I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 165
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Eldis left with Adelio to prepare the ritual, and Yeshion headed to the garden with Rosaline.
It was a secluded place, one Rosaline often wandered to alone, sitting absentmindedly for long stretches of time.
Yeshion settled into a spot he deemed suitable and opened his mouth several times.
How should he begin?
How could he word it so it would be easiest for Rosaline to accept?
He wrestled with it for a while, but Rosaline didn’t rush him. He simply waited for him to speak.
“I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”
“Hm?”
“Opening up… it’s harder than I thought.”
At those words, Rosaline’s eyes widened.
A long time ago, after the Yeshion she had once known lost his memories and became someone different.
He’d said something to him then.
“Even the smallest things are fine. Meaningless chatter too. I just want to hear you speak. I want to know you a little more.”
“I can wait. So take your time, even if it’s slow.”
He had thought he’d forgotten. Unlike the real ‘Yeshion,’ this one never shared what was inside him.
As Rosaline gaped in surprise, Yeshion twitched his nose and looked straight ahead.
“I read a prophecy book.”
“……”
“In that prophecy… the one behind all of this, ‘Yeshion,’ was already dead.
Yeshion slowly explained what he had read in the original work. In the novel, the main character wasn’t ‘Yeshion,’ but ‘Rosaline.’ And even if the main leads didn’t love Rosaline in the original, the guilt that rose in him was too much to bear.
“In that prophecy… the Crown Prince and the Archpriest don’t obsess over a woman, but over the Saintess.”
As if they had found their last oasis in a desolate life. They wanted ‘Saintess Rosaline,’ and he tried desperately to save them.
But Yeshion couldn’t bring himself to speak of how that story ended.
He knew that saying he would end up imprisoned in the temple’s underground, without solving anything, would only hurt him.
“Then, Yeshion… you’re someone who appeared to stop our lives from following that prophecy?”
“……”
“You didn’t like how it ended, right?”
Yeshion’s eyes widened.
Even though he had omitted every painful, anguished detail, Rosaline was acting as if he knew everything.
“How did you…”
“The Yeshion I’ve come to know is someone who would quietly step back, satisfied if I said I was happy.”
If it were the real ‘Yeshion,’ he wouldn’t have caught on even hearing those words.
The Yeshion Rosaline had known would sometimes accept kindness, sometimes reject it violently.
But the person who now lived in the real Yeshion’s body was more transparent and honest than anyone. His kindness was clear, and even if he didn’t say everything, he never lied.
“And just by the fact that you brought this up… I think you feel bad that the two of them are focused on you instead of me”
With every word that spilled from Rosaline’s mouth, Yeshion’s head lowered further.
“…You’re right.”
Rosaline watched him quietly, hugging her knees, and whispered.
“It’s true I feel a little disappointed.”
“…..!”
“But not because those two don’t look at me. It’s something else.”
Yeshion slowly turned his head toward Rosaline.
Seeing his golden eyes now filling with guilt, Rosaline smiled as if he had expected it.
“…There’s no room for me to squeeze into the three of you. That’s what really disappoints me.”
“…What?”
“In the beginning, I was the first one clinging to you, asking to be friends. But when I finally looked up, I’d already been left behind.”
Murmuring, Rosaline reached out and held Yeshion’s fingertips.
“I know those two like you. And of course, I really like you too.”
“……”
“I want to hang out, eat good food with you… Oh! I want to watch festivals together, stay up all night talking and fall asleep by your side.”
It wasn’t the same kind of emotion Eldis or Adelio held. Rather, it was a desire to spend time with Yeshion, to be beside him.
A different shape, but still, Rosaline really liked him.
“So it’s okay. And like I said, Crown Prince types are totally not my thing.”
“……”
“Well… maybe if I were really hurting, if I needed help, I might’ve given them a glance…”
