Chapter 90

Chapter 90

“The Lord said so. It might not be to Lady’s liking, but on the contrary, it could be a good opportunity. You’re very good at it, right?”

“It is not so, Your Majesty… My skills in magic are insignificant…”

“Magicians are disappearing, but I’m glad that you’ve become an Awakened, Lady Avellin. I hope you will do your best for the empire and for House Avellin in the future.”

Andra, who had been listening to the emperor, slowly shut her mouth. Just hearing this was enough to know the emperor’s intention—that she must use her abilities for the sake of the country. Andra lowered her head.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will do my best.”

“One more thing, has Jonathan told you?”

“What is it…”

When Andra looked at her unknowingly, the emperor silently raised her teacup. Then, as before, she brought up an unexpected story.

“The child who resembles me the most is Viola. As everyone knows, the Princess really is a copy of me. Regina also resembles me… In fact, there is no child who does not resemble me. Well, these are the children I gave birth to directly from my stomach. Jonathan looks a lot like me too.”

“…….”

“They’re the apples of my eye but… There is only one thing I regret about my children. Lady, will you try to guess?”

It was a light, joking tone. The emperor was smiling again before she knew it, but this time there was a hint of bitterness. Andra was mesmerized by that smile, and in a daze she stared at the emperor.

“I don’t know because I am so lacking.”

“Well, if you ask me that, everyone says they don’t know.”

The Emperor’s answer made Andra nervous involuntarily and swallowed a gulp.

“It’s a bit disappointing that not a single person resembles him very much. Like a passing wind, that person left only a few small things for my children. So that I can feel the longing sometimes. Only then did I know that the bloodline of the imperial family’s blood was thick.”

The emperor looked around the hydrangea garden. There seemed to be a mix of emotions in her eyes. After a while, the emperor looked at Andra again. There was warmth in her gaze. The emperor smiled softly and said.

“I respect your choice. Instead, choose carefully. Being that you are a smart Avellin, I surmise that you understand what I’m saying.”

Andra, stunned after her audience with the emperor, returned to the academy as Ansel sent her off. There were a lot of eyes sticking to her, but she tried to ignore them and headed straight for her room.

Her room was as messy as it was in the morning. In annoyance, Andra took off her coat and threw it haphazardly on a chair. Andra drew the curtains by the window where the evening sunset came in. She suddenly saw a figure outside and hardened her face.

Dustin was in a corner of the room where others wouldn’t easily see him. Andra let out a sigh. How many days had it been?

Actually she knew. It was because, as an Awakened, Andra would clearly feel Dustin’s presence, although the general public would not know if he, an Awakened, would hide his presence. Of course, Dustin seems to be overlooking that.

‘Maybe it’s because he’s stupid. Or maybe he’s just clueless.’

What will he do after following her? Is he a stalker now? Andra nervously drew the curtains. And then, on the one hand, she wanted to go up to Dustin right away and yell at him to stop following her around and go back.

Tomorrow was the departure date for the Morgennis border, but he wasn’t even thinking about managing his own condition, and was just following her all day. She got frustrated and exhausted.

‘Whatever. It’s his body, so he should take care of it himself.’

Andra stepped into the bathroom, ignoring Dustin that was getting on her nerves. After she bathed, she intended to close her eyes for a while. It was none of her business whether or not Dustin was out there all day.

She turned on the faucet with force. Steaming hot water gushed into the bathtub.

How tired she was, Andra, who had fallen asleep in the bath, felt the water cool and rushed out of the bathtub. Her body turned red from staying in the hot water for too long. Her head also seemed a little dizzy. Andra slipped her arm through the gown and came out.

When she came out of the bathroom, the first thing that greeted her was the sound of the rain. When she lifted the curtains, she saw that the rain was pouring down at random. The clear sky had long since been covered with dark clouds.

Andra, who opened the window slightly, reached out her hand to touch the rain, and suddenly was startled to see Dustin in the same spot as hours ago.

‘What are you doing?’

She was stunned. He still didn’t go and was still there, but it was even more absurd to see him not avoiding the rain and letting it hit his whole body. Like a wet dog, Dustin silently stood there.

‘Are you trying to elicit sympathy?’

Does he think she’ll forgive him if he stayed out in the rain like that? Andra glared at Dustin, then noisily shut the window and meticulously drew the curtains. Then, as if she hadn’t seen anything, she calmly sat down at the dressing table and began to dry her hair.

Andra never looked back at the window until her golden hair was dry and she climbed into bed.

‘It’s something he brought on himself. I don’t care.’

Andra turned to her side and curled up, thinking. But as the comb brushing got stronger and stronger, she became more and more bothered about Dustin, who she kept feeling. She was going crazy.

What if Dustin stayed up all night like that and got a cold, or worse, he got a fever? He might be out of schedule for the Morgennis border.

‘Because he usually doesn’t catch a cold, people might look at me suspiciously.’

When a rumor circulates that Lord Airak was bedridden with a cold, rumors would inevitably come out. He had never had a minor cold or fever before.

And what if Dustin showed even a little bit of feelings for Andra? After that, she didn’t even want to think about it, it made her shudder. As expected, it was a big deal for Dustin if he ever got sick.

‘No, is he protesting now? Because I said I won’t accept him? Why should I believe in him? Even now, he always does whatever he wants!’

Andra, who shook her head and slammed her face into the pillow, eventually lifted her upper body. Then she went back to the window. Please go now, don’t stay there anymore. After a small deep breath, she lifted the curtains slightly and peered outside.

Contrary to Andra’s wishes, Dustin was still standing in the rain. He’s like an abandoned dog. Andra grabbed her throbbing head.

‘Oh, I’m really stressed out. Damn Dustin Airak. You’re like this every time.’

Andra leaned her swaying body against the wall, staring at Dustin through a slit in the curtains.

She was still confused about Dustin. Dustin Airak likes her. No matter how much she thinks about it, it doesn’t make sense, and she couldn’t believe it.

Andra had a hard time believing that Dustin’s tears and him begging her that he had done wrong was real.

‘You did that to me…’

Andra and Dustin were at odds from the first meeting. Of course, at first, both were young and it happened without them being aware of each other’s existence, so it could have ended as a trivial happening, but it wasn’t from the second meeting that they imprinted on each other’s existence. Dustin began to lash out at Andra in front of her peers. She didn’t know why. As Andra can’t be beaten, she just started hitting back.

One day, Countess Volande, who was well versed in culture and art, held a concert for young ladies and lords. Andra, who was invited there, attended wearing her favorite dress.

However, because Baroness Anouk, the younger sister of Countess Volande, was married to a man from the Airak’s brance family, Dustin was invited there as well.

‘He doesn’t know how to play the piano.’

‘It’s a good thing to know. He must not even know the musical scale?’

‘Because he’s from a family of vulgar swordsmen, he wouldn’t have even raised a brush.’

‘He’ll only learn to kill animals.’

The young ladies and lords of the South and East, who were hostile to the North, were busy badmouthing Airak. It was because the north was called a wasteland of art, so it was natural that Airak, who came from the north, would be ignorant of art.

And that thought was mostly correct. Dustin couldn’t concentrate on the concert and looked sleepy. Andra saw Dustin and snorted. If that’s the case, why did he come to the concert?

‘You still don’t have any courtesy, not in the slightest bit. Don’t you feel sorry for Countess Volande?’

Andra, who happened to bump into Dustin in front of a counter where she had been looking for a drink, swallowed her sneer. Dustin glared at Andra and responded without losing.

‘I don’t think that’s what a vanity and narcissist would say. How can heavy sound express the flapping of a butterfly’s wings.’

‘Huh, vanity? It seems that you really don’t know the value of art as much as the hair of an animal, Lord. It’s not a heavy sound.’

‘Never mind, perhaps the one that fell down there must have been yours.’

‘What’s fallen down… Kyaaak!’

Just as Dustin had said, she lowered her head to see what had fallen at her feet, but the hem of her dress stuck from the stand was pulled and the large three-tiered cake fell. And the place where the cake fell was right on top of Andra’s head.

THUD!

Andra sat on the floor, covered in the white whipped cream cake, her eyes blinking. People rushed in, and Dustin had long since disappeared.

Dustin, spotted from a distance, was devouring a piece of cake from his plate.

Another day, in a small hunting competition, two people drew tickets of the same color and became the same group. This was also an event planned for the young ladies and gentlemen, so there was nothing too difficult. It was a competition in which the team that caught the most chickens with the mark quickly won.

Of course, Andra and Dustin hated the fact that they were in the same group and asked for a change of group, but the event planner, Marquis Denvers, denied the request, saying that it would not be fair.

In the end, the two decided to act separately, and in less than half an hour, Andra got knocked out by a chicken thrown by Dustin. After waking up, seeing the chicken that collided with her died of a broken neck became a bonus that she passed out again.

The appearance of the neck drooping and swaying side to side was still a trauma for Andra.

As they grew up, these things started to get bigger and bigger, and their feelings for each other started to deepen. Each time, Andra and Dustin were busy scolding and blaming each other.

Their relationship was not made up of a single event, but over a long period of time, many small events overlapped and overlapped.

‘Even at the coming of age ceremony… No, let’s not think about it.’

She pressed her thumbs down on her temple, Andra shook her head. She didn’t even want to think about it. Because it was the first time that the emperor made him and her stand alone.

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