Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? – Chapter 64

Author: Asternkm

The heavy scent of Zetus leaves filled Ehit’s bedroom. It was a scented candle known to be effective for sleep.

Without help from something like this, it felt like he would just lie there for hours until morning came.

Around the time he was half-asleep, Ehit found himself thinking about Dapflen again without realizing it.

‘Why did you propose a marriage to me?’

Why had Dapflen asked Grandmother that?

Did she really not know? That the duke would send a marriage proposal to her?

A frown formed between Ehit’s closed brows.

Up until now, he had naturally assumed that Dapflen had tempted the duke, and that the duke—taken in by it—had proposed the match. Otherwise, there was no reason for the duke to suggest marriage at all.

Her family wasn’t particularly distinguished, and Dapflen didn’t hold any position that could serve as a political or public key.

The duke, who had rejected every proposal that came his way, wasn’t someone so easily swayed that he would propose marriage just because someone else recommended it.

Then what other reason could there be, other than her having persuaded the duke by some means?

But today’s conversation didn’t feel that way at all.

Dapflen seemed to know nothing, and instead, it felt like the duke himself had some kind of reason.

What on earth was it? The reason he chose not “Aileta,” but “Dapflen.”

“……”

Even with his eyes closed, Dapflen tormented him in his thoughts.

The soft scent he felt when she came close, her clear eyes that showed her emotions as they were, her voice that was firm and clear when she reasoned things out, the thin fingers brushing against his skin.

They tormented him everywhere.

“I’ve completely lost it.”

Spending the entire day with a strange woman just because of an engagement was making even him strange.

The blue eyes hidden beneath his eyelids opened again.

In the end, Ehit sat up.

Last time, too, he had lain awake like this alone—until he went to see Dapflen, and only after seeing her did he finally fall asleep.

Thinking about Dapflen always gave him a headache, but once he met her, that pain would ease.

Strangely enough.

Dapflen was a strange person. That was why she made him feel stifled in strange ways like this.

He looked out the window. It was night, but not so late that everyone would be asleep.

It wouldn’t be crossing a line to visit her room now.

In the end, Ehit’s steps headed toward Dapflen’s room.

“Y-young master?”

When he arrived at the door, the attendants assigned to Dapflen hurried toward him in surprise.

But all of them looked pale and were searching for something, which made the situation feel off.

“Where is Dapflen?”

“Y-young master, um, th-that is…”

Ehit’s face hardened coldly. The attendant trembled under his gaze as she spoke.

“The young lady has disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“There are no signs she went outside. She’s definitely still inside the estate, but we don’t know where she is……”

Hearing the shrinking voice, Ehit frowned.

Where could she have gone in the middle of the night?

She was someone who liked wandering around. Was she taking a walk through the estate at this hour?

“……”

No—wherever she was in this estate, that was Dapflen’s freedom. There were no formal ceremonies right now, so it wasn’t something that concerned Ehit directly.

“If you find her, report to me immediately.”

Even as he thought that, his voice came out cold. The attendants hurriedly answered yes and scattered.

Standing before the empty room, Ehit rubbed his dry face.

‘Or maybe the estate is so large that she got lost.’

After staring at Dapflen’s room for a moment, Ehit returned to his own room. He lay down again with the Jetus scent burning.

He roughly pulled the rustling blanket over himself and closed his eyes.

A day passed after that.

Dapflen did not return.

*****

The floor pressed against my back was quite cold. After constantly pounding on the door and shouting, I was now sprawled out on the floor, exhausted.

At least I was glad I’d come wearing a fairly thick shawl. Otherwise, I might have frozen to death.

I was living more desperately than anyone just to avoid my family’s ruin—dying in a place like this would be the emptiest thing imaginable.

I lay there blankly, fiddling with the new sprout of hair on my head.

‘It’s finally growing so well now…’

I got back up and banged on the door again, shouting. I repeated that for what felt like half a day—maybe a full day.

My throat was dry. Strength began draining from my exhausted body.

As time passed, my sense of reality started to fade.

“I’m hungry.”

I muttered softly to myself.

I thought that if I waited, someone—anyone—would come. But little by little, I started to think that might not be the case.

After all, there weren’t many people who welcomed an Aileta.

Harming me would be difficult, but ignoring me would be very easy. Even if Naya was the one who locked me in here, I wasn’t sure anyone else would oppose it.

‘What about Ehit?’

Did he notice I was gone? If he did, he might just find it annoying that I disappeared as soon as the engagement ended.

I could clearly picture Ehit’s face as he sighed, rubbing his aching head.

‘Why are you so selfish?’—that’s probably what he’d say.

As I imagined his reaction, I smiled faintly without realizing it.

“……”

Conflicting thoughts rose at the same time.

The image of Ehit speaking to me gently, and the image of Ehit looking at me with contempt appeared together.

What kind of existence was I to Ehit? Someone who would briefly pass through his life?

‘I hope it becomes a good memory.’

Still, it didn’t seem like he hated me. At least, not the idea of me remaining as one page in his life.

But a moment of kindness didn’t guarantee that he would stand on my side.

If he was as sharp as a blade, he might even wish I would disappear quickly, so as not to further consume what little time he had left.

I curled up again on the floor.

“I’m hungry……”

Naya really is too much. Locking someone up in a place with no food at all.

Still, when we spoke directly, she didn’t seem like the kind of person who would go this far.

‘Is this really Naya’s doing?’

Leaning my head against the wall, my thoughts rose in a mess.

I remembered what Naya had said to me earlier that day.

‘You should learn to properly see what’s right in front of your eyes. Not just believe what you think you know.’

What’s right in front of me—properly.

Time passed again. At least another full day must have gone by.

I grew more and more exhausted. Now I just lay still on the floor, barely breathing.

As my body grew tired, my mind seemed to tire as well. Painful thoughts grew stronger than hopeful ones.

‘If this were Ridel, they would’ve searched for her. But me…’

I wasn’t confident that Ehit would look for me. I didn’t believe I was that kind of person to him.

Even in the original story, Ehit lived on just fine after his fiancée died following a broken engagement. With the same indifferent, cold face, he showed no sign of grief and continued on—until he met Ridel.

‘Was he happy when he met Ridel?’

In the original story, Ridel—Ehit’s superior—was a wonderful person. Even the cold Ehit trusted and followed her.

She went through many hardships too, but if two people who could love each other met, they would surely be happy. Enough to endure it all.

‘I wish that could happen for me too.’

I didn’t know why I kept thinking of Ehit in a situation like this. He was someone I never should’ve gotten involved with, and thinking about him brought me nothing good.

So why did he keep coming to mind?

Why did the taste of the sandwich he made me that morning linger in my mouth?

Why did I remember his eyes so clearly, the way he looked at me up close as he put a robe around my shoulders? Why did I think that even in this storeroom, if he were beside me, I wouldn’t be scared?

‘Is this… that thing people talk about? A life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment?’

Am I going to die here? If that were the case, I should’ve stopped wasting time just trying to prevent the original story and lived more the way I wanted.

My eyes were slowly closing.

With my parched mouth and nose, I struggled to draw in breath.

‘Even at night, being with you like this isn’t scary.’

‘Then let’s always stay together.’

‘Okay, let’s ask this charm to protect the two of us.’

What was that? A conversation from my childhood suddenly surfaced.

A green pendant clenched tightly in my hand, and a small boy holding my other hand just as tightly.

Father definitely said the green pendant was something Grandmother gave me.

‘Then how old was I when this happened?’

The memory faded again.

I drifted through my thoughts, scattered and unfocused. Once more, they returned to Ehit.

That was when my gaze landed on the object in the corner, covered with a black cloth.