The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 26

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – Episode 26

* * *

“Miss Roxana!”

Just as she was about to enter the mansion, someone called out to her.

Roxana’s gaze slid towards the voice. The face of the person hurrying towards her from a distance looked somewhat familiar.

It was the gatekeeper who guarded the entrance to the underground prison when Cassis was imprisoned there.

She had felt someone following her for a while now. Did he have something to say?

More importantly, what was this person’s name again?

Roxana thought for a moment and then spoke as the gatekeeper approached.

“Yoan, it’s been a while.”

She managed to remember as he ran over. Well, it wouldn’t have mattered much if she had forgotten.

“I, I, I am honored that you remember my name.”

Yoan seemed deeply moved that Roxana had spoken his name.

“Um, Miss Roxana. I’m really sorry for suddenly stopping you. I know it’s rude, but I couldn’t help it…”

Roxana tilted her head, looking at the stammering man.

With just that small gesture, Yoan’s face turned bright red, as if he were about to stop breathing, and he didn’t know what to do.

“I, I’ve recovered enough to walk around again.”

Come to think of it, Yoan, who was a gatekeeper, had to receive separate treatment because of Charlotte’s raid on the underground prison. So, this was the first time she had seen him since that incident.

However, Roxana couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

*Why is he reporting his condition to me like this, even stopping me to do so? How pointless,* she thought.

“I heard that you were worried about me, Miss. Thank you so much. Caring about someone like me…”

Listening to his words, Roxana understood Yoan’s actions.

She had casually asked the new gatekeeper about the well-being of the previous one, and it seemed that it had been slightly exaggerated.

So, Yoan felt a warm affection for Roxana and came to express his gratitude.

“Yes, I heard you had a hard time because of Charlotte, but I’m glad you’re feeling better now.”

Roxana spoke perfunctorily, without feeling any particular emotion.

However, everything about Roxana was inherently captivating, and she easily infiltrated the hearts of others as naturally as breathing, without even intending to.

Yoan was deeply moved by this alone and wore an overwhelmed expression.

“It’s nothing much… This is a gift, Miss.”

Soon, Yoan held out what he had been holding in his hand to Roxana.

Roxana made a strange expression when she saw it.

“A gift? For me?”

“Yes! Of course, it’s insignificant compared to Miss Roxana’s beauty… But I would be happy if you would accept it…”

Yoan couldn’t finish his sentence properly and mumbled, bowing with a bright red face.

Roxana’s gaze turned to the bouquet of flowers Yoan was holding out.

Soon, she chuckled. Yoan didn’t know why Roxana was laughing, and now even his neck was flushed red.

Yoan didn’t seem to know, but this purple flower was a type of poisonous plant that Agrice cultivated.

It was still in the experimental stage and didn’t have a separate name. The only proven effect so far was paralysis.

However, the effect was only a slight tingling in the hands and feet, so the experiment was almost a failure.

So, they had decided to breed a new variety this time, as she vaguely remembered.

So, even when Roxana saw Yoan carrying this, she didn’t even think that he intended to give it to her as a gift.

Perhaps he didn’t know what this flower was and just picked it because it was pretty.

Indeed, all poisonous creatures are said to be particularly colorful and beautiful.

“Thank you.”

Roxana accepted the flowers Yoan held out.

It was a worthless flower, but there was no reason to reject it in front of him.

*Of course, the chance of going to the underground prison had disappeared, so the chance of meeting Yoan had also disappeared…*

*Still, no one knows when or at what point an object or a person might be useful again.*

Roxana smiled beautifully at Yoan, who couldn’t hide his joy.

“And Miss Roxana. That’s, about your toy…”

But that wasn’t the only reason Yoan had come; he hesitated and added a word.

“My fault is also partly responsible for the toy’s injury… I’m sorry. If I had known it would become Miss’s toy, I wouldn’t have touched it…”

*Ah. So, this gatekeeper was worried that Roxana might have felt unpleasant about him whipping Cassis in the underground prison.*

He repeatedly apologized in front of Roxana, not knowing what to do.

However, Roxana had no intention of blaming Yoan for that. Moreover, she wasn’t upset that Cassis had been whipped.

“You were just doing what you were told, so it’s not something I should interfere with. So, it doesn’t matter.”

After saying that, she decided to leave and turned around.

“Thank you for the flowers. Then see you next time, Yoan.”

His eyes were almost blinded by the beautiful smile that spread before him.

Yoan couldn’t move from his spot, his face dazed, even after Roxana had completely disappeared from his sight.

* * *

“Why the sudden flowers?”

“I received them as a gift on the way.”

Roxana entered the room where Cassis was, holding the flowers in her arms.

In response to Cassis’s question, Roxana approached him and answered.

Perhaps because of the flowers she was holding, Roxana’s face looked much brighter.

The purple flower with white patterns looked like something he had seen somewhere, and on the other hand, its appearance felt quite unfamiliar, as if he was seeing it for the first time.

It was quite a contradictory impression, but Cassis didn’t know much about flowers anyway.

So, the only objective information he could derive was that this flower suited Roxana quite well.

Roxana was originally a beautiful girl to the point that even Cassis couldn’t hide his surprise for a moment.

With her holding such a colorful flower, it felt like her beauty had deepened.

If it were someone else, they would have surely stared at Roxana with a fierce gaze, completely mesmerized and admiring her.

However, Cassis turned his gaze away from her instead.

Since his eyesight began to return, he avoided making eye contact with Roxana even more than before.

In fact, Cassis felt a faint discomfort whenever he saw Roxana, for an unknown reason.

However, it wasn’t due to unpleasantness towards the other person, but rather, it felt as if his instinct was subtly sensing some danger and unconsciously rejecting it.

“It barely has any fragrance.”

It was the same when he saw Roxana slightly lower her head to smell the flowers.

The smooth hair, like spun gold threads, flowed softly over the purple flowers.

The long, full eyelashes that cast shadows were also a bright gold color like her hair.

There was no expression on her white face, but her inherent beauty alone was more than enough to captivate people’s attention.

The red eyes, which had been slightly lowered, were raised again to gaze at Cassis.

However, Cassis, with a calm appearance that didn’t reveal any inner thoughts, soon asked Roxana a meaningless question.

“You seem to be in a better mood than usual. I guess you like flowers.”

“I wonder.”

However, Roxana spoke ambiguously and looked down at the bouquet in her arms once more.

“It’s pretty, but…”

Soon, she opened her lips again after a brief pause.

“It dies too quickly, so I don’t like it.”

Roxana was thinking about how long the toxicity of this flower would last.

Like herbs, poisonous plants were also very sensitive, and their effects varied depending on the freshness of the plant.

This flower had the best effect when it was freshly picked, and as time passed and the flower withered, the toxicity changed and the effect became minimal.

However, as mentioned earlier, this flower had originally failed in breeding and had very little toxicity. Moreover, this flower tended to wither quickly among plants.

Of course, not all poisonous plants are like this.

Some had better effects when dried and used, and some were intentionally rotted before use.

*It would have been nice if this flower was like that too.*

*It was only useful for ornamental purposes, truly one of the few failures in Agrice.*

When she looked up, Cassis was somehow staring at Roxana with his mouth tightly shut. Roxana asked him.

“Do you want this?”

“Why would you give me something you received as a gift?”

“I thought you might feel stuffy being in the room all the time. It’s quite pretty, so wouldn’t it be a change of pace?”

*Anyway, it’s useless even if I take it, and it will definitely end up as garbage.*

Roxana thought so and approached Cassis with the intention of passing the flowers she was holding to him.

“Wait. This…”

However, as the distance between the two narrowed, Cassis, who had suddenly lowered his gaze to the flowers, paused for a moment.