@Stoner
I think you are looking at this from the point of view of an onlooker, rather than from Caidel's.
Yeah his dad was a dick to him, but Caidel probably still loved him. There are almost certainly other villagers he liked, dear friends among the children, people he looked up to among the adults.
Then they all died because of Ellen, and he lived for
years not knowing that it was unintentional.
His whole world upended because of her. Everything he knew and loved ruined.
Years of hate. Years of nightmares. Of dreams and thoughts of people that he never would see again.
Then he falls in love with the person who did that, not knowing their identity. He finds out the truth.
He realizes it wasn't intentional. He realizes that she had no way of predicting the result, and that they were trying to kill her.
He even reassures her that it isn't her fault.
He even lies to the person who he sees as his mother figure to cover for her.
But that sure as
anything doesn't mean that his emotions aren't in turmoil.
That doesn't mean that
every single villager, to the last man, woman, and child deserved that death. That doesn't mean that those years of hate, of nightmares, of thoughts of revenge being his sole driving force go away instantly. It doesn't erase the sheer guilt he must feel for lying to his mother about Ellen.
The person that he loves the most is also the person that he used to hate the most venomously.
Humans aren't so logical creatures that they can easily get over having everyone they knew and loved killed by someone else when presented with evidence that it was accidental.
Evidence mind you, that is only the word of said killer that he used to hate.
Now, I am sure that Caidel knows she told the truth. I am also pretty certain that he loves her.
But those other emotions haven't entirely vanished, and is an issue that he has to work through.
But calling him a retard for having any resentment towards someone who inadvertently killed everyone else he loved, causing PTSD levels of trauma, with finding her and getting his revenge being his driving motivation ever since that event is ridiculous.
He absolutely knows that it wasn't really her fault, and even told her so, but trauma of the level he experienced is something in the real world would be extremely difficult to overcome over years with a good therapist.
Said theoretical therapist would probably also most certainly heavily advise
against dating the living embodiment of his trauma.
Every moment he spends with her must remind him of everyone he lost. Might even bring him back to memories of the fire. No wonder he has such a serious face every time he doesn't think anyone is watching when looking at Eleanor.
Even still I think just about every conscious decision he made and word he said about Eleanor has been for Eleanor's benefit. Hiding her identity from his mother, comforting her, telling her that the deaths she caused in the village wasn't her fault, going on this date with her. His panicked rush to save her when she went into a dangerous monster filled area.
Things like holding her neck to tightly or hesitating for a split second when she tripped I don't think were conscious decisions on his part, but were an unconscious result of his emotional turmoil.
Frankly if Caidel so easily overcame his trauma due to his love for Eleanor that would be much more SoD breaking than this.