To You, Who Will Die Alone in Paradise Chapter 67

Before Herma’s scream could even end, the elves of Tuella Deum attacked Kellewen. Because the flames were too strong to charge in with swords, some shot arrows and some used magic.

However, none of their attacks could subdue Kellewen. The arrows were swept up in the flames and melted away futilely, and the magic dissipated without even getting close to the blaze. In the face of the high elf’s immense magic, they were utterly powerless.

That night, Kellewen burned down the entire Elven Forest. Hundreds of elves died, and the few who remained fled. In that time, the moon set and the eastern sky slowly began to brighten.

“Kellen….”

Surprisingly, Herma was still alive when the sun rose. What was truly astonishing might not have been his survival, but his will. Herma continuously tried to explain things to Kellewen. Though his entire body was burned, leaving him unable to see or hear, he believed Kellewen would hear him somewhere and kept speaking until the very end.

“He is… a monster….”

The first light of morning shone on the pile of ash. Kellewen staggered back to where the fire had started. He was not unscathed either. His hands and feet were charred and grotesquely twisted, and his hair and clothes were burned in places, leaving him with burns.

“His blood… it’s mutating. I saw it clearly. The prince… is sick… his blood, Kellen… it’s a pathogen, it… is just….”

Kellewen stomped on Herma’s head as he babbled on. Even as he was crushed under Kellewen’s foot, Herma tried to convey something more, but he couldn’t hold on for long. Herma’s breath stopped. Silence fell.

Kellewen turned back time. This time, he did not converse with Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil, too, remained silent.

“Let’s just run away like this. To a place that isn’t Benoit or the Elven Forest….”

After several trials and errors, Kellewen finally managed to save Dandeleon. It was a long and arduous process.

Now all he had to do was take him back to the royal palace. The moment he thought that, Dandeleon pleaded.

“I really don’t want to go back. You know why I’m like this. Kellen, please….”

Dandeleon’s voice, unlike usual, was as fragile as if it would break. The man who hated showing any weakness even to Kellewen was letting go of everything and begging. That desperate attitude moved Kellewen’s heart.

Naturally, Kellewen had not saved Dandeleon to make him unhappy. He wanted to make him happy. He could do anything he wanted.

“…It will be a difficult road.”

Kellewen told him. Dandeleon smiled brightly and hugged Kellewen.

“It’s all right. I have you.”

After they ran away together, Dandeleon died eight times. All of those deaths took less than a week.

After experiencing the eighth death, Kellewen had no choice but to admit that running away was not a good method.

Dandeleon died in various, and futile, ways. It was understandable when he was killed by Herma or Tuella Deum. He could just think that his own abilities were lacking and resolve to do better next time. It was also completely understandable when he died from illness. Dandeleon was frail by nature. A life of constantly being on the run without staying in one place for long must have been harsh.

However, Dandeleon died from illness only once. He was killed by Herma twice, and by another member of Tuella Deum once. The rest were all very absurd accidental deaths.

For example, in one of his attempts, Dandeleon was hit on the head by a branch that fell from a tree and died. The naturally broken branch was neither particularly large nor heavy. It didn’t fall from a dizzying height, either. Yet Dandeleon was hit by it and died.

Kellewen could not accept that fact and wandered for ten more days with the corpse. Herma, who found him, shouted that Kellewen was crazy, but he had heard it so many times that it didn’t stir much emotion.

After experiencing such futile deaths several times, Kellewen slowly became suspicious.

‘Is Dandeleon’s death fated?’

No matter how hard Kellewen tried, Dandeleon kept dying. Kellewen’s actions certainly brought about change, but they could not prevent the major event of Dandeleon’s death.

It was as if the entire world was hell-bent on killing Dandeleon. Not only sentient beings, but everything from a single falling leaf to a gust of wind.

To make matters worse, even the magic to turn back time was becoming increasingly unstable.

In the beginning, he would arrive at an appropriate point in time each time he turned back time, but as it went on, the point at which he woke up became strange. Sometimes it was the day Dandeleon first died, and other times it was the day he first met Dandeleon. There were even times he went back just a few minutes or a few seconds before Dandeleon died. At times like those, Kellewen had to helplessly watch Dandeleon die again.

He drifted aimlessly between times like a lost child. No matter when he woke up, his efforts to save Dandeleon continued, but with the timeline tangled, his thoughts naturally became a mess as well. He made more mistakes, and those mistakes led directly to Dandeleon’s death. In the midst of it all, the magic within Yggdrasil was slowly but steadily decreasing.

Kellewen grew more and more exhausted. Every time he realized he was tired, he was afraid. He felt that if things continued like this, he would give up on the goal of saving Dandeleon for good.

There were also days when that felt like a pretty good idea. When all his efforts came to nothing, when he sat blankly holding Dandeleon’s corpse that he had seen so tiresomely often, Kellewen would think. About whether it was right to inflict dozens of deaths upon Dandeleon out of his own selfishness.

And so, in the end, when he told himself this was the last time, and turned back time thinking he just wanted to see his face and hold him one last time, Dandeleon was always there.

“Kellen?”

Purple eyes would shine towards him, and his pale cheeks would flush. The most beautiful face in the world would smile brightly at him.

That smile was as dazzling as the sun, so Kellewen couldn’t even look at it properly and covered his eyes. Then Dandeleon would approach and kiss him. His scent, which seemed to resemble flowers, the sea, and blood, would pierce Kellewen’s lungs.

“What’s wrong?”

Dandeleon would ask.

And then, Kellewen would helplessly think.

Just one more time.

Just this one more time….

It was a day when Yggdrasil had spoken to him for the first time in a long while.

Kellewen woke up in Celeste Domaine. Sunlight poured in from the wide window. When he looked down, Dandeleon was sleeping soundly in his arms.

Kellewen buried his face in Dandeleon’s hair, which was as soft as golden threads. Yggdrasil’s voice remained in his mind, tormenting him.

My child, there are not many chances left.

It was a short statement, but that was enough. Kellewen, too, had a premonition that it would soon come to that.

Yggdrasil’s magic, once so immense that it seemed it would enjoy eternal life, was now as shabby as a withered flower. Every time he turned back time, no, every time he cast Kellewen out into some point in time, petals fell from the withered flower one by one.

‘Five times… no, there might only be two or three times left.’

Kellewen was too exhausted to think, ‘this has to be the time’. Rather, the thought that he should stop now was stronger than ever.

Though he had forgotten for a while, Yggdrasil’s magic was for the continent, not for Kellewen. The moment Kellewen exhausted all the magic of the guardian tree, demonic energy and monsters would surge from across the sea like a tsunami and cover the continent. Then, the only ending left was destruction.

‘…Let’s give up.’

Once he made that decision, his heart felt lighter. Kellewen hugged Dandeleon tighter.

This is truly the last time. If so, rather than wasting time on other things, he wanted to spend even a little more time with Dandeleon.

“Kellen?”

Dandeleon, half-awake, rubbed his eyes and looked up at Kellewen. Kellewen gently kissed his forehead.

“Good morning, Leon.”

It suddenly occurred to him that it had been a very long time since he had greeted him like this.

From that day on, Kellewen almost gave up on trying to save Dandeleon. Instead, he met his eyes longer and had more conversations with him. Since he didn’t know when he would die, every minute and every second was precious. Dandeleon, though bewildered, happily accepted Kellewen’s outpouring of love.

A day passed.

Two days passed.

By the time three days had passed, Kellewen realized something was strange.

Dandeleon had not died.

Thinking that he was just particularly lucky this time, Kellewen waited a little longer. In the meantime, Herma was making a fuss, so he sprinkled a little monster blood in the royal palace while Dandeleon was sleeping. He didn’t have high hopes. He just wished for the peaceful days to last a little longer.

Another three days passed. Dandeleon still had not died. In fact, he looked healthier and happier than ever before. Hope, which Kellewen thought he had lost, reared its head in his heart again. Perhaps, this time, this curse-like death had finally come to an end.

Another three days passed. Kellewen desperately searched through his jumbled memories. It was the first time Dandeleon had survived for this long.

Maybe, really, this time.

On the night of the tenth day since he had woken up again, Kellewen found the secret passage to the basement open.

“……?”

Kellewen frowned. One side of the rug, which should have been spread out without a single wrinkle, was crumpled, and underneath it, the basement door was gaping wide like a monster’s maw.

Kellewen went down to the basement.

“O noble blood….”

And there, he found a monster reaching out its hand toward Dandeleon.

“Leon!”

Kellewen burned the monster with magic. It was, of course, an act to save Dandeleon. But Dandeleon got angry and demanded an explanation from him. Sharp words were exchanged, and voices were raised. In the end, Dandeleon clutched his head and screamed.

“That’s your delusion!”

That desperate voice pierced Kellewen’s heart painfully.

Perhaps it was because Kellewen himself had thought the same thing several times.

Kellewen left Dandeleon in the basement and came out alone, then went back about an hour later.

He had no intention of leaving him there for long from the start. All he wanted was for Dandeleon to collect his emotions a little. He thought they could have a proper conversation only after he had calmed down to some extent. He had almost no sense that locking him up was an unjust act. It wasn’t the first time he had locked Dandeleon up, anyway.