Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 78

So I guess people who are meant to succeed can do anything and still succeed.

After harvesting a few more pieces of Bazan nearby, Ehit handed them to me.

“Thank you.”

I reached out to take them, but he pulled his hand back again.

Was he giving it and then taking it away?

After grasping at empty air, I looked up at him. Ehit spoke with a hardened gaze.

“What do I do with this?”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you making medicine?”

“Well, first you have to grind it…….”

The moment I said that, Ehit immediately started crushing the Bazan against a hollow stone.

In no time at all, the Bazan leaves turned into mashed herbs and juice, and were handed back to me.

Still sitting down, I infused the herbs with holy power.

While I worked, Ehit sat facing me, staring as if he were a visitor watching a demonstration.

“……Why are you staring?”

I paused and asked.

He glanced at the herbs and replied,

“Continue.”

His voice was stiff, almost angry. Was something bothering him?

Yet the next moment, he took out a handkerchief and gently wiped away my cold sweat.

A man who felt oddly kind.

A man I really couldn’t understand.
A man who kept confusing me.

I focused again on finishing the medicine. Only after I was done did I finally breathe out.

I wrapped the herbs in cloth and tied them around my swollen hand.

‘My hands are numb…… it’s hard to do this.’

Before I could ask for help, Ehit stepped in and helped tie it. Since it was difficult with one hand, I quietly let him.

Outside the cave, the rain was still pouring.

As he tied the cloth, only the sound of rain echoed through the cave.

“If it hurts, you should say so.”

Breaking the silence mixed with rain, Ehit spoke. It sounded almost like a mutter, but it was clearly meant for me.

But more than the pain of this poison, I hated the idea of him finding out where it came from.

“It was nothing. I could’ve handled it on my own.”

“You know that’s foolish, right?”

“……I had my reasons.”

“What reasons? I know. You’ll soon—”

Ehit swallowed the words that seemed to rise to his throat.

I was curious what he’d been about to say, but usually, learning one thing meant giving up another.

And besides—

‘Cold! So cold!’

I was too cold to ask anything.

Instead of replying, I shut my mouth and shivered. The poison in my hand was settling down, but the cold wasn’t.

The rain showed no sign of stopping.

When would it stop? There was no way we could push through that rain.

“We can’t go now.”

“It does look that way.”

Brr, it’s cold.

I hugged myself and crouched down. Ehit stood there, looking at me.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Even asking that made my voice shake.

After standing still with a stiff expression, Ehit walked over.

He sat right next to me, close enough that our shoulders and arms touched.

I tried to scoot away, feeling it was too close, but Ehit glanced at me.

“This is for body heat.”

He reached out and cupped his hand around my ear.

Then he gently pulled me against his shoulder.

‘Warm.’

It really was much warmer than being alone. Warmth that only existed because there were two people.

I looked up at the owner of that warmth. Ehit glanced at me, then wrapped his arm around my shoulders as if holding me.

“I’ll say this again, Dapflen, this is—”

“I know. It’s for body heat.”

I was sure of it.

Because holding Ehit like this really did make things warmer—for me, and probably for him too.

So I could believe there was no other intention. Just something practical.

But not everything he did or said felt that simple.
Sometimes, there were words that made me want to think otherwise, actions that confused me.

For example—

“Then why did you come here?”

“I told you. I wouldn’t let someone who looked like they were about to collapse go alone.”

This.

The old Ehit would’ve just stopped me from going, or sent someone else with me.

Then why follow me himself?
If it wasn’t surveillance like before, then why?

“I get it. So this is just kindness, right?”

I knew it was. Just “kindness.”

Everything Ehit did could be explained that way.

Thinking about other intentions was pointless and meaningless in the end.

But just like how situations don’t always go the way I want, thoughts don’t either.

Even controlling my own thoughts felt hard.

His large hand rubbed my shoulder slightly, warming me up. After a while, I felt much warmer than before.

Just pressing up against this cold man made things this warm. It was almost strange.

I heard Ehit’s voice near my ear.

“May I ask one question?”

“Are you really only going to ask one?”

“For now.”

Still holding my arm, Ehit asked,

“What did you say to my mother?”

“What?”

“She sent me a letter. Not a telegram—a handwritten letter.”

“Naya did?”

Even though I’d dropped my prejudice against Naya, she still didn’t seem like the type to write handwritten letters.

And the way Ehit said “handwritten letter” carried all the emotion that phrase implied.

It meant she hadn’t written something cold and formal—she’d sent something soft, something heartfelt.

“It doesn’t seem unrelated to you.”

“What did it say?”

“‘To my beloved sweet little Ehit…….’”

With an extremely stiff and serious face, Ehit began reciting the letter.

The moment I heard the first line, a laugh slipped out.

Our eyes met at close range. Ehit’s face grew even more serious, like he couldn’t understand what was funny.

“Ah, sorry.”

“It’s fine. Considering your relationship with Countess Aileta…… those words might sound sincere to you. But my mother and I are not close.”

Right. In the original story, and even now, Ehit firmly believed that.

Given Naya’s behavior, it made sense.

Unexpressed sincerity has no power to overturn prejudice—unless it’s actually shown.

‘Still, she really tried, Naya.’

Writing things like my sweet in a letter, and all.

‘Though the one who received it seems to think there’s some hidden motive…….’

Ehit still looked serious.

“Why is your relationship so bad?”

“I’m not my mother’s biological child. She’s ambitious, greedy for power, and ruthless. To someone like that, I must look like a stain.”

“Then what about you?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you hate Naya, then?”

At my question, Ehit went quiet. He thought for a moment.

Was he choosing his words?
Or was he really thinking about how he felt?

Then he answered.

“……No.”

“Then, Ehit, this might sound nosy, but.”

I hesitated again, but since I’d already started meddling in Naya’s affairs, I felt like I should see it through.

“Couldn’t it be the same for Naya, too?”

“Judging by her actions, it’s hard to think so.”

“But your actions don’t really look like you don’t dislike her either.”

“That’s…….”

Ehit fell silent again.

“I admit that.”

“Right? So maybe Naya feels the same way.”

“I doubt it.”

“Just try opening your heart a little.”

For a while, Ehit didn’t answer. A troubled look crossed his brow as he considered my words.

“Sometimes, the person we think someone is isn’t who they really are. Haven’t you ever experienced that, Ehit?”

He looked at me quietly for a moment, then replied softly,

“I have.”

“Exactly. You can’t know sincerity until it’s expressed. That letter might be the beginning of hers.”

Ehit nodded. Seeing that, I smiled.

It felt like their relationship might change, even just a little.

It would still take time, though.

“But why did you think Naya’s letter had something to do with me?”

“Because it was full of you.”

“Really?”

“She wrote about coming to the villa with you before winter, sending delicious food for you to eat together. Every other line had your name in it.”

“That sounds nice.”

“What’s nice about that? We don’t even know her intentions—”

“Didn’t you say you’d try taking it at face value?”

“……That’s true.”

For someone who looked completely unconvinced, he answered quickly.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I really don’t know why I’m laughing.”

Still smiling, I looked straight at Ehit.

He turned his gaze away, toward the cave entrance.

“The rain’s stopped.”

It really must have been a sudden shower. Before our soaked hair and clothes could dry, blue light peeked through the clearing sky.

I shifted my gaze back to Ehit.

I thought he’d still be looking at the sky—but he was looking at me.

Our eyes met.

“Shall we go?”

Instead of answering, Ehit lowered the arm that had been holding me and tightly took my hand.