Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 112

Rather than getting into the carriage right away, we walked through the city.

Neither of us had suggested it first, but it happened naturally.

We both knew we needed time to accept everything that had happened and make sense of it in our hearts.

It was early spring, and the imperial capital was holding its spring festival.

As evening fell, the streetlamps glowed with warm amber light, and the streets were filled with the delicious scent of food from the market stalls.

“Oh.”

A man was playing the trumpet before a crowd.

Looking closer, he seemed to be the same musician Ehit and I had seen a year ago.

“Isn’t that the musician we saw back in Bellazen?”

“It is.”

“He made it to the capital.”

Ehit and I stepped closer and watched the performance.

I was completely absorbed when something brushed against my fingertips. The distance between Ehit’s hand and mine gradually disappeared.

I kept my eyes fixed on the musician, only blinking.

The performance continued, and the crowd still murmured around us, yet it felt as though every sound in the world had vanished.

Not just the sounds—everything else seemed to disappear until only the man holding my hand remained.

We’d held hands before. We’d done far more intimate things than this.

So how could this alone make my heart race?

I looked up at Ehit.

He was still watching the performance.

But the warmth slowly spreading from the hand touching mine told me exactly how he felt.

“Daphlen.”

“Yes?”

“Do you believe what she said earlier? What Sonya Ritner told us.”

He meant the story about the original novel. Whether I believed such a thing existed.

“I think… maybe a prophecy book like that really could exist. There are countless strange things in this world that I don’t know about.”

“Perhaps.”

“What about you, Ehit?”

“I’m not sure. I think it’s nothing more than a novel.”

It didn’t sound like he meant the original novel of this world.

He simply seemed to believe it was a story someone had written based on our lives.

Just a novel.

“Do you believe what she said?”

When Ehit first asked, I thought I had no choice but to believe in the existence of that prophecy book.

After all, I had read it in my previous life.

But thinking about it now…

Perhaps it truly was nothing more than a novel.

It might once have been one possible future.

But now it was simply an imagined story born from coincidence, nothing more.

Because I knew now, without a doubt, that neither the future nor the past was written inside some book.

They were things we chose ourselves.

Smiling, I gently pulled Ehit’s hand toward me.

He looked at me before leaning close to whisper in my ear.

“If you tempt me like this, I’m going to have a problem.”

“When did I tempt you?”

“Didn’t you?”

“Who knows?”

Hearing me answer in exactly the same tone he had used, Ehit burst into laughter.

I heard him mutter quietly,

“You’re really going to drive me crazy.”

Beyond the noise of the bustling street, our eyes met.

As we looked at each other, even the sounds around us seemed to disappear.

He tugged gently on my hand.

Together, we slipped beneath a broken streetlamp, into the darkness cast by a building’s shadow.

“Even if Daphlen doesn’t try to tempt me… I’m still going to.”

Maybe it was because we were hidden in the darkness, but everything he did felt even more vivid.

The sensation of him releasing my hand only to lace our fingers together.

The warmth of his body against the cold wall behind my back.

The quiet resonance of his calm voice.

“And… what are you going… to do?”

I nearly finished asking before my throat caught.

I swallowed hard and tried again.

I wanted to sound composed.

Relaxed.

Like none of this affected me.

…Already failed.

Still… my tone sounded pretty confident, didn’t it?

Surely he couldn’t tell how nervous I was.

At least he can’t see the disaster that’s probably on my face…

A quiet chuckle escaped Ehit’s lips.

“W-Why are you laughing?”

“I think I can picture the expression you’re making.”

“You can see my face?!”

“I think I can even see your expression right now.”

“Then what expression am I making?”

“This one.”

“What? You can’t even see me.”

“No, I can’t.”

I immediately frowned.

“…Now I think I can.”

“Seriously! Ehit, don’t tell me you searched all over for me just so you could tease—”

Before I could finish, his lips covered mine.

The soft touch instantly swallowed the protest that had risen in my voice.

“…did you?”

“No.”

He whispered the answer.

His hand slid around my waist, pulling me firmly against him as his kiss deepened.

For a while, the only sounds left in that hidden corner were our breathing and the quiet noises of us losing ourselves in each other.

Eventually, Ehit seemed to decide we should stop and slowly pulled away.

But I immediately rose onto my toes, refusing to let him leave.

Like someone in the desert having water taken away mid-drink, I pulled him back toward me.

And Ehit gladly gave me what I wanted.

The long kiss continued even after we changed locations.

Inside the carriage went without saying.

Even after we reached the estate, neither of us got out for quite some time.

If the servants had seen us, they surely would have found it strange.

But at that moment, we were too absorbed in each other to spare a single thought for anything else.

We finally returned to our separate rooms.

After washing up, I naturally prepared to leave my room—

Apparently, Ehit had the exact same idea.

“I realized… I never wished you good night.”

He was the one who arrived first.

With that excuse, he stepped into my room, and the door quietly closed behind him.

“Good night, Ehit.”

“Good night, Daphlen.”

“The goodnight’s over, so why aren’t you leaving?”

“I should make sure you’re actually asleep before I go.”

By then he had already walked close enough to me that he smiled as he whispered.

“So you’re not leaving until you’ve checked?”

“No.”

As I sat on the edge of the bed, Ehit pulled the blanket over me as though tucking me in.

Wrapped up like a burrito, with only my eyes peeking out, I looked up at him.

“Then you’ll never be able to leave.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

I was about to say, Because I can’t fall asleep when you’re looking at me like that.

But before I could—

Ehit bent down until our eyes met.

“…This is exactly why I can’t sleep.”

“What have I done?”

I slipped one hand out from the blanket and lightly pushed against his forehead.

“If you’re trying to put me to sleep, at least keep this much distance.”

“…”

“Otherwise I won’t be able to sleep. A person has to relax, body and mind, before they can fall asleep. If you stay this close, I won’t fall asleep… I’ll just pass out.”

“…”

Wait.

Why wasn’t he saying anything?

The longer I rambled by myself, the more embarrassed I became.

He simply stared at me in silence.

“Ehit? Are you listening?”

Even after I called his name again with a slightly annoyed look, he continued gazing at me.

I reached out through the blanket again to poke him.

Instead, he gently took my hand.

Then he slowly closed his eyes and rested his cheek against my palm.

“Ehit?”

“I really can’t let you go again.”

“Hm?”

“I mean… don’t ever leave me again. Even if you try, I won’t let you.”

“What, are you going to cling to the hem of my skirt?”

I asked teasingly.

Ehit laughed softly.

Then he kissed my palm and whispered,

“I don’t think that would be enough to stop Daphlen.

So I’d just follow you instead.”

“Oh? So you’re not stopping me.

You’re just following me?”

“Yes.

I’d follow you everywhere and keep trying to persuade you.”

I couldn’t help laughing.

“And how would you persuade me?”

Still kissing my palm over and over, Ehit answered,

“Like this.”

“Mm… I don’t know.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Then…”

He released my hand and planted it on the bed beside me.

His face suddenly drew close, making me instinctively lean backward.

The blanket I’d wrapped myself in slipped away.

Perhaps that had been his intention all along.

Supporting the back of my head with one hand, Ehit gently laid me down.

He pressed a lingering kiss against my neck before lifting his head again.

I was just about to tease him and say that still wasn’t enough.

“Daphlen.”

He called my name.

There was quiet joy—and unmistakable nervousness—in his voice.

“This may sound awkward.”

“I’ve never said these words before.”

He looked into my eyes for a long moment before continuing.

“I know they’re cliché.

But I couldn’t find any words that describe my feelings better.”

For someone usually so composed, he seemed unusually nervous.

Then, in a quiet but unwavering voice, he said,

“I love you.”

“…”

Without taking his eyes off me, he confessed once more.

“I love you, Daphlen.”

I froze.

Until now, I’d always thought those words were just a cliché.

Something lovers said almost like a greeting.

But the moment I heard them—

The moment I looked into those beautiful blue eyes filled completely with that emotion—

“…”

Warmth surged through my entire body, so overwhelming that it almost hurt.

Just as he always had,

Ehit once again drew me into emotions I had never expected.

The difference was…

Before, I had wandered through those feelings alone.

Now I wasn’t alone anymore.

Now there was someone holding my hand.

Someone who would walk beside me.

“Daphlen?”

“…Me too.”

I murmured the words at first.

Then, after taking a breath, I said them clearly.

“I love you too.”

Ehit wrapped me tightly in his arms.

Listening to the trembling relief and overwhelming happiness in his breathing beside my ear, I hugged him back with all my strength.

The long night continued.

A long night spent endlessly reaffirming each other’s existence… and what they meant to one another