It's Not Night - Chapter 124
Everyone was asleep, in preparation for tomorrow’s all-out war. Dustin, along with a handful of knights, attempted to break into Count Norrant’s castle. And, it wasn’t long before they found out that the entire castle was empty. Things were evidently strange. The knight who had been patrolling around the castle opened his mouth.
“There is… no one.”
“Is it a trap? It is the first time I have seen such an openly empty castle.”
“But for what? Capturing us won’t do much good anyway.”
The knights looked at each other and whispered, feeling ominous at the quiet silence of the castle. Only Dustin said nothing, just looked around in silence. He did not think that this situation was a trap set by the Count.
First and foremost, there was no reason for Count Norrant to set a trap for them at the cost of making his castle vulnerable to his enemies. Rather, keeping the castle and securing an escape route in case of an emergency would work better in his favor. There was no way the Count would not know such a basic thing.
Offering the body of the snake all for the sake of catching a few petty knights who’d try to infiltrate the castle? Such a tactic was nonsense.
At that time, a knight who had gone out to patrol a little farther had captured someone and was dragging him here. When Dustin saw the figure, his expression immediately hardened. The Second Prince? Why was he here when he should be with Andra right now? Dustin didn’t know why, but he had a sinking feeling that something happened to Andra.
Dustin strode directly towards Jonathan.
“Your Highness.”
While the knight who had captured the prince was surprised by the title Dustin used to call Jonathan and released him, Jonathan shouted urgently as soon as he saw Dustin.
“Lord! Right on time. Please help me!”
“What’s the matter? Above all, shouldn’t you be with…”
“Anna— Lady Avellin has disappeared!”
Dustin froze at Jonathan’s shout.
Andra disappeared? Dustin’s heart thumped heavily and plummeted. The inside of his mouth went dry and the blood in his whole body ran out of control and jumped. Everything just felt far away.
The ominous, sinking feeling that he had was coming true right in front of him.
“She was obviously resting before—”
Jonathan was cut off mid-sentence.
Dustin, who instinctively sensed that something had happened to Andra, grabbed him by the collar before anyone could catch him. For that moment, it felt like he could see nothing.
“What is this, Lord!”
Jonathan, who was caught by the collar out of nowhere, hurriedly shouted. However, Dustin dragged the prince to the wall and pushed him, then opened his mouth. He really looked like he was going to hit Jonathan.
“Say it again. Who— Who did you say disappeared?”
“Ugh, wait, let go…!”
Jonathan struggled and shouted lowly at the tremendous killing intent pressing down on him.
Dustin didn’t even listen and was in a hurry to push him. You better talk properly. Prince or whatever, Dustin was worried only about Andra’s safety. His insides were burning so much that it felt like they’d been charred black.
“Lord. I don’t know why you’re doing this to me, but now is not the time for this! I mean, I can’t find the Lady! We need to find Anna!”
Jonathan hit Dustin’s hand as hard as he could, as it was strangling him. Dustin, who was half out of his mind before realizing it, managed to hold on to his rationality and freed Jonathan’s collar. The prince was right. The first thing he had to do now was to find Andra.
“…Tell me what happened.”
Dustin said, trying hard to grasp his expression. Jonathan struggled to speak as he fumbled at his choked neck.
“Anna was unconscious for two days. While I followed the Count for a while to talk, she disappeared. When I came to the castle, there was some warmth left in the bed, so if you hurry, you will find it quickly.”
“Where was An… Lady Avellin resting?”
“So… This way!”
Jonathan quickly led Dustin to Andra’s room. It was an ordinary room, nothing special, but on the bed there was a blanket that was sprawled, like someone had jumped out in a hurry.
Dustin saw that and asked Jonathan.
“Did the lady disappear on her own?”
“I don’t know that… When I came, everyone in the castle had disappeared. Surely, before I went to the Count, there was a minimal number of guards in the castle.”
It turned out that the absence of people in the castle was not due to Count Norrant’s doing. Then, where did all those people disappear to?
Dustin looked at the blanket with a heavy gaze, then turned and left the room. Jonathan hurriedly followed.
“Lord, I beg you. Find Lady Avellin. Aren’t you an Awakened? I believe you can find her faster and more accurately than me. Anna wouldn’t have moved on her own, so I’m worried.”
“…I think so too.”
If Andra had moved on her own, she would have left at least a small clue, considering her personality. Her sudden disappearance in this way was quite uncharacteristic of her. So he became even more anxious.
If Andra was kidnapped, then who the hell kidnapped her? And what was the purpose for kidnapping her?
Dustin came down the hall again, looking for signs of Andra. He raised his Awakened’s five senses to their limits.
Just as Jonathan said that she had just disappeared, he could feel Andra’s scent in the air. But there was one thing that bothered him. An unknown aura permeated Andra’s body scent.
‘It’s uncomfortable, it doesn’t seem like the energy of a living person…’
Anyway, Dustin kept moving along, followed by Jonathan.
After going far, the two stood at the corner of the road leading to the basement. Inside the castle, in a dark place where people don’t go often, there was a road leading underground. But what was surprising was that it was well managed.
Dustin pushed the half-open door wide open. He felt the slight breeze blowing in, noticing that the underground led somewhere.
“Are you saying that Anna passed by here?”
Jonathan peeked into the dark passage and asked. Strangely, it was a place he didn’t want to go into.
It was a given that there are many secret passages in old castles, especially those on the border, in case of emergency. But this one is too open to be called a secret passage, yet too clean to be a passage frequented by the servants of the County.
Dustin didn’t hesitate to light the lamp in the entrance and step into the passageway. Clearly, Andra passed by this place. His five senses were telling him so. So he should not hold back. He had to save Andra as soon as possible.
As Dustin went all the way down, Jonathan started to follow him.
The passage down was longer than expected. After going down for a while, the two of them were able to set their feet on flat ground.
“This is…”
“An ancient tomb site. Come to think of it, I’ve heard about it before. There is an ancient site in the Norrant County. But to think it’s connected to the castle. Even in such a deep place…”
There were small stone statues centered on a rock that looked like a large tombstone or a mural in a wide open area.
Jonathan looked at them with interest, but at the same time shuddered at the eerie atmosphere. Then Dustin strode towards the large rock.
“Lord, if you go in like that—”
“It’s a tunnel.”
After looking around the rock, Dustin pointed to a part. At that, Jonathan hurriedly headed to the location Dustin pointed out. There was a tunnel the size of a man, indeed.
“A tunnel? What… It’s a real tunnel. Wait. It seems to have been dug recently.”
When Jonathan lowered his head to look inside the tunnel. Dustin quickly grabbed him and pulled him back. At the same time, a large claw protruded. It was the ant monster they had seen before.
As Jonathan fell backwards in surprise, Dustin drew his sword and slashed through the hard claws. Kyaaak! The ant monster hurriedly retreated into the tunnel and ran away.
“Ack! It wasn’t just a tunnel!”
Jonathan, who was about to have his head cut off by the ant’s claw, cried out in a low voice. He had wondered what kind of tunnel it was, but he never thought it was an ant monster’s tunnel. In other words, this was the entrance to the dungeon.
And that’s where Andra was right now.
“I will go alone from here.”
Dustin, who drew his sword, spoke to Jonathan without even looking back. He was preparing to enter the dungeon.
“Your Highness, go and tell the Princess about this.”
“Wait a minute, Lord. Still, if you go alone…”
Jonathan’s words did not carry on to the end this time either. Because before Dustin could hear his answer, he had jumped down into the tunnel.
* * *
“I will make you a god, and start all over again. Start from scratch.”
Andra managed to keep her face from contorting. Dean’s words were so absurd. Making her a god? And start over again? What?
The more Dean spoke, the more anxious she became. Besides, she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking at all.
“Start all over?”
“Don’t think too hard. Just think of going back to the beginning. Just as I love you this way, you will love me again.”
Dean smiled softly and whispered in a gentle tone. Hearing that, Andra noticed one thing. He was talking like Anat would forget everything.
As though he was resetting this world.
“…Dean, what are you trying to do?”
Dean did not answer.
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