The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 45

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – 45

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As always, the room was silent.

Within it, Cassis repeatedly replayed the events of the past few days.

It was the memory of his escape from this very room.

He already knew it, but the people of Agrische were definitely not normal.

Jeremy Agrische, who acted without a thought for the harm his family inflicted, and the Agrische family itself, which cultivated monsters within its own ranks, were unparalleled in their depravity.

And what about the bizarre scene in the greenhouse he’d witnessed? The thought of people trapped like slaves in birdcages made him sick.

And then there was the other person he’d met that day…

“Come to think of it, there were search dogs we dealt with at the border a while ago.”

“They seemed to be loyal servants of Pedelian, searching for their lost master. They were more persistent than I expected, so dealing with them was quite annoying.”

“We simply sent them ahead to where their master was headed soon enough, so what’s the problem?”

As Cassis recalled the voice that still echoed clearly in his mind, his grip tightened.

A chilling aura, like a north wind, flickered in his golden eyes as he stared into the void.

It was as if the speaker couldn’t fathom what the problem was with crushing a mere bug.

Even thinking about Jeremy Agrische aroused anger, but the memory of Dion Agrische was even more vividly etched in Cassis’s mind.

Perhaps it was because what followed was even more shocking than he could have imagined.

Roxana’s mother had looked at Dion Agrische with terrified eyes, begging him repeatedly not to kill Asil.

Cassis remembered that Asil was Roxana’s biological older brother.

He also knew that Asil was dead, having overheard it from Agrische’s subordinates.

But when Dion Agrische forcibly activated Cassis’s restraints, the words that came from the woman who appeared belatedly were utterly surprising.

She had clearly stated that Dion had killed Asil.

For Cassis, this was unimaginable. Weren’t they brothers? Even if they had different mothers, they shared blood.

Yet, Dion Agrische was the man who unhesitatingly pushed a monster toward Roxana’s mother, who stood defenseless.

Had Cassis not intervened, the monster would surely have attacked her.

Considering that, it wasn’t so surprising that Dion Agrische had killed his half-brother.

“It would be better if you cried like you did back then.”

Suddenly, Cassis frowned.

The faint scars remaining on Roxana’s face flashed in his mind.

A stirring emotion he couldn’t quite define crawled up his spine to the back of his neck.

This family was truly bizarre.

Even Cassis, who had been confined for most of his time and had only brief contact with the outside world, felt his mind slowly warping.

All sorts of irrational acts were carried out so casually in Agrische.

The world’s norms, laws, and ethics were useless here. Even the criteria for judging right and wrong were different from the outside world.

It would be difficult for anyone to maintain their sanity if they stayed in a place like this for long.

Cassis lowered his gaze, his eyes shadowed.

The restraints that still bound his limbs came into view.

〈From now on, I will place a ban on you.〉

In the illusion room where he had been confined, Cassis recalled memories of the past he had forgotten until now.

Simultaneously, he remembered how to undo the ban currently placed upon him.

That meant he could now use the abilities that had been sealed. Perhaps he could even break these restraints.

“……”

Various thoughts surfaced in Cassis’s mind.

…Come to think of it, he had never considered what would happen to Roxana, ostensibly his master, if he escaped from this place.

Until now, he had only regarded her as another member of Agrische.

But as time passed, he sensed something different.

A girl who lost her own brother at the hands of another half-brother.

Moreover, that half-brother had even tried to kill her mother this time.

Even knowing this, Roxana seemed powerless to act.

He also remembered the way she had vomited blood before him. In addition, he was concerned about Roxana receiving poisoned tea from her family.

He’d heard that even now, if the responsibility for getting Cassis out hadn’t fallen on someone else, Roxana could have been punished for negligence.

That was why Cassis’s heart was uneasy.

But that didn’t mean Cassis was hesitating. He had to escape from Agrische at all costs.

However, recalling what had happened in the illusion room… inevitably made a corner of his heart feel heavy.

Whenever he thought of the voice that whispered softly, thanking him for saving her mother, and the soft touch that brushed his face, he felt an unfamiliar sensation.

It was the first time since entering Agrische that he had forgotten to be vigilant and wary of his surroundings, without feeling any threat or tension, and had been intoxicated by an unfamiliar comfort.

Perhaps that was why he felt a little heavy-hearted whenever he thought about Roxana since then.

Moreover, it was thanks to Roxana’s help that he was able to contact the family members who might have been in danger if they had been noticed by other Agrische people.

“……!”

At that moment, a small scream pierced Cassis’s ears.

The sharp noise made the back of his neck prickle. The scream had come from quite close by.

Clang.

A moment later, the sound of a door unlocking came from the front of the room. Cassis tensed, preparing for any possible situation.

But the person who appeared through the opened door was someone he knew well.

However, Roxana, who entered the room, vomited blood and collapsed as soon as the door closed behind her.

Seeing her body crumple helplessly, Cassis jumped up from his seat without thinking.

“Roxana!”

Black blood gushed onto the floor.

Unidentified red butterflies, one by one, fluttered around Roxana and landed on the pool of blood on the floor and her blood-reddened hand.

It was a bizarre and unsettling scene.

A poisonous aura had already thickened around her.

“Ugh……”

Roxana vomited blood once more and finally collapsed completely.

Cassis cut the chain connected to his neck and rushed to where Roxana had fallen.

“Roxana, wake up!”

The body beneath his fingertips was as cold as ice, startling him.

Her face was also very pale, and her closed eyes made her look like a corpse. Only the red light that stained her was so vivid that it stung his eyes.

He grabbed the chains and cut them haphazardly, and in his haste, the shoulder wound he had suffered from Dion Agrische burst open.

Blood soaked through his white shirt. A couple of butterflies landed on it as well.

“Roxana!”

Fortunately, she hadn’t completely lost consciousness, and at his repeated calls, her eyelids slowly lifted.

However, the red eyes that looked up at him were unfocused. Tears welled up and flowed down her face.

“Don’t go, out……”

Even in her weakened state, Roxana moved her lips and let out a faint voice.

“It’s dangerous, outside… I’ll, protect you……”

But she couldn’t even finish her sentence and spat out blood again.

“I have to get you to a doctor right away.”

At this rate, something truly terrible was going to happen.

Cassis quickly moved to take Roxana outside.

But he soon had to stop in his tracks.

“Don’t… do that.”

A weak hand, easily brushed aside, grabbed his sleeve.

However, in the eyes that met his, there was a desperation Cassis couldn’t ignore.

“Don’t tell anyone. That I’m, like this right now……”

He was rooted to the spot by her pleading gaze.

He should be arguing about what she meant in this situation, but for some reason, no words came out of his mouth.

“To no one……”

Roxana opened her trembling lips as if scattering her last breath and whispered that.

Then, her eyes, which had been weakly open, closed.

Her hand, which had been holding his sleeve, fell.

Cassis looked at Roxana, limp in his arms, and unknowingly stopped breathing.

The butterflies, noticeably increased in number, were slowly flapping their wings and circling around.

For some reason, their appearance resembled hungry beasts watching for an opportunity with their prey before them.

〈Your power, which you cannot control yourself, is like a disaster.〉

At that moment, a heavy voice like a rock echoed in his head once again.

〈From now on, you must never use your power for the same thing again.〉

It was an order deeply engraved in his mind like a curse.