To You, Who Will Die Alone in Paradise Chapter 29

With those words, Dandeleon’s body crumbled like a sandcastle hit by a wave.

“Mr. Leon! Since when did you have such a high fever? Mr. Leon!”

After spending hours in the cold sky, and even engaging in vigorous activity, it was only natural that his body would give out. Of course, Zellos did not know that fact, but the moment he held Dandeleon, the Lycan tribe’s sensitive sense of smell detected another scent.

It was the scent of another male who was not him.

Zellos was overcome with rage. He placed Dandeleon on the bed as if tossing him down and checked his condition.

Now that he looked, his attire was strange. The weather was already warm, but Dandeleon was wearing a winter coat. Zellos took off Dandeleon’s coat. The shirt revealed underneath had a slight water stain on it, and one button was undone.

He could not tell from this alone. Zellos flung the coat to the floor and reached for Dandeleon. He was prepared to strip him of everything if necessary to find out. His mate, how dare he….

“Zellos.”

Just then, Dandeleon called his name and opened his eyes. His deathly pale lips parted, and instead of a voice, a rough cough erupted.

“Mr. Leon…!”

Zellos faltered at Dandeleon’s weak appearance. Worried that Dandeleon might cough up blood again, he hurriedly ran to get water and medicine. Until Zellos returned, Dandeleon continued to let out deep, dry coughs.

“Mr. Leon, should I give you your medicine?”

Zellos approached Dandeleon with the medicine, but he shook his head.

“Cold….”

“I’ll bring a thicker blanket!”

Dandeleon wrapped himself in the blanket Zellos brought but continued to cough. In the end, he was only able to fall asleep after taking a medicine mixed with a sleeping pill and a painkiller.

After confirming that Dandeleon was asleep, Zellos silently swallowed his seething anger.

Dandeleon was sick in bed for the next several days. The high fever continued, and his mind was hazy. Even when he opened his eyes, it felt like he was in a dream, and even when he slept, he could not distinguish between reality and dreams.

On the border between dream and reality, he relived the future he had seen in the past. Kellewen berated him.

“Tell me you won’t leave, Leon.”

Dandeleon burst out laughing at that grim face.

“You’re a fake.”

The future he had seen would never become reality. Perhaps it was never a future to begin with, but merely a fantasy. It could have been because of the hookah, or maybe he was not sober from the alcohol he had drunk the day before. Dandeleon scoffed at the fake Kellewen and laughed like a madman.

“This is all a lie.”

Kellewen is not obsessed with him. He loved Dandeleon, but he loved the world far more. The love Kellewen possessed was too great to abandon the whole world.

So Kellewen will die for the world. And in doing so, he will comfort himself with the nonsensical lie that he is dying for Dandeleon.

“If you die, I’ll be alone again….”

Before he knew it, Dandeleon was crying. It was easy to cry in dreams. Expressing his feelings was also too easy.

“It would have been better not to love at all, if it was going to be like this.”

In the shimmering dream, Kellewen’s form scattered like a foam bubble. The foam bubble dissolved into the purple sea. From within the sea, a voice he knew well could be heard.

“Did you love him, Leon?”

Dandeleon shook his head, crying. The deep sea smiled at him.

“Fall in love, Leon.”

“I don’t want to. I will never be like you.”

Dandeleon screamed.

“Get out of me!”

“But Leon….”

The waves gently enveloped him. The lukewarm temperature resembled body heat. The seawater pulled Dandeleon in. And so he sank into the deep water.

“What meaning does your life have if you don’t love?”

“Heok…!”

Dandeleon’s consciousness surfaced. As he greedily swallowed air, his lungs, unable to handle the rough breathing, contorted. He coughed a few times. His face was damp with cold sweat.

“Mr. Leon?”

Zellos appeared as soon as he heard the sound. He placed his hand on Dandeleon’s forehead and then whimpered that he would live.

Dandeleon looked around. It took him a long while to remember where he was, what day it was, and what had happened. In the meantime, Zellos ran out, saying he needed to eat something.

“Haa….”

Dandeleon let out a sigh.

Among the memories that were slowly returning, there were not many pleasant ones. He had gone to Roalanthe with Kellewen and they had made love. But because Kellewen had insisted on declaring that he would die for others, he had bid him farewell and returned to the royal palace on that damn bird.

By the time he landed in the garden of Adenberg, his fever was already high. But Dandeleon pretended to be composed in front of Kellewen until the very end. If Kellewen had noticed, he would surely have told him to rest at Adenberg before leaving. He did not want to be held back by his kindness.

What happened after that?

He did not know the details, but he thought he had walked into his room on his own two feet. Zellos would have taken care of things after that. Dandeleon trusted the servant who had been by his side for a long time more than anyone. There was no doubt that he had taken good care of him.

“Here, hurry and eat!”

As if in answer to his trust, Zellos returned in an instant with something like porridge. Dandeleon read the traces of fatigue around his eyes. He must have stayed up all night nursing him. Whenever Dandeleon was seriously ill, Zellos always took care of him like that.

Out of guilt towards Zellos, Dandeleon forced himself to pick up a spoon. He did not actually want to eat anything, but if he did not, he felt Zellos might really burst into tears.

“How long have I been sick?”

Dandeleon asked after barely managing one or two spoonfuls.

“Two days, no, it’s the third day now. You kept losing consciousness and talking nonsense, I was so worried.”

“Nonsense? I did?”

He asked, feeling a sense of unease, and Zellos pouted his lips.

“You told me to get out. You’re going to say you don’t remember anyway, right?”

“…I really don’t remember.”

He thought he might have shouted that in his dream. But if he brought it up, he would be asked who he had been shouting at, so it was better to feign ignorance. As Dandeleon listlessly swallowed another mouthful of porridge, Zellos spoke.

“The High Elf came to visit while you were sick.”

Dandeleon almost dropped his spoon. He managed to avoid that by tightening his grip, but he could not hide his flustered expression. Dandeleon needlessly glanced at Zellos.

“Why did he come?”

“He said he wanted to see you, Mr. Leon, but I sent him away.”

“…Did you say I was sick?”

“No. I didn’t say.”

“Good.”

Zellos did not ask any more questions. That attitude, rather, made Dandeleon uneasy.

The last time he had said he was going to see Kellewen, Zellos had reacted very sensitively. But now, Zellos was reporting Kellewen’s visit as if some door-to-door salesman had come and gone.

He’s probably letting it go because I’m sick. After a moment of thought, Dandeleon came to that conclusion. Considering Zellos’s usual personality, he would be on the verge of nagging, but he was holding back because he had just recovered from near death. In that case, he should probably pretend to be a little sicker. Having judged so, Dandeleon put down his spoon.

“You should eat more.”

“I have no appetite.”

It was not an act, since he really could not taste anything and was forcing himself to eat. Zellos made a pitiful face but did not press him further and cleared the bowl.

“Oh, right.”

Zellos, who had taken the porridge bowl, brought back water and medicine. He held out the water glass to Dandeleon and said in a passing tone.

“By any chance, on the day you got sick, did you go to the sea?”

Dandeleon was not surprised. He knew well from experience that the senses of the Lycan tribe were sharp. Besides, on that day, Dandeleon had not just visited the seaside, he had soaked his entire body in the seawater. He would have known not only that he went to the sea, but also that the sea was Roalanthe. Because the only place on the entire continent where one could soak their body in seawater was Roalanthe.

However, it would be a little difficult if Zellos demanded an explanation. Kellewen would not want it known that he had gone to see the lighthouse. That must be why he had traveled by bird from the garden of Adenberg, where there were no prying eyes. His relationship with Kellewen was over, but he could at least keep a secret.

The problem was that, without mentioning Kellewen, there was no way to explain how he had gone to Roalanthe.

“I did go, but….”

Dandeleon drew out the end of his sentence, thinking. The one Kellewen wanted to hide his whereabouts from would be the Elf Forest, so it seemed okay to tell Zellos, but he had a very bad feeling.

In fact, from the moment Zellos brought up the sea, Dandeleon had been in a state of constant tension. It was because he had detected a certain chill in Zellos’s tone. He did not know why, but Zellos seemed to be greatly displeased that Dandeleon had been to the sea. Dandeleon’s lips went dry.

But instead of asking how he had gone to Roalanthe, Zellos asked an unexpected question.

“So, did you have a good visit to the cemetery?”

“Uh…?”

Dandeleon was taken aback. It took him a moment to recall what cemetery Zellos was talking about. As Dandeleon stammered, Zellos let out a deep sigh.

“So you didn’t go. It’s not far, you should have dropped by for a bit.”