I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 137

Yeshion shrieked and frantically submerged himself in the water.

Eldis, watching Yeshion with only his head sticking out, spoke with a voice tinged with laughter.

“You’ll collapse if you stay like that. Come out a little more.”

With a short comment, he stepped confidently into the bath.

Yeshion’s eyes unconsciously scanned his body as he approached—wearing only a white towel around his waist.

‘I thought it was just the uniform making him look broad…’

Not quite to Adelio’s level, but Eldis also had a strong, well-built frame. A body with no excess fat, lean muscle subtly defined beneath his skin, as if he’d been training—so starkly different from Yeshion’s soft and slim figure.

His chest, his defined abs, and then, as Yeshion’s gaze fell lower to the towel…

‘Wha… what the…’

Normally, with a towel, you couldn’t see anything. But this one, perfectly dry and clinging just so, made it blatantly obvious.

Staring with wide eyes and parted lips, Yeshion froze until Eldis, with a rare flash of teeth, smiled and said…

“Pervert.”

“Hff…!”

Yeshion whipped his head away, face burning.

Then Eldis, without unwrapping the towel, stepped into the bath and sat down. Water sloshed over the edge, and silence filled the air between them.

Yeshion swallowed dryly and timidly turned his body.

He hadn’t expected anyone to come, so he hadn’t even bothered wrapping himself up. Now, all he could feel was how scrawny and unpresentable he must look in comparison.

“Why are you sitting so far away?”

It was Eldis who broke the silence.

When Yeshion turned just slightly at the sound of the voice, he found golden eyes staring gently at him.

“I didn’t go far… You’re the one who sat over there first, Archpriest.”

“Then it’s okay if I come closer?”

“No—that’s not…!”

Before he could finish, Eldis rose to his feet and moved closer. The damp towel clung to his lower body, leaving little to the imagination.

Flustered, Yeshion quickly averted his gaze, only to hear a quiet chuckle above him.

“You can look if you want.”

“…W-What are you even saying?! I didn’t see anything!”

“Then let’s just say you didn’t.”

At his teasing tone, Yeshion’s face turned a deep red. Mumbling nonsense like, “The bath water’s really hot…” he tried to play it off, but Eldis spoke again, this time more quietly.

“You’ve been worrying over something pointless, haven’t you?”

“…Excuse me?”

“About why I like you.”

“…Did you hear all that?”

Yeshion looked mortified, but thankfully, since his back was turned, Eldis couldn’t see his expression.

“Yes. I heard both times.”

“That’s… well, I mean…”

“I don’t recall ever needing a reason to say I liked you. Did that reckless bastard say something stupid?”

At the sour words, Yeshion blinked.

A reckless bastard… Was he talking about Adelio?

Just as he was beginning to piece it together, realization hit and he turned to Eldis in shock.

“…Wait, did His Highness tell you?!”

“That he confessed? Yes, I heard. That’s why I’m asking…wondering if he said anything out of line.”

“No, he didn’t say anything like that…”

“If he didn’t, then why are you worrying about it?”

Yeshion fell silent at that question.

It really was a big deal to him.

Under Eldis’s gaze, gently urging him to speak, Yeshion slowly lowered his eyes and moved his lips.

“…Because I’m scared.”

“What are you afraid of?”

Eldis’s voice was softer than ever, as he asked. Something in that tone made Yeshion feel like he was truly being listened to. After a long silence, he finally answered.

“…I’m afraid that if I become useless, everyone will leave.”

That was what it came down to. The root of all the running, the hiding, the fear.

That this was a feeling born out of need. That if he became utterly useless and dispensable, he would be abandoned.