Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 84

“Pardon?”

“Nothing with the word ‘life’ attached is unimportant in life. That’s why I’m asking. Just because.”

If it’s something I want to try…… is this about talking about some kind of romantic fantasy with a fiancé?

If it’s something like that…….

“Ah, I have thought about something like that before.”

“What kind of thought?”

“Just… I wish we could walk all day?”

At my wish, which sounded like I was about to enter a marathon, a puzzled look appeared on Ehit’s face.

It wasn’t really a healthy sports kind of thing. It was more of a small, cozy feeling—walking while chatting softly until the sun set…….

Ehit’s face looked like he had fallen into deep thought.

“No, this is just a fantasy about a purely imaginary fiancé. Ehit, you don’t need to do that for me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Pardon?”

“The fiancé is me.”

For some reason, an instant of intense coldness flickered across Ehit’s expression.

“No, I mean, a fantasy about an imaginary fiancé…….”

“When reality already exists, what use is something imaginary?”

Ehit said this as he loosened his warm hand around mine.

“Let’s go. For a walk.”

He adjusted his grip on my hand, then took the lead toward the beach.

“Ehit?”

“You said it was a fantasy. With your fiancé.”

“Well, that’s true, but…….”

And somehow, we started walking together again. And that time was even enjoyable.

But I kept feeling like something was being overlooked. Like I was turning my head away from an important problem instead of facing it.

By the time we were walking back to the mansion while chatting about this and that, I felt like I understood the reason for that feeling.

First of all, I didn’t know why Ehit was doing this with me.

It was clearly not something like surveillance, which I had been worrying about earlier.

Then what was it?

I had known for a long time that he didn’t welcome this engagement either.

So why did he want to do something together that I expected from a ‘fiancé’? With what kind of feelings?

And second.

‘Why does his expression keep being so serious!’

Even in the middle of pleasant conversations, his face would suddenly turn serious. With that expression while walking with me, it was impossible not to feel like a storm was about to break.

In the end, just before entering the mansion, I stopped Ehit and asked.

“You know… is something going on, Ehit?”

“Nothing.”

“Do you have something you’re worried about?”

Ehit delayed his answer, but after I asked about three more times, he finally turned his head away and said,

“…I know. That there isn’t much time left.”

“Huh? No, what on earth are you talking about?”

It was the same at the bookstore earlier. Why was he saying things like that?

“I know everything, you…….”

A flash of pain crossed Ehit’s face as he stood with the maple-lined hill and the sea behind him.

Was he really dealing with some huge worry?

“Soon.”

“Soon?”

But the moment I heard his answer—

“I mean that you’re going to die.”

I forgot all my previous thoughts, and my mind went blank.

“Pardon?”

What?

“…?”

I replayed his words, wondering if I’d misheard him. Three seconds later, I understood what he meant.

“What?!”

If the first “Pardon?” had sounded light, the second one was far more chilling.

‘He’s saying I’m going to die soon?’

Having just been told of a sudden death ending, I blinked blankly.

Ehit looked pained, as if he had forced himself to say something terribly difficult.

“Um… are you going to kill me?”

I asked, completely pale.

At my words, Ehit’s pupils shook. Frowning deeply, he shouted as if it were absurd.

“Why would I kill you!”

“It’s not that?”

“It’s not!”

If that wasn’t the case, then that was a relief. I had wondered if something had happened that I didn’t know about and couldn’t fix.

But then what on earth did he mean?

‘Why would I die?’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand.

Meanwhile, Ehit seemed to be chewing over my words as well.

“Did you really think I would harm you?”

Ehit said, looking rather shocked.

“That’s not what I thought.”

“Then what did you mean?”

The word “harm” didn’t quite fit. It might have sounded contradictory from Ehit’s point of view, but to me, it wasn’t.

“I just thought that you might… a little….”

Then how should I explain it?

Why, if I were to die, I thought I could find the cause in Ehit.

Right. It was probably this.

“…I thought you would hate me.”

“Me?”

“Yes. When we first met, you really seemed to hate this engagement. So…….”

Why am I even saying all this? It feels like I’m laying out my feelings in an overly sentimental way.

Sometimes, when I talk to Ehit, it’s like that. Even emotions that don’t really need to be said—I end up wanting him to understand them.

Like I’m sulking.

Deep down, do I want Ehit to care about me more if I do this? Or is it just that, since we’re spending time together right now, I want us to adjust to each other?

‘Though there’s actually no need to adjust…….’

Whether my family is destroyed by Ehit’s hand, or I present a letter breaking off the engagement, this relationship probably won’t last long anyway.

“That’s how it was before! It’s not like that now!”

Dragging out my words, I hurriedly added in a brighter voice.

I rushed to make excuses, but honestly, it was something I couldn’t really know.

What Ehit thinks of me now.

He’s not someone who’s used to opening up emotionally.

What he thinks when he looks at me, whether the contemptuous looks he once gave me are truly gone.

I couldn’t be sure of any of that.

Still, it didn’t feel right to honestly lay all of that out here.

“So please don’t worry abou— Ehit?”

Trying to smooth things over, I lifted my head—and stopped mid-sentence when I saw Ehit’s expression.

His clenched fist, veins bulging, was filled with a complex emotion I couldn’t describe.

His reddened eyes almost looked angry at first glance, but if you looked closely, they seemed more like sadness.

I stepped closer to him, carefully examining his face.

His eyes had always been dry and indifferent, but today they were full of heat.

It was a side of him I had never seen before.

Ehit turned his head away.

“What’s wrong, Ehit?”

He answered quietly, as if letting out a breath.

“You said it’s not true, but you don’t need to force yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going to die soon, aren’t you?”

There were too many things I didn’t understand, and my head went blank.

I didn’t know why he kept thinking that in the first place.

And I couldn’t understand why that thought made his expression so serious.

“No! Why would I die, Ehit!”

Because he looked so grave, I replied in a deliberately joking tone—but then a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Did he see the future through foresight?’

Could it be that Ehit saw the future with his ability, and in that future, I died?

Following the original story’s route, did our family completely fall apart, and did I collapse from the shock and die?

Thinking that, a chill ran through my body.

‘Should I start mental training right now? So even if my family is destroyed, I won’t die from the shock?’

No. No.

I barely pulled myself together and hardened my resolve.

‘I thought it could be changed. The original story isn’t an absolute truth, and nothing is set in stone.’

With my fingers trembling inside my clenched fist, I reaffirmed that thought.

Even if Ehit saw the future, that doesn’t mean it has to happen as it did. It was something that could be changed.

Of course, even thinking that didn’t erase all my anxiety.

But I couldn’t just wait, trembling, for death to come.

“Ehit.”

I called out to him, putting strength into my voice.

One of the easiest ways to change the future is to declare it.

To keep saying it, repeating it—to yourself and to others—so you consciously push away a future that must not come.

“I don’t know why you think that, but I’m not going to die.”

I shouted with all my determination.

“Daflen. I truly already know everything.”

Ehit let his head droop to the side.

So he really did see it through foresight.

My uneasy certainty grew stronger, but I spoke to him in an even firmer tone.

“I really mean it!”

Ehit sniffed once with frightening eyes, then stared straight at me.

“I’m serious. Really, really, really. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“…Okay.”

“Got it?”

“Yes. I understand.”

Ehit replied in a voice that sounded like he was forcing himself to swallow something heavy.

Still, there was hope. Seeing how distressed he was over my future, it didn’t seem like Ehit wanted me to die.

Since we’d spent time together and grown somewhat attached, I even found myself hoping that he might think of me as a friend, at least.

“Ehit.”

I held his cheeks with both hands and turned his face back toward me.

Standing in front of a fiancé with a time limit, declaring that I wouldn’t die.

My life, and his life—everything felt unstable.

But ironically, in the middle of all that, the fact that Ehit was worried about me made me a little happy.

That feeling.

In that strange mix of emotions, the day was passing by.

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

That evening.

Soaking in the bathtub, I thought to myself.

‘Was that why he was paying attention to me?’