I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 107
Why was he still alive?
His body was certainly in terrible condition—enough that death wouldn’t have been surprising—but it wasn’t as though he was on the verge of dying immediately.
Moreover, the tone of that question held no joy at all. Rather, the priest sounded as if Yeshion being alive was a problem in itself.
“What…do you mean…?”
His voice was barely audible, too faint to reach the priest standing across from him.
“Yes. Actually, I was already on my way to kill you.”
The priest calmly observed Yeshion, then slowly pulled out a dagger from inside his robes. As Yeshion flinched back in shock, the priest muttered in a voice half-mad.
“If I kill you and take your head…maybe they’ll release them…”
“W-what…?”
“You don’t understand, do you? Neither do I! Why should the temple collapse just because of your mistakes? And why is the Archpriest protecting you?”
Yeshion stumbled backward.
Each word the priest spat out dripped with venomous hatred.
“If I offer up your head…perhaps everything can go back to normal. You were bound to die anyway! So give me your head for the sake of the temple!”
Fury and grief filled that desperate cry, and in that moment, Yeshion understood. This was one of the tragic futures born from the villain ‘Yeshion’ surviving when he should have died.
‘Because I couldn’t wake up for so long…’
He’d failed to change anything.
In the original story, Yeshion was a notorious villain. He’d tried to alter that future, but after nearly dying at Edward’s hands, his efforts had ultimately failed.
Perhaps the group Yeshion had once belonged to had attacked the imperial family, and he was being blamed as the mastermind behind it all.
‘If I’m still here…’
It must mean Eldis and Adelio had used every means possible to keep him from being taken away.
With the temple refusing to hand Yeshion over, it was clear the imperial family was pressuring the temple. Perhaps, like in the original story, innocent priests had already lost their lives.
Yeshion clenched his fists tightly.
He’d realized too late.
…He thought he could change something.
Or maybe there had been opportunities he ignored in an attempt to run away, and when he finally tried to act, it was already too late.
‘Because I didn’t do anything…’
Had he been arrogant? Had it been foolish bravado?
In the end, he’d achieved nothing.
‘If I had another chance, would it make any difference?’
Could he genuinely recreate that voice—one he’d used with weary resignation on his eighteenth try—without any falsehood?
No, that was impossible.
Even if he followed the same steps, things would never turn out identical again.
‘I’d need a different method…’
To think that the final thoughts he had before dying were worries about whether he could become close again with Adelio, Eldis, and Rosaline.
‘I really opened my heart too much, didn’t I…’
Yeshion stood blankly as the priest lunged at him, smiling bitterly. He wanted to dodge the sharp dagger, but his weakened body no longer obeyed his will.
When that blade flashed toward him, Yeshion closed his eyes.
But in that instant—
“Yeshion!”
—a panicked voice rang out, and strong arms pulled him into a tight embrace.
Yeshion’s eyes flew open wide. Almost immediately, the sickening sound of flesh penetrating the skin.
“A-Archpriest…?”
The attacking priest froze in shock, staring back and forth between his hand and Eldis. Deeply embedded beneath Eldis’s shoulder blade, blood began staining his robes a dark crimson.
As though the blade had been coated in poison, blackened blood spilled from Eldis’s mouth. Exactly as it had for Yeshion when he’d once collapsed from poisoning.
“I-I’m sorry…! Th-this, this wasn’t… I didn’t mean…!”
Stammering frantically, the priest glanced around, hastily yanked out the dagger, and then turned, fleeing quickly down the hall.
“Ghh….”
Meanwhile, Eldis—who’d held Yeshion tightly, shielding him from further attack—collapsed to his knees as soon as the priest disappeared.
“Ye…shion…”
The poison was spreading quickly, draining the color from Eldis’s face. Yet even now, he only looked at Yeshion, desperately scanning his face for injuries.
“So it’s true…you’re really…awake…”
“Why…why did you…”
Yeshion’s lips trembled. Eldis had embraced him without hesitation, fully aware of what would happen.
“You…you shouldn’t be moving yet… So, why did you get up…?”
