To You, Who Will Die Alone in Paradise Chapter 8

It would not have mattered if Kellewen had pounced on him right then and there. No, in fact, it was what he had hoped for. Dandeleon wanted Kellewen to cast off his hypocrisy.

He wanted him to reveal the desire hidden beneath the beautiful mask. If he would only do that, it seemed like he would feel a sense of triumph, regardless of what happened to his own body.

Dandeleon wanted to prove it. That all of Kellewen’s words and actions were nothing but a pretense. That he was not benevolent. That there was not a single truly benevolent person in this world….

Otherwise, he felt like he would go mad with anger.

“Now what do you plan to do?”

Dandeleon, half-naked as he was, checked Kellewen’s expression. And he was taken aback.

“W-wow, your highness…!”

Kellewen’s face had turned beet red, as if scorched by fire. Unable to find a place to rest his eyes, he glanced in every direction before finally hanging his head low and covering his face with his hands.

“I, I, me… no, my….”

“……?”

Kellewen flailed about like a fool, looking around. Then he brought his hand to the cloth wrapped around his waist, only to snatch it away, startling himself.

In the meantime, Dandeleon could not figure out what he was trying to do and just stood there watching the spectacle.

It was only when Kellewen detached the cloth from his shoulder that Dandeleon finally realized. He had wanted to take off his own clothes and cover Dandeleon with them.

However, for Kellewen, who was dressed in clothes that enveloped his entire body like a priest, all he could offer was the sash tied around his waist or the decorative cloth that hung down his back from his shoulder. Even that was extremely short, so it could not cover Dandeleon’s upper body. If anything, it would only make him look more provocative.

“Ah, uh….”

Kellewen seemed to have realized that fact as well. He clutched the decorative cloth, unable to do anything, then suddenly turned around and disappeared into the memorial hall of Beatrix I.

“Please wait just a moment!”

Dandeleon stood there dazedly, waiting for him.

A short while later, the door burst open and Kellewen returned with a white cloth. He had come running in a hurry, and he unfolded the cloth and abruptly wrapped it around Dandeleon from his head down.

“Cough, cough!”

As the cloth flapped, the musty smell of old dust hit him. Dandeleon examined the cloth wrapped around his body. Judging by the material, color, and the old dust, it seemed to be a cloth used to cover the exhibits in the memorial hall.

“As, as a temporary measure… I went into any random room and brought it. Later, I will explain and apologize….”

Kellewen rattled off such words disjointedly as he wrapped the cloth around Dandeleon. In the middle of it, Kellewen’s finger lightly brushed against Dandeleon’s bare skin, then pulled back in surprise. His green eyes widened as if they would pop out.

“I am sorry!”

Kellewen took two or three steps back.

“Something urgent has suddenly come up, so I must return.”

“What?”

“Excuse me, your highness. I am sorry!”

“Wait a minute, High Elf?”

Thump.

The door to the memorial hall of Beatrix I closed. Kellewen fled into the memorial hall like Cinderella at the stroke of twelve, and Dandeleon was left all alone in the garden full of statues. With a white cloth wrapped around his head and shoulders.

“…What in the world?”

He was so dumbfounded that he could not even speak properly.

The reddened face, the darting eyes, the way he jumped in surprise just from touching a little bare skin. Kellewen’s reaction was so incredibly innocent.

It was as if he were a fourteen-year-old boy witnessing another person’s naked body for the first time. And he was not even fully naked, just his upper body was exposed!

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it was. You are going to rape me in the near future! So what is with that attitude? Anyone would think I was the one trying to jump you!

Dandeleon ground his teeth with a crunch. He could not tell whether he should be angry or laugh. The whole situation was just funny. And the funniest part of all was his current appearance, wrapped up in a dusty-smelling cloth.

“Hah….”

Dandeleon picked up his shirt from the floor and let out a sigh. It seemed better to put the wet and smelly clothes back on than to wander through the palace looking like a silkworm cocoon wrapped in an exhibition cloth. As he put the damp and unpleasant clothes back on his body, he thought deeply.

Let us sort this out carefully. Kellewen’s reaction just now seemed truly genuine. It was because it was such a preposterous reaction that it felt that way.

But if Kellewen’s reaction was real, then what was it that Dandeleon saw? The man who pinned Dandeleon down with force, his eyes blazing like a beast’s, who in the world was that?

It was something that was really going to happen in the near future. A month or two at the longest, a week at the earliest, and if he was unlucky, it could even happen today.

…If it had happened like that, he could have at least denounced him as a hypocrite to his heart’s content.

“I have to find out what is going on.”

Dandeleon muttered.

“By any means necessary.”

The next day, Kellewen witnessed a sight he could never have imagined.

The time was ten in the morning. Dandeleon had contacted him early in the morning, suggesting they meet at the place where they had parted yesterday. Kellewen, who had wanted to apologize for his behavior the day before, gladly accepted the invitation.

Leaving his room a little earlier than the appointed time, Kellewen spent the entire walk contemplating what words he would use to apologize to him. Thinking about how he had flustered Dandeleon by making a fuss over nothing and how he had left him there all alone, he felt embarrassed even now.

I must apologize seriously, with all my heart, so that my sincerity is conveyed. With that resolve, Kellewen crossed through the memorial hall of Beatrix I, just as he had yesterday, and came out into the garden.

“You are here early, High Elf.”

But Dandeleon was already there. In a shocking state.

“Good, morning, your highness….”

Kellewen looked around to find a place for his eyes, then eventually cast his gaze downward. His face grew hot, so much so that he could feel it himself.

Unlike yesterday, Dandeleon was in a simple attire, wearing only a white shirt over black pants. The problem was that he had left quite a few of the shirt’s buttons undone. The V of his collar exposed his chest plainly, and the shirt itself was so thin that when he stood under the sunlight, the silhouette of his body was clearly visible.

Naturally, the events of yesterday came to mind, and the body in his memory overlapped with the body before his eyes. But that was a truly rude thing to do. Kellewen squeezed his eyes shut and composed himself.

Kellewen had seen various ways of life while on his pilgrimage across the continent. All over the continent, various races lived with different cultures.

When encountering an unfamiliar culture as an outsider, the most important thing is not to judge by one’s own standards. By Kellewen’s standards, Dandeleon was certainly dressed in an overly revealing manner, but to criticize that or to judge that the attire had some sort of intention behind it was surely an arrogant thing to do.

So, let us not be rude any longer. All I need to do is act nonchalantly, and treat him politely just like yesterday. As he mulled it over, Kellewen’s mind grew increasingly calm.

When he finally opened his eyes again, he had regained his composure enough to be able to smile at Dandeleon.

“Yesterday, I acted rashly and committed a rudeness. I would like to apologize.”

Even to Kellewen himself, it was a perfect greeting. Both his exterior and interior were unshakably calm. It was just as he was resolving once more to maintain this state.

Dandeleon, who had been just watching Kellewen without replying to his greeting, suddenly let out a soft laugh.

At the laugh that seemed to see right through his inner thoughts, Kellewen flinched. It felt as though everything was visible in Dandeleon’s eyes.

Both the fact that he had been shaken the moment he saw him, and the fact that he had tried to calm that agitation. He felt like a child standing before an adult. Even though in terms of actual age, it was quite the opposite.

“Rudeness, you say? What action are you referring to?”

Dandeleon said slowly.

Kellewen took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. If he could see through everything, no, if that were the case, then he must maintain his composure even more. Kellewen spoke with a serious attitude, as if reciting from a scripture.

“It has been weighing on my mind that I left you alone and went back without helping when your highness was in a difficult situation. I am truly sorry.”

“Ah, that?”

Dandeleon muttered. For a moment, a complex expression crossed his face, but it was so fleeting that Kellewen could not discern all the textures of his emotions.

A slight sneer was all he detected, and even that vanished in an instant. When he blinked once, Dandeleon was wearing a polite and gentle expression, just like yesterday.

“Alright, I accept your apology.”

“Thank… you.”

Kellewen answered, feeling bewildered. Dandeleon shrugged his shoulders, then turned his body around to face forward.

“How about we start today’s tour with the chapel?”

Looking in the direction he was facing, a pointed white stone roof could be seen rising among the trees in the distance. Kellewen nodded his head.

“That sounds good. If it is the chapel of Benoit, it must be a place that enshrines Lewa, correct?”

“That is right. Oh, the morning service is long over. If you happen to want to see the service yourself, I recommend coming earlier.”

That was unexpected. Judging from Dandeleon’s tone, it seemed he had come out specifically avoiding the service time. Usually, when guiding someone through a religious facility, it is done the other way around, so Kellewen found it rather odd.

But he quickly figured out Dandeleon’s intention.

Generally, religious people were wary of the attitude of revering Yggdrasil or other High Elves ‘like a god’. Such an attitude sometimes led to hostility towards elves as a whole. The fact that most elves were atheists was also enough to incur the hatred of religious people.

Dandeleon must have been well aware of these facts. So it was clear that he had been considerate of Kellewen to avoid getting embroiled in a sensitive issue. Thinking about how thoughtful his guide was, a feeling of gratitude rose in him again.

“It is alright if I do not see the service. I thank you again today for your highness’s consideration.”

At his answer, Dandeleon raised his eyes as if he had discovered something strange. His rare violet eyes, which had glittered in the dark interior as if emitting their own light, now looked darker in color under the sun. Kellewen silently observed as Dandeleon’s eyes seemed to crinkle slightly before quickly taking on a gentle hue as he smiled sweetly.

“Consideration… Yes, I am just overflowing with consideration. Can you feel it?”

“I can feel it as clearly and certainly as the energy of the sun above my head.”

“…Never mind.”

“What did you just say?”

“I said let us get going. We have a lot of places to see today, so we need to move quickly.”

“I see. I understand.”

Dandeleon shivered slightly and turned his body toward the chapel. Kellewen thought he would take the lead, just like yesterday.

However, before Kellewen had even taken a few steps, Dandeleon moved right up next to him and began to walk side by side.