I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 184
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“…I didn’t expect that kind of question. Huh… Actually, I talked about that with the real Yeshion. You didn’t see it in the dream?”
“…No, I didn’t see it.”
Now that things had come to this, he wished he could know everything.
But the real Yeshion had deliberately hidden some memories.
Why things had fallen apart with Eldis. How close he’d been with Rosaline. Even memories involving Edward were left out.
As if to say, “That’s none of your business.”
“…Tch. Well, I guess he did keep his promise.”
“Promise?” “Yeah. I made a promise with the original owner of your body… That we’d each reveal our biggest secret, but never tell anyone else. ……Wait, hold on. Then how did you know I’m a guy?”
Yeshion hastily answered, explaining briefly that he had seen it in the prophecy book. In other words, the novel. That Rosaline was born in the slums. That he came to the temple as the Saintess after accepting Eldis’s offer.
“That’s all it said in the prophecy.”
“……You did burn that book, right?”
“I made sure it was burned through, so no one would ever find it.”
Since he had read it in a past life, it technically didn’t exist in this world anyway.
Hearing the certainty in Yeshion’s voice, Rosaline nodded in satisfaction.
“Well… in the end, never being called by my real name again was my own choice. So it’s fine.”
“Ah…”
“When I lived in the slums, I just wanted to live like a human being. Of course I didn’t want to die, and then… a chance came.”
Rosaline called his arrival at the temple with Eldis a chance. As if, even if everything were to repeat again, he would still make the same choice.
“But if it goes wrong…”
“I’m always prepared to be exposed.”
“……”
“If the truth comes out, that I was a fake Saintess who deceived everyone… I’ll be executed.”
And Eldis, who brought him to the temple, wouldn’t escape punishment either. It had always been a dangerous gamble. A desperate struggle to survive.
For Eldis. And for Rosaline.
“Still, I’m okay with it. It was my decision, so I don’t regret it.”
Even if the name Venice was erased from the world, even if he had to live the rest of his life as Rosaline, he’d accepted that when he took Eldis’s hand without hesitation.
“Do you know what my wish was before I came to the temple?”
“What was it…?”
“To survive.”
His voice turned cold. And then, not long after, Rosaline smiled and continued.
“Over time, though, I started having small desires. Like wanting to bathe in warm water, or eat meat. Ah! And wear nice clothes that don’t make my skin break out in hives.”
As he folded down his fingers one by one, listing them, Rosaline turned to Yeshion and flashed a wide grin.
“But more than any of those luxuries, what I really wanted… was probably to make a real friend.”
That mischievous smile was pure and sincere, without a trace of falsehood.
“So, for me… this is enough.”
“……”
“But if I do feel like I’m about to get caught, I’ll fight like hell to avoid it. You saw earlier—before she could put her hand on my chest, I jumped up. Veronica probably still doesn’t know if I’m a man or a woman.”
Yeshion let out a quiet, relieved laugh.
“If that’s how you feel, Saintess… then I’m glad.”
“And what if I had told you I didn’t want to live like this anymore?”
“……Then I’d have gotten you out. I had an escape route planned a long time ago, back when I wanted to leave the temple myself.”
“Oh, you mean the route Eldis totally caught you planning?”
At Rosaline’s blunt honesty, Yeshion clammed up. As his lips puckered in embarrassment, Rosaline burst into laughter.
But then, he reached out and pulled Yeshion into a tight hug.
Full of gratitude and affection, he gently stroked Yeshion’s back and whispered:
“Thank you, my one and only friend. Because of you, I can still feel like the temple is a good place.”
“……”
“Do you think so too? That this temple feels like a good place… because I’m here?”
At that moment, Yeshion remembered something Eldis had once said. That someday, he’d make this temple feel like a good place to Yeshion too.
‘Human feelings really change so much depending on the environment, don’t they?’
A sudden realization settled in.
“Yes… Because you’re here, Saintess, this place truly feels like a good place to me.”
And with that, his heart was overflowing with warmth and something quietly, deeply precious.
