Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 40

Even so, it seemed Ehit wasn’t going to question the seal any further.

I couldn’t tell whether he truly believed me when I said I’d picked it up by chance or not.

But asking him directly if he believed me, and forcing out a yes, would have been meaningless.

If anything, it would only make him doubt me more.

“That’s enough.”

“Thank you.”

After wiping my face clean, Ehit pulled his hand away.

“Dapflen, if I may.”

He looked like he was about to say something, then stopped.

“What were you going to say?”

“It’s nothing.”

He turned me around, then walked ahead.

As I followed him, instead of thinking about how much Ehit trusted me, I thought about what I could do.

Not something I couldn’t control, but something I could.

A way to save my own life.

 

 

****

 

 

 

Ehit brought Dapflen back to the ship and roughly handed her over to his aides.

Then he went into his cabin, shut the door tightly, and sank down onto the bed.

‘Dapflen, if I may.’

At that moment, he had almost asked whether she liked watching performances too.

What Ariel had casually mentioned the night before kept circling in his mind—that there was a very interesting show.

Fortunately, before his fatigue-addled self could say something strange, his reason stopped him.

What? A performance?

Lying on the bed, Ehit covered his face with one hand and rubbed his eyes hard.

He was exhausted from the expedition. That had to be it—his head clearly wasn’t working right. She was only a fiancée in name, a woman he wouldn’t even marry.

‘No, asking wouldn’t be strange. Even if it’s only in name, basic courtesy toward one’s fiancée still applies.’

Yes, it must have been that sense of courtesy that made him almost ask without thinking.

Offering her a bit of romance during the time she had left would be a kind of consideration. He had simply made that small concession.

That was all.

Ehit stood up and took something out of a drawer.

A cat-shaped paperweight.

One Dapflen had given him before.

He tossed it carelessly into the trash.

If it wasn’t going to last long anyway, it was better to throw it away now.

Lying back down, Ehit closed his eyes. Even after several hours passed, the sound of his breathing mixed with the wind—he never fell asleep.

 

 

 

****

 

 

‘When is this thing getting fixed?’

The train repairs were taking longer than expected.

After briefly following Ehit to the navy ship, I treated the remaining injured there, then returned to the train and finished treating everyone else.

After that, I walked alone for a while along the nearby shore as the sun began to set.

Under the cloudy sky, rough waves crashed again and again. It looked like the world might end any moment—but it probably wouldn’t.

The world doesn’t end that easily. Me ending, on the other hand, is very easy.

‘Maybe it’s because of Aileta.’

If I’d been a third party, I would’ve reacted the same way. I knew how people saw Aileta.

Still, it kept bothering me.

‘Even if we break off the engagement, I’ll still live well.’

One moment my thoughts said, I know my place, and the next, What place? I matter to myself too.

‘Feels like I’ve got split personalities.’

I didn’t really understand my own thoughts. I just needed to save money quickly and leave. That was the only conclusion.

After walking for a while, I looked back toward the ship.

The large ship was still anchored beneath heavy clouds. Beside it stretched a long rock cliff reaching toward the sea.

Then I noticed someone standing atop that sheer cliff, alone, staring at the crashing waves.

‘Ehit?’

At that moment, Ehit suddenly clutched his head as if in pain. He staggered slightly and grabbed onto the rock.

“……!”

It looked like a side effect of his prophetic visions.

I looked around, but there was no one else near him.

‘He’s going to fall!’

I immediately ran toward the cliff, climbing urgently up the dark slope toward him.

‘Is he okay? He looked like he was in real pain.’

He always seemed calm and confident, but Ehit was still living on borrowed time.

I moved my legs faster.

‘I have to hurry… this is harder than I thought…’

The rocky slope was steeper than expected, and the stones were slippery. I almost fell several times.

On top of that, the strong wind threatened to lift my hairpiece, so I had to hold my head too, making it twice as hard.

Afraid of misstepping if I looked far ahead, I focused only on where to place my feet and struggled upward.

“Huff… huff…”

I finally made it.

“Ehit!”

Gasping for breath, I hurriedly looked up, needing to grab him before it was too late.

But—

“…Ehit?”

He was gone.

‘No way.’

I rushed to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

I called his name, but there was no answer. Only the crashing sound of waves filled the sea below.

“Ehit!”

My voice came out desperate. Was I too late?

‘Did I climb up too slowly?’

I regretted holding onto my hair against the wind.

So what if someone noticed? If I’d climbed faster, this wouldn’t have happened.

Staring blankly at the sea below—

“Ehit!”

My mind went white.

Really? He fell here? Really…?

I stood there dazed, looking around wildly.

“What do I…?”

Then, just then, I spotted a familiar silhouette below the slope I’d climbed.

“…Huh. Ehit?”

Below the cliff, Ehit was standing perfectly fine, looking up at me.

The moment our eyes met, my thoughts tangled.

Why is someone who fell into the sea standing over there?

No—no. He hadn’t fallen. He’d just gone down another way.

“Thank goodness…”

I let out a breath full of relief.

So relieved that my legs nearly gave out. I barely held myself steady, staring at him wide-eyed so I wouldn’t lose sight of him again.

It was a relief. Truly.

But as the relief that loosened my whole body faded a little, another thought surfaced.

‘He definitely saw me climbing up! And he saw me looking for him too!’

So why did he just leave?!

Of course, it was a relief that Ehit was safe. But worry without payoff easily turns into anger.

Standing in the wind, clutching my hair, I shouted down at him.

“Didn’t you see me coming up here?!”

“I did.”

“Then why did you just leave?!”

“I didn’t tell you to come up in the first place.”

That expression! That arrogant, emotionless face, like none of this had anything to do with him!

If he’d at least said it nicely—but saying it so bluntly with that face made my blood boil.

So I glared at him and thought to myself.

I’ll never go near Ehit again. Even if he clutches his head and looks like he’s suffering, I won’t help. I won’t treat him. Never again!

“Haa…”

I lifted my head and let out a long sigh, then looked back down to where Ehit had been.

Only an empty sandy shore remained.

“He left?”

He hadn’t waited for me—he’d just gone down on his own, and now he was gone.

“That jerk…”

My teeth clenched as the words slipped out. Seriously, why did I even worry about someone like him?

I opened my tightly shut mouth and shouted toward the raging sea, wind slamming into my ears.

“You jerk!”

You good-for-nothing pretty-faced jerk! Even if you don’t like me, how can you just leave like that? Do you have no decency?!

‘I—! You—! You—!’

I screamed the details in my head and just kept shouting you jerk! out loud.

Still, yelling like that made me feel a little better.

“Huu…”

Gathering all the pent-up frustration in my chest, stepping forward, I shouted one last time with the loudest voice I could manage.

“You—!”

Huh.

The ground under my foot suddenly slipped.

‘Uh—?’

In my tilting vision, I saw moss beneath my foot.

I reached out, but there was nothing to grab. My body kept tipping forward helplessly.

‘No, don’t go!’

What was that?

In that instant, a voice I’d heard once before flashed through my mind.

When was it? A long, long time ago.

‘No—this isn’t the time to think about that!’

I was falling. Into the violently crashing sea—into those black waters nothing like Bellachen’s calm ocean.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

A voice cut through the wind, and something yanked my arm.

An arm wrapped around my waist and stomach, pulling me back hard. My body, which had been tipping downward, was dragged upright.

I only stopped once I was pulled back and caught in Ehit’s arms.

‘I lived.’

I almost died just now.

As I let out a huge breath, a low sigh sounded near my ear.

I couldn’t tell whose heart was pounding—mine, or Ehit’s.