It’s Not Night - Chapter 85
Chapter 85
“Anna, you mustn’t go alone—move together with Ansel as much as possible. If you want to rest, ask Ansel to take you to the lounge.”
Albert, who had to attend an audience separately with the emperor, was absent for a while after placing Ansel to Andra as her guardian. With this opportunity, Andra urged Ansel that they should take a look around. She wanted to see more of the imperial palace itself than attend the dancing and bustling banquet. Ansel was no more interested in the banquet, too, so he gladly accepted his sister’s request.
In the early evening air, Andra took Ansel’s hand and walked through the garden. The garden was spacious with thousands of white roses in full bloom, and in one place was a maze made of tall bushes. Wanting to enter the maze, Andra shook Ansel’s hand that was holding her.
“The maze garden of Hatina Palace is famous for its complex structure. If you go in today, you will come out tomorrow. That’s why let’s not go today. We can come back tomorrow when the sun’s up.”
Ansel gently coaxed the young Andra. However, as Andra was at the age that her curiosity would get the best of her, and so she thought of entering the maze without Ansel’s knowledge. She wanted to enter the maze so much. Later, of course, if she had known the hidden meaning of Ansel’s words, she would never have entered the maze.
The opportunity came right away. Ansel and Andra encountered an unexpected person. It was Viola, the First Princess. Viola asked Ansel if she could talk with him for a while. Andra didn’t miss this opportunity and she told Ansel that she would go to the lounge. When the princess allowed this, Ansel looked at Viola, then exchanged a look with Andra. It was only after this that he took Andra to the lounge.
“I’m sorry, Andra. Father told me to stay with you, but…”
“I’m fine, Ansel. So, hurry up and go see the Princess.”
“Then rest in the lounge until I get back.”
Andra walked herself to the lounge and watched Ansel as he left. Then she soon escaped the lounge secretly and headed into the maze. There was no employee by her side, but no one doubted Andra as she walked proudly. She could easily reach the front of the maze.
The surroundings of the maze were quiet. There were often people walking in the garden like Andra and Ansel, but never near the maze as if there were an agreement. Of course, not knowing why, the nine-year-old Andra did not hesitate to step into the maze. It was something she would never have done now.
Andra wasn’t too afraid to lose her way, because she saw in the book how to escape a maze. She moved excitedly as she explored the well-maintained maze. Shortly after, a flying little stone hit her head.
After she was hit, Andra reflexively grabbed her head and let out a groan.
Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. Andra glared and she looked around to find the person who threw that stone at her. Near the corner, a boy looked at her with a puzzled look. Was he the culprit? Andra picked up the stone that had hit her head and she walked over to the boy.
“Is it you? You threw a stone at me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know the kick would go that way.”
Andra stared at the boy for a moment. Light green eyes with black hair. She had never seen his face before. Of course, he wasn’t royalty. Because there wasn’t a single person with black hair in the imperial family that she saw at the ballroom. Then who is it? Before coming to the capital, Andra briefly studied about noble children her age. None of them had black hair.
“What are you looking at like that?”
The boy furrowed his brow fiercely, uncomfortable with Andra, who was staring at his face.
“I was thinking about who you are. But besides that, what about this, huh?”
“What?”
“You hit my forehead. Do you know how much it hurts?”
Andra pointed to the small wound on her forehead. Fortunately, it was a minor wound, but it stung whenever she touched it with her fingertips. Moreover, Andra, who had never had a single scar on her face in her life, was very concerned about the small scar on her forehead now.
The boy glanced at Andra’s wounds and grunted, narrowing his brow.
“What’s the big deal about a slight bump? Go and apply ointment or something.”
“I think you forgot for a while, but I am the victim. You, the perpetrator, have no right to say this or that.”
“What did you say? Where I live, if you whine with a wound that much, you’re called a loser. Not even a loser…”
“What? Are you saying I’m a loser now?”
“Why, if not loser then what?”
The boy asked provocatively. With that, Andra lost her calm. She was just hoping for a polite apology, but she was called a loser in return. Andra’s facial muscles twitched.
“Be careful. How can you call me a loser!”
“I said it was called a loser, but I never call you a loser.”
“That’s what it is. You apologize to me!”
“I apologized earlier. Get out of my way. I don’t have time to hang out with you here.”
Andra stopped the boy who wanted to pass by. The boy frowned as Andra blocked his way. Move. Andra lifted her head and shot at him coldly.
“I’m not going to get out unless you apologize properly for throwing a stone at me and calling me a loser.”
“You are a really weird kid. You’re blocking my way with just something like that?”
“It’s not weird, it’s normal! You’re the one who’s weird. Apologize!”
“No matter how you look at it, you are the weirdest one. Forget it, I can’t do this all day.”
The boy avoided Andra with a quick gesture and stepped forward in front of her. Andra tried to grab the boy’s clothes, but she couldn’t even grasp him from how nimble she was, and she fell to the ground.
Andra sat down and looked down at her palm, and then she threw the stone she had picked up earlier at the boy. Luckily, the stone hit the boy’s head.
“Ugh, what!”
The boy looked back at Andra, clutching his head in a stinging pain. Andra crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Because my hand slipped.”
“Hey, did you throw it on purpose?”
“No? It’s just that my hand slipped and it just flew away? And you were there.”
“You…!”
“Where do you say that if you whine with a wound that much, you’re called a loser? Are you a loser? Why are you reacting so sensitively?”
Andra covered her mouth with her palm, giving a pitiful expression. Seeing this, the boy came up to Andra huffing. And with a terrifying face, he said as a warning.
“You are lucky we’re in the Imperial Palace. If it wasn’t the Palace…”
“Wow, you are such a scary kid. If this isn’t the Imperial Palace, then what? No way, are you trying to hit me? Well, if you’re going to hit me, hit me. You’re the one who’s lucky that we’re in the Imperial Palace!”
Andra widened her eyes at the boy, barely pressing down her intention to spit out, ‘Do you even know who I am?’ Then the boy let out a laugh.
“Do you think I’m a scum that wields fist at everyone?”
“Then what were you going to do? Trash! Loser!”
“Are you going to keep calling me a loser?”
“You started it though?”
Andra countered the boy. The boy’s face hardened. The boy immediately looked down at Andra and asked.
“But why are you talking casually at me from a while ago?”
“You’re talking casually to me too.”
“Because you started talking casually at me.”
“Because you threw a stone at me.”
“You threw a stone too.”
“You too. Because you are talking casually now too.”
“UGH, God!”
It was just going in circles. The boy kicked his feet in place in frustration. What is with him? Does he have an anger management problem? Andra got up and looked pathetically at the boy who was kicking the ground.
Then Andra looked up at the sky. It was already twilight. She had to go back to the lounge slowly. It seemed that it would be difficult to receive an apology from the boy even if they continued to argue like this.
Andra passed the boy indifferently, and the boy hurriedly called Andra to stop.
“Hey! Weird kid! Where are you going!”
“That’s my business. Why don’t you just scurry on away?”
“I’m not done with you yet!”
“Then end it alone. I don’t have time to play with you anymore.”
The boy followed Andra as she strode forward. Andra ignored him at first. But as the boy continued to follow Andra, she got concerned, turned her head and looked at the boy.
“Why do you keep following me? Go your way.”
“I am also going my way. Isn’t this the entrance?”
The boy said, pointing to either side of the two forks in the road. Andra realized at that point that the boy had been wandering, unable to find the exit of the maze. Andra crossed her arms again.
“Really? Then you go first, I’m going somewhere else.”
“What?”
“If you are going to the exit, you should go first. I’m going to look around a bit more.”
The boy’s face wrinkled at those words. He seemed to understand Andra’s intentions at once. But he couldn’t say anything. It’s probably because of his pride that he can’t say he didn’t know the right way. In the end, the boy chose the opposite side of the exit and began to march forward.
Only after the boy disappeared through the thick bushes did Andra begin to move again.
“Bleh, go ahead and get lost forever.”
Andra, who knew how to get to the exit, glanced at the direction where the boy disappeared and murmured. The place the boy went to was either blocked or a way to go further inside. Andra moved her steps, thinking it served him right.
However, after a while, she turned her head, feeling a presence that was following her. The boy was there.
“You…!”
Andra looked at the boy and tried to open her mouth bewilderedly. A woman’s groan was heard from somewhere. The boy and girl’s heads turned towards the sound. What? Is she hurt? They forgot about each other’s quarrels for a moment and started walking through the maze in search of someone who might be groaning.
“Ah, uhhngg… Nngh, ahng… haa…”
The moans began to sound a little clearer and louder showing they were walking the correct path. But that was not the only sound. There was also the sound of something hitting and other breathing sounds that were barely audible, buried in the woman’s moan.
Andra just rolled her eyes, wondering what was going on. It was the same for the boy, who looked embarrassed as well.
—
