Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 10

Fortunately—or unfortunately—my name itself didn’t come up directly among them, but that wasn’t because they were being considerate of me.

It was simply because there wasn’t a single person who actually knew me well. After all, I had barely ever participated in high society.

“……”

I kept listening, but the more I did, the less at ease I felt.

I picked up a few pieces of bread from the table, a glass of champagne, and a jar of red pomegranate jam, then slipped out into the garden.

As expected of an imperial banquet, people were everywhere. Passing through the colonnade and into the open interior of the palace, I settled into a dark guest room where no one else was around.

‘I guess even to outsiders, it really does look strange.’

Well, even I had never imagined I’d become Ehit’s fiancée.

The people at the medical institute, even my friend Dellers, hadn’t suspected a thing.

That alone showed just how poorly the Aileta family suited a grand and prestigious house like Cloyden.

‘From a normal point of view, it probably looks like Aileta is just clinging to Cloyden…’

Wasn’t that basically true in the original story?

My brothers leaned on Cloyden’s power, sold its name, ran up debts, and tried to wield that authority as if it were their own… and then the family was wiped out.

‘At this rate, it feels like people would say we deserved to be wiped out if it happened…’

I couldn’t tell whether the tightness in my throat was from the bread I’d just swallowed or from the reality I was facing.

‘Still, it’s delicious.’

It was bread by Todd, the famous master baker—crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, easily the standout treat of the banquet.

The pomegranate jam I’d grabbed in a hurry was excellent too. It paired so well with the plain bread that it felt like they’d been made as a set.

After briefly losing myself in thoughts about the bread, I returned to my real worries.

‘In the original story, Ehit broke off the engagement in winter. I’m sure of it.’

That was just before Ridel took up her post as an admiral in Bellachen’s navy.

“At most half a year, at least… three months.”

Wait—what?

“Then that means there isn’t much time left.”

As soon as that thought hit me, my chest felt unbearably tight. In the original story, I was wiped out within that time and died after collapsing from the shock.

“No, I can’t let my life end like that—cough!”

I choked on dry saliva. After coughing a few times, my body shook, and the red pomegranate jam in my left hand spilled onto my right arm.

“……!”

No—this was all I’d brought!

I looked around. No one was there. I quickly licked the red jam off my arm.

‘It really is good.’

After savoring the taste, I washed it down with champagne.

While enjoying what amounted to a perfect dessert break, I began once again to plan how I should handle things going forward.

 

 

****

 

 

A door with moonlight at its back cast a long shadow.

“……”

The moment Ehit took in the scene inside the room, confusion flooded his usually cold expression.

He had followed her because her sudden retreat into a dark room, almost like she was fleeing, had bothered him.

“At most half a year, at least… three months. I can’t let it end like this… Ugh! Cough!”

Something red stained Dapflen’s arm as she coughed repeatedly. Seeing it, Ehit drew in a sharp breath.

‘That’s blood. What on earth…?’

Unable to just stand by any longer, Ehit was about to step forward.

But in the next moment, Dapflen hid it in her mouth—as if trying to make sure no one saw, as if trying to ensure no one noticed her condition.

Ehit froze. After hiding the blood, Dapflen let out a sigh and stared blankly out the window.

“No… it can’t end like this… cough.”

Her face was filled with quiet desolation, and he couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

‘What is she… terminally ill?’

There were only two things Ehit could be certain of.

That his fiancée—who always seemed brazen, sometimes even detached—was actually terminally ill.
And that she didn’t want anyone to find out.

Only then did the strange inconsistencies he’d noticed begin to fall into place.

‘“I didn’t do anything, so why did I end up like this…?”’

‘“And yet your body was that exhausted?”’

Why someone who claimed to have done nothing had suddenly collapsed.

‘“It’s just… circumstances that make you detached from the world, that make you do things you normally wouldn’t.”’

What those circumstances were—the ones he’d been curious about but hadn’t pressed out of pride.

Ehit didn’t even realize he was shocked. Yet unconsciously, his grip on the glass in his hand tightened.

Crunch.

The glass shattered with a sharp sound. Hearing it, Dapflen turned her head in this direction.

Ehit immediately slipped back into the deeper darkness.

‘Why did I hide?’

He didn’t know the answer himself. Still, Ehit remained there in the shadows until Dapflen let down her guard and left.

 

 

****

 

 

 

Didn’t I just hear something break? It sounded like it came from near the back door.

“Cough, cough.”

I’d choked, and the coughing wouldn’t stop. Only after coughing a few more times did I manage to stand up.

Low-lit lamps and moonlight illuminated the corridor behind the door. There was no one there.

‘What was that—did I imagine it?’

Maybe the music drifting over from the banquet hall had confused me.

I stared in that direction for a while, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. In the end, I went back and finished the rest of the bread.

‘It’s good…’

I polished off everything—jam, bread, champagne—all of it, thoroughly satisfied. If I’d known, I would’ve brought more. Maybe it was because it was an imperial banquet, but it was far better than I’d expected.

‘Should I go grab a little more?’

After some hesitation, I decided to stand up.

The banquet hall was pretty spacious, from what I’d seen earlier. In a place this big, it wasn’t like I’d run into Ehit again, right? And even if I did, I had a large feather fan—I could just hide my face.

Creak. The door opened. As I left the room and rounded the corner, I saw people here and there stepping out of the hall to get some air.

‘Aileta? That family is… basically on the verge of collapse, aren’t they?’

What I’d overheard earlier at the banquet kept echoing in my head.

Well, it wasn’t wrong… but still, we weren’t completely ruined yet.

Though, if this engagement with Ehit continued, we really might be.

‘Hmm…’

Once again, I covered my face with the feather fan, leaving only my eyes visible as I walked down the corridor.

‘If I want to break off the engagement before we’re wiped out…’

Ehit had been cold in the original story too, but also rigid and uncompromising to the core.

I’d pinned my hopes on the fact that he didn’t seem pleased with the engagement, but it didn’t look like he’d willingly suggest breaking it off first.

Which meant I’d have to be the one to do it.

The cost of dissolving an engagement varied wildly by family and circumstance—but when the other party was the Duke of Cloyden, it obviously wasn’t something that could be settled over the price of a meal.

One million… no, probably two million harks.

‘Is that even money I can gather?’

I tried to calculate how long it would take me to scrape together two million harks.

Let’s say I somehow managed to borrow about a million.

‘And if I scrape together every last bit of my savings, that’s maybe five hundred thousand… and my monthly salary is around twenty thousand harks…’

In theory, that meant living on air alone—like an air purifier—for a solid twenty-five months.

“……”

Uh. Well. If I squeezed out loans down to the last shred of my soul, maybe I could reach one and a half million?

I stopped short just before the stairs. My head began to throb as the gap between my hopeful finances and my actual finances yawned wide.

“Ugh, my head…”

I stood there clutching my head.

Wasn’t this exactly the moment when I should stop overthinking and just go back to work?

‘Should I sell off my valuables?’

I took out a pendant from my handbag—an emerald-colored gemstone set in silver. The pale green gem shimmered like shallow water. It was a keepsake from my grandmother, something I’d had since childhood.

How much would this fetch if I sold it…?

‘No. What am I even thinking?’

I shook my head and hurriedly put the pendant back into my bag.

This was all Ehit’s fault.

Well—no, it wasn’t exactly his fault. Still, wouldn’t it be nice if he’d just agreed to a clean break, or at least said he hated these kinds of political marriages?

“Sir—”

Just then, someone grabbed my arm.

The feather fan slipped from my hand and fell to the floor. As my body was spun around, I met the gaze of the person holding me.

“If you’re in pain, go see a physician. Do you think clutching your head will solve anything?”

It was Ehit.

Startled, I reflexively took a step back. The problem was, right behind me were the stairs.

As my body tipped backward, Ehit stepped forward and wrapped an arm around my waist. Even so, my body was still bent at a near ninety-degree angle.

Right—Ehit was the male lead, the man who was supposedly the most capable person in this world. Saving someone from falling should be nothing to him—

“Ugh.”

But while I had stepped onto empty space beyond the stairs, Ehit had stepped onto my dress. The multiple layers of silk slid against each other, and his foot slipped.

Crash!

Before I even understood what was happening, Ehit and I went tumbling together.

“Ugh!”

Between the soft folds of my dress and Ehit’s body—hard as a cushion—each bump of the stair edge striking my body drew out a sharp cry.

Bang!

We landed with a tremendous crash.

The only saving graces were that the staircase wasn’t very high, and the carpet was thick and soft.

Which was to say, aside from that, everything else was the worst possible outcome.

“……”

Including the fact that I stopped screaming only once my face ended up hovering right above Ehit’s cheek.

And including the fact that countless pairs of eyes—belonging to people enjoying the party—had all turned toward us at once.