Chapter 34 - The Innocence

LUNA ASTERBELLE’s POV

The skies seemed to be sympathizing with how Andrea passed away. There were no signs of stars and even the moon was blocked with the dark clouds that were endlessly releasing droplets of water. Every single step that I took as I went to the Blood Moon Pack’s premises were absolutely heavy. It was like my feet were locked up in chains and were pulling me backwards so that I wouldn’t be able to go to my destination.

I separated ways with Jerome and since I told him before not to attend Andrea’s burial, I’m pretty sure that our paths would not cross for a while.

“Luna, you’ve finally arrived, we’ve been waiting for you for about an hour now. We thought that you wouldn’t come,” Mrs. Asterbelle said as she walked closer to me to assist me in stepping forth the entrance of the venue. “Everyone else that was invited is already inside. You should go in as well and pay your respects to the friend that you’ve lost,” she murmured.

My mother’s words sounded to me like she didn’t really care whether Andrea’s dead or alive. She must’ve probably volunteered to be the one to host this today so that her popularity would once again rise.

It’s quite unfortunate that her current ranking now doesn’t really support her capabilities. She was merely chosen by Mr. Asterbelle because of her beauty. She didn’t acquire the minimum standard of my adoptive father at all.

She could consider herself lucky as she’s still living.

About a minute passed by when I crossed the threshold of the room where the burial was held. I couldn’t see any familiar faces, not even Yve. There weren’t any classmates of ours from college who bothered to pay her a visit.

I formed my fists into tight balls in realization that no one cared about Andrea as much as I did.

“Why didn’t you wait for me, Andrea..? Just why did you have to die during this time when Joseph has already gone back to life..?” I whispered to myself while staring at her coffin, hoping that my words would at least reach her in this state. “Joseph might have forgotten the moments that the two of you spent together, but I was quite certain that it wouldn’t take too long before the two of you reunited and be lovey-dovey with each other just like before everything got messed up,” I added.

Tears instantly fell down from my eyes as I recalled all of the dreams that Andrea hoped to achieve.

I covered my mouth so that I wouldn’t create such a commotion due to my deafening cry of despair. I imagined how Andrea would immediately come running to my side only for the sake of embracing me as she locked me in between her arms. Those were enough to make me feel that there’s still a brighter future waiting ahead of us, and that we shouldn’t lose sight of our dreams.

“A-Andrea…”

I heard a faint voice of a man who was sobbing while uttering my friend’s name. And even though I wasn’t supposed to head out just yet, my curiosity beat the hell out of me.

I went out of the room and made use of my ears to detect where that person was hiding. My feet moved on their own until I reached a dim alley. There were no exits on the other side, so I guess that he purposely cornered himself here, in the belief that no one would figure out his hideout.

“Joseph… You were here after all,” I said, then advanced towards him.

The man tilted his head upwards just to take a look at me. “Luna,” he called out to me at the same time that he wiped his tears with his bare hands while he stood firmly. “I-I-I’m sorry… Please, forgive me for what I’ve done to A-Andrea. I didn’t want this to happen to her either, trust me… Have faith in me, I beg of you.”

Confused as I was, Joseph knelt to the ground out of the blue as he continuously rubbed both of his palms together.

“I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill her,” Joseph repetitively mumbled.

“H-hey, calm down,” I said, in an attempt to stop him from whatever crazy act that he was doing. “I understand that you just lost the love of your life; your mate… However, this wouldn’t be great for your health, you have to get your sh*t altogether or you would soon collapse. Andrea would surely want you to live a prosperous life, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she sees you in this state.”

I stretched out one of my arms to lend him my hand, but he rather chose to ignore it than to quietly grab my hand and stand back up.

“This must be a dream. There’s no way that I’m the one who killed the woman that I cherish the most, right? This must be a hoax made by the Moon Goddess to punish me for all the sins that I’ve committed thus far,” Joseph muttered to himself.

Those eyes of his were the evidence that he was totally out of it.

I wasn’t so sure if I should play along with what Joseph wants to hear or tell him the truth.

But, what do I even know? I wasn’t even there during the last minutes before Andrea was killed, supposing that she really was annihilated by someone.

“It was all Josh’s fault, he’s the sole murderer here and not me. I’m completely innocent, my hands aren’t tainted with A-Andrea’s blood.”

“Josh? Who are you pertaining to?”

Instead of giving me an answer, Joseph sat on the ground, then crawled his way out of the alley. From what I noticed, he perfectly avoided getting seen by other people, which only implies that he purposely allowed himself to be found by me.

Joseph needs me… And as a friend of Andrea who passed away, I must make sure that he’s not going to lose his sanity, considering how he became this sensitive over his mate’s death.