No, It was My Fault for Loving You - Chapter 43 : In the dark, things still go on

Translator: Sunnyshies

Editor: Ryuubii

Chapter 43 : In the dark, things still go on.

In the stillness of the night, the knocking on the door sounded unusually loud.

After a short pause, the door slowly opens. Edgar peeked out from inside.

After already getting ready for bed, he looks at the person who knocked on his door and has a curious expression on his face.

“…Ren?”

“I’m sorry it’s so late, Edgar. I have something to tell you.”

“…is there something wrong?”

“Oh. I don’t have time, so I’ll explain it later, but I’m kind of leaving now. I’m sure this mansion will be fine, but I thought I’d call out to you just in case before I go.”

Edgar’s expression tightened.

“….do you want me to go with you?”

“No.”

Rembrandt shook his head lightly.

“You stay here… by Trice’s side.”

“…I understand.”

“All right.”

Rembrandt turned on his heel and walked down the dimly lit hallway.

“Be careful.”

Edgar watched quietly as the back of his best friend’s head dissolved into darkness.

…

…

…

“…”

Where am I?

After opening my eyelids, I vaguely wandered my gaze and as I was thinking about this, I felt something moving nearby.

“Are you awake? Natalia.”

I look towards the direction where I heard the voice.

Her body felt impossibly heavy, and Natalia could only move her head.

“…Alejandro…”

Natalia mentioned the name of her childhood friend who was sitting in the chair by the bed where she lay.

“Good morning… although it’s still night.”

With that said, Alejandro’s expression, looking into Natalia’s face from above, was obscured by the lights behind him.

From the tone of his voice, I wonder if he is laughing.

“This place is…?”

“My hideout.”

“Hideout?”

“Yes. It’s also called a secret base.”

Alejandro chuckled as he said this.

“Why am I here? And somehow my body doesn’t move much…”

“Ahh, so that’s it.”

Alejandro reached out and gently stroked Natalia’s hair.

“It’s because the drugs haven’t worn off yet.”

“Drugs…?”

“Yes.”

“Why drugs…?”

The bed creaking sounded in Natalia’s ear. As she and Alejandro exchanged words, she still felt dazed in her mind.

“Hey, Natalia.”

“…?”

Is her inability to think due to the drugs or due to her poor crisis management skills?

There is no fear in Natalia’s eyes as the man in front of her tries to lean over her while she lies on the bed.

Or perhaps this is the result of the trust and security that Alejandro has instilled in Natalia over time.

That would soon come crashing down.

“Who was that man… you were with… in the carriage during the day?”

“…?”

Is it my imagination?

Alejandro’s tone of voice seemed different from usual.

His voice made me think of him as an older brother pampering me, gentle, sometimes ridiculing, a little mean, but in the end, he would lend me a helping hand when I had nothing. Now, he seems like a different person.

“Alejandro…?”

“Answer me. Who was that man?”

“…”

The person suddenly grabbed her tightly by the wrist.

Natalia’s face contorted in pain.

“Just when I was relieved that he was finally going to be out of my sight, you found another guy. You’re a very inconsiderate woman, aren’t you?”

“…?!”

Natalia had no idea why and just blinked.

She still doesn’t understand the change of her gentle childhood friend in front of her, or the meaning of the words that are being stuffed into her head. Everything is incomprehensible.

“It was the others’ job to make you cry directly, and mine to make you laugh. All you had to do was cry and laugh along with it. And yet you…”

“Alejandro.”

“You don’t know your role at all. You don’t need love or affection. People, things, places, memories, none of it is needed.”

“…Alejandro.”

“You have to cry when I want to, you have to laugh when I want to, and that’s how we’ll spend the rest of our lives. That’s all I wanted, that’s all I needed.”

“Ale-jandro.”

“And yet you…”

Alejandro’s hand reached out and placed it on Natalia’s neck.

And at once, a slight force was applied to his hand.

“Fufu, if you keep trying like this, you’ll die soon.”

Alejandro’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Natalia.

“Don’t make that face. I really want to do it. Or did you want to die?”

“…”

“But.”

His expression remained obscured even now. But the tone of his voice is always joyful.

“I won’t allow you to die too.”

Natalia can’t help but be confused because the Alejandro before her eyes just doesn’t overlap with the man she knows so well.

“Tell me. Who was that man in the carriage with you?”

“C-carria-ge…”

“Yes. Didn’t you come back in a carriage today? You walked when you went out.”

“…when I went shopping for dinner…”

“Yes, that.”

She had no idea what Alejandro was there, when she had not promised to meet with him, why did he ask Natalia so many questions, or whether she owed him any explanation in the first place.

She was just overwhelmed by the man in front of her, and Natalia replied to his words honestly.

“L-lady Strydom and her friend helped me out when I was in trouble because of the rain and let me ride the carriage. That’s it.”

“Strydom? Beatrice Strydom?”

At the name, Alejandro’s voice drops even lower.

“Yes, that’s him. The man that Alejandro saw was an acquaintance of Lady Strydom. They seemed to be very close, maybe they were lovers.”

“A lover? That Leopold girl?”

“Eh?”

Natalia bliked at the unintentional words that escaped him.

“Alejandro… What was that just now? Strydom… Leo?”

She asked Alejandro with a quivering voice.

Alejandro laid her down, and her complexion was completely blue.

“Speaking of…”

Thinking for a moment, Alejandro opened his mouth.

“Natalia. You still didn’t know the stupid sins you had committed.”

Natalia thought that the childhood friend in front of her, who was running his hand through Natalia’s hair, seemed like a stranger.

Natalia still could not see what kind of expression Alejandro had on his face. But he kindly continued.

“Let’s talk a little about the old days.”

☼☼☼