back down. "Damn it.." Kara muttered to herself.
Raven, who had been a silent witness through so much, moved closer, she could not hide the panic in her eyes. She crouched, staring at the wounds. Her voice cracked, uncharacteristically frantic. "Arthur...these are fatal." She swallowed hard, eyes flicking to his face, shimmering with unshed tears. "I’m sorry... we should have been more careful.."
"Don’t," Didi interrupted softly, her words broken but deliberate, her gaze settling on Raven. "Don’t be. I had... a wonderful day, after all." She coughed, a spatter of blood on her lips, then added with a faint laugh, "I’m sorry... but just allow me this one thing. To finish this experience..."
Her trembling hand rose, surprisingly steady when it cupped Arthur’s cheek. He froze, his breath catching as she leaned forward despite her weakening frame. And then...she kissed him.
It wasn’t playful, not like the way she teased him before. It was deep, passionate. A kiss heavy with meaning, with something Arthur hadn’t expected to ever feel from a being like her. For a heartbeat, he allowed it, eyes closing against the warmth and the tragedy of it.
When her lips fell away, Arthur’s eyes snapped open, glowing violently violet, shocked and stricken. His voice broke as he looked at her. "You... you are mortal."
The realization sank into him. His voice grew hoarse, trembling despite the power radiating from his aura. "No wonder. No wonder today you felt more human than humans themselves. The reactions, the little things you did, the way you laughed... it was strange to me. Off. But now... now I get it." his words spoken directly to her mind.
Didi smiled faintly, proud of his understanding, though her breath was shallow, almost gone. She tried to speak, but no words came. Only that smile remained, her eyes glimmering before they fluttered shut.
Arthur held her closer, as though his strength could keep her here. His jaw clenched, his teeth grinding, yet his expression was torn, half fury, half understanding.
Raven stood frozen and shaken by this, her voice stuck in her throat. She didn’t understand who this girl truly was to Arthur, or what she represented. But seeing someone who mattered
to him, someone who had so easily drawn out that rare, unguarded side of him... die in his arms, it gutted her.Kara lowered her head, her fists clenched so hard her knuckles cracked, though her body trembled from weakness. Even she couldn’t find the words.
And in the center of it all, Arthur sat, clutching Didi’s body the laughter that once annoyed and charmed him now replaced with silence so loud it rattled his bones.
Kara, trembling, forced herself upright again. Every muscle screamed, her body still weakened by the red sun weapon, but she wouldn’t stay down. Not now. Her boots scraped softly against the floor as she crossed the distance between them. Her gaze softened as she looked at Arthur, the man who always seemed untouchable, unstoppable now kneeling in what looked like grief with a corpse in his arms.
She reached out, her hand hovering just above his shoulder. "Arthur, I..."
Her voice trailed, the word caught like a knot in her throat.
And then everything stopped.
Raven’s cloak was caught mid-sway as if the air itself had been pinned down. Even Kara’s hand, trembling inches from Arthur’s shoulder, became a statue.
Time had stopped.
Arthur’s breath echoed unnaturally loud in the silence. He looked down at Didi’s corpse still in his arms, still bleeding and then... a voice, warm and familiar, cut through the stillness.
"Hello again, Arthur."
His head snapped up. Standing a few paces away, radiant in her pale skin and dark hair, was Didi as well not broken, not bloody, but whole. Ageless and eternal.
Arthur’s jaw tightened. Slowly, he laid the lifeless mortal body onto the floor with uncharacteristic gentleness. He rose to his full height, his violet eyes glowing brighter, fixed on her with both fury and understanding.
"I was waiting for you."
Didi tilted her head, that same mischievous smile he’d grown used to, but this time it carried a different meaning. "I’m impressed, really. You figured it out, didn’t you? Maybe not right away, but halfway through today you started to suspect all of this." Her eyes gleamed with quiet pride. "How could I take a day off, after all? The answer is...sometimes, I do."
Arthur’s gaze flicked briefly to the mortal shell lying still at his feet, then back to her. His tone was sharp, but not unkind. "This was a mortal body. One you created."
Her smile softened as she stepped closer, her bare feet making no sound on the frozen floor. "Once every hundred years," she said, her voice carrying the weight of eternity, "I create a mortal incarnation of myself to live as a human. To experience what it is like to be alive... to stumble, to laugh, to eat, to cry, to bleed. To interact with mortals not as their end, but as their equal. My avatars live for a single day. And when they die, they come back to me."
Her gaze drifted to the corpse, tender. "I reabsorb them, and with it, all their memories, the taste of bread, the sting of tears, the warmth of a kiss. All of it."
Arthur narrowed his eyes. His voice was low, carrying both judgment and curiosity. "That seems a bit..."
"Harsh?" she finished for him, arching a brow.
He shook his head slightly. "Not necessary."
Didi smiled faintly "they are still me." she said, stepping closer until the glow of his eyes reflected in hers. Her voice dropped to something softer, intimate, like she was letting him in on a truth no one else was meant to hear.
"Because, silly Monarch," she murmured, "if I forget what it feels like to live, then I’ll forget why life matters. I take everyone in the end, the cruel and the kind, the newborn and the ancient, heroes and monsters alike. If I saw them only as names to cross off, I’d grow cold. Detached. I’d stop seeing them at all."
Her eyes glistened, ancient but kind. "And that is not who I am."
Arthur’s jaw clenched. His aura rippled faintly, violet light bleeding into the frozen air. He studied her, silent, and she continued.
"So once in a while," she said gently, "I give myself limits. I hunger, I bleed, I fear. I stumble. I laugh. I love." She lingered on the last word, her gaze steady on his. "Just like them. Just like you, even though you wield power beyond most of them."
Her hand rose, brushing lightly over the edge of his sleeve as if testing whether he’d recoil. He didn’t.
"When I stand at the end of someone’s life," she said, her tone like a vow, "I want to look them in the eye and understand. Not as a stranger cloaked in shadows, but as someone who’s walked where they’ve walked. That’s the promise I made. To them. To myself."
Arthur’s glow dimmed slightly, not out of weakness, but out of listening. His chest rose and fell, heavier now, conflicted.
"Besides," she added, a small laugh slipping through, not mocking but tender, "mortality makes eternity a little less lonely."
For the first time since the night began, Arthur’s expression shifted not the cold, unshakable Monarch, but something more fragile beneath. He stared at her, silent, caught between fury at her deception and awe at the weight of her truth.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
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If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
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You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want