The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 25

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – Episode 25

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Eventually, Jeremy followed the maids to where Maria was.

Maria stood in the middle of a flower garden, where vibrant red flowers bloomed profusely. Swaying gently in the breeze, the waves of red blossoms resembled a sea of blood.

“Maria, Auntie.”

She turned her head at the sound of his voice.

Some of the maids flinched at Jeremy’s disrespectful address.

However, those who had worked under Maria for a long time showed no reaction, as if they were used to it.

“Jeremy.”

Maria herself didn’t seem to care about titles.

She smiled brightly as soon as she saw Jeremy.

Maria had a particular fondness for beautiful people, animals, and objects.

That’s why she especially liked Roxana and her mother, Sierra, within the Agrice family, and she always showed a generous attitude even when Jeremy acted rudely, as he was now.

“Did you come to see me? How delightful.”

Of course, Jeremy had come to see Maria, just as she thought. Otherwise, why would he have followed the maids around?

“Auntie, has that bad habit of yours resurfaced again?”

Though not with good intentions, Jeremy openly provoked Maria.

“It’s been quiet for a while, but why are you killing innocent maids again? At this rate, the magical creatures will think of you as their keeper.”

“Jeremy, I only punish children who don’t listen well. Killing innocent maids? How cute of you to misunderstand.”

Yuck.

Jeremy pretended to vomit.

Maria simply smiled kindly at whatever Jeremy said or whatever attitude he took, as if she found it all amusing, like watching a child’s antics.

“By the way, how can you walk around in that state? Do you know how much blood you reek of, Auntie? It’s really disgusting.”

Strictly speaking, Jeremy, who deliberately came to provoke her like this, wasn’t exactly normal either.

Moreover, just like Maria, who was covered in blood from killing a maid a little while ago, Jeremy’s appearance, having just come from the magical creature pen, wasn’t very pleasant to look at either.

“Jeremy, are you coming back from the magical creature pen? Your pretty face is hard to see because of that black stuff.”

Jeremy snorted at Maria’s lament, which was filled with pity.

For the first time, being covered in the magical creature’s venom didn’t feel so bad.

But after hearing Maria’s words, he suddenly felt like the fishy taste of the venom was still lingering in his mouth.

Jeremy’s face crumpled. He tore off a handful of red petals next to him, put them in his mouth, and chewed.

The red flowers scattered all over the place were genetically modified by Agrice and contained narcotic ingredients.

However, only the stems and leaves had effects such as hallucinations. Of course, the petals weren’t entirely without toxicity and could cause headaches.

But for Jeremy, who was resistant to poison, this was no different from having no effect at all.

“Sana seems busy too. You should take breaks while studying; it’s not good for your body to overdo it.”

“Why do you care… Wait, did you meet Sana, Sister?”

Jeremy stopped chewing the petals he was using as a mouthwash.

“I ran into her by chance a little while ago. I was going to call Deon and have tea together, but Deon wasn’t home, and Sana said she had other plans.”

This time, Jeremy’s face crumpled like a piece of paper.

“What? You have nothing better to do than to call that annoying Deon bastard to the spot?”

Suddenly, the subtle floral scent in his mouth felt repulsive.

Jeremy knew that Roxana disliked both Deon and Maria. So Jeremy also disliked the two of them, following Roxana’s lead.

No, of course, it was a bit of a stretch to say ‘following Roxana’.

Deon was an unlikeable guy who couldn’t find a single appealing thing about him even when looked at separately, and his mother, Maria, was just like her son in that she had a way of making people cringe.

For that reason, Jeremy often took the time to come and provoke Deon and Maria.

But unfortunately, Jeremy’s provocations didn’t work on them at all.

So, in the end, it was always Jeremy who left the scene with a grimace.

Jeremy was even more determined by that point, and he still couldn’t give up on provoking them.

“That’s right, Deon isn’t a very cute person, even though he’s my son.”

Maria readily agreed and nodded, as if she didn’t care that Jeremy was cursing Deon.

“I told you before not to stick Deon with Sana, Sister, didn’t I?”

Jeremy snarled, baring his teeth in annoyance.

But Maria only tilted her head as if she didn’t remember.

“Did I ever say that? Why, isn’t it good for siblings to get along well?”

“Siblings? Siiiiblings?”

Is this auntie crazy?

The Agrice people are worse than strangers, so what siblings are you talking about? And especially with that Deon bastard?

“Listen up, Maria, Auntie. Open your ears and listen carefully.”

Jeremy continued, a sneer on his lips.

“The only person in this world who can attach the word ‘sibling’ to Sana, Sister, is me. Got it?”

It was truly a dignified declaration, as if reciting the immutable truth of the ages that would never change even if the world split in two.

Then, Maria finally looked like she understood what Jeremy meant.

“Okay, okay, then next time I won’t just call Sana and Deon, I’ll call you too, Jeremy. You were just sulking because I left you out.”

“Ugh, that’s not what I meant?”

Jeremy was even more annoyed than before. He had no idea what was in Maria’s head; he couldn’t get through to her at all.

“And do you think Sana, Sister, is so free? What kind of tea are you talking about?”

He muttered nervously, feeling the urge to set fire to this flower garden that Maria was cultivating.

“These days, I have even less time with her because of that damn toy.”

“Toy?”

“That blue mutt. The one Sana, Sister, took away a while ago…”

But Maria’s reaction was strange.

She was showing the most vivid reaction she had ever shown. Jeremy felt suspicious at the sight of her eyes widened in surprise.

“What, didn’t you know?”

Roxana bringing in her own toy for the first time was quite a commotion in the mansion.

So Jeremy naturally assumed that Maria knew about it and brought it up.

But if you think about it differently, Maria didn’t even know that her son had been away from home for a long time, did she?

So it wasn’t surprising that she was reacting to Roxana’s toy story as if it were something she had never heard before.

“Keep your ears open and live. You live in the same mansion and don’t know anything. You must have been indulging in that creepy hobby of yours, playing with dolls or something.”

Jeremy clicked his tongue, sneering as much as he could.

But Maria didn’t seem to hear his words.

“So, Sana has a toy… I’m curious. What kind of child is it?”

“Just as annoying as Deon just by existing.”

Jeremy mercilessly commented on Maria’s soliloquy-like question.

But Maria seemed to just brush off Jeremy’s words. Her eyes were full of curiosity.

“Someone go and call Luelle. To think they haven’t told me about something this interesting, that child is useless.”

But soon, Maria reversed her words just before the maid bowed and left.

“No, I should just go myself. Jeremy, do you want to come to my room? I’ll give you something delicious.”

“Forget it. I’m not your doll, Auntie.”

Jeremy made a ferocious expression as if he knew all of Maria’s thoughts. And he shuddered and left the spot.

Maria couldn’t hide her disappointment as she watched Jeremy’s retreating figure.