It's Not Night - Chapter 181.1
‘I love you, Andra. More than my own life.’
Andra stared blankly as his body disappeared into the flames.
“What is this? Why you…”
Tears erupted from her eyes. It felt as if her chest was being pierced. Her heart ached so much that she could hardly breathe. Andra screamed and cried out in anguish.
* * *
“Andra? Andra!”
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in Ian’s arms. With a dazed expression, she looked at the pale face of her brother. She also saw the worried eyes of the servants.
“Andra, are you okay? We need a doctor urgently…”
“I have to go.”
“What?”
“….I have to go!”
Andra shouted through her tears. She desperately pushed Ian away and got to her feet.
Her head spun, and she struggled to breathe. Her legs wobbled, and she nearly collapsed several times.
Ian, with a stern face, tried to support her and asked where she was going, but Andra moved forward without a clear destination. Ignoring her own condition, she brushed off the hands of the servants trying to hold her back and kept moving.
‘I have to hurry, he’ll be waiting.’
Andra ran outside into the pouring rain while sobbing uncontrollably.
“Miss!”
“Andra!”
Andra seized a horse that a servant was trying to lead away and mounted it. She could hear the frantic voices of the servants and Ian calling after her, but right now, nothing else mattered.
‘I have to go. Immediately. As soon as possible.’
Wiping her tear-streaked face with the back of her hand, Andra urged the horse forward through the pouring rain.
Why hadn’t she remembered? Her body had been begging her to recall it, so why had she ignored it?
Her chest felt tight. She was now filled with regret and frustration for not remembering sooner. He had been waiting for her all along. He had always longed for her to remember. Why only now…
Looking back, so much had changed. Dustin Airak and Andra Avelin no longer despised or hated each other. They had no more clashes, and the events of the coming-of-age ceremony had never happened. As evidence, the memento from the late Marchioness was now hanging around Andra’s neck.
This was all Dustin’s doing.
He had remembered everything from the beginning and created the present. As he erased the things he had done in the past one by one, he had always hovered around Andra, waiting and waiting for her to remember him.
How long had she been running? The old tree on the hill came into view. Andra urged the horse faster and headed straight for it. She stopped in front of the steep hill and quickly looked up. The incessant rain made it hard to see.
Was he there? No, he must be.
Andra dismounted from the horse and scrambled up the hill like a madwoman. Her clothes were soiled, and she nearly fell several times, but she couldn’t stop.
She wanted to see him desperately. She wanted to hug him and tell him sincerely, over and over again,
I love you too.
I’m sorry I only remembered now.
As she entered the old tree on top of the hill, the rain that had been pouring on her ceased. As she was soaked through, Andra looked around under the wide branches.
“Dustin Airak, where are you?”
She searched for Dustin, who should have been waiting for her, but no one was visible on the hill.
She cried again.
It can’t be. It’s not too late. It shouldn’t be like this. He said he would wait.
“Dustin, where are you? You said you’d wait.”
Andra stamped her feet, her vision blurred by tears. Yet, no matter how many times she circled the tree, there was no one here but her.
Was it too late?
Was it too late to remember?
Had he grown too tired and left first?
She had run desperately to find Dustin, but with no sign of him, all sorts of thoughts began to swirl.
If only she had come sooner, could she have seen him? Maybe if she came back tomorrow, or the day after, or later…
Why can’t I see you, Dustin? Why…
Just as she was about to bury her face between her knees in despair, she heard a familiar voice.
“…Andra?”
Andra lifted her head at the familiar sound. She saw him in front of her. The man she had wanted to see so badly, the one she didn’t want to forget, was standing there in the rain.
Dustin Airak.
The moment Andra locked eyes with those always yearned-for, verdant green eyes, she burst into tears. The relief nearly made her legs give way.
“Damn b*stard, you son of a b*tch…”
She couldn’t help but let out the curses first. Now that she should be saying sorry and expressing her love, the words felt stuck, as if her throat was blocked. Seeing Dustin in front of her, it was hard to believe. She was angry and resented him for leaving her like that.
“D*mn you…”
As Andra finally broke down and cried loudly, the stunned Dustin scrambled towards her. He was at a loss, floundering as he tried to comfort the sobbing Andra.