Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 21

What happened next was less in the area of my awareness or will, and more in the area of my unconscious and true feelings.

First of all, I tried to take a tram home in a half-given-up state, but I got on the tram going to the train station instead. That might have just been a mistake, or maybe I was unknowingly trying to go to Regen.

Either way, the result was that I arrived at the train station—and Ehit followed me all the way there.

“Where are you wandering off to like that?”

After getting off the tram, I started walking without direction, and Ehit grabbed me.

I stared at him and shouted,

“Then why are you wandering around like this?!”

I couldn’t deny it anymore. I was a little—no, quite—drunk.

“You’re not even watching over me or anything!”

“That’s right. I am watching you.”

“…What?”

“I really am watching you, Miss Aileta.”

Unlike my face, which was full of frustration, Ehit’s face was completely blank, as if he had thrown away all emotion.

“Why?”

Even to my own ears, my voice sounded unfair and wronged.

Right. It made no sense that Ehit would follow me because he wanted to be with me or was curious about me. If he was following me all day, the only reason had to be surveillance.

I knew that already, but hearing it said so coldly to my face made me suddenly feel miserable. As the alcohol rose, my sadness slowly spilled out.

Why are you watching me? What did I even do wrong?

“You keep talking about being engaged, betrothed, and all that… What kind of fiancé watches his fiancée like this?”

“One like me.”

A calm, cold tone without even a blink.

He had a handsome face, but with such a cold gaze, I could only hate it.

“You know it yourself. How dangerous the Aileta family—”

“Stop!”

“…What?”

“I know too! But I don’t want to die either!”

I spun around and ran. Just then, a train was about to depart.

Almost on impulse, I climbed onto the train.

“Wait, Dapflen!”

Ehit called out from behind me, but I didn’t turn around and hurried inside.

“Don’t follow me!”

“Do you even know where this train is going? Why do you only choose things that get on my nerves?”

I wasn’t asking for kindness—but I didn’t want contempt either. Indifference would have been better than contempt.

But Ehit gave me contemptuous attention. For reasons I couldn’t control, he disliked me.

Of course, I knew this engagement was just a shell. And if this world was a novel, my position was fixed from the start—I was meant to be hated by the male lead.

‘But this is my reality…’

In reality, an extra fiancée being hated by the male lead didn’t end with just one sentence.

Ever since I got involved with Ehit, I kept wondering why my one and only life had to be full of trials like this. I imagined a future where I met an ordinary, kind person and lived happily.

And at the same time, I realized I was already far from that future. While others worried about what to eat for dinner with their fiancé, I had to desperately worry about how to earn money for breaking off an engagement.

With my lips tightly shut, I kept walking. In the meantime, the train departed, and I looked for an empty spot inside.

“Lady.”

As I tried to move to another car, a railway worker stopped me.

It was probably suspicious that I was wandering around with no seat and smelling of alcohol. But at that moment, I was drunk, so I didn’t even understand why he stopped me.

“Excuse me, lady. May I check your ticket?”

Come to think of it, I boarded without a ticket. Can I even buy one now?

Before I could answer, someone behind me did.

“You can ask me.”

It was Ehit.

I saw him follow me, but I didn’t realize he’d boarded the train too.

He showed the worker a card engraved with the Cloyden crest. The worker bowed politely and left without another word.

“Here.”

I took my wallet out of my bag and shoved ten Hark into Ehit’s hand.

His eyes clearly showed disbelief, but I pretended not to notice and stayed silent, lost in thoughts about my life.

The train I boarded without knowing anything was a mining train.

The area around the mines always had bad weather, and unlike Bellachen, the sky was gloomy and dark.

As soon as we arrived at the mine, I immediately got on a train back to Bellachen.

On the way back, Ehit said nothing. With the alcohol and the silence, sleepiness washed over me, and I nodded off and fell asleep.

‘Was riding a train always this comfortable?’

When I briefly opened my eyes, late-afternoon sunlight that was almost fading shone through the window. And then I realized I had been sleeping while leaning on Ehit’s shoulder.

But since I’d barely slept properly, my eyes soon closed again. His shoulder was too comfortable.

Half asleep, I put aside what I had heard from him, what kind of relationship we had, and—somewhat shamelessly—just wanted to stay like this.

“All right. I won’t try to confirm it anymore.”

I heard his voice speaking to me. Without answering, I sank back into the edge of sleep.

The train was almost at Bellachen.

One stop before where I was supposed to get off, Ehit woke up, carefully leaned me against the opposite side, and got off the train.

As I sat still with my eyes closed and rode one more stop, I felt something I couldn’t explain.

The empty seat beside me felt lonely.

The seat where he had been sitting, following me around so persistently.

 

 

****

 

 

 

“You said you wouldn’t follow me.”

Beyond a garden beautifully decorated with red trees, the sun was starting to set.

Looking at that scenery, I asked Ehit with a slightly sulky face.

“It wasn’t my intention, so don’t make that face.”

He replied with a tired expression, then corrected himself.

“And I didn’t follow you. I was just watching.”

“That’s the same thing.”

The place where I was clearly talking with the same Ehit I had parted from earlier was the garden of Diela Palace.

‘Why am I with Ehit here again?’

After getting off one stop later, I had dragged my exhausted body back to the quarters. But somehow, Ehit was already standing there.

I rubbed my eyes, wondering if stress had finally made me hallucinate. It felt like seeing a doll you clearly threw away, sitting right in front of your house again.

‘No, I’m really seeing things.’

‘I’m not a hallucination, so don’t look at me like that.’

‘What?’

‘We’ll talk later. For now, let’s go.’

‘What?’

That was how I ended up coming to Diela Palace without understanding anything.

It had only been a few days since I last came here—since that banquet.

Just a few days. And yet, everything that happened felt like months.

Only the unchanged color of the leaves rising against the distant sea proved that not much time had actually passed.

I stood still, then glanced sideways at Ehit.

He was standing there in a black shirt with a blue tie. His presence was so overwhelming that I felt like I could recognize him at a glance even from far away.

Thinking back, it made sense why Dellers had treated him like an outsider at the Fallen Estate banquet, asking if we didn’t know Colonel Cloyden.

Ehit, who had been standing with his arms crossed, lifted his head. I pointed behind him and turned my gaze.

The person who had summoned us was walking over from the other side of the garden.

“You’re here, both of you!”

The prince greeted Ehit and me with a delighted face.

“I’m glad you came! You’re probably wondering why I called you so urgently, but soon you’ll be thinking, ‘Wow, I’m glad I came!’”

Wearing a red jacket, the prince hurried over and grabbed Ehit’s arm.

Since my stride was shorter than theirs, I naturally fell a little behind.

“Your Highness.”

“Ah, sorry. I got too excited wanting to show you quickly.”

Letting go of Ehit, the prince ran to the end of the garden and personally opened the door of a carriage.

“You’ll ride that carriage!”

Then he hopped into the carriage prepared in front and departed first.

Left behind were Ehit, me, and a two-person carriage where passengers sat side by side.

‘That’s the kind of carriage couples ride.’

Ehit strode toward the carriage first. Seeing his height and broad back, the carriage almost looked like it was made for one person.

But up close, it was actually spacious enough to fit four adults if they squeezed in.

Ehit jerked his chin toward the carriage, signaling me to go first. A cold, unfamiliar escort followed, guided by his large hand.

But I stared at the hand he held out and said,

“You go first, Ehit.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to climb in alone dressed like that?”

I stubbornly refused his offer to go first. Because…

‘I can’t expose the back of my head defenselessly.’

The carriage was a side-by-side seat, and because of how the door opened, Ehit had to sit inside for my patch job to be safe.

I had covered it with a half-tie, but sitting this close still made me uneasy.

In the end, Ehit got in first and sat with his arms crossed. The carriage had looked wide, but once I squeezed in, it felt cramped.

As the carriage started moving, only the sound of hooves filled the air, and an awkward silence followed.

The silence was uncomfortable—especially since it was the very day after I had drunk too much and caused trouble.

“Where are we going?”

I asked to avoid the real issue, but as expected, Ehit showed no intention of answering such a casual question.

Looking forward, I glanced at him from the corner of my eye—and realized he was already looking at me.

The moment his cold gaze caught mine, he spoke.

“I’ll ask you three things.”