To You, Who Will Die Alone in Paradise Chapter 19

A sharp question flew at him. Dandeleon turned to Zellos in surprise.

“Huh?”

“You used to be cooped up in bed no matter how much I begged you to go out, but these days you go out whenever you get the chance.”

“W-well, isn’t that a good thing? Why are you angry?”

“Because you don’t tell me where you’re going, and you don’t take me with you. You always cause trouble at times like this!”

Dandeleon felt rather embarrassed.

Zellos’s words were not entirely wrong. When Dandeleon went somewhere without telling Zellos, it was usually when he was doing something he did not want to report. Things like going outside the castle to gamble, or to get hookah or drugs that Zellos loathed.

But this time, he was blameless. Dandeleon waved his hand and made an excuse.

“I’m not going anywhere strange. I’m going to Ardenberg.”

“To Ardenberg?”

“Yeah, to see the High Elf. I’ve been having lunch with him there lately.”

Dandeleon thought that if he said that, Zellos would be relieved. Or he would whine, asking to be taken along, or pester him by asking how they became close with sparkling eyes.

“The High Elf?”

He did not expect him to approach him in one stride with a frightening expression on his face, like this.

“Is that rumor true?”

Zellos gripped Dandeleon’s shoulders with both hands.

Lycanthropes are strong. Zellos, who knew this well, was always more careful than necessary when touching Dandeleon, but it was different now. It felt as if his ten fingers would dig into Dandeleon’s flesh.

However, Dandeleon was more concerned about something else than the pain in his shoulders.

“What rumor?”

He had a bad feeling. There were always various rumors circulating in the royal palace, but they were rarely good ones. Especially when Dandeleon was the subject.

“An unpleasant story is going around the palace. That you, Leon, are hanging around the High Elf and trying to be a bad influence on him. And some people even….”

Zellos ground his teeth. In that moment, Dandeleon had a premonition of what kind of words he was about to utter.

“They’re even saying that you, Leon, are seducing the High Elf with your body!”

Dandeleon’s expression contorted.

Zellos flinched, loosened his grip, and took a step or two back. It seemed his lost reason had returned for a moment. While he looked down at his own hands, Dandeleon thought.

‘Don’t tell me someone saw us then?’

‘Then’ referred to the day Dandeleon had tried to pounce on Kellewen in front of the Fountain of the Dead Prince. He had not gone all the way, but it was more than enough for people to talk about.

But if someone had actually seen them, it would not have ended with such a vague rumor…. Dandeleon rubbed his throbbing temples.

People talk easily and spread words easily. Dandeleon knew this fact to an irritating degree through past experiences. If he just smiled at an official event, if he just ate, whether he spoke or not, stories followed. He did not know for sure, but this was probably not the first time a rumor had spread that Dandeleon had seduced someone with his body.

The only difference from before was that this time, it was true.

“It’s not that I believe such things. I’m just worried… you know how I feel, right?”

Now Zellos had completely returned to his usual self. The tone as if placating a child, the eyes full of worry, were all the Zellos he knew.

“A lot of rumors have spread in the palace. The day you were hit by Pierre, that day….”

Zellos stopped talking and clenched his jaw. As was his habit when he got angry, a scratching sound came from inside his throat, and the large, long canine teeth unique to Lycanthropes became clearly visible.

“Too many people saw, so the rumors spread too quickly. Do you know what I mean? Everyone is paying attention to you right now, Your Highness. And you’ve been going to Ardenberg all this time, if His Majesty finds out….”

“So?”

A cold voice cut Zellos off.

“Your Highness?”

Zellos flinched. Dandeleon’s scornful words followed.

“What are you going to do even if that’s true?”

“What are you talking about now?”

“Zellos.”

Dandeleon said.

“I’m grateful that you’ve taken care of me since I was young. You’ve treated me better than my own mother, so in effect, you’re like a parent to me.”

The content of the words was warm, but his voice was not. The same was true for his gaze. Anger and irritation flickered in Dandeleon’s purple eyes.

“But you know it’s meddlesome for any parent to interfere in their child’s love life, right?”

As if cutting with a knife, he declared so.

A sharp silence flowed between the two for a moment.

“I’m going out.”

Dandeleon took the liquor bottles he had prepared on the table in his arms and left the room.

“I might sleep out, so don’t wait up.”

No answer came back.

‘…I was just venting.’

Only after walking for a good while did Dandeleon admit that fact. But this was also Zellos’s fault.

‘He brings up His Majesty there? Is he out of his mind?’

Zellos knew Dandeleon better than anyone in this world. He had been watching over Dandeleon since he was born. The only person who understood the complex feelings Dandeleon had for the king was Zellos. No, until now, he had thought so.

But to bring that up there.

‘What does he think His Majesty will do if he finds out? Does he think he’ll do something grand? Because the High Elf is so important?’

His insides boiled. The directionless anger spread in all directions.

He hated Zellos for saying something useless. He felt disillusioned with the people of the Benoit Royal Palace who loved to gossip. He wondered if the king really knew about this, and the thought that he did was dreadful.

And the center of this topic.

So noble that everyone worried to no end that a piece of trash like Dandeleon might dare to cast even a sliver of his stench upon him.

So loved by everyone.

“…Kellewen.”

Dandeleon murmured softly. The name melted into the darkness of the night and disappeared without a trace.

Zellos was left alone in the room. But it did not feel like he was alone. Dandeleon’s scent still lingered in the air, and the words he had left behind continued to ring in his ears.

“Dandeleon.”

Zellos muttered.

“My prince.”

Just as Dandeleon did, Zellos also thought of Dandeleon as family. That had been decided since Apsara had picked him up.

To Zellos, Apsara was a savior who had saved his life and a person to whom he had to devote his lifelong loyalty. Some might find it strange, but that was the familial love of Zellos, a Lycanthrope.

However, Dandeleon is different from Apsara.

Zellos thought of Dandeleon as his mate.

He knew from the first moment he saw him. From the time the newborn Dandeleon had grasped his finger and smiled brightly, Zellos had thought of Dandeleon as his mate. Apsara was the leader of the pack, and his son, Dandeleon, was his mate. That was the perfect form of family that Zellos envisioned.

He had known for a long time that the small and frail child who resembled Apsara would not live long. But nothing changed. Lycans do not abandon their mates. They stay with the partner they have chosen once until they die.

So Zellos raised Dandeleon preciously. Even when they lived a life slightly better than beggars in a small hut by the sea, he tried to feed and dress only Dandeleon in the best things possible.

After Apsara died, he had intended to leave Benoit, but he was caught by the king. Zellos was even willing to run away with Dandeleon, but the young Dandeleon, thirsty for his father’s love, chose the path of being trapped in a splendid prison.

It was obvious that he would suffer if he entered the royal palace, but of course, he could not send Dandeleon alone. Zellos walked into the royal palace full of disgusting humans on his own and fought a desperate struggle. Even so, he dreamed of the day he would escape from this place. He was even saving money separately for that.

Dandeleon was now twenty years old. The child who had rushed in like a moth to a flame, blinded by the love of his own blood, was no more. What remained in his place was a boy hidden in the armor of cynicism, but still fragile on the inside.

That child, whose only place to rest his heart in this world was Zellos, would gladly respond to the suggestion of running away. He would smile and fall into his arms, and they would escape this hell together.

He had believed so. Although he had never said a word, Zellos believed that Dandeleon knew all of his thoughts.

But perhaps he really did not know unless it was said out loud? True mates can know each other’s hearts just by looking into each other’s eyes, so was it because he was human, not a Lycan, that he did not know his true feelings? Or was it because he was still young? Either way, Dandeleon’s reaction just now had ignited Zellos’s anger.

“A parent….”

A sound like a beast growling came from inside Zellos’s throat. He bared his teeth at the empty air where no one was.

“You think I’d be satisfied with a role like that?”

That evening, Dandeleon, who had visited Ardenberg, got drunk quickly.

“Your Highness, I think you are drinking too fast.”

Kellewen’s attempts to stop him were futile. Dandeleon, who was upset about his argument with Zellos, had gulped down alcohol like a man on the run as soon as he arrived at Ardenberg.

Dandeleon was always like this when something upsetting happened. This act of hastily swallowing alcohol to settle into a hazy and pleasant world was very familiar to Dandeleon.

“It’s fine, I can hold my liquor.”

Dandeleon said so and continued to empty his glass. Perhaps because the food prepared as side dishes was delicious, the alcohol went down even better than usual.

“Besides, how would a High Elf who’s never had a single drink know if it’s fast or slow?”

Kellewen stopped Dandeleon from picking up the bottle himself to pour into his glass.

“…I have already drunk one bottle myself.”

Kellewen picked up the bottle next to him and shook it slightly. Dandeleon, thinking Kellewen was joking, picked up the bottle and was surprised. He could not feel any weight. The bottle was really empty.

“And this is the third time I am saying this.”

“Was it…?”

Dandeleon grimaced.

So, Kellewen drank that whole bottle of alcohol. And he said that for the third time, and there were three bottles left…. His mind, clouded with alcohol, wandered a useless path for a long time before finally arriving at its destination.

“Then! I have prepared the next step. Haha, look forward to it.”

“Your Highness?”

Dandeleon fumbled in his pants pockets and then made a puzzled face. There was nothing to be found in either the left or the right.

Dandeleon, who was tilting his head from side to side, picked up the outer coat he had thrown on the floor with an exclamation of “Ah!”. Although he fumbled several more times after that, Dandeleon finally found what he was looking for.

“Let’s do this!”

Kellewen observed what Dandeleon held out with curious eyes. An object similar to a thick pen was wrapped in paper.