Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 119

The smile disappearing from Riedel’s face looked a little suspicious somehow, but… still, Riedel wouldn’t do anything bad to me.

Because she was my sister.

A few days ago, when I met Riedel after finding out that I was the second daughter of the Trustia family, she had shown an expression I had never seen before.

Longing and overwhelming joy, along with guilt for having believed without a doubt for over a decade that I was dead.

And the immense happiness of seeing her one and only younger sister again, the little sister she had cherished so dearly even in her few remaining memories.

All of those feelings had come together and burst from her green eyes.

It was a face of hers I had never seen in the original story, nor in reality.

That day, she had held on to me for hours and refused to let me go. Today was the day she had invited me to the Trustia family’s villa.

She told me to come, so I came…

But the person who invited me had left, leaving me all alone.

“Hmm…”

I sat at the dock for quite a while.

Then I remembered that, in the original story, Riedel had been strict but also quite fond of teasing her subordinates.

‘Is she going to leave me standing here all night just to tease me?!’

At that thought, I jumped to my feet. I was about to turn around and go back the way I came when—

“Daphlen?”

“Whoa!”

Someone suddenly appeared behind me, making me so startled that I almost fell over.

Ah! Who—no, wait.

That was Eicht’s voice.

“Calm down.”

Eicht lightly wrapped an arm around my waist to catch me as I fell and carefully helped me back up.

At least I avoided falling because of the surprise, but when Eicht effortlessly pulled me toward him from the edge of the dock, I was briefly stunned by the sight…

And then almost fell again for an entirely different reason.

“This must be why the Admiral called for me. Because he never knows where you might go.”

“The reason I almost fell was because of you.”

“Did the Admiral call Daphlen as well?”

“Yes. You too?”

As I asked, I noticed the boat docked at the pier.

It was a small boat, just big enough for a few people, but there were beautifully arranged lanterns securely fixed inside, along with flower decorations…

“I was told I had to pilot a boat for the Admiral, but apparently it isn’t a large one.”

It was obvious that this was the boat.

Eicht stepped onto the boat first and held out his hand to me.

“Are we really getting on?”

“I can’t disobey an order from the Admiral.”

After saying that, Eicht added with a relaxed smile,

“But of course, if you say you don’t want to, I won’t. That’s an exception.”

“Then I don’t want to.”

Eicht froze, apparently not expecting me to actually say I didn’t want to.

I could see him trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with that beautiful boat in the short time he had.

“I was lying. I want to go.”

I grinned and took Eicht’s hand. He gave me a deflated smile before easily lifting me into the boat as if he were almost carrying me.

There was no boatman, so we had to row ourselves, but once we reached about the middle of the river, the boat began to drift naturally with the current.

“Please do it once we reach the middle, Daphlen.”

Even when I said I wanted to try rowing too, Eicht had kept pointing toward the other side of the river. Yet once we reached the middle, instead of handing me the oar, he moved it completely out of the way.

The hand that had been holding the oar was now holding mine.

Actually, I had planned not to move next to him even if he asked, because I was worried that if the boat rocked, I might fall into the water.

As if he had anticipated that, Eicht moved next to me himself.

Naturally, the boat rocked when such a large person moved.

Even as he watched me let out a small scream, Eicht did not stop.

“It won’t capsize from this.”

“Whenever you say that, it always feels like it’s about to capsize!”

“Since you pointed that out, I suppose it won’t capsize.”

“Oh, seriously!”

In the darkening evening, in the middle of the blue river with no one around but the two of us, Eicht silenced my complaining mouth with his lips.

And he did it with a face that looked as though he were gazing at something incredibly precious.

As soon as the kiss began, he moved closer to me as if he had been waiting for the chance.

The river was a little windy, but with our bodies pressed closely together without even a small gap between us, I didn’t feel cold.

“Eicht…”

“Yes, Daphlen.”

Eicht kept kissing me deeply without giving me a chance to catch my breath, but whenever I called his name while trying to breathe, he dutifully answered.

Yet right after that, the kisses grew even deeper, as though answering me had been the greatest act of patience he could manage.

When I opened my eyes, which had been tightly shut, I saw his closed eyes and his black hair brushing against my forehead.

With my heart feeling as though it might burst right there in the middle of the boat, I turned my gaze toward the distant scenery.

He looked like the most reserved and disciplined person in the world on the outside, but he was nothing like that.

Did other people know this side of Eicht?

No.

I hoped they didn’t.

I wanted this to be a side of him that only I knew.

“What are you thinking about?”

Eicht immediately brought my wandering gaze back to him. He gently brushed the corner of my eye with his finger.

His eyes, which had been closed just moments ago, were now looking straight at me.

The heart I had tried to calm by looking at nature began pounding again.

“You shouldn’t be thinking about anything else.”

Eicht pressed a deep kiss against my neck.

I wanted to ask, ‘Why not?’ but the tingling sensation as he kissed my neck made it impossible to speak.

Every place touched by his gaze felt hot.

His gaze and kisses made my face feel hot, as though this were the first time we had ever shared such things.

I had thought that people who had shared their hearts with each other had already experienced everything they could together.

Perhaps I had been wrong.

“Eicht.”

“Yes.”

Even while I was out of breath and trying to push him away, Eicht answered soothingly and did not stop kissing me.

I was swept up in him too, until I almost forgot where we were and what time it was.

Eventually, the boat really began to rock, and only then did I manage to stop Eicht.

“It’s really going to capsize!”

“You said it wouldn’t capsize when Daphlen said that…”

“Yes! It won’t capsize! It definitely won’t capsize!”

I hurriedly corrected myself and pushed him away, finally making Eicht move back.

Of course, his face had moved away, but his arms were still wrapped around my waist, and his expression clearly showed how reluctant he was to stop.

“The candle is almost burned out, Eicht.”

Honestly, I hadn’t realized so much time had passed either, but the candle in the lantern Riedel had apparently prepared for the boat was almost completely gone.

We really needed to return to shore now. Still, Riedel had invited me here, so I should at least have dinner with her before leaving.

I quickly reached for the oar, but Eicht took it from my hand. He calmly sat on the opposite side to keep the boat balanced, so I pointed toward the shore.

“Let’s go!”

Eicht pulled my hand toward him, kissed the back of it once, and began rowing.

The candle went out while we were on our way. As darkness suddenly surrounded us, Eicht briefly stopped the boat.

“Your eyes adjust to the darkness faster than you might expect. Even more so when there is moonlight like this.”

Just as he said, it wasn’t long before I began to see the things around us.

The moonlit river at night, the bushes stretching toward the shore, and Eicht smiling at me.

We slowly moved through the darkness, heading toward the shore once again.

“Hmm?”

But strangely, I thought I could hear something coming from the shore. We were still some distance away, and I couldn’t see anything because of the bushes…

Still, the shore seemed unusually noisy. Faint lights were spreading above the bushes too.

“What’s that sound? I can hear people talking.”

“Let’s go see.”

To reach the shore, we had to turn the boat slightly to the left and go around the bushes filled with large trees.

But Eicht, who had been rowing, suddenly stopped.

I tilted my head, trying to see the shore through the gap between the bushes, then turned toward Eicht.

At that moment, Eicht leaned toward me and briefly pressed his lips against mine. Startled by the sudden kiss, I froze, and Eicht gently turned my head back toward the shore.

“Because you looked pretty.”

He said it so casually before starting to row again.

“Daphlen, there seems to be something on the shore…”

I had been sitting quietly, but suddenly turned sharply toward Eicht. His eyes, which had been looking that way, immediately returned to me.

“……?”

This wouldn’t do.

Somehow, Eicht was always the one making me flustered.

A little desire for revenge rose inside me, and I decided to do the same thing to him.

Eicht usually kissed my cheeks and lips, and sometimes kissed deeply along my neck.

“Eicht.”

I pressed my lips against his neck.

I could feel his Adam’s apple move beneath my lips.

“……”

Whenever I called his name, he would obediently answer while still calmly flustering me.

But now, for some reason, he was completely silent.

“Eicht?”

I pulled my lips away and looked up.

When our eyes met, he quickly turned his head away. His lips were pressed tightly together.

I raised my hand and placed a finger against his lips. I was going to pry them open, but he immediately covered my hand with his own.

Just as I noticed that even in the darkness, the tips of his ears were red and hot—

Eicht suddenly pulled me into his arms.

“……We should hurry and get back to shore.”

His voice had lost even its usual composure as he hurriedly began rowing.

Seeing him look so flustered made me feel impatient too.

“Yes, let’s hurry.”

I even took one side of the oar from Eicht.

The two of us rowed hard several times and finally passed through the bushes.

And then—

“There they are!”

Beyond the thick trees and bushes, the thing hidden from view finally appeared.

“Daphlen! I’ve been waiting! And you’ve come with the great former fiancé.”

A small party spread across the grass on the shore…

And dozens of people who looked like they were waiting for us.