It’s Not Night - Chapter 199.1

“Get up.”

Kaden spoke as he drove his sword into the ground, looking down at Dustin, who had collapsed in front of him. Dustin quickly rose to his feet, spitting out blood that had pooled in his mouth.

The spot where Kaden had struck him throbbed painfully. Kaden had really beaten him mercilessly, just as his sister had told him to.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been hit by Oldest Brother.”

Kaden usually didn’t resort to using a sword against Dustin or Yen. Most of their training, given the considerable age gap, was handled by their second brother, Anthony, who was busy assisting their sister, the head of the family.

“I’ve always felt this way, but I can never figure out what you’re thinking.”

Kaden waited until Dustin stood straight.

For most people, standing after a beating like that would be nearly impossible, but the man in front of him was of Airak blood. If an Airak member collapsed like this, they weren’t truly Airak anymore. They were just an unnecessary failure.

“Ha, since when have you cared so much about me?”

“I’ve cared since the moment you smeared the name of Airak. You just didn’t notice.”

“How generous of you. Considering how much trouble I’ve caused, I’m surprised I’m still alive.”

“You should thank the head of the family. If it weren’t for her, you would already be dead by my hands.”

The relationship between the Airak brothers wasn’t particularly good or bad. There was a distance that prevented them from being a typical family, but they were still too close to be considered strangers. They could fight together on the battlefield and trust each other with their lives, but if one of them fell behind, they would not hesitate to abandon the other.

As long as betrayal wasn’t involved, they didn’t care what happened to each other. That was the essence of the Airak brothers.

Of course, even within the Airak family, there was one person who they would follow and trust with their lives: the head of the family. In the North, the Duke’s word was law, more important than even the Emperor’s commands.

“I’ll ask you one thing.”

Once Dustin stood properly, Kaden drew his sword again. Dustin, seeing this, also drew his sword.

“Why Avelin?”

At Kaden’s question, Dustin simply smiled.

Then, the brothers’ swords clashed. The sound of steel scraping against steel echoed across the training grounds.

* * *

“Dustin!”

Andra, having returned to the mansion with the Duke from the mountain, found Dustin being treated, his body covered in blood.

She gasped in horror and rushed to his side. His body was covered in wounds, as though he had fought a life-or-death duel.

But Dustin, as though unaffected, looked at Andra and asked.

“Where did you go with the Duke?”

“To your family’s altar… No, more importantly, what’s all this? What have you been doing while I was gone?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. In a few days, the scars will be gone without a trace.”

Despite his body being wrapped in bandages, Dustin smiled at Andra as if it were nothing. In fact, he seemed in a good mood for another reason.

“By the way, I guess Sister gave her approval.”

“Yeah, she did. But, are you really going to tell me about your… self-harm?”

“…Who told you?”

As soon as the word ‘self-harm’ was mentioned, Dustin’s expression slightly stiffened. Andra’s heart sank a little at his reaction.

“What, is it true?”

It was hard to believe. Dustin had been obsessed with self-harm before meeting her

“Is it true? Did you really… do that?”

Until now, Andra had assumed the small injuries on Dustin’s body were from his training. But the fact that most of them were self-inflicted left her speechless.

Even now, as Dustin lay shirtless to receive treatment, there were faint marks of self-harm all over his body, and Andra couldn’t find the words to continue.

“Andra.”

“Why… why did you do it?”

Seeing the shock in Andra’s face, Dustin finally began to stammer an explanation.

“It’s nothing. I don’t do it anymore. It was just… something I did when I felt frustrated. It never really affected my life.”

“What? It’s not a big deal if it doesn’t affect your life? How… how could you…? Was it because you came back? Or was there some other reason?”

Hearing that he self-harmed whenever he felt frustrated made Andra’s tears threaten to spill. At the same time, she felt anger rising within her. If no one had told her, would she have ever known about Dustin’s self-harm?

Why did he do it?

Why?

Andra’s gaze fell on the marks scattered across Dustin’s body, and she had to cover her mouth to stop herself from crying.

The truth was, she should have found it strange earlier. Even if the injuries were from training, how could so many of them have appeared?