It’s Not Night - Chapter 176.1

Dean’s body collapsed.

Before Andra could catch him, his form scattered into the darkness. Only Andra remained, clutching the blood-stained dagger. With a distorted face, she looked down at her hands. Why…? Then, lifting her head, she saw Dustin standing in the distance. The ominous premonition had not yet ended.

“Dustin?”

The focus in his eyes shifted suddenly, and in that moment, Andra realized her fears had become reality. No, not like this. This is too much. Andra’s face twisted in anguish as she trembled.

“….Come out now. Get out of that body.”

“Wasn’t it your wish to prevent the disaster?”

Dustin, or rather the man inside him, spoke in a voice calmer than ever.

“That’s why I told you to come with me. I said… I’d help you, but…”

How can you do this to me? How can you treat me this way? Andra broke down, unable to complete her thoughts and burst into tears. To sacrifice Dustin instead of herself? Perhaps Nera never truly wanted her life. Andra wept bitterly at the cruelty of the god’s reprimand.

“Why are you doing this to me…”

Andra collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

* * *It was always a twisted emotion. Forcibly confining her, wanting to break her so she couldn’t escape, such desires were not ordinary. Looking back, Dustin realized he had never been quite sane when it came to Andra Avelin.

Dustin had wanted everything of Andra. Her hate, her love, he wanted to monopolize it all. He was willing to kneel at her feet like a dog, bow his head, and beg for her attention for the rest of his life if that was what it took. That’s why the voices in his head were so tempting. He knew he shouldn’t waver, yet he did.

He wanted to be with her. He wanted to be together forever. He wanted to be the only one who could spread Andra’s legs and delve inside. The one, who could occupy the space next to her, and guard the final moment. Even if he couldn’t win her heart and had to clutch at an empty shell, he didn’t want to let go.

No, he cannot let go.

Before he lets go, Andra won’t leave. Why should he give up when he could be with her forever?

But when Andra cried and confessed her love for the first time, he had no choice but to give up.

‘I hate you, Dustin.’

‘Still, I love you.’

As Andra declared her love with tears streaking down her red cheeks, Dustin crumbled. He also realized how much he had been forcing his twisted love on her with just one word, ‘love.’ His apologies were nothing more than crocodile tears. Knowing this, she still chose to love him.

Andra was like that.

She did not falter or bend, always making the upright choice, standing strong and steadfast. Perhaps it was inevitable that Dustin Airak had been chasing after Andra Avelin. They say not to even look at a tree you cannot climb, but she made him want to pluck at least one branch, to try once.

Only after snapping that branch did Dustin truly look up at the tree and realize how he had hurt it. That’s why he had no choice but to give up. And he decided to finish what he had to do, which was not killing the dragon.

Giving up his twisted greed.

That was the trial Nera had given to Dustin Airak .

[“……What do you think you are?”]

The voice fades.

* * *Where is this? I don’t remember how I came to such a strange place.. Driven solely by the thought of stopping Dean, he dragged himself here, but his insides were severely wounded, his vision blurring and darkening repeatedly.

Even now, he cannot tell how or where he had come. Dustin stood still, gazing downward.

“No, I can’t do this… How can I…”

Hearing the mournful sobbing, he struggled to lift his eyelids and saw someone. A small head, curly golden hair, blue eyes. Andra was sitting in front of him, her head buried in her hands, crying.

“Andra?”

As Dustin struggled to open his lips, Andra looked up at him with a startled expression. Her face quickly contorted as she burst into even more desperate sobs.

“…Don’t cry.”

When Dustin reached out his hand, Andra threw aside whatever she was holding and hugged him. It was warm. He confirmed that the woman in front of him was indeed Andra. Why was Andra here… Dustin was still unable to understand the situation.

“Dustin Airak, you terrible, foolish man, I, I because of you….”

Dustin raised his hand to wipe away Andra’s tears. He didn’t like to see her cry.

“Don’t cry, Andra. I don’t know what to do when you cry.”

What could have made her cry so? Suddenly, he noticed the object she had thrown away—a blood-stained dagger. Looking closer, he saw her hands were also smeared with blood.

“Andra, your hands…”

“There’s no time. We need to get out of here.”