A Fool’s Love and a Thousand Years of Solitude

“Are you Aelora’s sister, Olive?”

“Ah…”

The skeletal pirate sneered.

“So you finally remember me? When we were children, the three of us were inseparable.”

“Even so, we drifted apart as we grew older, losing touch for years! And you’ve changed so much! How… how was I supposed to recognize you!”

“Yet, you noticed when my sister merely changed her hairstyle, even down to a few centimeters off her bangs?”

“This…”

The Captain was momentarily speechless.

“Never mind… I’m not really blaming you. I’ve always known you to be a dull-witted fool, completely absorbed by my sister and utterly oblivious to me…”

‘I’m not dull-witted at all! Didn’t I notice Aelora’s feelings?’

“But that was only for my sister, wasn’t it? Even now, haven’t you failed to notice my feelings?”

“Hm?”

The Captain was visibly stunned.

“Could it be… Olive, you like me too?”

At the Captain’s counter-question, the skeletal figure turned her head away. I could inexplicably discern a hint of shyness on that bony face.

“…That’s why I called you a fool.”

“Huh? No… wait? I, I didn’t notice at all?”

“Dull-witted fool… I already knew, but hearing you say it still hurts me.”

“This…”

“Never mind…”

Olive waved her hand dismissively.

“I’ve long come to terms with it. That’s why, to avoid disturbing you both and to spare myself further pain, I voluntarily withdrew and left you.”

“…”

‘Wow, a full-blown romantic drama unfolding. Too bad I don’t have any melon seeds or popcorn handy.’

‘Wait a minute…’

The Captain seemed to sense a subtle incongruity.

“You say you like me, so why did you attack my ship?”

‘I share the same question. Judging by the Lady’s expression, she clearly does too.’

‘However, we are outsiders after all, so it’s not our place to ask. We can only listen in.’

“…Isn’t it because you, you fool, were rushing to your death?”

Upon hearing this, the skeletal figure—Olive—glared at the Captain, speaking testily.

“Did you think you could snatch someone from my grasp and live?”

“Did you think you could take your ship from my grasp and live?”

“So you intended to attack us?”

“I was never… yours!”

“Dare to say that again?”

“Who said I was yours?”

“Fine, I’d like to see what you intend to do today!”

“This… don’t you dare…”

“I, I never intended to steal anyone from you!”

The Captain explained, his face etched with anxiety.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t even noticed your own feelings?”

The skeletal figure’s gaze was piercing.

“I… haven’t.”

“I have never harbored such feelings for you, or for your sister!”

“Who are you trying to fool?”

“Do you think I’d believe you?”

“Captain, don’t you think you look exactly like a mistress caught in the act?”

“Hm?”

Olive tilted her head.

“No, a ‘mistress’ should be male, shouldn’t it?”

“This ‘mistress’… is a woman, right?”

“Olive, you…”

“Don’t you dare go too far!”

The Captain roared, utterly furious.

“I’m going too far?”

“I’m merely stating facts.”

“I have never gone too far!”

“You… you…”

The Captain trembled with rage.

“I… don’t touch me!”

The Captain flung Olive’s hand away. He roared in fury.

“I am not yours! I am absolutely not yours! I, I am absolutely not yours!”

Olive, trying to soothe him, pleaded, “Captain, you, you need to calm down! Don’t touch me! Captain, stop this! Calm down!”

But her words only fueled his agitation. He recoiled from her touch, his voice raw with anger as he reiterated, “Don’t touch me! I am not yours! I am absolutely not yours!”

“After my sister died, you lost yourself completely, refusing to listen to any reason.”

“You would sail your ship straight into a confrontation with that monster… knowing full well it was suicide!”

She paused, then added:

“I had no choice but to attack your ship! I was once a person, too, tricked into becoming a pirate. I just muddled along until I became a captain, and now, all I know how to do is attack other ships! But I knew how much you cherished that pendant with my sister’s photo! If I took that pendant, you would surely come back for me! That’s why I decided to rob your ship… It’s just… in the process, your crew, in their panic, accidentally damaged your ship, causing it to capsize unexpectedly and collide with ours… In the end, none of us survived.”

At this, she lowered her head.

“…It was all my fault. Whatever anger you have, unleash it all on me.”

While she called others clumsy, Olive herself was truly quite awkward.

“…”

Gazing at Olive, the Captain fell silent for a moment before finally speaking.

Yet, he offered no complaints, instead letting out a relieved chuckle:

“We’re both hopelessly foolish, aren’t we?”

“Aren’t you angry?”

Olive looked at him, puzzled.

“Why would I be angry? If anything, it was my own self-destructive despair that led to your death… I should be the one apologizing to you.”

After her own confession, to be met with the Captain’s apology… Olive was clearly taken aback, appearing utterly bewildered.

“…”

Silence descended once more.

And it was the Lady who, surprisingly, broke the profound stillness.

She turned her gaze towards the Captain.

“Hm… regarding your personal affairs… *cough, cough*, I believe I’ve understood most of it. However, we have completed your request, so shouldn’t you fulfill your promise now?”

“Oh… right. Very well.”

The Captain produced the smiley face sticker he had shown earlier.

As the Lady was still outside the door, it fell to me to take the sticker.

But…

Remarkably, the same thing happened as when the Captain tried to grasp the necklace: the sticker passed right through my hand and fell to the ground.

‘Could this sticker also be an ectoplasm?’

‘Hm… since the Captain could hold it, we should have realized long ago that its state wasn’t quite like a normal object’s…’

I gestured to Jim with my eyes.

I appealed to the Lady with my gaze.

But the Lady merely shook her head… clearly, she didn’t know what to do either.

It was Olive, instead, who spoke with an air of detachment:

“There’s no need for such impatience… That item will be yours eventually.”

“…?”

No sooner had she spoken than tiny golden lights began to emanate from the Captain’s body.

Whether it was my imagination or not, the Captain’s already semi-transparent body seemed to grow even more ethereal.

“…What’s happening?”

We all turned to Olive, who appeared to know everything.

“Before I sank to the bottom of the sea, I made a wish.”

“—I didn’t want Roger to disappear.”

“After I made that wish, the one wearing the smiley-face mask appeared before me and brought us into this building.”

“However… though Roger didn’t know it, the wish he made was to see Aelora’s face one more time… and if that wish were granted, he would vanish.”

“To prevent Roger from disappearing, I made a request to that entity.”

Olive paused, then continued:

“So, Roger became a ghost unable to touch objects, and I transformed into a skeleton capable of safeguarding the pendant… but the price was that I would forever remain outside the door, never to see Roger again.”

‘I see, everything makes sense now.’

“So, you attacked me to prevent Roger from seeing the photo and disappearing?”

The Lady questioned, her tone accusatory.

Olive, in turn, nodded openly.

“Yes… that’s precisely it. You can pass through this door freely, which means you could also take the pendant from my hand and show the photo to Roger… With things as they are, I had no choice but to resort to such a desperate measure.”

“Olive, you…”

The Captain’s expression was complex.

“Therefore, once Roger disappears, this building will lose its purpose, and all the lingering spirits will vanish… That sticker will likely return to its normal state then.”

As she spoke, golden particles began to emanate from Olive’s body as well.

Not only Olive, but the entire House of Wonders was now filled with these shimmering golden particles.

“Olive… you truly are a fool… How could a man as despairing as I am be worth you spending a thousand years all alone?”

“It can’t be helped. The three of us are utter fools, always have been, always will be.”

Olive seemed to force a bitter smile.

“But to see you in these final moments, it’s enough…”

Enveloped by the radiant light, the skeletal figure gradually regained the appearance of a normal person.

She was a slightly rugged woman with brown hair, her face bearing an expression that made it impossible to tell if she was weeping or smiling.

“I’ve had enough of loneliness…”

“Then, in these final moments, let us journey together to find Aelora.”

Their forms grew increasingly ethereal, almost completely transparent.

“Yes… we’ve made our sister wait far too long, haven’t we? I’m sorry for keeping you bound here.”

“It’s fine. In the end, I not only saw Aelora but also understood your feelings, and that’s more than enough happiness for me.”

“You fool…”

The two figures completely dissolved into specks of light, vanishing.

The small, pitch-black room had vanished, replaced by a transparent glass passage.

‘If not for their voices still echoing in my ears, I would have believed everything that just happened was an illusion.’

“Bing-bong! Congratulations, both of you, on clearing the second trial!”

Just then, a demonic figure, dressed strikingly like a clown, appeared before us.

He picked up the sticker that had fallen to the ground and handed it to us.

Securing the second sticker, I looked at Grinning Darby:

‘Didn’t you say ‘Paradise’ was a place that brought joy? Then why did they leave with such a sorrowful air?’

“Customer, you’re mistaken~”

Wagging a finger, he corrected with a chuckle:

“I genuinely fulfilled their wishes, you know~ And they weren’t all that sad when they left~ Even Olive, being able to see the one she longed for in her final moments, was actually very happy in her heart~”

‘Perhaps what he said wasn’t entirely false.’

‘Indeed, both figures departed with smiles as they ascended… yet, I felt it was less about happiness and more about a profound sense of release concerning their situation.’

‘Well… perhaps the current circumstances were, for them, the greatest liberation.’

“However… Olive was, after all, a villain who stole others’ smiles, so a thousand years of solitude was her punishment~”

‘Surprisingly, even a demon possessed something akin to a conscience.’

“Hehehe~ It seems I’ve spoken a bit too much, so I’ll say no more! Esteemed guests, please proceed~”

After uttering these words, Grinning Darby vanished once more.