The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 113

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – Episode 113

Lante was immensely interested in the immortal doll army, so he might have been intrigued by Noel’s new research.

Or perhaps he was just trying to put on a show by using a useless corpse as a bargaining chip to win Noel over.

It was like someone pretending to do a favor by giving away trash that couldn’t be recycled.

Either way, Lante Agriche was a truly disgusting human being.

“Actually, I didn’t expect much when Lante Agriche said he would find me a beautiful body to my liking, but when I received it, it was much better than I thought.”

However, what Roxana really wanted to hear from Noel wasn’t just about the provider of the corpse.

“Especially Nix, he was beyond my imagination. I fell in love with him at first sight.”

The moment Noel added this in a wistful voice, a different kind of chill flashed in Roxana’s eyes.

The timing of Lante and Noel meeting and discussing the doll research must have been before Asil’s death.

Agriche wouldn’t have kept a discarded corpse in good condition.

If so… is there a chance that Lante killed Asil to obtain a beautiful corpse that Noel would like?

Or could Noel have seen Asil alive first and asked Lante for his body?

“Noel Vertium. You…”

Roxana’s hand slowly slid down and touched Noel’s neck.

“Have you ever seen Asil when he was alive?”

Her face, as she gazed at Noel, still wore a smile like the spring sunshine.

However, the touch that caressed his neck so softly contained a clear intent to kill.

Then, just as her fingertips were about to tear the flesh they touched and dig deep inside…

“No. All I saw was the corpse in the coffin.”

Noel replied with a face full of regret.

“When I opened the lid, there was an angel inside, and I was so surprised. So I worked harder to see him open his eyes!”

Noel looked at Roxana like a child wanting praise.

Roxana’s red eyes sharply pierced the face in front of her, as if trying to discern the truth.

Only then did the hand that had been silently lurking behind Noel’s neck finally slowly move away.

*Right*. No matter how interested Lante Agriche was in Vertium’s doll art, he wouldn’t have deliberately killed his children to provide Noel with a corpse.

Of course, it wasn’t because Lante had that minimum of human conscience.

It was simply because it wasn’t cost-effective.

That wasn’t the kind of method Lante Agriche would try.

It would have been much easier and simpler to obtain beautiful boys and girls through kidnapping or human trafficking.

Adding the discarded children was just a bonus.

Of course, Lante, with his dark intentions, wouldn’t have done it without any ulterior motives.

He probably intended to use it as an excuse to flirt with Noel later.

However, Noel was also a very amazing human being, no less than Lante.

As far as Roxana knew, Noel was about the same age as her.

So, when Noel received the corpse from Lante, it meant that at such a young age, he had already thought about experimenting on human corpses.

The Hwang family was known for their short lifespans, so Noel was known to have become the head of the family at a very young age.

Both Lante, who tried to win over such a young child early on for his own desires, and Noel, who succeeded in extracting a research corpse from him, were truly extraordinary.

Listening to Noel, Roxana felt her heart gradually chilling in many ways.

Then, there was another part that bothered her, so she couldn’t help but ask.

“Does the fact that you received more than one corpse mean that there is another being like Nix?”

“No. Nix was the only successful one. That’s because I succeeded by chance, so I can’t do it a second time no matter what. But I’m so glad that Nix was the one who succeeded.”

Looking at his expression, it seemed that everything he said was true.

Noel also elaborated on the principles of doll art that Roxana hadn’t asked about.

Awakening the body of a doll made by hand and using it as a servant was a method using magic passed down only to the successor of Vertium.

Dolls made in this way were said to have the ability to carry out orders as the owner wished.

It was truly amazing that some of those with strong subordination could even talk like real people.

But even so, they were not real humans, so they could not feel emotions, their five senses were not perfect, and they had no heart in their bodies.

Then, he excitedly explained the difference between doll art and necromancy that he had mentioned yesterday.

It seemed that Noel had even forgotten that he was trying to keep Roxana by pretending that the dead Asil had been resurrected using Nix.

Then, Noel suddenly remembered something and asked Roxana.

“Oh, I heard you met Nix while I was away? Did you two have a conversation?”

“A little.”

Looking at his face, it seemed that he had already heard the story from Nix first.

“I heard you decided to stay in Vertium a little longer. I’m very happy, Luna! You can stay as long as you want! Let’s just live here with me forever!”

Noel was very pleased, took Roxana’s hand, and sparkled his eyes.

Red eyes glanced at Noel’s face.

He was looking up at Roxana with expectant eyes.

“Two days.”

After a while, Roxana naturally tapped Noel’s hand to remove it and smiled thinly.

“I’m only staying for two more days and then I’m leaving. No more than that.”

Noel’s eyes shook as if he was greatly disappointed by Roxana’s words.

“O-okay. Then let’s have fun together for two days.”

However, he soon said as if he had tried to calm himself down.

Roxana looked at him with a different expressionless face than before.

* * *

The spring scenery of Vertium, where flowers are in full bloom everywhere, was certainly a masterpiece.

“Vertium, it’s really beautiful, isn’t it?”

But when someone said this next to me, I felt like refuting it for no reason.

So I said boredly.

“Well, it just looks like a common landscape.”

Then Nix looked at me and smiled brightly, as if asking if that was so.

A doll that feels the scenery and thinks it’s beautiful. It was impossible not to call it exceptional.

I stared at Nix, who was serving me tea today.

Today, we were having tea time outdoors instead of in the drawing room.

This time, it was just Nix and me in this place. It was me who asked for it first.

Noel agreed more readily than I thought, but he seemed a little dissatisfied.

An undisguised feeling of jealousy was melting into his eyes as he looked at Nix.

It was clear that it was Noel’s plan to keep me in Vertium using Nix, but it was quite funny that he was jealous when this situation happened.

Still, Noel gave in willingly because we had promised to have dinner together at the evening banquet.

“That left eye doesn’t seem to be a real human eye.”

I opened my mouth while watching Nix pouring tea into the teacup in front of me.

“Then is it an artificial eye?”

The white flowers blooming profusely on the flower trees scattered all over the place looked like gems.

Among the petals fluttering like feathers, Nix raised his eyes and gazed at me.

His right eye was blue like his mother’s, and his left eye was magenta like the flower behind him.

“Yes. When I came to Vertium, my body was already damaged and not complete. So it needed to be restored in places.”

As Nix said, Asil died with injuries.

He was ultimately pierced through the heart by Deon and died, but he was seriously injured in the eyes during the last monthly evaluation he had before being discarded.

“At the time, Noel found the most compatible eyeball among the ones he had, so the colors of both eyes ended up being different.”

I didn’t know if he knew something and was doing it on purpose, or if it was just a coincidence, but Nix often showed me aspects that reminded me of the dead Asil.

So, on the contrary, I was giving meaning to finding the differences between Asil and him while being with Nix like this.

“I hope you like the tea today. I paid a little more attention this time.”

Nix, who was sitting across from me, smiled kindly and offered me tea.

I silently picked up the teacup in front of me as he wished.

The tea I tasted after that was definitely less sweet than yesterday.

And like yesterday, there was a faint, foreign taste in it.