It’s Not Night - Chapter 131

The dragon’s expression turned grim in an instant. It looked so vicious that it truly looked like he was about to sink his teeth into Dustin’s neck at any moment.

[ This punk! How dare you speak such nonsense? ]

Just as the dragon was about to grow in size, Andra stepped forward again. No! Hold it in! The dragon stared at Andra with a sheepish face. The whining aroused some sympathy, but she replied that the dragon shouldn’t be doing this here.

“First of all, never inside the anthill! Let’s hang in there. Alright?”

[ Then will you allow me to kill that human man when I go outside? ]

The dragon asked, looking at Dustin who was standing behind Andra. Because of this, Andra was taken aback. At this rate, it was inevitable that the dragon and Dustin would clash. First, Andra decided to defend Dustin.

“He didn’t mean it in any way. I guess it was just because he was curious.”

When Andra defended Dustin, the dragon started yelling.

[ Lady Anat! Why do you keep defending that traitor! He’s a good for nothing jerk who’s not even worth chewing! ]

“But he isn’t a traitor. Dean and Dustin are different people.”

[ What do you mean different people! That guy has a terrible burnt smell! He will betray Lady Anat once again! ]

“Isn’t that Dean? Dean is out there. They are two different people.”

There may be something between the two of them. Andra said firmly.

The dragon’s yellow pupils widened as he looked at Dustin. In its eyes, the human man who betrayed Lady Anat was right in front of his eyes. Did Lady Anat completely forget about him when she became human? How can she keep him around?

[ You will regret it. The primordial god said it. Humans are stupid and repeat the same mistakes. ]

“I already told you, Dustin and Dean…”

“Is there anything more to say? I can’t understand.”

Then Dustin interrupted the conversation. Andra looked at Dustin for a moment with a frightened look. Why is he like this again? Why is he trying to make things bigger? Andra pushed Dustin away to send him behind her, but Dustin stood next to her and looked into the dragon’s gaze.

The dragon bared its sharp fangs and flicked its tongue like towards prey.

“Stop it, both of you! The situation is like this and you are acting up again?”

As the nervous war that was starting to deepen, Andra set out to mediate between the two beings again. Then the dragon turned its head to look at Andra, and spoke back.

[ I will always stand by Lady Anat, but I can’t be with this human man even for a moment. ]

“Huh?”

[ Do you know how hard it is to maintain such a small body? I’ll wait outside the anthill. If I stay here, that traitor might break my egg! ]

The dragon glared at Dustin one last time, and before she could stop it, the dragon flapped its wings and started going ahead with the egg. Andra was puzzled as she looked at the dragon, which had now gone so far away in an instant. She then poured her words out towards Dustin.

“What is wrong with you? Why are you so anxious not to touch the dragon? How many dragons do we have now—”

“Do you think I don’t know that it’s important?”

“Yes! Knowing that, why do you keep picking up a fight?”

“I wasn’t fighting. It ran away because it couldn’t beat me.”

Andra was dumbfounded by his plain reply back. Who made the dragon run away! Unlike Andra, whose insides were boiling, Dustin’s expression looked much better than before. He naturally took Andra’s hand.

“Why are you… holding my hand?”

Andra looked up at Dustin with a perplexed look when he grabbed her hand out of nowhere. Dustin responded softly, like he felt much better once the dragon was gone.

“I feel like I haven’t held it for a long time. Let’s go.”

Holding hands, the two quickly walked toward the exit. In the middle, Dustin even asked Andra to let him carry her, but Andra strongly refused. At this level, she didn’t want to depend on Dustin. However, because the distance to the exit was quite long, the two of them were able to talk little by little.

“Dustin.”

The conversation was started by Andra. Dustin lightly nodded his head, telling her to speak.

“You know what you said to me before you came in here… that I take more risks than necessary.”

In a slow but quiet tone, Andra spoke. In fact, she still felt a little awkward talking to Dustin like this.

Most of the conversations she had with Dustin until she came to Morgennis were mostly verbal spats. Even now, she was worried that if something went wrong, it would lead to a squabble. Aside from the recent events, she could only remember fighting Dustin.

“Don’t mind that. I just made a slip of the tongue.”

“No, not that. I’m curious about it. After you said that, I kept thinking about it too, and I think you’re right to some extent. Taking more risks than necessary. That’s why I want to see what I am like from your point of view.”

Andra glanced at Dustin. She was a little curious about his reaction. The two of them have only been busy looking only at the negative side of each other and trying to cut the other down?

Dustin’s answer didn’t take long. He looked ahead and spoke abruptly.

“You have been like that for a long time.”

Dustin thought of Andra, who had been sitting in his memory from a long time ago. She is the famous daughter of his family’s enemy, Avellin of the East.

He was attracted to her more dazzling appearance than anyone else, and it was Andra who had a not-so-easy personality from the first meeting. He still vividly remembers her staring at him with her jewel-like blue eyes. She was the first person outside of his family to look at him that way.

“You were always willing to take more risks than was necessary.”

“Like?”

“You’re weirdly stubborn.”

“That… No, keep talking.”

Andra, who wanted to retort about her stubbornness, immediately shut her mouth and told him to continue. Dustin looked at her and muttered to himself, ‘Look at that— stubborn’.

“You try to give back what you received. I’ve never seen a woman who clings so persistently just to get an apology.”

It wasn’t enough that she got in his way, that she threw a stone back at him. Dustin still couldn’t forget his memory of that day. It was a really fresh and shocking encounter. He didn’t know that there was a girl like her.

Andra jumped in and said something.

“It is natural to apologize.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to apologize here.”

“I’m sorry about that too.”

Now Dustin didn’t find it too difficult to apologize to Andra. It’s only a given that he apologized for what he said. It’s only a given that he apologizes to Andra himself. He was still a long way off from apologizing for what he had done to Andra.

Of course, Dustin’s attitude only made Andra feel frustrated. To apologize all of a sudden. He has never done that before! But Andra chose to stay calm. She didn’t start this conversation to fight him.

Andra sighed and nodded her head telling him to continue.

“Then? It won’t kill you.”

“I didn’t like it because you were so strange. It’s annoying to talk in front of you, especially if you’re going to forget it. You’re a hand’s span shorter than I am, but you’re trying not to lose an inch.”

Dustin unknowingly smiled as he continued to remember the past. But Andra herself couldn’t smile with him. Every time she ran into Dustin, she thought her situation was going to start to get twisted.

“Is that why you bothered me so much?”

“I never meant to bother you. I didn’t want to lose, so I responded. I was defensive in my own way, but now I think I was a bit mean.”

“You were mean. At least I tried to be somewhat polite with you at first. But on days like that, you’re just messing with me.”

Although the relationship between the two families was not good, Andra tried to show courtesy to the Young Lord of the North who, like her, had come to the capital for the first time. But Dusting was the one who broke her courtesy and started a quarrel. It was Dustin every time that crossed the line Andra had drawn.

However, Dustin’s reply made Andra look surprised.

“At first… I felt that you looked down on me. You laughed at me every time you saw me. Whenever that happened, I felt ashamed and angry. I feel like I’ve come to a place where I shouldn’t be. Maybe I felt that way even more because I’m an Airak.”

“…….”

“You were among the people who looked at me and whispered. That’s what I hated so much. I especially hated the way you stood there without saying a word about me. And I took that as an attack on myself at the time.”

The Airaks of the north had little ties to the capital because they had lived all their life protecting the northern borders. Above all, because their ancestors were nomads, other regions treated them as though they’re barbarians. So, it was only natural that Airak would not be welcomed in the capital.

But the Avellins of the East were different.

Avellin, a symbol of abundance, advanced to the capital from an early time and was a family with many ties. They assisted the Emperor right next to him and led the political arena together, and they steadily built their own foothold in the capital.

House Avellin was as well received in the center as they were in the East. For that reason, it was only natural that Avellin had the upper hand over Airak in the capital.

Dustin, who was young at the time, realized it firsthand. Eyes hostile to him from all sides. However, it was different when it came from Avellin’s only daughter. Attitudes that had been so sharp and unwelcome towards him, turned into soft and amiable ones towards her.

Dustin did not like Andra who was at the center of it all, with all her benefits. So Dustin faced with Andra with all his heart. He didn’t want to lose to Andra just as much as she didn’t want to lose to him.

“Once again, Andra, you are really persistent. You didn’t even try to lose or concede. You’re just trying to defeat me somehow.”

Born in an environment where there is nothing lacking

Maybe it’s because she grew up as an only daughter in her family of mostly sons. Andra regarded Dustin, who appeared in front of her, as the biggest task of her life. But she had to do her best, as Dustin was also a formidable opponent for her.

“From there, I could see that you were willing to take more risks than was necessary.”