Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 109

At his serious determination to act, I let out a soft laugh.

Yes, Ehit had always been someone who was sincere about everything, with that serious expression on his face.

“If you bring everything here, then where will you stay?”

No, sometimes he was like a fox too.

Ehit’s hand, which had been resting on the bed, lightly touched my fingertips.

As I stared at our touching fingertips, Ehit slowly wrapped his hand around mine.

“At your house.”

Ehit’s hand froze for a moment.

“Is that what I think you mean?”

“I don’t just mean that you should find me somewhere to stay.”

I shrugged and smiled.

Just as he said, I was going to be selfish now.

Even if the world criticized me for leaving him on my own and then shamelessly clinging to him again as his former fiancée, or even if Ehit himself criticized me, there was nothing I could do.

A few months, or perhaps a few years. Even if being with him was only a brief moment in the long span of my life, I didn’t care.

I would no longer avoid him or push him away because I was tied to a future that didn’t even exist yet.

Even if I got hurt, I would run toward him.

“I want to be by Ehit’s side.”

“……”

“I can’t help it even if you don’t like it. You told me to be selfish.”

“……”

“Why aren’t you answering? You really don’t—”

At that moment, Ehit pulled me tightly into his arms.

“You’re going to be selfish even if I say I don’t like it.”

“Well, that’s true. Ah, Ehit.”

When I lightly patted Ehit’s back, the strength in his firm arms loosened.

Ehit released his arms and looked at me. It was hard to describe the emotions rippling through his eyes like waves with just one word.

Longing, overwhelming happiness, a little fear, and tenderness.

“But there’s one thing that’s bothering me.”

“Tell me anything.”

I hesitated for a moment before speaking. I told him why, even though I wanted to stay by his side, I had been hesitant about it.

“To be honest, I’m not completely comfortable with making you spend the rest of your days like this by my side. Are you really okay with filling your time that way?”

“If I don’t fill it with Daphlen, what else would I fill it with?”

There are so many things that can fill a life. If the time is limited, then it should be filled with things even more beautiful.

“You could enjoy greater freedom under the sea and the sun, and there are so many people who love you. Wouldn’t it be a shame to spend that precious time with them?”

“The sea and the sun, the many people who love me…”

Ehit repeated my words before calmly continuing.

“I spent the past year with those things. But.”

“……”

“You weren’t there in the place you’re talking about, Daphlen.”

Ehit tried to smile as he said that. But his smile trembled slightly, as if he were a little afraid.

At that moment, I wanted to hug Ehit tightly.

“That was how it was for the past year. I was always under the sunlight on the sea, surrounded by so many people.”

“……”

“But I kept looking for you. The entire time, without stopping.”

Maybe my expression had become a little teary, because Ehit placed his hand near the corner of my eye.

“……I’m not crying.”

“Yes.”

“I really am not.”

At my voice, which was holding back a lump of emotion, Ehit smiled gently.

“I’m not a gentle person, so I’ll be selfish until the very end. I don’t know how much time you have left, but please let me spend that time with you.”

“I have plenty of time. I can spend as much as I want. It’s just that Ehit’s time… is short. That’s what makes me feel this way.”

“My time is plenty too. If Daphlen’s time allows it, I want to stay by your side for decades, even hundreds of years. But Daphlen… knows. You know that isn’t possible.”

“Huh?”

“You said before that it wasn’t true, but I already know. I don’t know if it’s only a few months, but I’ll stay by your side until the end.”

Ehit’s eyes filled with sadness.

Seeing that, I became confused.

“Whaaat?”

“So please don’t push me away anymore.”

“……?”

After thinking for a moment, I asked,

“Ehit, this might be rude to ask so directly.”

“I’m certain there isn’t anything Daphlen could ask that I’d find rude. Ask me anything.”

“Did you perhaps receive some kind of terminal diagnosis?”

“Isn’t that you?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

The room was filled with nothing but questions. It felt as if question marks were floating through the air.

Ehit and I probably had the same expression on our faces, but it was obvious that completely different thoughts were filling our heads.

“Daphlen, you don’t have to hide it anymore.”

After saying that, Ehit spoke in a voice that sounded like he was forcing himself to say something difficult.

“You’re terminally ill, aren’t you?”

And I asked in surprise.

“What? I’m not.”

“You’re not?”

“No, weren’t you the one who was terminally ill?”

What conversation were we having right now?

Ehit said again as though he couldn’t understand what I was talking about.

“Daphlen, aren’t you terminally ill?”

“Yes! I’m not!”

“But I definitely heard that you only had a few months left…”

“Did I say that? When did I say that?”

“When we went to the banquet at the Diela Palace. It was not long after our engagement became known.”

At that time, it hadn’t even been long since I had first met Ehit.

Wait, did that mean Ehit had thought I was terminally ill ever since then?

“I definitely heard it. You were coughing up blood and saying that you didn’t have much time left.”

“I don’t know what you heard, but no, I’m not! I’ve never even coughed up blood. Did you mistake something like jam for blood?!”

“……”

Ehit’s eyes shook violently. Then his trembling gaze suddenly stopped, as though he had found something in his memories.

“The healer also clearly said that the divine power inside your body was strangely condensed and that your life could be in danger.”

“Huh? They said that?”

“Was that not true either?”

“It was partly true. My divine power really was… how should I put it? It had been suppressed. But I’m fine now.”

I took out the broken green pendant from my clothes.

“I’m not completely sure, but I think this was sealing my divine power.”

Ehit’s eyes remained fixed on the pendant for a moment.

“……Where did you get this pendant?”

“I’ve had it since I was little, like a good-luck charm. I remembered recently that I think I’ve had it since before I lost my birth family.”

“Your birth family?”

“Probably. But I hardly have any memories from when I was little. I mean, before the Aliettas took me in.”

Ehit, who had been staring at the pendant, raised his eyes and looked at me.

“Why?”

“It’s nothing. Right now, I don’t think any of that matters.”

Ehit emphasized his words once again.

“None of it matters. Nothing matters except that you’re alive and that you’ll continue to live by my side.”

That was certainly something to be happy about, but the question marks I’d raised still hadn’t been answered.

“But what about you, Ehit? Are you completely healed?”

“I’ve never been sick.”

“What? That can’t be. I clearly heard that because of the side effects of your Precognition, you didn’t have much time left…”

“Who told you that?”

I closed my mouth.

I couldn’t tell him who had told me.

Because I hadn’t heard it. I had read it.

“I don’t know where you heard that, but I don’t use Precognition anymore.”

“You don’t use it? What does that mean?”

What was he talking about? At his completely unexpected statement, I immediately exclaimed,

“Ehit doesn’t use Precognition? But there were definitely moments when it seemed like you were using it…”

“Even if there were things I said that sounded that way, I wasn’t using Precognition. They were simply things I said based on deduction.”

“……”

“I was told that if I continued using Precognition, I wouldn’t live for more than a few years. But that only applies if I exceed the limit.”

“The limit? Then you’re fine as long as you don’t go past it?”

“Yes. It’s already been several years since I last used Precognition after hearing that. And I don’t plan to use it in the future either.”

My mind was spinning.

Wait, what?

Then why had I believed without a doubt all this time that Ehit was terminally ill?

“But you seemed unable to sleep properly. And you were often tired…”

“I really couldn’t sleep.”

“Why?”

“That… never mind.”

“Huh? Why?!”

Ehit’s ears turned red again. Avoiding my gaze slightly, he muttered,

“Because I thought about you every night.”

I was stunned for a moment.

Ehit reached out and smoothed out my expression.

I was flustered, but the thought that came immediately afterward was this.

“Then you’re not going to die?”

“Of course not.”

“Really, you’re not going to die?”

“No.”

“Oh my…”

My voice trembled. Ehit brought his hand to the corner of my eye again.

“……I told you I’m not crying.”

I spoke while firmly holding back the emotion rising from deep in my chest. Right now, I wanted to laugh rather than cry.

When I finally managed to hold back my tears and looked at Ehit, I saw that the corners of his eyes were red too.

“What? You’re the one who’s crying.”

“I’m not crying.”

We looked at each other and burst out laughing together.

After laughing like that for a long time, I gave him a short kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you. For waiting for me. And for finding me.”

For making me feel happy like this now.

“Do that again.”

Ehit, who had frozen for a moment, murmured,

“Thank you? Thank you, Ehit.”

“That is nice too, but…”

Ehit pulled me toward him. In an instant, the tips of our noses brushed against each other.

“I meant this.”

His lips lightly touched mine once.

I drew in a breath. My face instantly turned red.

But even faster than that, Ehit’s lips came back to capture mine.