THE PAST (Author's POV) The next few days were tense for Benjamin, pretending to be happy while he agonized over his fate was cruel in its own way and affected him in more ways than one. He prayed to the goddess and even offered up sacrifices in secret to help her change her mind and save him but it was all to no avail. Nothing changed. The goddess seemed to mock him even more as she plagued him even more frequently with the gruesome sight of his death but never showed him the face of his assailant. Benjamin has lost his patience at this point and his façade of normalcy was slowly coming undone, becoming noticeable to even Elena who he made an effort to keep in the dark about his true feelings. "Are you okay?" Elena asked as she walked into his study where he was intently reading bo