I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 13
…Gasp.
Yeshion hurriedly covered his mouth.
It had been too genuine to pass off as a joke. He bit his lip and glanced at Adelio.
Seeing that amused grin on his face, it didn’t seem like he was about to slit Yeshion’s throat.
No, it was more likely that he was enjoying this situation and was now content to keep getting under Yeshion’s skin.
In that case, Yeshion had to leave the scene as soon as possible.
‘What should I do?’
As his lips moved wordlessly, Yeshion’s eyes landed on the hem of Eldis’ robe. Quickly turning his head, Yeshion addressed Eldis.
“I-I’ve almost finished cleaning the underground dungeon. I’ll finish it tomorrow. And, uh… what else was it? Oh! I’ll go tend to the ill!”
Without giving either of them a chance to respond, Yeshion hurriedly left the room.
As Adelio watched Yeshion’s retreating figure, a scoff escaped his lips. The sound soon turned into hearty laughter.
“Hahaha! Wow, I didn’t expect him to be like that.”
Unlike the laughing Adelio, Eldis’ eyes narrowed sharply.
“…Something is definitely strange.”
“Strange? What do you mean?”
Yeshion was injured. Whether he realized it and ran off or not, his physical condition clearly wasn’t good.
His neck was wrapped in bandages, and his scraped chin had only been roughly wiped of blood.
Eldis had no intention of using his abilities to heal Yeshion, and the other priests probably felt the same. While they might have been told to treat his wounds, they had likely just covered them without even applying medicine.
“He’s not the kind of person who would wander around while injured, Priest Yeshion.”
And that wasn’t the only odd thing.
Eldis recalled the small man who had just been in front of him.
The nervous, fidgeting manner as if he were uncomfortable with the situation wasn’t the Yeshion he knew.
The Yeshion that Eldis was familiar with would have seen this as an opportunity. Instead of running away, he would’ve clung to Adelio and made it clear to Eldis: ‘We’re close, so don’t be disrespectful to me.’
‘And he didn’t throw anything when I entered without knocking.’
Yeshion had done nothing at all. Instead, he had insulted Adelio and genuinely seemed to despise him. Even though he was the Crown Prince.
“What is he planning…?”
Eldis furrowed his perfectly shaped brows.
Up until now, Yeshion’s actions were always predictable. Having known him since they were young, Eldis had always found Yeshion easy to read.
But now, he couldn’t figure out what Yeshion was thinking at all. Whether it was quietly serving his punishment or wandering around while injured, none of it made sense.
Eldis couldn’t understand him.
It was deeply unsettling for someone who had spent a lifetime understanding everything about a person, to now be confronted with unexpected behavior.
“Relax your gaze. If someone saw you, they’d think you were about to kill someone.”
Adelio straightened his clothes and pressed his finger between Eldis’ brows. Eldis quietly closed his eyes and opened them again.
The cold, murderous glint in his golden eyes had disappeared, replaced by their usual serene gaze. Adelio shrugged and spoke.
“Still, isn’t it more interesting now than before?”
“What do you mean?”
“The fact that you don’t know what he’ll do next makes it all the more intriguing.”
At Adelio’s words, Eldis’ face twisted, and like crumpled paper. His expression seemed to ask if Adelio was being serious, but Adelio just smiled and continued.
“Do you really hate Priest Yeshion that much? Is his mere presence that unpleasant?”
“……”
“Then how about this: I would like you to send a priest to the imperial palace. We need someone to offer prayers for the royal family, and I want Priest Yeshion to be that person.”
Adelio declared boldly.
And there was no way Eldis didn’t understand what those words truly meant.
Adelio had used a similar pretext to bring several others into the imperial palace. And every single one of those people who entered ‘for the royal family’ had been found in the Crown Prince’s bedchamber.
In other words, he was saying he wanted to take Yeshion to bed. What happened afterward was anyone’s guess, but the palace was too busy covering up Adelio’s outrageous behavior.
If the person was of noble birth, they might at least walk out of the palace. But if they were of lower status, they would end up discarded in some back alley.
And though Yeshion was a priest, he was not someone of high birth. Lacking any special abilities, if he were to get involved with the Crown Prince, the imperial family would surely try to keep the incident secret by eliminating him.
Yes, Yeshion would die.
Not by Eldis’ hand, but by someone else’s.
And yet, why?
Even though it was something Eldis had longed for, there was a strange discomfort stirring deep in his chest.
