I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 159
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Eldis looked at the priests standing before him.
“So you’re telling me that Priest Yeshion said not to be looked for?”
“Yes, Archpriest.”
At Matthew’s answer, Eldis turned his eyes to Adelio, who had just arrived at the temple.
Judging by how he’d immediately caused a fuss asking where Yeshion was, it didn’t seem like any of this was Adelio’s doing.
“How strange. I was supposed to have dinner with Priest Yeshion this evening.”
“Priest Yeshion breaking promises isn’t anything new, so please don’t trouble yourself too much.”
“Hmm…”
“If you’re worried he might be holding something over you, there’s no need to be concerned.”
Matthew lowered his voice to a whisper only Eldis could hear.
‘Holding something over me?’
Eldis briefly raised an eyebrow. Then he realized it, that rumor circulating within the temple.
The same old story, that Eldis was being blackmailed by Yeshion, which is why he hadn’t kicked him out of the temple.
And now, on top of that, there were rumors they were dating.
Some had gone as far as to say, “The Archpriest is being used like a fool.”
Eldis slowly turned his head and looked down at Matthew. His golden eyes gleamed coldly, unreadable.
“…Guh!”
Matthew dropped to the floor as if something invisible had gripped his throat.
“Matthew!”
“W-What the…! Khh…!”
He wasn’t the only one. The other priests clutched their throats, bodies twisting as they struggled to breathe.
When they began to froth at the mouth, Eldis calmly reached down and picked up the underground prison key that had fallen from Matthew’s pocket.
“Seems Priest Yeshion is being kept in the dungeon. Would you be so kind as to fetch him?”
“Me? You’re not going yourself?”
“I would like nothing more, but I think I should deal with these first. And… what I’m about to do now wouldn’t be pleasant for outsiders to see.”
Clicking his tongue, Adelio stood and snatched the key.
“Yeshion should see this side of you.”
“Enough with the nonsense. Go quickly. The dungeon gets quite cold around this time. He could catch a cold.”
As soon as those words were spoken, Adelio burst through the door.
Eldis watched his retreating back for a brief moment, then turned his gaze to the priests.
“I don’t know why you locked Priest Yeshion in the dungeon…”
“..…”
“But priests who commit harm against others should accept their punishments willingly.”
The priests turned pale, their hands still clutching at their throats.
Their expressions also betrayed confusion over how had Eldis even known Yeshion was in the dungeon?
But Eldis gave them no answers.
“Hurting others out of blind emotion… is only an act of destroying oneself.”
He muttered the words, then let out a soft laugh, because the supposed lesson felt more like something he was telling himself.
* * *
“…Yeshion!”
Yeshion, trembling in the corner, looked up at the voice echoing from the top of the stairs. Curled in on himself in the far end of the cell, he slowly lifted his head at the familiar sound.
“Y-Your Highness?”
Standing before the iron bars, Adelio let out a breathless gasp.
He hadn’t expected the dungeon to be this cold, but Eldis hadn’t been exaggerating. Yeshion looked terrible.
Whether the priests had poured water on him or not, he was soaked head to toe.
Adelio hurried to unlock the bars and stepped inside. Yeshion reached out with a face that looked frozen to the bone, and Adelio grabbed his shoulders.
“Take your clothes off. They’re frozen stiff.”
“N-No, I can’t…”
“What do you mean, you can’t? Are you trying to die out here? Or do you like sitting in wet clothes in the middle of winter?”
His tone was sharper than usual, and Adelio scowled.
But Yeshion only bit his lip and glanced up at him nervously. Beneath the priest’s robe, his body was covered in bruises from a previous beating.
Not only that, Eldis’s bite marks hadn’t fully faded either.
