It's Not Night

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Chapter 33

“Use it.”

“Why…”

“Your temperature needs to go down a bit.”

Dustin was really acting weird. Even when he got angry, he suddenly showed kindness for no reason. She felt like there were two personalities in one body. Andra looked at him with a confused look on the shirt that Dustin held in her hand. With his cold shirt soaked in river water, Dustin’s upper body was exposed.

‘Why are you like this?’

Why was Dustin even sacrificing his shirt to help her? At that moment, Andra reflexively frowned as her head was spinning. Was it because of the cold? With that thought, she suddenly felt heavy and feverish. It seemed like it really was a cold.

Crouching down as her body trembled, Andra groaned. How she could not have known until now that her body was hurting all over. Sometimes, they said that there was a situation where the mind conquered the body, and maybe it was this.

Andra recalled the past two days. She and Dustin continued walking without a break. Andra had never walked so much before, but she still thought that she should keep that pace. She didn’t rest often, but she took long breaks when she did and slept well.

She sometimes had a headache and had a hard time breathing at her own pace, but she thought she could endure it.

But perhaps she couldn’t.

‘I think it’s too much…’

She remembered Dustin looking at her with displeasure. She belatedly remembered that he frowned when she refused his help.

‘That’s why you acted like that.’

Seriously, how freaked out would anyone be to see a sick-looking person constantly moving around without knowing the condition of their body. Of course, even if Andra had known the condition of her body, she would not have stopped walking. There was no clear destination, but she was obsessed with her journey forward.

In fact, it was out of fear. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get out of here forever. The moment the tension in her body would be released, it felt like she’d be swallowed up by the dungeon.

So Andra ignored the signals that her body was showing and she continued to push herself forward. There was no other way for her to calm her anxious mind.

Andra thought about it and it made her recall Dustin’s behavior again.

‘It was because he didn’t like seeing me act that way rather than showing off. How stupid must I have looked.’

It seemed like Dustin was offended when she said that he was treating her like a fool. He had no intention of treating her like that, so it would be absurd to think that the other party would be angry and criticize him for being treated that way.

Andra let out sighs one after another inwardly. What did she know now? She bowed her head. Her head was getting dizzy and her vision was spinning. Her insides twisted wildly as if she had been beaten all over her body.

“Andra Avellin, you…”

Dustin hurriedly supported her as Andra turned over with a groan. Then as he checked her condition, it was apparent that her fever rose as she started talking to herself.

“…Shit, there’s nothing I can do right.”

Dustin soon sat next to Andra. Then he grabbed Andra’s body and pulled her up and put her head on his thigh. Lying there, Andra was a mess, but his firm, wide leg supported her head stably.

“You’d better go back to sleep for now.”

Dustin closed the open jacket over her as she laid down. Andra didn’t refuse the touch—her body was too heavy for that. She just wanted to stay still, so Andra let Dustin do whatever. Then he took the wet shirt from Andra’s hands.

“In my life, I don’t do this kind of thing…”

While wrinkling his face, Dustin carefully brought the wet shirt to Andra’s forehead and pressed it lightly. With her vision blurring, she closed her eyes. Sleep began to take over as the fatigue and her cold overlapped.

“Dustin Airak…”

Andra barely gathered her voice and called Dustin. She still had her mouth half closed, so her pronunciation was pretty muffled. Dustin told her not to say anything and sleep, so he pressed her forehead more. The touch was tender.

Andra let out a single word just before she lost her consciousness.

“…Thanks.”

What now… Dustin froze. He doubted his own ears. He couldn’t quite comprehend in his head what he had heard just now. Dustin, who had a completely stiff expression on his face, looked down at Andra quickly. Damn it, Andra had already fallen asleep. Because of that, Dustin almost shook Andra to wake her up.

He wanted to ask what she just said.

Was it really the word he was thinking?

Because he never expected Andra Avellin to thank him.

“Haa.”

Dustin let out a short laugh.

Andra, waking up from her sleep, was the first to find the arms wrapped around her waist. It was obvious even without seeing who the owner of the arms was. It was Dustin. She could tell just by looking at the hand that she had seen several times from a distance. Dustin, with his top open, was sleeping with her in his arms.

Dustin hugged Andra without hesitation when she was shivering from the fever until dawn. His arms were so warm and cozy that Andra was able to sleep comfortably, not feeling the cold night. Without Dustin, Andra would have suffered much more.

She certainly owed Dustin this time around.

“Dustin Airak, wake up.”

Andra woke Dustin up by shaking him as he hugged her tightly. Not long after, Dustin awoke as he let out a languid yawn. As soon as he realized he was holding Andra, he was the first to reach out and place his hand on her forehead. And only when he felt that Andra’s fever had gone down did he release his arms around her.

“Ah…”

Dustin’s unexpected action caused Andra to freeze unconsciously. Dustin didn’t stop there, he led her to the riverbank. For that reason, Andra unwittingly washed up with Dustin and returned to the extinguished bonfire.

“Sit down.”

Dustin sat Andra down and skillfully rekindled the bonfire. Andra sat still and just watched. The bonfire quickly grew bigger, swallowing the grass and spitting out smoke. The two remained silent until the bonfire burned a fairly large amount of grass.

“I’m sorry.”

Andra was the first to break the silence. Andra’s sudden apology turned Dustin’s head back to her.

“I misunderstood. I apologize.”

As Andra apologized again, Dustin’s expression twisted strangely. He looked like he couldn’t believe what he had heard. In fact, this was a natural reaction. Andra never once apologized to Dustin. Any kind of apology he ever heard from Andra before was laced with heavy sarcasm.

“I’m sorry, Lord Airak. Stop being surprised as if the devil will tremble too.”

“Are you apologizing now? Because you suffered because of that foolish head of yours that’s no better than an ornament?”

“Oh goodness, I’m very sorry. Because I’m a dimwit who can’t distinguish up from down like anyone else.”

Dustin thought for a moment that all of this might be a silly dream. After saying thank you, Andra Avellin was now apologizing.

He found it absurd. Otherwise, the proud Andra would not have bent down and apologized to him.

Or maybe it’s because Andra was out of her mind right now.

“I’m fine, so don’t look at me like that.”

With Dustin staring at her strangely, Andra said with a smirk on her offended face. She looked sober. Clearly, Andra’s usual flair is clearly visible in the sharp tone. So what? Was this a new way for her to resolve her frustration? Dustin couldn’t stand it anymore and asked the question.

“Then why are you doing this all of a sudden? What are you apologizing for?”

Say something that makes sense. At his resolute voice, Andra barely reined in a spark of anger. She breathed in and out as calmly as possible and looked at Dustin.

“Have I been deceiving you all this time? Why can’t you trust me?”

“I don’t think that’s what a person trying to smack me in the back would say. You do this to me every time, you. Insisting on what you want to prove.”

“That…”

It was so true that Andra was rendered speechless for a moment. But soon, she regained her senses. Andra wasn’t one who would give up easily. She skillfully pretended not to hear Dustin, and opened her mouth again.

“I am a person who admits what I have to admit.”

But Andra’s eyes, saying that, were secretly deflected from Dustin. Anyway. Hrm, ahem, she pretended to clear her throat and hurriedly changed the subject. She had the attitude that she would not listen to Dustin any more.

“Let’s have a truce.”

At the word truce, Dustin’s brows narrowed.

“There’s nothing beneficial about fighting each other here. Either way, we’re stuck in a dungeon right now. Until we leave the dungeon, let’s cooperate with each other.”

As soon as Andra finished speaking, Dustin burst out laughing. He stared at Andra with a face sunken with cold emotions. Suddenly, he wondered why she was apologizing, but it turned out to be a trick. Then yes, that’s why Andra Avellin had apologized to Dustin Airak. This made more sense.

Just for one second, Dustin thought that she was sincere.

He felt stupid. With a cold tone, he spoke.

“Andra Avellin, you must have forgotten that you were the first to start that fight one-sidedly.”

He retorted, and with these words, Andra raised her eyebrows. Start? Who? Once again, her anger flared and she felt her throat tightening. But Andra tried to calm down as much as she could. Then, she replied.

“I think there’s some ambiguity about that. A fight I started one-sidedly? Are you saying that you are the victim?”

“Is that not it? If you look back on your behavior, you’d know for sure. There’s no one in this world as shameless as you. After all, Avellin’s blood can’t deceive. Where has that lineage gone?”

Their gazes fell on each other at the same time.

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