Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 6

Ehit pushed me hard with his questioning.

Of course, I was innocent. But Enric wasn’t.

“Th-that is…”

The envelope the man had held out caught my eye. I hadn’t even touched it, yet I was dragged into something like this—it was unfair no matter how you looked at it.

What was I supposed to say? If I said nothing, I’d only look more suspicious.

As I kept thinking, I suddenly noticed something strange.

‘Enric was supposed to pay the remaining amount. That means Enric should’ve been the one giving the money…’

I picked up the envelope. My earlier thought was right—it really was a money envelope.

Only then did I realize it. That shaggy-haired man wasn’t Enric’s trading partner.

‘Come to think of it, Enric was supposed to come at four.’

I hadn’t expected the room to be booked so tightly, so I’d assumed Enric’s counterpart had simply arrived early.

But the clock still read 3:50. There was time left before the appointment written on the note.

‘Thank goodness…’

I felt a huge wave of relief.

“That man was trying to get drugs from me. But I was here to receive something too. So…”

My face felt like it was finally regaining some color.

Right—no matter how hopeless Enric was, he wouldn’t go that far!

“That man isn’t the person I was supposed to meet.”

But Ehit’s reaction was cold.

“How can I trust that?”

“What?”

I explained the situation again, but Ehit continued to stare at me with a sharp expression.

Did I really look like someone who carried drugs around?

And this was our first meeting after learning we were engaged. I was seriously having to explain myself in detail to him of all people.

“It’s true. I received a note like this—”

If things went wrong, this could really end in a prison ending. I explained everything as carefully and logically as I could.

But Ehit just looked at me with flat, emotionless eyes. It didn’t seem like he intended to believe me at all.

“It’s really true. I really—”

He’d been blunt and stiff in the original story too, but I hadn’t expected this much.

As I repeated myself over and over, my expression gradually darkened.

‘At this rate… I really will end up in jail…’

Just as my face was turning pale as ash, Ehit suddenly cut me off.

“I know.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly? He knew?

When I asked back in a daze, Ehit replied calmly, his face relaxed.

“I know. You don’t look like someone capable of dealing drugs.”

“……”

“And it seems you didn’t hear what was happening outside. The dealer has already been caught.”

“Wait, hold on.”

“Then you may go.”

Ehit’s bold features curved into a polite smile.

‘What…?’

If I wasn’t mistaken, this was the attitude of someone who genuinely disliked me.

‘That day too…’

The sharp look he’d given me when he visited the infirmary. I hadn’t imagined it. I was sure.

Ehit Cloyden disliked me.

As I bit my lower lip, trying to swallow the anger that followed my stunned feelings, Ehit continued to smile politely.

‘Well, it’s not like there’s no reason.’

I accepted it surprisingly quickly.

From Ehit’s perspective, a suddenly forced political engagement must’ve been awful. A random engagement—especially with a family on the verge of collapse.

‘And Ehit is terminally ill. Spending what little time he has left engaged to a woman he doesn’t want… of course he’d be upset.’

I was nodding seriously, trying to understand him, when Ehit suddenly turned away.

I quickly grabbed his arm. It felt like the conversation hadn’t really ended.

“Ens—”

“Ensilly…”

Ehit muttered the name of the shaggy-haired man on the floor as he turned back. I had a pretty strong grip, so he probably thought Ensilly had grabbed him.

Ehit looked slightly startled when he noticed me, but his eyes soon returned to their cold calm.

“What is it?”

But wait—if Ehit disliked me this much…

‘Then maybe… he might cancel the engagement?’

If that happened, it might actually be a good thing.

Clinging to a thin thread of hope, I widened my eyes and cautiously asked,

“Do you dislike me?”

Please dislike me enough to break off the engagement.

“Well, does it look that way?”

A prickly answer came back.

Ehit had always been prickly in the original story, so it wasn’t just with me. Still, even considering that, his answer clearly carried dislike.

‘Yes. Perfect.’

To be sure, I asked more directly.

“You’re acting this way because you don’t want to be engaged to me, right?”

As I watched his expression, he leaned slightly toward me and stared.

“It does seem like I think that way.”

His close blue eyes held mixed emotions—cold, curious, and almost amused.

Certain now, I carefully brought up the main point.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to cancel the engagement?”

Since looking hopeful while saying this would be strange, I forced myself to frown.

Please say yes. I’ve already almost been mistaken for a drug dealer while cleaning up my brothers’ messes. Can’t you just end this?

But Ehit answered flatly, crushing my expectations.

“The engagement papers are an official document approved by the church. Do you think canceling them is that easy?”

“Still, there must be some way.”

“Then you shouldn’t have sent a reply in the first place.”

“That wasn’t me who sent—”

“Are you truly naive, or just pretending to be?”

As if the conversation was no longer worth having, Ehit turned away. He disappeared into the crowd inside the salon.

I was about to chase after him when something fell from his pocket.

“Wait, Sir Ehit!”

It was a small purple handkerchief. It looked old, but the fact that he carried it made it seem important.

I bent down to pick up the handkerchief Ehit had dropped.

“Sir Ehit!”

I called again, but he didn’t stop. I hurriedly stood up.

And at that moment, my head spun.

‘Uh…’

My head had already been throbbing, and I’d stood up too fast. Dizziness washed over me and my vision went dark. As I squeezed my eyes shut and stepped forward—

With a dull thud, I lost consciousness on the spot.

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

 

“Colonel, I—I’ll carry her!”

“That’s enough.”

The moment the aides saw the boy in a beret being carried on Ehit’s back, they rushed over.

Dellers, who had returned to the front of Salon Ohastein after escorting the dealer away, also hurried over the instant he saw who was being carried.

“Please hand her over to me, Colonel. She’s my close—”

“I said that’s enough.”

The meaning—don’t push it—flashed sharply in Ehit’s blue eyes.

Dellers knew well that Ehit wasn’t the kind of man to speak lightly. If he was acting like this, it meant he truly didn’t need help.

‘But the one on his back right now is…’

Dapflen Aileta, his friend.

She was dressed like a boy in an oversized shirt and a beret that didn’t suit her body, but her long eyelashes and small, pale face were unmistakably those of a woman.

Why on earth was Dapflen coming out of here? And why was the colonel insisting on carrying her himself?

Despite the clear displeasure on his face, Ehit refused to hand Dapflen over to anyone else until the very end. Whenever someone stepped forward and offered their back, he rejected them with a cold refusal, his expression one of tightly suppressed irritation.

‘Could it be…?’

He tried to imagine possible could it be scenarios, but for some reason he couldn’t quite make sense of it.

There had been rumors that the colonel had his eye on Dapflen as his personal healer—was this related to that? Only my healer rides on my back, something like that?

But even so, Dapflen riding on another man’s back…

“……”

Deller’s sbrow creased ever so slightly.

“Dellers, what are you staring at?”

“…It’s nothing. I’ll guide the way, Colonel.”

Ehit walked briskly. After climbing into the waiting carriage, he shut the door, his expression still cold.

After arriving at the infirmary and handing Dapflen over, Ehit leaned against the wall outside the treatment room. People kept sneaking glances at him, but he paid them no mind.

Lost in thought, his lips pressed into a hard line.

‘Do you dislike me?’

Ehit’s expression grew irritated as Dapflen came to mind.

She knew it very well too. Ehit did not like Dapflen.

‘Me? No, not at all.’

The image of Dapflen speaking innocently, pretending not to know anything, lingered in his mind.

She didn’t know? She’d never once hovered around trying to get involved by chance? As if.

Shameless—that was what Ehit thought.

Recently, his grandmother, the duchess, had been visiting the infirmary frequently. And every time, just how much flattery must that woman have poured on her…

He didn’t know what method she’d used, but it was obvious that she’d coaxed his grandmother. Otherwise, why would the proud Cloyden—who had rejected countless marriage proposals—personally send engagement papers?

And to a family like Aileta, no less.

He knew they were a family with a long history and deep ties to the imperial household in the past. But the longer a history, the more inevitable the decline.

The Aileta family’s present state was proof of that.

‘She’s completely two-faced.’

Someone who was different front and back—those were the people Ehit hated most.

As memories from the past surfaced, Ehit’s face twisted.