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I am struggling with the meaning of に続いて in the following sentence:

貞操に続いて今度は命を守り抜くために、この街を走り続ける羽目になった。

I know that the sentence carries a rather ironic meaning and that 貞操 is not used in a strictly literal sense. Earlier in the novel the protagonist's friends have been drugged by a love potion and chased him around, so I consider the に続いて今度は construction as referring to what happened earlier.
However mentioned "chase" didn't happen in that specific town (この街).
While the example may be very specific I want to ask how the に続いて construction works in general between a preceding noun and a verb phrase.

According to my interpretation 貞操 is further "described" by 守り抜く, therefore the verb acts on 貞操 and 命.

I think that it means something around "protecting his chastity last time and this time his life and in both cases kept on running".

However この街を走り続ける is not part of the action that happens again...

TLDR: What is the scope of に続いて between a preceding noun, a following verb phrase (with ために) and a concluding verb phrase (with respects to ために) in the following sentence.

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Aに続いてB is used to describe a sequence of events, with the implication being that the time between the two is relatively short. A is implied to take the same verb as B.

From デジタル大辞泉:

つづ・く【続く】🈩
３ ある事柄のあとに、間をおかず他の事柄が連なる。物と物とが切れ目なくつながる。「授賞式に―・いて祝賀パーティーを行う」「応接間と勉強部屋とが―・いている」「次ページに―・く」

In this case nothing is being said about the relationship between 貞操(を守り抜く) and 命を守り抜く aside from the fact that one happened relatively shortly after the other.

So この街を走り続ける is only necessarily referring to the latter of the two (命を守り抜くために).

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  • The problem I see in posted sentence is that 貞操 itself doesn't really refer to an event or does it? Judging from my understanding of it it is just a noun, not an action/ event something can follow directly... The latter part has become clear to me but I am still struggling with the a mere noun followed by に続いて...
    – Himula
    Oct 13, 2019 at 20:15
  • It is implied that the first noun 「貞操」 takes the same verb as the second noun 「命」. Your sentence would mean roughly the same thing as 「この前は貞操を守り抜いたが、今度は命を守り抜くことになった。そして命を守り抜くために、この街を走り続ける羽目になった。」, but this is rather clunky, don't you think?
    – sbkgs4686
    Oct 13, 2019 at 20:36
  • I just reread your answer and realized that I misinterpreted it. Thanks again!
    – Himula
    Oct 13, 2019 at 20:39
  • Not your fault, my explanation was difficult to follow. Edited.
    – sbkgs4686
    Oct 14, 2019 at 2:22

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