I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 97

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“Uugh….”

Adelio quietly watched as Yeshion twitched in his sleep. Seeing him collapsed from exhaustion, he assumed the feverish heat tormenting him had finally subsided.

How long had it been since Adelio had embraced someone on a bed with a clear mind?

Perhaps it was his first time. After all, since his very first experience, Adelio had been forced by his curse into relationships he never wanted.

“I thought I was incapable of love.”

He’d been certain that until his dying breath he’d only resent and curse people, disgusted at the mere mention of love. His whole life had been twisted by the foolish love-talk of one woman, after all.

But meeting Yeshion had completely overturned that conviction.

“I thought you were just pretty.”

Adelio gently pressed on Yeshion’s nose. Asleep and exhausted, Yeshion scrunched up his face at Adelio’s playful touch, then rolled over, hiding his face under the covers.

Chuckling quietly, Adelio reached out and embraced Yeshion.

“I was wondering why I couldn’t look away from you.”

Adelio murmured softly, gazing down at Yeshion’s hidden face beneath the blanket.

The first time he was rejected, it felt like the sky had collapsed around him. Back then, he’d thought it was simply wounded pride, since he’d never faced rejection in his life.

So he’d planned to seduce Yeshion.

To entangle him so deeply that, when Yeshion finally whispered something like, “I realize how precious you are,” Adelio could discard him mercilessly. He’d thought that was how he’d restore his wounded pride.

But that sly intention had vanished before he could properly execute it.

When they became entangled under the guise of friendship, Adelio found himself wanting more.

When he’d kissed Yeshion under the pretense of understanding his own emotions, his heart had raced as if he were a seventeen-year-old boy.

And now, having spread Yeshion’s legs and entered his soft body…

“I want to protect you.”

Adelio tightened his arms around Yeshion.

Though Yeshion had forgotten everything from his past, those who sought to harm him remained merciless.

‘Even that bastard Edward had been after Yeshion.’

Frowning slightly, Adelio gently stroked Yeshion’s back.

He’d given Yeshion the flimsy excuse that, due to the curse, he periodically needed to see the Saintess—but Eldis and Rosaline already knew that explanation was nonsense.

“Normally, you’d willingly crawl into the underground dungeon yourself, Your Highness. Why don’t you be honest and tell us plainly why you’ve come all this way?”

“The Imperial family is after Yeshion. It seems they were planning to ambush you on your way back.”

“…Not the nobles, but the Imperial family itself?”

“Yes, the Imperial family.”

Adelio, who had tirelessly searched in every direction to erase Yeshion’s past sins, doubted his ears when he heard the secret whispers.

He’d assumed it was nobles who’d used Yeshion as a pawn and might seek his death. But he never imagined the Imperial family itself would want him dead.

And above all, the person behind it was none other than the Empress.

“Is there something about your life that I still don’t know?”

While secretly investigating Yeshion’s past, Adelio had discovered everything about his origins and his former actions.

“Yeshion? Ah, everyone pretends otherwise, but everyone knows about his background. Yeshion Azelist. He was the eldest son of a provincial count’s family.”

“A count’s family?”

“Yes, Count Azelist’s household. They were loyal retainers who protected the border under Grand Duke Rosellon.”

Upon hearing this, Adelio had covered his face with his hand, grimacing bitterly.

When Adelio had been just a child, the Rosellon family had been annihilated after evidence of treason had been discovered by one of the Emperor’s concubines.

When the Rosellon line was wiped out, their loyal followers also perished alongside them.

The Azelist family had been among those followers.

But later, it had been revealed that those countless deaths had been unjustly orchestrated by the concubine herself.

“Ah, hmm… It seems my concubine misled me. Restore the titles of those who were unjustly executed.”

People still whispered about the incident even now.

An emperor seduced by a young woman had failed to recognize his loyal subjects and executed them unjustly. Worse yet, the concubine responsible faced no consequences.

And that was merely the beginning.

Completely captivated by the concubine—now the current Empress—the Emperor even cast aside Adelio’s own mother, his legitimate wife, placing that woman on the throne instead.

‘I hate that woman too, but how much deeper must your hatred run, considering you suffered even more than I?’

However, Yeshion probably didn’t even know the Empress had caused his family’s ruin. He likely only knew the Imperial family was behind it.

Only then did Adelio realize the truth.