Chapter 976 - A Thousand Year Promise [Part 1]
As an Elf, I lived a very long life.
The lifespan of an ordinary mortal was no different from the life of an insect that only lasted for a few days. And yet, someone with that fleeting lifetime touched the core of my being, and made me experience things I have never experienced before.
—--
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Why are you sleeping on the ground?"
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
—---
These were the questions that he asked me back then when he first appeared in my life. I, who had been exiled because of the curse I carry, had prepared myself to live alone without any interaction from the outside world.
And yet, he still came… and melted the resolve I had built with merely four words.
—--
"I love you, Acedia".
—--
In a secluded place, far away from the lands of the Elves, I slept on the roots of an Ancient Oak Tree. Once every year, on the Ninth hour, of the Ninth Day, of the Ninth Month, a portal between Midgard and Alfheim opened.
That is when this annoying person named William Pendragon appeared in my life.
The silver-haired teenager said that he traveled between the two worlds to take me to the Violet Ever Garden, where I would stay for the remainder of my life.
He was so cheeky back then, proclaiming that no matter what, he would bring me there without fail. There was just one big problem.
The numbskull didn't even know where it was!
'This is why humans are stupid.'
This was what I thought back then. Just like the other Elves, I took pride in my race's superiority and looked down on other races as if they were not worthy of my time. Well, I do admit that Pendragon was quite good looking. Among humans, he could be considered decent to say the least.
His long silver-hair that reflected the sunlight was something I'd like to see from time to time, and his eyes, that were as blue as the sky, would look at me with different emotions, that made my heart skip a beat.
Of course, at first, I didn't trust him. No Elf in their right mind would trust someone from another race on their first meeting. This was why, when he tried to ask me questions, I didn't even bother to open my eyes, and ignored him completely.
The last straw was when he started to press his ear to my chest. I kind of understood that he was checking whether I was alive or not, but wasn't that a bit rude? I might have only been nineteen-years old at that time, but I was still a maiden who hadn't even touched the hand of a man.
For a stranger to even press his filthy ear… well, not so filthy ear to my chest, deserved a punishment that was equal to the crime he commited.
That was the moment when I wrapped my hair around him, and hung him upside down from the branch of the Ancient Oak Tree, until he begged me to put him down.
A month passed before I decided to trust Pendragon and decided to believe his story that he would indeed take me to the Violet Ever Garden. In order to help me trust him, he did menial chores everyday—like feeding me berries, letting me drink water, sing me a lullaby, and make sure that no bugs landed on my body.
While he did those things, he would often tell me about himself, even if I didn't ask him. Perhaps it was because I slept most of the time, and he was feeling that he would go crazy if he didn't talk to someone, but talk he did.
As for me, I played my part and listened.
His tale wasn't exciting. It was even lackluster to say the least. According to him, he was a bastard son of the ruling Chieftain in his country. Aside from giving him the surname Pendragon, his father had mostly ignored him and allowed one of his subordinates to raise him.
His name, William, was given to him by his mother before she passed away after childbirth. That was the only keepsake that she had given him, and he carried it to this day.
'What a pitiful Human.'
I thought back then that he was indeed pitiful, but when I remembered my current circumstance, I retracted my feelings of pity for him and gave it to myself instead. I, who had been abandoned to live alone, was more pitiful than him, and yet, I didn't rub it in his face because he was indeed pitiful, but only second to me.
When he met me, he was only sixteen at that time. No longer a boy, but not yet a man. I could tell that he was doing his best in trying to make a name for himself. He was doing his best to get his father to recognize him as a son.
Since he wanted to make a name for himself, I decided to make him my pillow. This was the highest honor that someone as exalted as me could give him.
When I told him that I will give him the honor of becoming my pillow, he gave me a look of disdain, while telling me, "Are you out of your mind?".
Welp, what happened next was like usual. He spent the night hanging on a tree branch upside down. The next day, he was more obedient. He did exactly what I told him to and he became my pillow.
'If you had obeyed me in the first place then you wouldn't have had to suffer.'
This was what I told him, as I reluctantly lay my head on his stomach. I was greatly disappointed because it wasn't soft. William had a lean and toned body. Unlike mine that was delicate and soft, his was hard, and chiseled.
Even though it was not the most comfortable pillow around, I didn't voice any of my complaints because it was warm.
For the first time since I was exiled from the Elven Clan, I once again felt the warmth of a living being. I really thought that I would never get to experience such a luxury again.
On the third month of our journey, William fell ill with a fever after eating a roasted mushroom that he had foraged in the wild. If I remember correctly, this type of mushroom was part of the Magic Mushroom family that was known to have random effects on those that ate them.
The only saving grace was that it wasn't a poisonous mushroom, so he recovered after three days. During those three days, the one that took care of him was me. It was a laborious task. I had to actually exert effort in order to throw him into the river in order to wash his body because I don't like using stinky humans as my pillow.
During those three days, William started to call me names like lazy bum, no-good-Elf, sluggard, long-haired demon, ugly monkey, and sloth.
Dear me, it seemed that the mushroom had really damaged his brain, so I had no choice but to tie him up to a tree, and used my hair to whip his back until he lost consciousness.
Perhaps I went overboard because the next day, his fever actually worsened. What a useless pillow, he couldn't even do his job properly.