Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 14

The Cloyden Ducal Territory lay between Bellachen and the capital.

In truth, I never thought I’d have any reason to visit the ducal territory itself, so where exactly it was hadn’t really mattered to me.

What mattered to me right now was the mansion where Ehit was staying.

But I didn’t know its exact location either. I’d never followed Ehit to his mansion, and it wasn’t like he’d kindly handed me a map and told me to visit anytime!

So I got onto a tram relying only on guesswork and a little memory from the original story.

The tram heading west began running toward the naval base.

‘I’m sure they said the naval base and the mansion aren’t far apart.’

Ehit was basically living on his own in Bellachen.

There was no reason for him to live far from his workplace, and if my memory was right, the ducal family was known to own only one mansion.

‘It might be ridiculously big for a place someone lives alone, though.’

Outside the moving tram, the sea spread out. Beneath a blue early-autumn sky, I could see a warship entering the harbor along the horizon.

“……”

I narrowed my eyes and focused all my vision on the ship. The name written in dark blue letters on the side was just barely visible.

‘Blue… blue…’

The tram continued along the coastline. The ship was also getting closer in the same direction the tram was heading.

‘Blue Bear?’

The moment I read the letters, my heart started racing.

‘Blue Bear’ was the name of a ship the navy used for route patrols. I’d heard that name too many times from Dellers not to recognize it.

‘We went around on Bear today too…’

Because Dellers always said the ship’s name was too cute and called it that, I sometimes got confused about whether it was ‘Blue Bear’ or ‘Blue Teddy,’ but still.

‘Then doesn’t that mean Ehit’s on that ship too?’

The ship was almost fully docked at the harbor.

Inside the tram, which felt painfully slow compared to my racing thoughts, I clenched my fists anxiously. The moment the tram stopped near the naval base, I shot out like a bullet.

‘Please don’t be home, please!’

I ran past a square beneath maple trees just beginning to turn red, then slipped into an alley lined with colorful buildings and stopped briefly in front of a fruit shop.

“Auntie Daniel!”

“Oh, Healer? What brings you here?”

It was Daniel’s shop. She’d received treatment from me at the medical center a few times.

Every time she visited the medical center, she shared news from all around Bellachen. She knew this area inside and out.

“Do you know which way the Cloyden mansion is?”

“Ah, the colonel’s mansion, you mean. That monastery-looking place over there. It’s really pretty, with a spire inside the grounds.”

As expected, people who’d lived in Bellachen a long time knew everything.

“But why are you going to the Cloyden mansion? Ah, I get it. You’re going to examine the colonel, right? That makes sense. Someone as busy and important as him can’t easily come to the medical center.”

“Haha, um, yes…… Thank you!”

No, turns out not everything can be known.

‘It doesn’t seem like the news has spread everywhere yet. Well, it hasn’t even been a full day since the party.’

Most of the people at the party had been nobles or wealthy merchants, so it seemed the news that was making my life miserable hadn’t reached all of Bellachen yet.

If possible, I hoped it never would.

After bowing to Auntie Daniel, I ran toward the mansion again.

When I finally reached the front of the mansion, I saw someone standing there holding a map, waiting for someone to come out.

‘That bag…’

The man was holding the exact same bag as Blanc Ideren from that loan company earlier.

At that moment, the mansion gates opened.

“What brings you here?”

A servant came out and spoke to the man.

“Wait!”

I rushed toward the man, almost tumbling as I grabbed him and turned him around. The servant and the man both looked at me at the same time.

“Huff, huff…… Please wait. I—I have something to say.”

Still catching my breath, I clung to the man.

He looked at me with a puzzled expression, then shook his head politely.

“I’m sorry, my lady, but I have important business right now.”

“I’m Dapflen Aileta. I think that business can be discussed with me!”

“Aileta… Ah, are you Miss Aileta?”

The man brightened and immediately tried to take documents out of his bag.

“Well, regarding the engagement with the Cloyden family—”

“N-not here!”

At the word ‘engagement,’ I flailed my hands in panic like someone with a phobia. Then I made eye contact with the Cloyden family’s servant.

As if he’d been waiting for the right moment, he greeted me.

“My apologies for not recognizing you. I’m Randy, who serves young master Ehit.”

“Oh, h-hello.”

“Please come inside. The young master is not here at the moment, but he should return soon.”

“It’s fine! I don’t need to go in—”

“Miss Aileta, I think it would be better if we talked inside. There are quite a few documents, and it would be easier to explain them laid out—”

“Sir, would you mind waiting outside for a moment? I’ll escort this lady inside and hear her purpose for visiting.”

“No, there’s no need. I can speak together with Miss Aileta.”

Aaah, this is chaos!

“Please come inside for now, Miss Dapflen! The young master will arrive shortly. We can at least serve some tea—”

“Miss Aileta, before you go in, could you first take a look at this document—”

“Wait, no, just a moment—”

I was wildly waving my hands between the two of them when—

“What is going on?”

Someone yanked me straight out from between them.

The moment I was pulled away, I looked up.

‘No way!’

And there he was—the man I wanted to avoid the most—standing there with sharp, suspicious eyes fixed on me.

“……”

I froze for about three seconds.

“Ehit? You’re already back…?”

Did Ehit open a portal from the ship straight to the mansion or something? I’d thought that between getting off the ship and doing whatever else, I’d have enough time to make the loan shark disappear.

I could practically hear my plan collapsing.

“It seems you were waiting for me here.”

No—more accurately, it was the sound of my future falling apart.

“Ehit, I came to tell you something very important.”

“What is it?”

“It’s really important. So please close your eyes for a moment.”

“Just say it. And don’t try anything strange.”

“You might be very shocked, so I need a moment to prepare you. Please close your eyes.”

“Is it that?”

“…What?”

At Ehit’s question, which sounded like he already knew something, I stiffened.

I must have looked a bit stunned, because I quickly smoothed my expression and forced a relaxed smile.

“Did you… hear something?”

“No. Nothing.”

What was that—was he just testing me?

“Anyway, just close your eyes, please.”

Ehit shot me a sharp, distrustful look, but eventually closed his eyes.

“Don’t open them. No matter what.”

And the moment I confirmed his eyes were shut, I grabbed the loan shark and bolted.

 

 

****

 

 

 

「Hi, Elzers. If you see this message, contact me immediately. If you don’t, I’ll start by ripping off your front door and selling it.

— Sender: You obviously know who. Contact me on your own.」

After sending the man away, I stopped by the post office and sent Elzers a telegram.

‘Why Elzers of all people, and not Enric?’

If Enric was a collector who always chased expensive things, Elzers was more like a scholar who knew how to be satisfied with what he had. The only thing he ever seemed greedy about was academic knowledge.

True to that nature, he was a scholar at an academy in Regen, a small city east of Bellachen.

The Elzers I knew lived a simple life, far removed from overspending or excessive desire, even if he was a bit timid.

And yet that Elzers had borrowed a huge sum of money?

And even brought up Cloyden as a guarantor?

‘Why?’

Clutching my head, now overflowing with questions, I left the post office.

‘No, nothing has actually happened yet.’

Ehit’s suspicious gaze from earlier surfaced again in my mind.

What should I even say the next time I see him?

‘The servant didn’t hear the loan company guy explain his business, right? From a distance, it didn’t look like they’d really talked yet.’

With messy thoughts and anxious eyes, I trudged down the street.

At least, after I repeatedly insisted that the guarantor designation was on hold, Serenity Loans had left with polite smiles and thinly veiled threats about rising interest rates.

But Elzers still had an unexplained debt, and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t use the Cloyden name again.

If even Elzers—who I’d trusted—had already caused trouble, then just how rough was the road ahead?

‘In romance novels, even when you reincarnate as a side character, everything usually turns into a happy path…’

The novels I’d read in my past life were always like that. Even as side characters, everyone liked the protagonist, and they were surrounded by good people rather than bad ones.

Even when hardships came, the character was either incredibly capable themselves or surrounded by talented allies who could solve everything, steadily moving toward a guaranteed happy future.

But maybe that was only possible because it was a novel about being inside a novel?

For me, there was nothing that could promise a happy future.

All I had were immature family members, a bad-tempered fiancé who seemed to thoroughly dislike me, a stiff neck, high blood pressure, and stress…….

‘It was a drama when I read it. Living it is a variety show…’

Lost in thought, I kept doing whatever I could, one thing at a time—and two days passed.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, nothing much happened during those two days. Nothing good, and nothing bad.

Yes. For those two days, at least, that was true…….