It’s Not Night - Chapter 178.1

“Are you conscious, Lady Avelin?”

Blink, blink.

Andra woke up in a daze and looked blankly at the people standing over her.

‘Where am I?’

She slowly sat up with the help of a nurse. She felt a chill as the sweat-soaked back of her shirt met the air. Someone quickly brought a shawl to cover her.

“You seem to have been under considerable stress recently. Have you been eating properly?”

A doctor in a white coat pulled a chair up to Andra. She looked at the doctor bewildered. When she looked around, she realized she was in a hospital room.

‘How did I end up here…?’

As she tried to recall what had happened, a headache surged, and she furrowed her brow. The doctor sighed and said somewhat reproachfully,

“You’re showing signs of mild anemia and sleep deprivation.”

“Ah…”

“It’s good to focus on research, but you also have to take care of your body. I heard you haven’t been able to sleep well in the past few days.”

The doctor continued, pulling out a pen from his pocket and noting things on a piece of paper while advising Andra on what she should be cautious about. Noticing Andra still looked half out of it, he shook his head.

“But how did I get here…?”

“Lord Airak found you collapsed during your research.”

At that, Andra let out a faint groan of realization. So that’s what had happened. She slumped her shoulders and exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. In a way, it was a relief. It wasn’t something sudden in the street, which would have been a bit more embarrassing.

Andra had been visiting the Aslan ruins for a few days to work on her thesis, working day and night. The schedule was supposed to be comfortable.

However, before coming here, she had unfortunately had her thesis proposal rejected three times by her advisor, and only on the fourth attempt was it approved, which slowed her progress compared to others. Naturally, she had no choice but to work frantically.

As a result, not managing meals properly and pulling all-nighters only to sleep a few hours before resuming her research was her routine. So, collapsing suddenly during her research wasn’t as surprising as one might think.

“But who found me?”

“Lord Airak did. He carried you here himself. It’s a shame, he was just here. He stayed by your side the whole time you were unconscious.”

Hearing this unexpected name, Andra narrowed her eyebrows. Lord Airak? Well, he was her partner in this project… Yet, it was strange that he had stayed by her side until she woke up. He doesn’t have to go that far.

She felt like she had forgotten something. Before she collapsed, she thought something had happened to Lord Airak…but she couldn’t remember. As if her mind had been dyed white with paint.

“Anyway, I understand. Thank you for letting me know.”

Nodding, Andra lay back down, planning to rest a bit more before heading back to her accommodations. She was too exhausted to get up and move immediately. The doctor gestured to the nurse and advised her.

“That’s a good idea. Get some more rest. We’ll prepare some medication for you to take when you leave.”

“Thank you.”

As the doctor and nurse left the room, Andra, now alone, rolled onto her side and blinked slowly.

‘What really happened?’

Though it felt like she should remember, her memory was frustratingly vague. What was she forgetting? It felt important. After wrestling with her thoughts for a while, she finally decided to let it go and drifted off to sleep.

If it’s that important, it’ll come back to her eventually, she thought.

* * *”You look absolutely dreadful.”

This was the first thing Elverika said after seeing her friend, who had dark circles under her eyes. She looked concerned, wondering what had happened while she was away.

“Just some delays with my thesis. But I’ve managed to handle the urgent parts.”

After completing her research at the Aslan ruins and returning to the academy, Andra had been practically living a hermit’s life between her dorm and the lab to finish her thesis. Now, with the end in sight, she had finally found some free time to meet her friend.

“Speaking of which, I heard you collapsed at the Aslan ruins.”

“Oh, that. Got too absorbed in my research… It’s unavoidable, though. I’m already behind everyone else.”

“Your professor is really strict, huh? Sending back your thesis so many times.”

“Well, it is a graduation thesis.”

Andra leaned back in her chair and sighed deeply. Then, she inadvertently leaned forward to get a better look at a familiar back of a head visible through the window.

Elverika noticed Andra’s reaction and also turned to look outside. There was a large man they were looking at.

Dustin Airak. The second son of the Airak family, historic rivals of Andra’s own Avelin family.