It’s Not Night - Chapter 133

The most unfortunate day of her life. A day when she couldn’t stop crying and I wanted to throw everything away.

Andra couldn’t forget that day. She had let go of it a lot now, but at the time she couldn’t. People’s eyes and mouths are still whispering at her, and the heavy atmosphere feels like it’s strangling her. Everything was clear in her mind.

Her throat burned. Her head throbbed, and the hatred she had forgotten for a while was welling up.

Andra looked at Dustin’s large hand that was holding her hand tightly. The hand that treated her harshly in the past was now treating her more kindly and pitifully than anyone else. What a playful disconnect.

But what was even more unbelievable was that she could no longer shake off this hand.

Basham must have been playing a prank on her, too.

Wanting to deny it, Andra opened her mouth in a reprimand.

“…Why did you do that? Did you really have to do that?”

“Andra.”

“I hated you so much. Ever since I met you, my life has never gone the way I wanted. Still, I was able to persevere. But on the day of the coming of age ceremony…”

She couldn’t continue her words.

Andra gasped for breath and held back the tears that were going to come out. And then, for the first time in a very long time, she grabbed her chest in an attempt to gather her mind together. Looking for her mother’s keepsake, which would have been hanging around her neck forever, if it hadn’t been for that incident. But her neck was completely empty.

“I still look for my Mom’s necklace sometimes. If I can’t calm down, I reach a hand to my chest without realizing it, even though I know it’s not there. Just in case. Even though I thought I had already let it go, I’m still like this.”

“…….”

“What you took from me that day wasn’t just my honor and pride. It was also my very existence.”

She even went to the water where she was afraid, to look for her necklace. Even though her fingernails were broken and her skin was torn, she desperately tried to find it. As she searched through the muddy water that was as messy as her insides, she barely held back the pooling tears. If her vision is blurred by tears, she will have a harder time finding the necklace.

However, as time passed, the necklace could not be found, and as the rain began to fall, Andra had no choice but to let out tears in despair.

She needs to find it, it’s her mother’s last keepsake, and she’ll be sad about it. That thought kept lingering in her head.

“Now I… I can’t even remember Mom’s face.”

Andra had never seen her mother’s face in person. Marchioness Avellin died giving birth to her beloved daughter, Andra, whom she sacrificed her life to give birth to.

So, unlike her brothers, Andra had never seen her mother’s face. Being the only daughter of a family of sons played a part, but it was also for that reason that she was able to monopolize all the love and affection in her family.

“That was the only portrait…”

There was only one way for Andra to see the Marchioness’s face. To see the portrait on the necklace, the Marchioness’ keepsake. But she had forgotten even that, and now there is no more portrait left.

As time passed, Andra gradually began to forget her mother’s face, despite her promise that she would never forget it. Andra couldn’t even remember her mother’s face anymore.

‘Well, it’s been a few years.’

Although she acknowledged this, she couldn’t help but feel bitter about that memory, which she could never forget. At the same time, her resentment toward Dustin Airak, the culprit who caused her to lose the necklace, grew day by day. But now she…

“When I think about that, you still make me feel terrible. I really hate you… I wanted to kill you.”

Andra was speaking calmly. As time passed, she regained her composure. Dustin, on the other hand, was holding Andra’s hand, not even able to hide his heart that was pounding with tension and regret.

The trembling and beating sound were transmitted to Andra. Andra lifted her head and looked at Dustin. The light green eyes were trembling slightly.

Andra let out a small sigh inside. She still resents Dustin and misses her mother, but over the past few years, Andra has gotten used to it all. So she was now able to figure out what she should look at first.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive you… Still, I’m trying to trust you. Because you asked me to trust you.”

Dustin’s eyes widened at Andra’s calm voice.

He looked like he didn’t believe the answer he heard. She trusts him? Did those words really truly come out of Andra’s mouth? He could only stare blankly at Andra, still unable to believe the reality.

Andra continued with a stern look on her face.

“Of course, there will come a time when you and I will fight, just like we have until now. There were still so many lingering feelings piled up inside me… At some point, I may get angry and criticize you.”

“…That, that’s something I have to deal with.”

Dustin barely answered in a trembling voice. From the very beginning, when he realized that he loved Andra, he was ready to handle everything. Just because Andra said directly that she would accept him, he was in a position where he can just apologize.

But Andra shook her head in a different thought.

“No. It’s not just something you have to deal with, it’s something I have to deal with as well. Because these are things that happened between us. So what I want to say is… You and I still have a chance.”

In fact, she couldn’t completely forgive Dustin. She was still angry about Dustin’s actions, and she still felt uncomfortable with it.

But she thought she needed a change. She needs to move forward. She decided that she should accept what she had to accept and let go of what she had to let go.

So she decided to give Dustin a chance. She was willing to try. With the hope that she can get better.

“And as I said earlier, I haven’t forgiven you for everything. You know? That’s something you have to deal with…”

Andra’s words couldn’t finish. This was because Dustin couldn’t overcome the boiling joy and hugged Andra tightly.

He was happier than ever. It felt like light was slowly flowing into his vision, which had been completely dark. Right next to the cliff, there was a rough but still road. He buried his face in Andra’s neck as she came into his arms.

“Thank you, Andra. I will do better in the future… No, I will give you my all. I can swear. I really have only you now.”

“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that. Hey, I can’t breathe. We don’t have time for this right now…”

Andra paused her sentence. It was because she felt something wet on her neck. She quickly pushed Dustin away. And when she saw his face, she was at a loss for words. There were tears. Was he crying now..?

Andra was hesitant about what to say. Dustin didn’t even seem to know he was crying. Rather, he was fidgeting for a moment because Andra, the person he liked, suddenly pushed him away.

“You…”

As Andra hesitated to speak with a serious face, it quickly made Dustin feel anxious. What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong again? He was afraid to go back the way it was before, now that he was finally able to get one step closer to her. He was having cold sweats. It seemed as if the fear that was several times greater than that of the dragon that was glaring at him with the intent to kill him was plaguing him.

Dustin hurriedly spoke to her in such a hurry that it would have been hard for anyone else to believe it. He decided to beg without any hesitation. He didn’t want to offend Andra after coming all the way here .

“Andra, I wronged you again… I’m sorry. I’m at fault. I should have asked your consent before hugging you, but I did it without realizing it.”

“No, that’s not it, you… You’re crying.”

Andra pointed her finger at his face. Dustin was dumbfounded by those words. Who’s crying? He was?

Only then did Dustin wipe his eyes with the back of his hand. Then it turned out to be really wet. Even during this, tears were pooling in his eyes and falling. Dustin looked mesmerized for a moment, looking at his wet hand and then at Andra.

In the meantime, his mouth seemed ready to make excuses to Andra who seemed to not be pleased about it.

“…I’m sorry if it bothers you, I guess I got something in my eye. I’ll quickly, quickly…”

He had to stop, but that was difficult. Dustin was embarrassed when his tears did not stop with his will. He was so shocked that he kept crying. He wondered if he had ever shed so many tears, but when he looked at Andra, tears just poured out. It was really strange.

Then, Andra suddenly came in front of him, stretched out her hands, and cupped Dustin’s cheeks with both of hands. It was then that Dustin’s body began to stiffen and become nervous.

Andra wiped away the tears from Dustin’s eyes with her thumbs and looked into his eyes. And then out of nowhere she threw a bomb at Dustin.

“I guess I don’t really hate you anymore.”

“…….”

“In the past, just seeing you cry made me think you’re so ridiculous, making me annoyed… I don’t think that at all now.”

When she first saw Dustin’s tears, she was truly dumbfounded. He got angry because she had done something wrong, and he cried? Andra couldn’t understand Dustin. What was he crying about? Is it even the time to cry? She was just thinking such thoughts.

But now it’s a little different. Watching Dustin cry made her feel a pang in her chest and made her want to comfort him. On the one hand, she wondered if he had this side to him as well, so he seemed a little different.

“Don’t cry. I feel a little weird when you cry.”

Andra whispered softly as she wiped away the remaining tears with the end of her sleeve. However, Dustin shed tears again without realizing it.

Why? Because Andra’s gaze looking up at him is noticeably different from before? Now, instead of contempt and disgust, there was a certain level of sympathy and friendliness? Or is it because her hands are warm as she wipes away his tears? Or maybe It could have been both.

“Sorry.”

“You’re saying sorry but you’re crying again.”

Andra, half-laughing as she said that, was so dazzling that Dustin thought he wouldn’t mind being a crybaby forever.

It was the first time he saw Andra’s face smiling sincerely in front of him.

Dustin’s heart trembled with something in, and without realizing it, he let out the words that had been lodged in his throat.

“I love you, Andra.”