The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 64

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – 64

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Roxana’s gaze was fixed on the view outside the window.

The winter sun had long since set, and a deep darkness had settled over the sky.

She was in the office that had been used by the heads of the Agriche family for generations. Until just yesterday, this space had belonged to Lant.

Perhaps that was why the office still smelled of the pungent stimulants that Lant occasionally used.

Roxana reached out and picked up a glass from the luxurious mahogany desk. It contained a red liquor with a subtle fragrance.

Sitting in Lant’s chair in his office and drinking his liquor felt… significant.

Roxana leisurely tilted the glass and spoke to the man who had silently opened the door and entered.

“I don’t recall giving you permission to come in.”

However, Deon didn’t bat an eye, as always.

He ignored Roxana’s words and moved closer to her.

“Well… I’m in a good mood today, so.”

Roxana hadn’t expected Deon to leave anyway.

She leaned back further in her chair, allowing Deon to approach.

“Want a drink?”

Perhaps she was in a good mood, as Roxana showed Deon a rare display of generosity.

However, Deon coldly refused.

“I don’t need it.”

“Is that so? What a shame. This opportunity might not come again.”

Deon’s gaze had been fixed on one spot for a while.

The room was dim, with only faint light seeping in from outside. But that didn’t seem to bother Deon.

Roxana also noticed where Deon’s eyes were fixed.

“You recognize it.”

She put down the glass and raised the corner of her lips.

Roxana hadn’t changed her clothes yet and was still in her outerwear.

But the coat she was wearing was clearly not hers.

“Cassis gave it to me.”

Roxana was wearing a men’s coat over her dress, and it was quite large.

When she fastened the collar, it felt as if her delicate body was half-buried in it.

“I liked it, so I wore it.”

Roxana looked at Deon in that state and smiled brightly.

“Does it upset you to see me like this?”

Deon gave her a cold look without answering.

Cassis Pedelian, whom she had met before leaving Yggdrasil [a neutral territory], was undoubtedly on both Roxana and Deon’s minds.

“I still find it a little strange when you make that face. It seems like you’re angry every time you look at me now.”

Roxana whispered in a languid tone and reached for the glass again. Deon was still silently watching her.

“I…”

Deon slowly parted his lips.

“I don’t regret killing Asil.”

Abruptly.

The hand that had just touched the glass stopped.

The smile slowly disappeared from Roxana’s face.

It wasn’t just the smile that vanished.

“Even if I went back to that time, I would kill him again without hesitation.”

Her face, devoid of even the slightest emotion, was left with only a dry, barren expression.

“But this time, I would cut off his head myself in front of you.”

A calm and monotonous voice echoed softly in the silent office.

“You were so shaken by just seeing an illusion.”

“…”

“Then what would happen if you saw the real Asil die with your own eyes?”

Deon’s voice, muffled by the darkness, sounded almost like a soliloquy.

“I’ve always wondered that.”

Roxana looked at him with indifferent eyes, devoid of hot anger or sharp hatred.

The air in the office was cold.

But today, their faces, which would normally have been incomparably colder, were filled with a chill more bitter than the north wind.

“When I think about that, I even regret that I already killed Asil with my own hands.”

Deon wasn’t saying these words to take revenge on Roxana.

“But it’s no use. He’s already dead. So, after that, I wanted to kill your mother in front of you.”

He wasn’t bringing up these words to threaten her either.

“You know that, so you entrusted the role of protecting your mother to my mother.”

Roxana knew that fact as well.

She didn’t want to admit it, but in some ways, they were the only people in this Agriche who truly understood each other.

“That day, you said you knew what I wanted.”

The two people’s memories went back three years. To the day they first set foot in this swamp they were now trapped in.

“But it’s a funny thing. You know something that even I don’t know.”

Who would have known back then that their future would hold today?

Even Roxana hadn’t imagined such a moment at the time.

That the day would come when she would drive out Lant Agriche and have this conversation with Deon in his office.

Perhaps it was the same for Deon as well.

Suddenly, she heard a commotion outside.

If something else had happened, someone would have been looking for Roxana.

But since that wasn’t the case, it seemed that Jeremy was carrying out the tasks she had asked him to do in advance.

Roxana slowly lowered her gaze.

“…Perhaps you and I have some similarities.”

Long eyelashes flickered slightly in the faint light coming in from outside the window.

Roxana’s eyes were fixed on the red liquid in the glass.

“You know, I thought there was no particular reason why I had been struggling and fighting to survive in this gutter until now.”

It was a strange night.

No, perhaps it should be called a special night, or a unique night.

Clearly, today was the most meaningful day of her life so far, and this night that had just begun would be longer than ever before.

“Actually, that’s right. I just didn’t want to die like Asil. Strictly speaking, surviving was the goal itself.”

In any case, it was a different night than usual. Perhaps it was a moment that would never come again.

That’s why Roxana and Deon were able to break the sharp thorns they had been pointing at each other and have this conversation.

“But now that I think about it, that wasn’t my ultimate goal.”

Just like Deon had done a little while ago, Roxana’s voice also felt like a soliloquy.

This time, the speaker and listener were reversed, but there was no awkwardness either.

“Maybe I wanted to survive so persistently because there was something I wanted to do.”

The atmosphere between the two was so calm that it was hard to believe such a moment had ever existed.

“Do you know what I want?”

Roxana asked in a quiet voice.

Deon’s eyes, filled with a quiet light, stared at her.

“I know.”

After some time, Deon answered.

A faint smile appeared on Roxana’s face.

“Yeah… Actually, even at this moment, I’m still confused.”

The outside became a little more noisy than before. She could feel the presence of many people moving at once.

“If I give you what you want.”

In the darkness that had grown even deeper, Deon slowly opened his mouth.

“Can you also give me what I want?”

Roxana silently stared at him.

Deon quietly looked into her eyes and left the room first, silently, just as he had when he entered.

Left alone, Roxana turned her gaze back to the window.

A night swallowed by darkness. She knew what was lurking beyond that.

Flutter.

A red butterfly that had approached unnoticed hovered around the solitary glass.

“It’s time.”

The short celebration was over.

Roxana got up from her seat and opened the door that Deon had just left through.

Shortly after the door closed again, a thick darkness settled in the coldly cooled room.

Before she knew it, white snowflakes were fluttering outside the window.