Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? – Chapter 67

Author: Asternkm

I felt miserable that this was the best thing I could come up with…….

From among the servants, I heard someone sharply inhale. When I glanced sideways, their faces were deeply flushed.

But what mattered was Ehit’s expression.

If he looked like he was thinking “What nonsense is this?”, then it would all be pointless. And there was a very high chance that he would.

“…….”

Looks like I was right after all.

Ehit didn’t even blink. His face was completely blank.

‘Yeah, figures. Then how am I supposed to escape this hell of thirty eyeballs now…….’

I was letting out a sigh deep enough to cave the floor in when Ehit turned his head slightly and jerked his chin toward the back.

Starting with Merier, the maids and servants quickly lined up and left the room in an instant.

“……?”

Huh. He actually did what I wanted.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” he asked.

“……I mean, yes.”

It was, but now that he’d really done it, I felt oddly confused.

“I sent them out, but I’ll have a few stationed outside the room. Please understand that much.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Ehit lifted his arm slightly and gestured at me.

Only then did I realize I was still gripping his clothes tightly.

“It looked like you were planning to hold on all day if I didn’t give you what you wanted.”

“That part’s true.”

“So. You wanted to be alone with me?”

“No, I meant that you probably wanted to,” I said quickly, backtracking.

I denied it as fast as I could. Ehit probably didn’t think I was serious anyway.

“I didn’t think that.”

“I know.”

“I’m serious. And the one who said they wanted that was clearly you, Dapflen.”

“Yes, that’s true, but it’s not.”

“…….”

“You didn’t think I was serious either, did you?”

“…….”

“Wait. Did you?”

After a short silence, Ehit suddenly closed the distance between us.

He placed one hand on the bedside and met my eyes from up close.

‘……What?’

Maybe because I was startled, my heart flared hot and started pounding.

Ehit held my gaze like that for several seconds—no, maybe tens of seconds, or even minutes—before speaking.

“No. Of course not.”

“R-right?”

At my words, Ehit nodded slowly, still staring straight at me.

How can someone not look away like that?

I forced myself to look calm and turned my eyes aside.

“…….”

It was strange. The dozens of gazes were gone. There was only one person left looking at me now.

So why did I feel more conscious of his gaze than when so many people were staring?

Silence filled the room with just the two of us.

Ehit acted like someone who didn’t know how to break silence on purpose. In the end, the one who couldn’t stand it because of their pounding heart had to speak.

After thinking for a while about what to say, something suddenly came to mind.

That mirror. The one in that room.

“There was a strange mirror in that room.”

“Yes. I heard it wasn’t just strange, but dangerous.”

He answered as if he hadn’t known about it before.

Well, it wasn’t that strange for Ehit not to know everything. The estate was huge, and he wasn’t always in the capital.

“So you didn’t know about that mirror either, Ehit?”

“Not just the mirror—I didn’t even know about the room itself. Though it seems shameless to say that to you.”

“Really? I guess it did look like the kind of room someone would hide things in.”

“Then why did you follow someone into a room like that?”

“How was I supposed to know something like this would happen? And it’s not my fault. A servant of this estate called for me—I just followed.”

That left Ehit with nothing to argue back.

“That part, I’ll apologize for. You said the servant claimed Mother was calling for you.”

“Yes, but well… it was just the servant’s word, so we can’t be sure.”

“Have you spoken with Mother?”

“No, not yet.”

“I’ll speak with her myself.”

“No! I’ll do it.”

I wanted to ask—but I hesitated to do so lightly.

Before, I’d been sure of what kind of answer Naya would give. What kind of reaction she’d show. What kind of person she was.

‘But now…… I don’t know.’

So I changed the subject for now.

“Anyway, about that mirror. It was really strange. The moment I looked at it, I saw something like a vision.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get trapped inside the illusion.”

“Did people get trapped?”

“That’s why it was kept in a room like that.”

A chill ran through me. I hadn’t known it was that dangerous.

“What did you see?”

“That’s a secret.”

“You hide the strangest things.”

“Honestly, I can’t remember it clearly right now either.”

The mood felt a bit heavy, so I joked that maybe I should go look at it again.

“Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“It shattered.”

“…….”

I blinked a few times, then asked,

“Did I break it?”

“Yes.”

“…….”

The unexpected property damage left me pretty shaken.

I really had no right telling my brothers not to get into debt. I’d gone and smashed a huge, weird mirror.

I covered my mouth with both hands, scrambling for an excuse, then settled on apologizing.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s nothing to apologize for.”

“I do have a conscience, Ehit.”

“That’s not what I mean. Rather, Cloyden should be thanking you.”

For what exactly?

“That room was sealed long ago. It held a magical artifact passed down through Cloyden. It was dangerous, but the church refused to purify it.”

“What? Why?”

“They said only someone compatible with Cloyden’s mana could do it. So the artifact was locked in that room, and the room itself was hidden. Since it wasn’t a good thing, it seems they tried to keep knowledge of it limited.”

“Then that servant just entered a room like that so easily?”

“Not easily. They used a key.”

Ehit’s long fingers tapped lightly against his knee.

“It feels like exposing a shameful matter, but since it involves you, I’ll continue. On the day our seal was stolen, Cloyden also lost the key to that room. I didn’t even know the room existed, so I had no idea.”

“So that cherry-haired woman used that key to open it.”

“Yes. From what I heard, she worked at this estate long ago. I don’t know how she learned about the room’s existence.”

“Then…….”

“Enough talk.”

Ehit reached out and cupped my cheek with one hand.

I gasped in surprise. For someone who always looked so still, his actions were always sudden.

And those actions always flustered me.

“You still have a fever. You need to rest.”

Because I was flustered—because I was startled—my face was burning like this.

I clenched my teeth, desperately holding back a hiccup.

Ehit stood up. I watched his back as he left the room, then buried my face deep into the blankets of the now truly empty room.

****

Thanks to Ehit’s excessive concern, my strength almost fully recovered within a few days.

And during that time, I continued staying at the Cloyden estate in the capital.

“Does it seem like you’ve fully recovered?”

Inside a reception room filled with antique furniture, Bella—no, the Duke of Cloyden—asked me while resting her chin on one hand.

“I think so, mostly. Thanks to the excellent medicine… I’ve never felt recovery from exhaustion happen this fast.”

“Still, remaining so composed after such an incident—that suits you.”

“Pardon?”

I echoed the word composed.

“I look composed, ma’am? Or… Duke?”

“Yes. And you may continue calling me Madam Bella.”

“Please don’t tease me.”

Even as I said that, the Duke smiled leisurely, clearly teasing me. It made me wonder if she’d arranged the marriage proposal just to mess with me.

“You really won’t tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“Why you arranged a marriage proposal with me, specifically.”

“Well…….”

The Duke looked like she had no intention of telling me the real reason. After thinking for a moment, she gave an answer that barely counted as one.

“I’ll say just this. I’m betting heavily on your potential.”

“Based on what?”

“On how calmly you handled even something like this.”

“I wasn’t calm at all.”

“In life, all kinds of things happen, like what you went through a few days ago. And only those who endure and accept those times properly get to see better days.”

“……?”

I hadn’t endured or accepted anything. I’d just suffered.

The Duke seemed to think highly of me—but I had no idea why she thought that.

“I think you may be misunderstanding me. You trust me too much.”

“I even trust the version of you that you don’t know yourself.”

“What does that mean?”

“In the end, you made it through, didn’t you? Just keep doing the same for what comes next.”

She smiled meaningfully and reached out to pat the back of my hand lightly.

“If you think of it all as something that will pass, nothing will feel overwhelmingly hard.”

“You’re not saying something bad is going to happen to me again, are you?”

“Haha. Just advice from an old person who’s lived a long life.”

The Duke smiled and lifted her teacup. I followed suit and took a sip.