Before Elian ‘ran away,’ Fen thought everything was under control.
As a god-tier gamer in his past life who had critically played through the entire galgame, viewing things from a god’s perspective, Fen was very familiar with the setting of the Paladin Elian.
People believed Elian was a fervent, kind, and pious young man.
Indeed, these were his most shining qualities.
But many people, including his closest family, made the mistaken assumption that Elian was a ‘simple and pure’ person.
Elian always responded to others with a smile, but that didn’t mean he never got angry.
Elian always lent a helping hand to others, but that didn’t mean he never grew weary of troublesome matters.
Elian always bravely overcame difficulties, but that didn’t mean he never had thoughts of retreating.
The persona named ‘Elian’ was something the Paladin had maintained exceptionally well.
When the citizens of the Holy Capital thought of him, they naturally wondered—what can Elian do for me?
How can he help me?
He appeared too reliable, too reassuring, to the point where no one ever thought: “Is Elian tired right now? Does Elian need my help?”
His father’s dying wish was an entrustment, but also a kind of curse that locked Elian’s future life trajectory into place.
From that day on, a seed was planted deep in his heart—a seed to live for others, to make others happy.
In this process, the young man forgot that loving others also meant loving oneself, that his own happiness was equally important as that of others.
Elian was not a saint.
On the contrary, Fen knew his inner world was actually quite twisted and repressed.
He was incomplete.
Compared to a normal person, he lacked a sense of self.
In terms of friendship, he had many acquaintances, but they were mostly superficial, with few able to truly enter his heart.
Even his own family, who lived with him day and night, or perhaps Elian himself, didn’t know what he truly liked or what his hobbies were.
In terms of love, as a young man who had been single for twenty years, aside from his family, he had never even held a girl’s hand.
And such a sensitive and fragile person, precisely because the first twenty years of his life were spent living for his family and for others, upon losing the one thing life had given him—family affection—Elian became like a kite with its string cut, completely losing his motivation and direction in life.
This was the reason Fen sympathized with Elian before coming to this world.
And after truly experiencing life alongside Elian for two years, he came to admire his personal charm even more.
When Fen returned home from his noon patrol duty and found Elian had left without a word, he immediately began searching the entire city.
On one hand, it was out of consideration for completing the goddess’s task, but more so, it was concern between friends.
Even a piece of wood would have warmed up after being held for two whole years, let alone a person.
……
Based on memories from the game in his past life, Fen searched every place associated with Elian—the Church, the Knight Order, the Library, the Adventurers’ Association…
Finally, he found the Suburban Orphanage and witnessed this scene: a silver-haired girl, like a saint, sitting sideways in a sea of flowers, her eyes slightly lowered, laughing carefreely.
“Fe…Fen? How… how are you here?”
“I… I’ve been looking for you.”
“……”
This time, it was the silver-haired girl’s turn to fall silent.
“Do you want to take me home… Fen? I made it quite clear in the letter… I…”
“Brother Fen? What are you doing here?”
Clara came running over, huffing and puffing, to greet him.
“Huh… you know each other?”
The silver-haired girl was stunned for a moment.
“Yes—Brother Fen is a friend of Elian’s, just like you, Sister Eliana! The other day when Brother Elian didn’t come to the orphanage, it was him who came to play with us instead!”
‘Those few days, Elian was holed up at home refusing to go out, so I ended up handling many of his daily tasks…’
But at this moment, Fen only felt a headache.
He had taken care of Elian’s affairs based on his game memories—would Elian think he was some kind of creep who secretly observed what he did normally?
But the anticipated scene didn’t happen.
He didn’t see the girl’s angry expression or hear her scolding.
On the contrary, Elian’s face was filled with surprise—even a hint of… delight?
“Brother Fen! You came just in time, we can all—”
Before the girl could finish, Yi Lai ran over, covered Clara’s mouth, and pulled her away.
“Du…dummy! Clara! Can’t you see Brother and Sister have something to talk about? Let’s go play in the front yard and come back later!”
Only the two of them were left in the courtyard, staring at each other.
……