Chapter 722: An Unexpected Return
Chapter 722: An Unexpected Return
Seeing Diana on the verge of tears weakened my resolve, forcing me to reveal my true feelings, but this was a matter of life and death. I couldn’t just give up so easily.
“You really won’t allow it?”
Still, I couldn’t just selfishly force my way.
It’s true that I’m usually a pretty self-centered guy, but whenever I acted that way with my girls, it was always in jest.
I don’t take that attitude with them when things are truly serious.
Besides, she wasn’t the type to bend even if I did try to force the issue.
If I snuck into the dungeon, she would surely follow me in, even if she had to go alone.
So, with the most troubled expression I could muster, I decided to try and persuade Diana.
“Of course not!”
Naturally, Diana didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of being persuaded.
And to be honest, I had no idea what to say to convince her either.
“It’s because I don’t want to see you, or any of you, die, Diana.”
Even when I appealed to her emotions…
“The same goes for me!”
…she countered with the exact same logic, so our conversation couldn’t possibly progress.
“No. But in the end, going down there is my mission. Technically, you all just got swept up in it. It has nothing to do with…”
I tried to rack my brain for something, anything, to persuade her, but it was no use.
No. If I finish that sentence, Diana will really start crying because of me this time.
‘This is my business, it has nothing to do with you.’ That’s something I should never say. Our relationship isn’t like that at all.
I thought I was prepared to be resented later, but maybe that moment came much faster than I’d anticipated. As expected, I couldn’t bring myself to say something that would hurt Diana.
Listening to me, Diana bit her lower lip and held her breath. Only when I stopped mid-sentence did she finally let out a long sigh, her expression softening slightly.
Well, she went right back to glaring at me a moment later, but still.
“Diana, can’t you understand?”
“I cannot.”
“Never?”
“Never! I cannot!”
“……”
“……”
The conversation went nowhere, running along two perfectly parallel lines.
In the end, unable to think of anything else to say, I could only stare at Diana in silence, as if we were in a staring contest.
How much time passed like that?
Surprisingly, it was Diana who broke the silence first.
“…In the first place, if you were to die, I would be as good as dead, even if I didn’t take my own life.”
“What!? Wait a minute! What does that mean?! I thought the kiss only shared our lifespans!”
An elf’s kiss shares lifespans. That’s what Diana had clearly explained to me.
In other words, it literally aligns the age at which we would die of old age.
It wasn’t supposed to be a sharing of life itself, where if one dies, the other dies too.
If that had been the case, I never would have acted so recklessly in the dungeon.
I would have been meticulously careful.
So what did she mean, she’d die if I died? What was this all about?
“You truly are simple sometimes. Think about it. If you were to lose your life and I were left all alone, do you think I would be able to use my Reincarnation Skill? You, of all people, should know the price of that skill.”
“Well, it’s levels… ah.”
I see. So that’s what she meant.
The price for Diana’s Reincarnation Skill was none other than her levels.
In other words, if she couldn’t level up, she couldn’t use the skill.
“I would use the Reincarnation Skill once with the levels I had at the moment of your death, and then I would spend the rest of my remaining life in sorrow before it finally ends. What you are trying to do is not just to have me die with you, but to inflict something far more painful upon me.”
Diana’s eyes never lost their intensity as she glared at me and spoke.
But ironically, her words filled me with a sense of happiness.
After all, even if what Diana said came to pass, as a member of the long-lived elven race, she would live for countless years.
And she had just declared that for all those long years, she would miss only me and live her entire life in sorrow.
To think her affection for me ran so deep… I couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy, even in a situation like this.
“Or is it something else? Do you wish for me to press my flesh against another man to continue my life, even if I am alone after you die? Is that truly what you want?”
“Th-That’s…!”
At Diana’s follow-up question, my hand, which was resting on her shoulder, tightened unconsciously.
No. For Diana to live an eternal life without me, that would be the natural course of action.
It was the natural thing to do, but… honestly, I had never even considered it.
I had been so frantic that the girls had noticed the dissonance in my behavior. Had my perspective also become that narrow?
“Ouch…! Th-That hurts!”
“Ah, sorry.”
Diana frowned, the shoulder in my grip clearly hurting, but the corners of her lips were turned up slightly.
It seemed that even in this situation, she was happy to see my immediate jealous reaction.
“So, what is your answer?”
“That’s…”
I couldn’t give Diana a clear answer.
Of course, the thought of Diana pressing her flesh against another man was something I couldn’t stand, not even in death.
Just imagining it made me angry enough to want to find that bastard and tear him limb from limb.
But to answer that way would be to say I would take Diana with me on the dangerous adventure beyond the 6th Floor, where anything could happen.
Was it right to put Diana in danger just because of my jealousy?
Since it would be after I was already dead, wasn’t it my duty as someone who loved her to pray that she, at least, would remain and live happily?
And it’s not like I was guaranteed to die.
I could complete the mission the Goddess gave me, return triumphantly, and live happily ever after with my girls.
All sorts of thoughts swirled through my head.
Watching me hesitate, Diana’s expression grew even darker as she opened her mouth to speak.
“If that is what you wish, then my Apostle’s…”
“I can’t do it after all.”
But before Diana could finish her sentence, the conclusion had already formed in my mind.
“Eh, hmm?”
“I’m sorry, Diana. I’m really sorry. I know in my head that I should tell you to do that, that if I die, you should live happily even if it means pressing your flesh against another man. But I just can’t. I’m trash, Diana. Let’s just face the danger together rather than have you live on, sharing your body with some other guy.”
And it was an incredibly selfish conclusion at that.
Yeah. This is who I am.
No, I really do know. I know that a nobler, more sublime love is wanting the person you love to be happy even after you’re gone. I know that.
But what can I do? I’m just not that big of a person.
To hell with noble love.
I’m a selfish bastard, and I can’t stand the thought of my woman touching skin with another man, not even if I’m dead.
I guarantee you, I’d come back as a zombie just to stop it.
“I’m sorry. I know I must seem pathetic and like trash for making a strange decision on my own only to take it back like this, but…”
“That’s enough!”
The tears that had been welling up in Diana’s eyes for some time finally succumbed to their own weight, falling and leaving a thin trail on her beautiful cheek.
At the same time, Diana’s lips pressed firmly against mine.
“I’m sorry. For being this kind of guy.”
“It is because you are this kind of person that I love you. In fact, if you had spouted some nonsense about it being fine for me to share my body with another man, I was planning to strike you with magic.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
“Mm!”
After a long kiss, we pulled apart. We exchanged those words, then simply held each other tightly without saying anything more.
Yeah. For some reason, I was starting to feel incredibly embarrassed about a lot of things.
I mean, everything I had resolved to do on my own had just turned into a pointless exercise. Am I a total idiot?
To think I got lost in my own thoughts and caused all this trouble.
If I had just thought a little more calmly about the point Diana had raised, I never would have considered going down there alone.
On top of that, my attitude was apparently so strange that everyone noticed.
Ah, now that I think about it, didn’t I even make a sex joke to Leia?
Damn it. Until now, I’d been trying my best to refrain from making sex jokes to my angel, except when we were sleeping together.
My carefully crafted image of being a playful and cute little brother to my angel during the day…
I want to die.
“Hee hee. It seems you’re beginning to feel embarrassed about your actions.”
Watching my face as my self-loathing began to kick in, Diana spoke with a mischievous expression.
You really do read my mind like a book.
Come to think of it, earlier too…
“I thought I played it off pretty convincingly earlier. How on earth did you notice?”
“Hmm? What are you talking about all of a sudden? Trying to change the subject out of embarrassment? It is fine. I shall…”
“No. I’m talking about my excuse earlier, that I was anxious because I felt ashamed and inadequate about my own skills. Wasn’t that pretty plausible? How did you know I was lying?”
“It is simple. You are not so delicate a person as to let your attitude falter over such a trivial matter.”
“…Hey. I’m seriously going to cry. For your information, I have a more delicate heart than I look.”
“I am aware. Even now, you are so embarrassed by your actions that you do not know what to do, so you are desperately trying to change the subject. I am well aware.”
No. First Sara, and now you… why does everyone see right through me? I want to go dig a hole and die in it.
“Pfft. Are you that embarrassed? Then you shouldn’t have entertained such foolish thoughts and made me worry. However, I am an adult. If you truly wish to cry, I can lend you my chest.”
“No. It’s not like you have much of a chest to lend… I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. It was my fault.”
Please stop silently summoning magic around you.
That’s that thing, isn’t it? The magic you used to take down that super-sturdy turtle?
Plus, with the tear tracks still on your cheeks, you look pretty terrifying. No, seriously.
“I was mistaken. It seems you will not come to your senses until you have been properly disciplined. Come to think of it, earlier…”
The magic floating around her vanished, but it seemed Diana’s anger hadn’t subsided.
No, judging by her expression, she looked even angrier. Muttering to herself, Diana raised her fists and began to hit my chest.
Of course, they were her usual gentle pats, so they didn’t seem to have much impact on my body, or on her fists for that matter.
“What on earth was the meaning of you not even reacting to my seduction?! Was it my chest?! In the end, is my chest the problem?!”
Right. Come to think of it, when I didn’t fall for her seduction earlier, her eyebrows had twitched and she’d looked displeased.
She must have restrained herself because we had important things to discuss, but it seems her pride was quite wounded.
“No. It’s not like that… Anyway, why did you suddenly try to have sex with me back then? Weren’t you trying to talk to me because I seemed strange?”
“It is because you looked as if you were shouldering something all by yourself! So I thought if we did it once to calm you down… In any case, do not change the subject! What was the reason you did not fall for my seduction?!”
Hey. Wait a minute, you. So, in other words, you tried to seduce me because you thought I’d open up more easily after having sex once?!
No matter how much of a pervert I usually am, do you really see me as that simple?!
…I guess you do. Yeah. To be honest, even I think I probably would have answered if Diana had casually asked me after we’d had sex.
Huh? Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, when I made that sex joke during the day, didn’t Leia also have a conflicted expression?
As angelic as Leia is, she normally would have firmly asked what I was talking about all of a sudden.
But for her to look conflicted in a situation where sex was absolutely impossible… did Leia already notice something was wrong with me back then and was contemplating whether she should have sex with me?
In other words, even my angel Leia thinks I’m a simpleton whose mood improves after one round of sex… N-No. Any further is dangerous. Let’s not think about this any more. Leia is an angel. An angel is Leia. There’s no way my angel would think of me like that.
“Do not think you can get away with silence! I must hear the reason!”
As I gave up on that line of thought and turned my eyes back to reality, Diana was still in front of me, patting my chest with an enraged expression.