CH 63

“You don’t die?”

“Mm.”

I responded meekly, but I sensed that Dante still hadn’t quite come to his senses, and anxiety crept up in me.

It can’t be, but what if he told me I was lying? What if he doesn’t even try to believe it, regardless of whether it’s true or not?

“…Even if you die, you will come back to life, and you won’t grow old.”

“Mm.”

“Then, I… You mean I won’t be left alone?”

But it quickly became clear that all my worries were for nothing. I suppressed the relief that leaked out, and I met Dante’s gaze, nodding my head.

“That’s right.”

And nothing more was said.

Considering the previous question, I didn’t think you didn’t understand what I was saying at all, but are you still not accepting it? The moment I carefully let go of Dante’s hand.

“…Now, this right now.”

With the whispered words, tears fell from Dante’s eyes.

“I think… it’s a dream…”

Having said that, Dante staggered back. Tears fell again at that small movement, and the eyes staring at me were wet with water.

Even if he had stepped back, it was a distance that I could reach if I stretched out my hand. At the end of the distance, Dante was looking at me without even trying to wipe his tears. He probably didn’t even notice that he was crying.

It was surprising that there were more tears left to shed after he cried like that earlier. If I just talk to him earlier, he will cry, and cry again. Come to think of it, Dante cried in front of me even when he thought I wasn’t real.

Is the reason why Dante is crying now is because he doesn’t understand what I said, or is it because he doesn’t believe what I said, I wonder.

The glow of the setting sun, which spread so much that it hurt my eyes, illuminated your crying figure even more clearly.

“It’s not a dream.”

Dante’s eyes flickered for a moment at my quiet reply.

“…Then my ears heard it wrong…”

“Not even that.”

When I cut him off without listening to everything, Dante fell silent. No, to be precise, he closed his mouth and wept. What is it that makes you want to cry even while you’re crying?

As I ran out of patience and approached as far as he had fallen, Dante flinched and backed away that much.

“Why are you backing away?”

“N-No… Unconsciously.”

“Hmm.”

While answering like that, as I approached, he withdrew again. If that’s the case, it’s not like he’s unknowingly leaving. Is he running away on purpose, right now?

I squinted at Dante’s restless appearance.

“Dante, you.”

“Mm.”

“You think I’m going to disappear now.”

“…”

Silence soon became an affirmation.

It was like that before, I always held his hand in his dreams and then disappeared. When Dante hugged me earlier, he said that he always woke up from the dream when I tried to hug him.

He can’t believe that it’s not a dream, seeing as he can’t even approach me.

Does saying that I won’t die like you sound like something that only comes out in a dream?

How can he trust me? I pondered for a moment, then met Dante’s eyes again as the thought passed through my mind.

What is it, why are you looking so worried? You know what I’m thinking. It’s amazing that such an expression can come out even while crying.

“Dante.”

“Mm.”

“You don’t believe that I will come back to life even if I die right now, right?”

“Huh? That.”

“That too, without having a scar.”

Dante staggered once more as if he was surprised when I reminded him that I wouldn’t die once more. That way, you’re going to fall down.

But I didn’t care and continued talking.

“Well, do you want me to show you how I’m healed after getting hurt?”

“What?”

“How about me coming back to life? These days, the speed of my wound healing is so fast that I guess, if only my corpse is intact, I will come back to life…”

“No! What are you talking about!”

I hadn’t even finished talking yet, yet Dante, frightened, grabbed one of my hands. Dante’s eyes were still watery, and his hand clinging to me was filled with desperation.

You should have done this sooner.

When I stretched out my hand and wiped away his tears, Dante shuddered.

“I’m serious, Dante.”

“…”

“If I have to do this for you to believe me, I can do it.”

It was me who wanted to get hurt and die, yet it was you who distorted your face as if begging for me not to do that.

“Unbelievable, but yeah. I really haven’t aged for 200 years, and even if I die, I’m not completely dead, and in the end, I met you because I couldn’t die. And I died… again.”

When I said I died, I felt Dante’s hand tighten.

“But I came back to life, like I always did.”

“…”

“Think about it, what happened to the village you and I lived in. If I, who was in that place, wasn’t… dead and came back alive, how could I be in front of you right now? Now I’m neither your dream nor an Illinan.”

As soon as I thought of the village, I shut my mouth for a moment as something soared in my heart. But even so, I thought that I had to say what I had to say until the end, and when I finally opened my mouth again.

I saw teardrops falling on my hands.

“…What’s wrong with your expression?”

He’s crying. He has been crying for a while.

For some reason, it was completely different from the previous time when he was crying without even knowing that he was shedding tears. An unfortunate, sad, worried expression.

Before I could understand why he was making that expression, Dante whispered softly.

“Did that hurt a lot?”

“…”

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“That way, even if you get hurt, you get better. To say that even if you die, you will survive, and even if you’re broken into pieces, you will come back to life… You’ve been through it all.”

Tears flowed helplessly to the point that wiping them was meaningless.

Dante’s face became wet again.

“I was happy when I first heard you say it. Even if I didn’t believe it, if what you said is true, I really… I was so happy I didn’t know how to express it. But…”

The gibberish, the words continued in pieces, a barely intelligible sentence was made.

“You hate getting hurt. Yet how many times have you endured death-like, no, actual death pain?”

“…I’m fine.”

“What’s fine? It’s not something for you to say calmly, that you died and survived, that you came back to life even after being shattered.”

You’re still crying like it hurts you more. That’s why I couldn’t say what I always did as a habit. That said, I’ve gotten used to being dead and coming back to life.

Not the hand held by Dante, but the other hand that wiped away his tears earlier. Dante even locked that hand in his own and kissed the back of my hand.

A trembling voice was heard along with a faint tickling feeling on the back of my hand.

“I believe everything you say. I will believe everything you say, whether you say that you haven’t aged for 200 years or that you have come back to life after dying. Even if you say the world will collapse, I will believe it, so…”

Another tear dropped.

“Don’t casually say that you got hurt like that…”

I can’t stand it every time you do that. The voice, which had become muffled at the end, gradually faded and then disappeared.

Dante kept crying, you were holding my hand, and I was looking at you.

Yeah, I… When I looked at you, listening to everything you said to me,

I felt like I was going to cry like you.

What am I, to the point you love me this much?

“…I was just thinking about what if you didn’t believe me.”

At my words, Dante raised his head and looked at me.

“Trusting me too easily, worrying about me, crying because of me…”

What should I do about you? Those words that I added sounded too casual even for me to hear. Even if it was said with a teary expression on my face.

When I let go of Dante’s hand and pulled his face, his eyes widened in surprise. Even so, his posture was lowered obediently as he was pulled.

Yeah. You really are, even in trivial things like this.

“You said so, back then. That I have earned eternal love.”

I lowered my voice and whispered.

His face, that just looked at me without answering, still crying, was still pretty, handsome, my ideal type, and I couldn’t help but like it. Hmm, I’m not sure if I’m just blinded by love or he’s really handsome.

He kept saying those things with a face like this, so in the end, I ended up saying this.

“I’ll give it back to you.”

Seeing his purple eyes widen again, I smiled broadly.

“Dante. You can be proud.”

It was already night, so the scenery wasn’t exactly the same as then, but what about it?

You were always enough for me.

“You have earned eternal love.”

“…”

“That too… From the one whom the greatest magician in the world loves.”

How was it, was it similar to you? Adding to that, I laughed again, and Dante, who had a moment of bewildered expression, stiffened.

Eventually, he smiled at me as if he couldn’t help it.

“No, it was much better than me.”

You said that, and you cried for a long time again.