Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? – Chapter 11

Author: Asternkm

Feeling dazed and spaced out, so probably with that kind of expression, I looked down at Ehit.

No, I didn’t do it on purpose. It was really a mistake!

I made a small “eep” sound and stood up from my seat.

Ehit wiped the spot on his cheek where my mouth had touched, using the back of his hand. A faint reddish mark was lightly left on his white glove.

Jam… was there some on my mouth?

Ehit’s expression hardened. I hurriedly made an excuse.

“L-lipstick got on you.”

Since Meria had put on my lipstick quite thickly, it was a fairly believable excuse. It was obvious it had all been wiped off when I ate bread earlier, but Ehit wouldn’t know that.

“Lipstick?”

But even as he repeated it, Ehit’s expression stayed stiff.

Ah, is this not a good excuse? Or is this whole situation weird to begin with?

I swallowed hard. I didn’t know what else to say. My thoughts stopped, and I was just blinking when Ehit suddenly grabbed both my shoulders.

“Are you alright?”

What does he mean by alright? The series of things that just happened? Or my aching body after hitting the stairs? Or my future, which is about to head toward total ruin?

His tone made it unclear whether he wanted me to be okay or not, which only made it more confusing.

“Did you hit your head?”

“No… does it look like I did?”

“Answer clearly. I’m asking if you feel like you’re going to die!”

Ehit questioned me so urgently that I started stumbling over my words.

What is this, is he telling me to die…?

Holding onto me, he scanned my face and head, looking all over as if searching for something.

“W-wait a moment.”

I took a step back from Ehit. I could feel people constantly glancing over at us.

They definitely saw it! Including the scene where my mouth cluelessly slammed into Ehit’s cheek.

‘Let’s hide my face first.’

I quickly ran up the stairs and picked up the feather fan that had fallen on the floor.

Ehit followed up the stairs with his long legs, striding after me.

“I asked if you’re alright.”

“I’m fine.”

So could you please stop following me!

I covered my face with the fan for now, but I could still hear people whispering all the way over here.

For someone like me, who had lived a life without much attention, these sudden gazes pouring in felt like a trial. It was honestly overwhelming.

Just as my face was starting to heat up from suddenly getting a taste of a celebrity’s life—

“Her Imperial Highness the Princess has arrived!”

Thankfully, that happened. The true star of the party had appeared.

Everyone’s attention turned toward the center of the ballroom. Princess Aisa appeared, wearing a golden dress and a bright, cheerful smile.

Thinking this was my chance, I immediately slipped around and quickly blended into the crowd.

****

I hid my face with the fan, but my face still felt hot. The spots where I had bumped into the stairs here and there hurt, maybe already bruised, and the bits of conversation I heard from all around bothered me for no reason.

And the scene from earlier that kept looping in my head—this was what bothered me the most.

That cheek, as cold as his cold expression, and Ehit’s sharp gaze as he looked at me afterward.

It’s not like I wanted that to happen, but I couldn’t help being bothered by it.

‘Maybe people really do need to go to places that suit them.’

I’d come to the banquet almost swept along by the situation, but since I wasn’t used to places like this, I just kept acting awkward.

“Aileta is…”

Again. I heard the name Aileta again.

I was heading toward a quieter corner, but I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my steps in the opposite direction. No matter where I went—east or west—someone was bringing up either Ehit’s name or Aileta’s.

This is exactly why I didn’t want to get involved with Ehit!

Alright, let’s put on a face that says I don’t care about anything.

I relaxed my eyes and made a totally my-way, nothing-matters expression. Keeping that expression with all my might, I wandered around the ballroom with a fake, doll-like smile.

“Dapflen.”

I was walking tensely when someone suddenly called out to me from behind. I froze with a small yelp.

Wait—someone who would call me “Dapflen” here, not “Aileta,” would be…

“Dellers?”

Dellers lightly lowered the feather fan that was covering my face and smiled.

“It really is Dapflen. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.”

“I can recognize you. It’s just unfamiliar, since I’ve never seen you like this.”

He was saying that while looking at the most dressed-up version of me in my life.

A water-colored dress that was still beautiful even though the hem had been stepped on, hair that had rolled on the floor but still fell in fairly natural waves, and Meria-style makeup that made me look lively even though the lipstick was gone.

“Let go.”

It would’ve been better if I looked so different that he couldn’t recognize me at all!

I brushed Dellers’s hand off the fan and covered my face again. A sigh slipped out on its own.

“You went through all that trouble to dress up, so why are you hiding?”

Dellers asked with an interested look.

“There’s a reason. I don’t want attention.”

“Even if you don’t want it, it looks like you’re already getting plenty.”

Did Dellers see what happened earlier too?

Just as I was about to be shocked at the thought that even someone I knew had witnessed my dark past, he asked another question I didn’t want to hear.

“Is it true?”

“W-what is?”

“Is it true? That the colonel and you…”

It was about Ehit.

I hurriedly covered Dellers’s mouth.

“Keep your voice down, Dellers.”

“What’s the point? Everyone in the ballroom is already talking about it.”

“…They are?”

“The colonel is here too. Did you come together?”

“No.”

Dellers looked around. Thankfully, it seemed he hadn’t seen me together with Ehit.

“There he is.”

I had been shrinking back uneasily, and the moment Dellers said that after spotting Ehit, I slipped back into the crowd like I was using some kind of stealth skill.

I got away from Dellers, but just like he said, I could hear my name everywhere.

“Why did Cloyden even send a marriage proposal to Aileta?”

Yeah, why did he even send one in the first place? Even Ehit seemed to know our family wasn’t anything special!

After wandering around a bit more, I decided I should go home. Of course, it bothered me to leave without greeting the prince at a banquet he hosted, but…

With so many people here, maybe he already forgot he invited me?

I had completely forgotten about the bread, jam, and champagne I’d eaten earlier, and I quickly turned toward the entrance.

“Um, Aileta?”

If no one had blocked my path, I would’ve walked straight to the entrance and out of the palace.

But maybe it really is some unbreakable rule that once things start going wrong, they keep going wrong. The moment I tried to leave, someone stepped in front of me.

It was Patlan, a male classmate from the academy.

Patlan, with his dark brown curly hair neatly brushed back, approached me with a harmless expression and examined my face.

“You are Aileta, right? It’s been a while.”

We weren’t even close enough to chat back then, so why is he suddenly greeting me?

I tried to turn away with an awkward smile behind my fan.

But the classmate I met after years wasn’t alone—he brought a whole group of people with him.

In an instant, I was surrounded and completely trapped. Among them were Berner, the one who had been talking earlier about his cousin escorting the prince, along with his group.

“Aileta, is it really true? The rumor that there’s been a marriage agreement with Cloyden?”

“Where is Colonel Cloyden? Are you here alone? You didn’t come separately, did you?”

One at a time… no, don’t ask anything at all.

“I heard someone saw you kissing earlier. Is that true?”

This is why rumors are dangerous. We didn’t kiss—my mouth and his cheek just had an accident—and “affectionate” was completely the wrong word.

“Oh, come on, that can’t be true… What would Colonel Cloyden be lacking that he’d do something like that here… Ah, I didn’t mean for you to hear that, Miss Aileta.”

That kind of obvious dismissal didn’t make the situation any better.

“What did you do for Cloyden to receive a marriage proposal? I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just curious.”

They were already pretty rude, middle-manager-type questions.

I always thought I was pretty good at talking back in situations like this, but for some reason, no words came out.

Right, let’s ignore them. Ignoring them is the answer!

“Huh? Aileta, why aren’t you answering?”

I was trying to ignore them, but my mood kept shrinking in on itself.

Let’s leave. I just need to go…

But strangely, I couldn’t push my way out. Even when I shut the doors of my ears, they kept knocking, and it felt like a heavy pressure was tying me down.

No, I can just leave. I just have to move my feet…

Why won’t my feet move?

“……”

My whole body felt frozen. Amid the nonstop questions pouring down on me, I could only grip the edge of my dress tightly.

Then, in that moment, my feet suddenly slid backward. It wasn’t that I stepped back on my own—someone had pulled me.

A flicker of surprise crossed the faces of the people standing in front of me.

What—who is it…?

“What were you doing? I was waiting.”

I turned around at Ehit’s voice as it softly settled by my ear.

In Ehit’s blue eyes was a neat, almost warm look I had never seen before.

And on his lips was a gentle smile he had never once shown me until now.

‘That’s almost like…’