Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 5

“P.S. Congratulations on becoming in-laws with the Cloyden family. We will wait, trusting in that name.”

That damned brother of mine—it seemed the moment news of his sister’s engagement spread, he’d started selling the duke’s name all over town.

‘Haa…’

As I entered a narrow alley off the coastal road, dark shadows fell across the stone pavement. After riding a bit farther, tightly packed shops came into view.

I stopped my bicycle. Salon Ohastein, written on the note, was a rather noisy and chaotic place.

‘What kind of deal are they making in a place like this?’

Whatever it was, I had to cancel the deal and use that remaining 100,000 harks to pay off the debt.

First, I checked which way the note’s Room 4 led.

Lowering my head slightly, I tapped the floor with the toe of my shoe and checked the time. The old pendulum clock pointed to 3:20.

‘I came a bit early.’

Still, it was better to be early than to arrive after Enric had already paid the remaining money.

‘Why on earth would they make a deal in a place like this? It’s not something shady, is it?’

Just then, someone wearing a navy-blue robe pulled low over their head caught my eye. Even with their face hidden, the person stood out because of their unusually tall height and broad shoulders.

He was talking with the madam about something.

‘That person… he looks suspicious somehow.’

Everyone else, though shabbily dressed, was chatting openly and noisily with their faces uncovered—so a person hiding their face like that stood out all the more.

“Please, follow me.”

Guided by the madam, the man headed inward—toward the direction where Room 4 was.

‘Could that be him?’

The salon madams were busy attending to other customers. Taking advantage of that, I quickly moved deeper inside as well.

Above the rooms concealed by velvet curtains, the room numbers were written in gold letters. Avoiding the eyes of a madam who was coming back out, I immediately pulled aside the curtain to Room 4 and stepped inside.

But the room I rushed into was empty. The robed man from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

‘So it wasn’t him?’

At that moment, the velvet curtain behind me was drawn aside.

“Sorry I’m late.”

A man with shaggy hair under a yellow beret entered.

He wasn’t the robed man from before. His clothes looked fairly expensive, but his complexion didn’t look very good.

This man was probably Enric’s trading partner.

The man, shaggy hair sticking out from beneath his hat, took a step closer to me and spoke in a low voice.

“Beneath the tree at the western palace…”

“…?”

When I just stared blankly, he repeated himself.

“Beneath the tree at the western palace…”

It was a line I’d heard somewhere before. A phrase from The Midnight Palace, a book my mother had given me about ten years ago, saying it was written by a cousin-in-law of some distant relative—a book no one but me seemed to know…

“…there is a cave with a golden rim?”

I deliberately lowered my voice as I answered.

But what was this, all of a sudden? I’d answered, but something about it felt unsettling.

“H-here it is.”

As soon as he heard my words, the man hurriedly pulled something out from inside his coat.

‘Is that what Enric was supposed to receive?’

It looked exactly like a money envelope.

The shaggy-haired man slid the envelope toward me.

“Here, hurry and give it. Come on, take this.”

His voice trembled slightly, as if he were nervous. Even the hand he held out was shaking a little.

‘He must be asking for the remaining payment…’

The remaining amount mentioned in the note.

After hesitating for a moment, I pushed the envelope back toward him and waved my hand.

“You don’t need to give me this. Um, if possible, I’d like to cancel the deal.”

“What are you talking about…? Don’t joke around and just give it to me. You did bring it, right?”

The shaggy-haired man blinked. But I’d only come to stop the deal—I hadn’t brought anything with me in the first place.

“No, I didn’t bring it. I won’t take this either, so if possible, the advance payment I gave last time—”

“What are you even saying?!”

Suddenly, the man snapped. He looked very angry.

Since I’d abruptly said I wanted to break the deal, it made sense he’d be upset, so I spoke in a slightly apologetic tone.

“That’s how it is. You don’t need to give this, so please look for someone else—”

“Are you kidding me right now?!”

The shaggy-haired face visible beneath his hat was flushed bright red.

‘This doesn’t feel like he’s going to return the advance payment…’

As I was thinking about what to do, the man suddenly stood up and dropped to his knees in front of me.

“…?!”

“Please. If you don’t give it to me, I’ll die.”

“N-no…”

He really seemed desperate for money.

“Hurry, please, I’m begging you. Right now, please.”

Seeing how desperate he looked, I wondered if it might be better to wait and talk to Enric—but I didn’t have any money on me right now anyway.

“Um… I’m sorry, but I don’t have it right now.”

“What?”

The man sprang back to his feet. Then he ripped off the hat he was wearing and slammed it onto the floor.

“Ugh!”

My eyes swept over the man’s furious face. His flushed skin looked like it was about to burst.

‘This guy… his face looks kind of…’

Just as I realized something was off about him, his mouth twisted into a shape like he was about to spit.

“Tsk.”

I reflexively grabbed a nearby cushion and held it up in front of his face.

“I’m really sorry, but please don’t spit.”

Beyond the cushion, the man stared blankly for a moment, then glared and reached out toward my neck.

I took a step back and raised my hand.

I didn’t have the same physical strength as a grown man, but I was a healer. I’d dealt with plenty of patients who lunged at me, and I knew how to temporarily subdue someone in a dangerous situation.

But just as I raised my hand, someone behind me grabbed my arm.

“…?!”

My shoulder bumped into the solid chest of a man wearing a blue robe.

Was he with him? The worry lasted only a moment. The man seized the shaggy-haired man’s hand instead of mine.

“It seems you’re quite deeply addicted, Sir Ensilly.”

A calm, low voice brushed past my ear. That voice was unmistakably—

‘Ehit?’

In the blink of an eye, the shaggy-haired man was being restrained.

“Ugh!”

As the man tried to turn and flee, one small gesture from Ehit sent him crashing down. His movements were rough yet minimal.

With that single action, the shaggy-haired man lost consciousness.

I blinked at the fallen man, then my gaze shifted to Ehit.

‘Was the suspicious robed person earlier actually Ehit?’

I almost asked what he was doing here dressed so suspiciously, but for the sake of manners, I kept my mouth shut.

I started with an awkward greeting instead.

“Ah… hello.”

Regardless of my intentions, he was my fiancé—the first time I’d seen him since the engagement was settled.

I hadn’t expected to meet him in a place like this, dressed like this, but at the very least, basic courtesy—

“What are you doing here, Lady Aileta?”

It didn’t seem like Ehit was thinking along those lines.

“And what are you doing here, Sir Ehit?”

“Answer me first.”

“Please answer me first. Your outfit looks far too suspicious.”

“That’s not something I should be hearing.”

When he said that, I realized my own outfit wasn’t exactly normal either. I was dressed as a boy, after all.

Ehit’s sharp gaze swept over me.

“Now explain. What were you doing?”

His piercing stare had a way of making people tense.

But because of that, I was able to assess the situation more calmly.

‘Why is Ehit here? And dressed like that?’

The shaggy-haired man lying there—judging by his condition, he’d probably taken drugs.

From what Ehit had said earlier, he seemed to know that already. He even knew who the man was.

Just then, noise erupted outside. Footsteps, something crashing over, screams—all mixed together.

“What are you doing, not answering?”

Ehit pulled his gaze back from outside and fixed it on me again.

He was still holding my arm. His grip wasn’t tight, but there was a subtle pressure.

Wait. If that’s the case…

“Ah.”

Only then did everything click.

Ehit had been lying in wait, wearing that suspicious robe, to catch a drug dealer. And the person that drug dealer had been talking to this whole time—was me.

“Ah…”

Was I completely doomed now?

The very first thing I did after realizing the situation was curse Enric under my breath.

Seriously, Enric—no matter what, how could you deal in something like this?

I’d yelled at him and called him crazy just a couple of hours ago. But if I’d known something even crazier was coming, I might’ve saved those words.

‘And he even used the Cloyden name?’

If Ehit, the man who’d come to catch the dealer, found out about that, our family being utterly ruined would be the least of our problems.

The man standing in front of me was a navy colonel. And outside, his subordinates were running around. One wrong move, and I’d be tangled up with these drug addicts and end up greeting people from inside a prison cell.

I didn’t want a ruined-family ending—but a prison ending wasn’t any better.

“Um…”

Explaining that it was my brother, not me, would be pointless. To Ehit, who’d found me at the scene, it would just sound like excuses.

Maybe appealing to his emotions would work better? No matter how cold he was, he might be a bit more lenient toward his newly engaged fiancée.

“Um, Sir Ehit, well, you see—”

But just as I was about to speak, I decided not to appeal to emotion after all.

“Answer me.”

Because in that moment, I saw disgust in Ehit’s eyes.