Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 8

“It seems it really is a lie.”

“Please, just trust me once.”

“And what am I supposed to trust?”

“I’m telling you to trust me.”

Ehit looked at me carefully. I met his gaze with sincere eyes and firm determination.

But it didn’t seem to work. Ehit soon turned away and, with his long strides, headed toward Café Redika.

Watching his back, I shouted silently to myself.

‘I warned you properly!’

In the end, the choice was Ehit’s. Even if something did happen, once he realized my words had been true, he would surely see me in a slightly better light.

For now, that was all I needed.

I watched Ehit’s retreating figure for a moment, then turned away.

 

 

***

 

 

“Ehit, what are you staring at so hard?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Right. Now, where was I? Had I already told you about that winter day when my adorable younger sister Aisa first called me ‘big brother’?”

“Yes.”

While the prince was fondly going over his sixty-five memories of the youngest princess, Ehit quietly scanned his surroundings.

‘Please, just trust me once.’

There was no way Dapflen would say something sincere to him. From the moment they first met, she had been full of strange schemes, and later she had done nothing but lie.

And yet, strangely, her eyes when she said those words had carried a hint of truth.

He wasn’t fully believing Dapflen. Even so, she kept bothering him.

“So the very first fallen leaf Aisa picked up is still tucked into page 364, my favorite page of my most treasured book—”

“Your Highness.”

“Yes, Ehit.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to move elsewhere?”

“Is the tea not good? It tastes fine to me.”

“It’s so good that we should move.”

“Hm, very well.”

The two of them stood up from their seats.

“You didn’t bring any guards with you?”

“I brought one, but I sent him to fetch something from a shop for a moment. And besides, with you here, what is there to worry about?”

At that moment, something sharp flew rapidly toward Ehit.

“……!”

It was a dagger—the same kind used by the Ellenka pirate ship they had wiped out not long ago.

It was the work of the remaining pirates. A few had escaped back then, and it seemed they had been lying in wait here.

‘From which side?’

Just then, a pirate wielding a massive ivory-colored blade charged from behind.

The teahouse instantly descended into chaos. The screams of frightened customers mixed with the pirates’ shouts.

There wasn’t just one enemy. After dealing with the one charging from the front, Ehit immediately blocked another.

In the blink of an eye, two men were sprawled at his feet.

“Your Highness, please take cover!”

As he shouted that, Ehit sensed someone approaching from behind with the distinctive footsteps of a pirate.

“No, Ehit, behind you!”

The prince cried out with wide eyes. From behind came the sound of a massive blunt weapon slicing through the air.

But Ehit couldn’t block that attack. At that very moment, another enemy had leapt out from the opposite side, swinging a blade toward the prince.

As a member of the Imperial Navy, it was only natural that the prince’s life came first.

Ehit swung his sword. The enemy’s blade aimed at the prince struck Ehit’s sword and bounced away.

“Aagh!”

With the follow-up strike, the enemy fell at once. And Ehit, too, felt a chill down his spine as he braced for the pain that should come from behind.

But something was strange. Whether a sharp blade cut into his back or a heavy iron weapon smashed his bones, pain should have followed—but there was none.

“Ugh.”

Instead, there was the crash of something like a vase shattering, along with a man’s dull scream.

Ehit immediately turned around. The sunset light streaming in through the window behind was blinding.

When he opened his slightly narrowed eyes again, he saw a woman standing against the light, her green eyes shining brightly.

Ehit’s gaze stopped on her.

“Ar-are you… okay?”

It was Dapflen.

Her face was pale with shock, and the hand with a few drops of blood trembling on it shook like an aspen leaf.

“Ugh….”

In front of her, the man who had been knocked down by the vase was already scrambling back to his feet. He raised a club studded with iron spikes toward Dapflen.

Dapflen had stayed calm even in front of drug dealers, but faced with such a threatening weapon, she froze for a moment. Her round green eyes widened, and her soft lips trembled.

Ehit struck the back of the man’s neck at once. As the man’s knees buckled, Ehit yanked Dapflen forcefully toward himself. Then he kicked the side of the man’s neck, hitting a vital point, and the man finally lost consciousness.

The inside of the teahouse grew quiet. Even the screams had stopped. All Ehit could hear by his ear was Dapflen’s breathing.

She was usually noisy whenever they met, chattering endlessly and asking strange questions.

But now, she wasn’t saying a single word.

“Dapflen.”

Ehit called her name.

Dapflen’s hand was gripping the hem of Ehit’s shirt tightly. He had noticed it back at Salon Ohastein too—Dapflen’s grip was surprisingly strong.

With a soft snap, one of the upper buttons of Ehit’s shirt popped off and fell from her clenched hand. Only then did Dapflen seem startled and release her grip.

She blinked in confusion, staring at the button that had fallen into her hand.

“I’m fine.”

At that moment, Dapflen looked up toward the voice. Their eyes met at very close range.

“……”

In that instant, Ehit felt a very strange emotion. It was something he could only describe as strange.

But before he could even think about what that feeling was—

“Thank you so much!”

The prince’s emotional voice from behind pulled him back to reality.

“Your Highness, are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine, truly fine, thanks to you both.”

After repeatedly thanking Ehit while shaking his hand, the prince turned his gaze to Dapflen. Her neat yet capable appearance was reflected in his eyes.

Ehit instantly read the emotion that flickered there.

Dapflen herself didn’t seem aware of it, but she was quite beautiful. She usually dressed plainly, but if she put in some effort, she was the kind of woman who would draw attention immediately at a social gathering.

Of course, the prince wasn’t rude enough to point that out the moment he met someone.

“I must thank you as well. You’re my savior. May I ask your name?”

“I am Dapflen of the Aileta family.”

Yet the moment Ehit saw the light fill the prince’s eyes upon hearing her voice and name, he felt an unreasonably irritated mood rise within him.

“Oh, the Aileta family? That’s a family with quite a long history, isn’t it! I’m truly glad and grateful.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I was truly impressed by the wit and courage you showed just now.”

“Thank you.”

“So, if I may ask—do you have any plans for tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?”

Caught off guard by the prince’s sudden question, Dapflen blinked. Once again, she looked like she hadn’t grasped his intention at all.

She must have realized that the prince was showing interest in her and was just pretending not to notice—acting innocent and naïve on purpose.

‘Surely… that must be it.’

But strangely, this time it didn’t seem that way.

“Tomorrow… well, I’m a healer, so I’ll go to the medical center for work. And then…”

With a serious expression, Dapflen listed her daily schedule, truly looking like someone who hadn’t even guessed the prince’s intention.

It was strange. Really strange.

“I see. Do you have any other plans besides that?”

“No, other than that…”

“She does.”

Ehit answered in Dapflen’s place. Both Dapflen and the prince turned their eyes to him.

“You know she has plans. She’ll be attending the banquet, won’t she?”

“Yes. Didn’t you tell me to come with my fiancée?”

Dapflen’s eyes went wide. Ehit himself didn’t understand what he was doing either.

What am I even saying right now?

And yet, watching Dapflen stare at him with wide eyes in front of the prince gave him an oddly uncontrollable feeling.

“So that’s why you refused to tell me which family she was from…”

“This is her, Your Highness.”

Dapflen’s eyes widened even further.

“Th-this is true?”

And Ehit, contrary to his own heart, calmly nodded and answered with composure.

“Yes. This lady is my fiancée, Lady Dapflen.”

He was saying it himself. With his own mouth.

A brief silence fell.

It was the first time Ehit had introduced his partner to others since the engagement. It wasn’t something he welcomed, but Dapflen would probably be pleased.

“Lady Dapflen, are you truly the fiancée of Ehit that I’ve only heard rumors about?”

If Dapflen had clung so desperately to being connected to him that she had even managed to sway his grandmother, the duchess—

“Ah… y-yes.”

But Dapflen wore an expression of deep embarrassment, as if she’d been hit by bird droppings while walking down the street.

Why that expression?

Ehit’s lips stiffened in confusion at her unexpected reaction.

“I’m so happy to hear that two such brave people are engaged. I wish nothing but happiness for your future together.”

“Thank you.”

“Lady Dapflen, you’ll be attending my dear sister Aisa’s birthday banquet as well. This is wonderful.”

The prince clapped his hands and offered his congratulations to the two of them.

All the while, Dapflen kept glancing sideways at Ehit as if asking what was going on.

Ehit, unable to understand even that look, simply stood there with a deeply troubled expression.