The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 82

“It looks similar to a Clanetaria, but this one is prettier.”

“Clanetaria? I’ve never heard of such a flower.”

Silvia’s face brightened as Roxana seemed to like the garden.

“It blooms in the Agrische’s garden all year round.”

“Does it smell as nice as this one?”

Roxana seemed to recall something at Silvia’s question.

Soon, a calm voice flowed from her.

“It does. But if someone without immunity smells it for more than five minutes, they die.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s a highly toxic narcotic flower.”

“Really…?”

“But the scent is nice. It just happened to be in front of my room’s window, so I got tired of smelling it every day.”

Silvia’s eyes widened.

She blinked, unsure how to react to Roxana’s words. She couldn’t even tell if what she said was true or not.

Roxana belatedly realized Silvia’s reaction.

When their eyes met, Roxana smiled, her eyes crinkling.

The scales in Silvia’s heart, which had been tilting from side to side without fully committing, fell to one side at that moment.

“Ah, what is it? Was that a joke?”

Silvia smiled, following Roxana’s lead. But Cassis could tell it wasn’t a joke.

Roxana, who had been smiling at Silvia, soon turned her head to the side.

She felt like she had said something unnecessary because she had unknowingly relaxed. Still, she was glad it ended up being taken as a joke.

Roxana looked at the scenery before her.

It was such a peaceful moment that she wondered if it was okay.

Cassis quietly watched her from the side.

Roxana sometimes stared into the distance like that.

Every time Roxana did that, Cassis wanted to turn her gaze to him.

“Let’s go in.”

Roxana turned to him at the words that finally came from Cassis’s mouth.

Thick, golden air enveloped her body, suffocatingly.

In the midst of the sweet scent, a beauty more enchanting than anything else present here was etched into her vision.

The moment their eyes met…

Cassis thought for the first time that he would rather lock up the person in front of him somewhere.

It was a dark and intense desire that surprised even himself.

* * *

The twilight faded outside the window.

Roxana tilted the bottle and poured the liquid inside into a glass.

The dark golden liquor created small splashes as it filled the empty glass. The color was like melting the atmosphere just before twilight. The scent that brushed the tip of her nose was as sweet as honey.

Roxana emptied her glass while admiring the scenery outside the window.

Clink.

The door soon opened, and the person Roxana had been waiting for entered.

“Welcome.”

Cassis paused at her casual greeting that reached his ears.

It was only natural. It was his room, after all.

Cassis moved towards Roxana.

He had told her that she could come anytime, so he didn’t think of her as an uninvited guest for visiting without notice.

However, he wasn’t too happy with what was in front of Roxana.

“Who brought you the alcohol?”

“Who else? The servants.”

Cassis was trying to keep anything that could put a strain on Roxana’s body as far away as possible.

He had told Roxana to say anything if she needed something, but that was within the limits of what he deemed not harmful to her.

Of course, alcohol wasn’t a prohibited item, but…

Still, he had given the servants some instructions, so for them to bring this directly to her felt like a betrayal.

“Do you think there’s anything I want that I can’t get?”

Roxana smiled, narrowing her eyes as if she had read Cassis’s thoughts.

Seeing that, Cassis realized that his thinking had been naive.

Indeed, she was right.

There would definitely be no one who could refuse Roxana’s request in the end.

“I told you, you’re the strange one.”

Cassis sat down in the seat opposite Roxana.

Now that it had come to this, he didn’t intend to stop her from drinking.

Judging by the looks of it, the alcohol the servant had brought was low in alcohol content.

Roxana pushed the second glass she had just refilled towards Cassis.

“I’ll give you a glass. Drink it. It’s the seat charge.”

“Seat charge?”

A subtle smile appeared on Cassis’s face.

Roxana turned her head and looked out the window again.

From here, the backyard behind the annex was clearly visible.

“The scenery from here isn’t bad either.”

It was less fancy than the garden, but it had its own subtle charm.

“If you like it, I can change your room.”

Cassis turned his gaze to the window, following Roxana’s lead.

Roxana stared at Cassis and opened her mouth.

“It’s okay. I can just come here from time to time whenever I want to see it.”

At the end of those words, their eyes met.

But after a while, Cassis’s gaze shifted away from Roxana’s face. His hand reached for the glass of alcohol that Roxana had offered him a moment ago.

The two shared drinks without conversation for a while.

Then, after some more time had passed, their eyes met again.

The setting sun, spreading beyond the glass window, was reflected in the small golden lake in the center of the table.

“……Come to think of it, you’re barefoot again.”

A low voice cut through the orange air that filled the room.

“If the shoes in your room are uncomfortable, I’ll have others prepared.”

At Cassis’s words, Roxana recalled the slippers she had taken off on the carpet.

“No, they’re good slippers. Warm, soft, comfortable, and pretty.”

So she didn’t think she should have them. Like everything else in the Fedelian.

Cassis looked at Roxana’s face for a moment.

The gaze that met her seemed to scan through her.

Then, Cassis got up from his seat. Roxana quietly watched him approach.

Until he carefully lifted her into his arms.

The scent that had become familiar stimulated her sense of smell.

Roxana didn’t particularly resist and quietly nestled in Cassis’s arms.

His touch was like applying glaze to pottery.

As if handling a piece of glass that could break at any moment if he was even slightly careless.

Whenever Cassis held her like this, Roxana felt like she had become a small dewdrop on a blade of grass, or a doll made of soap bubbles.

If anyone else were to see Cassis like this, they might mistake her for a sugar-spun [a delicate candy decoration] craft decoration.

Cassis moved in that state and carried Roxana to her room.

It didn’t take long since there was a door right across the hallway.

The place where Cassis put Roxana down was on the sofa.

Roxana had already finished bathing and changed into her pajamas right after returning from her walk in the garden.

While being held by Cassis and lowered onto the sofa, the front of her carelessly fastened pajamas opened.

The voluptuous curves of her breasts were revealed without filtering.

But Roxana didn’t fix her clothes and just looked up at Cassis.

A slow gaze swept over her figure once.

However, Cassis turned away as if he hadn’t seen anything.

Shortly after, Cassis returned with her slippers, which had been left alone on the carpet.

Cassis bent down in front of Roxana.

Inevitably, he looked like he was kneeling and bowing his head to her.

But as if it wasn’t even a slight humiliation, there wasn’t a hint of hesitation or reluctance in his actions.

Roxana looked down at Cassis without blinking an eye.

Soon after, Cassis grabbed Roxana’s foot as if to cover it. The skin that had been exposed all along was getting cold.

Cassis put the slippers on Roxana’s cold feet himself.

It was still a careful and delicate touch.

However, Cassis’s hand did not immediately leave Roxana even after achieving its initial purpose.

The hand that had been covering the heel of her foot slid up.

Warmth adhered to her slender ankle, which was holding a chill.

Roxana thought that the hand holding her ankle was as hot as a brand. Perhaps it was just that her body temperature was particularly low right now, so she felt that way.

The slow touch, as if tickling, gently stroked her skin.

Roxana twitched her hand on the sofa.

The sensation of the place where she was in contact with Cassis seemed to become sensitively sharp.

Cassis’s golden eyes were darkly submerged like a forest of night where not a single ray of light could enter.

The thirst contained within seemed to ride on his hot hand and stick thickly to Roxana’s ankle.

In an instant, his hand gripping her ankle felt like a shackle.

“……I think I had too much aperitif [an alcoholic beverage usually served before a meal].”

But after a while, Cassis didn’t do anything more and let go of Roxana.

“I’ll come to call you when it’s dinner time. Rest until then.”

The voice that followed, reaching her ear, was lower than when he was in Cassis’s room. The look in his eyes looking down at her was the same.

However, Cassis collected all of that and turned around.

Roxana quietly watched his back.