Chapter 25: The Night We Looked for Stars

Liana’s bed was small. If two people wanted to lie down, they could only hold each other face to face, or she could straddle him, one body stacked over the other.

After thinking it over, Landon chose the safest position. He and Liana each took one side, backs against the warehouse’s wooden wall, shoulder to shoulder.

Liana held his arm. She wore no underwear, so her breasts pressed loosely against his arm.

Landon did not dare move. He was afraid she would feel uncomfortable.

Liana closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. Her breathing was steady. She looked asleep.

But she was pretending.

She carefully tested how much Landon would tolerate. She was afraid he would lose patience again, like before.

She had thought about letting go. Even if she could not completely separate from him, she could keep a little distance.

That way, she would not push her luck because of the possessiveness growing in her heart. Earlier, her carelessness had made Landon uncomfortable.

She decided not to do that again.

But the greed swelling inside her would not let her let go. The handkerchief Landon had lent her was still in the drawer.

She had washed it and hidden it at the very back.

She did not want to return it. The longer she could delay, the better.

“Do you remember when we were seven, and we spent a romantic night on the hill?”

“How was that romantic?”

Landon frowned. He thought that night had been a pure scam. Liana had tricked him out into the cold wind.

The afternoon before that night, Liana had come to the monastery, as usual, to pass the time.

Her mother often came to the monastery to do charity. She brought handmade snacks or cheap clothes bought from traveling merchants.

Every Wednesday, Landon looked forward to Liana and her mother’s arrival. It meant he could see Liana again and play with her.

Liana also looked forward to Wednesdays. But that day had been strange. She had played all afternoon, and she had also mentioned wanting to see the stars at night.

She was still young and was not allowed to go out at night. With her parents, it was fine. Without them, she had to sit obediently in the study and read the mayor’s records to learn how to govern the town.

But that day, Liana was troubled. Landon made funny faces to cheer her up, and failed.

“I remember your funny faces that afternoon. They were ugly!”

Liana did not answer Landon. She was thinking of something else from that time and suddenly laughed.

“Hehe, I almost couldn’t hold it in back then…”

Landon felt his cheeks burn. Having childhood embarrassments brought up after growing up was always awkward.

“Can we not talk about that?”

He lowered his voice and begged. But Liana’s tone suddenly shifted.

“Sorry, did I make you angry? I won’t say it…”

Her right hand climbed to his chest and tugged at his clothes. The words “I don’t want to be hated” were written all over her face.

Her trembling pupils locked onto Landon’s face. She was afraid she would see disgust there.

“It’s fine. Relax. I don’t hate you.”

Landon could only explain that way. Afraid she would not accept it, he added:

“No, no, I’m just a little embarrassed. You not laughing back then already made me ashamed, and now you’re still talking about it…”

“I-is that so…”

The heart in Liana’s throat dropped a little. She took a deep breath and calmed herself.

“Actually, I really wanted to see the stars. Looking from the window is too dull, so I wanted to see them from the hill.”

She meant the hill behind the orphanage.

But now that hill had sunk because of the underground cavity. It was about the same height as the cemetery beside it.

“I remember you didn’t tell me why.”

Landon did not remember clearly. Back then, he had admired Liana so much that when she casually said, “I want to see the stars,” he offered to go pick her up.

As for how he did it:

“I told you, so the next night you came.”

Every Thursday night, Liana’s parents attended the town assembly and negotiated with the traveling merchants who arrived on schedule about the goods for the next week.

After all, many things in Whisper Town were self-sufficient. Only the wealthy could go to the Western Ring city-states, so everyone else had to wait for the traveling merchants.

But everyone needed different things, and not everyone had time to go every Thursday night. So every week, the mayor gathered the townspeople’s requests and went to make the commissions himself.

That way, the traveling merchants would not neglect them. They did not dare.

“On Thursday night, Father and Mother went out. I stuffed a pillow under the blanket to pretend it was me sleeping, then waited for you.”

“That night I climbed out from the monastery window. Ah, the window of the room Helentine lives in now.”

Landon looked at the warehouse wall in front of him. His gaze seemed to pass through the thin wall toward the first floor of the monastery, toward the version of himself who had carefully climbed out the window and fallen.

“I even fell.”

“Yeah, I put medicine on you. You endured the pain and told me you wanted to see the stars?”

“It didn’t hurt, okay!”

“Yes, yes, you cried because sand got in your eyes!”

Landon was speechless. How did Liana remember it so clearly?

That night, they had gone to see the stars, but a cold snap hit. They got lost on the hill. It was too late, and they could not see the path, so they could not get down.

The two children huddled together in the cold wind and somehow fell asleep.

So Landon did not think it was romantic at all. If anything, it was embarrassing.

That night there had been no stars either. It was cloudy, and it looked like it would rain soon.

Their luck was terrible. Liana did not see the stars, Landon got hurt, and the next morning the mayor caught him and scolded him.

From every angle, that day had been awful.

After returning, Liana caught a cold, so Landon had always felt guilty.

“But I think it was good… I remember after waking up, you still wanted to secretly kiss me.”

Before she finished, Liana’s face went red. She blinked and lowered her head guiltily.

Because there was a trick to that story.

She had actually woken first. She wanted to steal a kiss on Landon’s cheek. But Landon suddenly woke, so she kept pretending to sleep.

Then she accidentally saw Landon’s lips coming closer. She could not hold back and woke.

Luckily, she caught a cold afterward. Otherwise, meeting again would have been unbearably awkward.

“Youthful foolishness is like that.”

Landon admitted he had wanted to steal a kiss from Liana. He did not dare openly admit he had fallen.

That was how boys were. So Liana laughed again.

“Haha, you’re still the same as before!”

Landon did not answer. He only looked at her slightly red cheeks and bright smile. The corners of his mouth lifted a little.

Maybe she had become bitter because of what happened recently. It was good that she could still laugh.

“But by the way, do you still want to kiss me?”

“What?”

“There’s a chance now!”

She smiled and brought her cheek closer.

Landon hesitated and blinked. Then he saw Liana pull her face back on her own.

“Forget it… I haven’t showered.”

She muttered to smooth things over. Her cheeks turned bright red.

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