Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? – Chapter 19

Author: Asternkm

“Dapflen, want to have dinner before you go?”

“Next time!”

The train heading to Regen was scheduled to leave thirty minutes after I finished work at the medical center.

If I missed it, the next train wouldn’t come for another three hours, so I wouldn’t be able to keep my schedule. That was why I ran out the moment my shift ended.

I managed to get onto the tram heading toward the train station without trouble. Standing by the door of the crowded tram as it started moving toward my destination—up to that point, everything was going exactly as planned.

The problem was—

“Why are you following me?”

“I’m just going where I’m going.”

There was someone who absolutely should not have been accompanying me.

With his arms crossed, Ehit leaned against the wall of the tram, silently staring into the distance.

People kept sneaking glances at him as he stood there expressionless.

He was still wearing his uniform, decorated with several medals as if he’d come straight from the naval base, and with his build and face standing out more than anyone else on the tram, it was only natural.

He said he was just going his own way, but no matter how I thought about it, that didn’t seem believable at all.

I mean, where exactly was he going that involved walking the same route as me, riding the same tram, and heading to the same place?

“Do you usually stand like that? Don’t lean—stand properly like this.”

And on top of that, he was even lecturing me on my way home?

Feeling completely thrown off, I remembered that in the original story, Ehit was the cold, efficiency-first male lead type.

That was the nice way of putting it. In reality, it meant he was prickly, didn’t listen much to others, and only spoke when the conversation was necessary.

To put it more bluntly, even his offhand remarks usually had some practical purpose for him.

‘I thought nothing of it when he asked what time I got off work this morning…’

I never imagined it was for this.

“Where are you getting off, Ehit?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

He said not to worry about it, but when I got off at the station, he got off too.

When I headed through the station toward the platform going to Regen, he came the same way and stopped, standing parallel to me just three steps away.

‘If I get on the train, he’ll probably come all the way to Elzers’s house with me.’

It seemed like going to Regen today was already a lost cause.

I considered shaking him off and getting on the train anyway, but after hesitating and trying to figure things out, I ended up missing the Regen-bound train that only came once every three hours.

If I took the next one, I wouldn’t be able to return to Bellachen today.

‘And he still claims he’s not following me?’

Just like that, my plan for today—to visit my brother Elzers—fell apart completely.

‘No, it’s fine. I can go tomorrow.’

I tried to think positively. I was anxious and in a hurry, but it wasn’t as if today was the only chance. I could go tomorrow.

The real problem was that Ehit kept doing this the next day—and the day after that.

Whenever I left the medical center and tried to go somewhere, he appeared without fail.

He didn’t seem to follow me openly, but if I went to the shopping district, he’d be in a store across the street. If I went to catch a train, he’d be on the same platform.

Anyone could see that he was watching my every move.

He also came to the medical center every day. The reason was always the same: “for treatment.”

Sometimes he came with a tired, irritable look on his face. Other times, he actually had small injuries.

But even if he really was hurt or unwell, the frequency with which he came to see me was far too high.

“You came again today? Why do you keep coming?”

“So there really are healers who talk like that to their patients.”

“I’m not talking to a patient. I’m asking Colonel Cloyden.”

“Is Colonel Cloyden not allowed to visit the medical center? As far as I know, this isn’t a private facility—it’s an imperial one.”

“But your injuries are too minor to come all the way here. Can’t you be treated at the military infirmary? And with a ducal house like yours, you must have a personal physician.”

“I only came to receive treatment. Just treat me, Healer of the Bellachen Medical Center.”

Listen to the way he talks.

It was frustrating, but I had no way to turn Ehit away or stop him from coming. As a healer, I couldn’t refuse a patient.

“You came the day before yesterday, yesterday, and today. Where is it this time? Fingers? Forehead? Fatigue?”

While I treated him, Ehit just sat there quietly, staring at me. With his chin resting on his hand, his gaze looked like he was deep in thought—or like he was waiting for me to do something.

Either way, I had no idea why he was acting like this. I’d asked him several times, but he never told me.

Worse still, he showed up every time I went home, accompanying me with that stiff expression. Because of that, I couldn’t even go see Elzers, and being stuck in Bellachen was driving me crazy.

Ehit looked at me as if I were suspicious, but from my perspective, the one who was truly suspicious was Ehit himself.

Wasn’t this annoying for him too? Why was he doing this for days on end?

‘Did I do something that made me look suspicious?’

Well… I did.

‘Probably quite a lot, actually…’

I couldn’t deny that. Still, this was too much.

‘It’s like he’s tightening the net around me, narrowing down a suspect.’

And he’d been doing it for days.

On top of that, the way he kept staring at me made my skin crawl, as if he might discover the secret hidden in my hair at any moment.

Of course, sometimes I did briefly wonder if his real intention was simply what it looked like—coming to the medical center for his health.

The dark circles under his eyes were obvious even to me, and fatigue had clearly piled up in his body. There was no way he himself didn’t know his condition was worsening.

But from my point of view, it was completely unwelcome.

Even setting aside the fact that I was wasting precious time distracting Ehit instead of cleaning up my brothers’ mess, Ehit was the one person in all of Bellachen I wanted to avoid the most.

I didn’t show it to anyone, but I was so stressed by everything happening to me that it felt like my hair might fall out.

And the most important thing of all was this—

Ehit must not find out about what was happening to me.

Unless he planned to calmly break off the engagement.

‘This won’t do.’

On the third day, I made up my mind to properly shake him off.

****

“Dapflen, things have been going well with the colonel lately, haven’t they?”

“That’s right. Coming to see you every day—how romantic.”

“Bellachen’s best couple, Dapflen!”

The romance of “Bellachen’s best couple” existed only in people’s chatter and imaginations.

In reality, there was a man who seemed to be watching me every day, looking for something to catch me on—and a woman who really did have something to hide and desperately wanted to run away.

“Ehit!”

Of course, I wasn’t ready to run yet. I could barely keep my loose ends hidden. So instead, I decided to put as much distance as possible between myself and my fiancé.

Today, I was getting off work around lunchtime.

On my way out, I ran toward Ehit, who was standing in front of the medical center, as if I’d been waiting for him.

Judging from before, he seemed to care a lot about public opinion, so for now I was keeping up the image of affectionate, considerate fiancés.

His brow furrowed slightly.

With a bright smile that completely contrasted his expression, I said,

“I don’t know where you’re going, Ehit, but I’m going to Herdens today.”

“Herdens?”

Herdens was the name of a fortune-telling shop in the city. A place that read fortunes—like astrology or tarot.

Opinions about Herdens’s reliability were mixed. Some people said it was amazingly accurate, while others said it was just lucky guessing.

‘Either way, Ehit definitely won’t like fortune-tellers.’

He was extremely realistic by nature. He didn’t seem like the type to believe his fate was decided by astrology.

On top of that, precognitive visions were a unique and special ability of the Cloyden ducal house. There was no way he’d believe some non-priest could have a comparable power.

‘So this time, he won’t follow me.’

“How interesting. Let’s go.”

“W–What? You’re going?”

“Yes. I’ve suddenly become interested in fortune-telling.”

“Interested? In a fortune-teller? You, Ehit Cloyden? Since when?”

“You go your way, I’ll go mine. Don’t worry about it. Which direction is it?”

Flustered, I ended up gesturing toward the part of the city where the shop was. Ehit started walking first, then came back when I didn’t move and took me with him.

‘Is this really happening?’

Before I knew it, I was being swept along, heading to the fortune-telling shop with Ehit.

As we walked down the softly sunlit street, I regretted not just saying he’d lost interest and leaving.

But by the time that thought crossed my mind, we were already in front of Herdens.

“You’re really going in?”

I looked back and forth between the signboard and Ehit, asking with suspicious eyes.

Really? Seriously? Ehit Cloyden, going to some private fortune-telling shop just because people say it’s “accurate”?

“Is there any reason not to?”

With that, he pulled me inside the shop.

The important thing here was that whether Ehit was interested in fortune-telling or not didn’t really matter—because I had no intention of getting my fortune told either.

‘So this is Herdens.’

Inside was dim, with a hallway filled with soft lights.

I was pushed along by Ehit and started walking inward, still unable to believe this was happening.

“We’re really doing this together? Really?”

“Yes.”

“I want to go in alone.”

“Sounds like you have questions you want to ask privately.”

While I was thinking of a response, we arrived at the room where the fortune-teller sat.

“Welcome.”

Before I knew it, we were sitting side by side on the sofa in front of the fortune-teller.

Unlike me, who was slightly tense from the atmosphere, Ehit leaned back comfortably with his arms crossed, as if this were his own place.

The fortune-teller, whose reddish, curly hair somehow looked mystical, smiled and asked,