The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 118

A chilling voice cut through the air, sharp as frost.

“I guarantee, Nix, you’re weaker than me. I don’t even need to use the Poison Butterfly to kill you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Nix, thoroughly enraged, spat Roxana’s words back at her as if they were a bitter pill. His mind raced.

*Damn it, what the hell is going on outside? Why isn’t anyone paying attention to this?*

Even Dante, who should have been constantly watching the reception room per Noel’s orders, was nowhere to be seen.

Thankfully, while all this was happening, the internal injuries he had suffered were gradually subsiding.

Nix glared at the woman who had put him in this state.

“Yes, those eyes.”

The next moment, Roxana murmured in a low voice, as if to herself.

“I don’t like them after all.”

Immediately after, Roxana’s movement was a blur. She shot up from her seat so fast that Nix didn’t even realize she was approaching until she was already upon him. It happened in a flash.

*Whoosh!*

Roxana, who had closed the distance in an instant, reached out towards Nix.

Merciless red eyes pierced into him.

At the same time, her hand plunged towards Nix’s left eye as if to gouge it out.

* * *

Around the time Roxana and Nix began their tense conversation in the reception room…

The atmosphere among the people staying in the annex in the back garden was thick with unease.

Moreover, a strange tension pervaded the place, as if even a light breeze could set off a violent explosion.

Noel continued to refuse their repeated requests for a conversation.

The antidote had been delivered to the man poisoned by Nix the previous night, but that was the extent of it.

Nix received no punishment and was still walking around with his head held high, and Noel seemed to be simply ignoring the entire matter.

Noel didn’t even express any regret to them about the previous day’s events.

Of course, Dante, acting as Noel’s spokesperson, offered his apologies, assuring them that Nix would be punished according to the severity of his actions.

But no one believed it. They knew that their leader, Noel, was so obsessed with his “dolls” that he didn’t care about them, his vassals, even a little bit.

Thus, Noel’s arrogant doll was able to run rampant without fear.

Moreover, yesterday’s incident served as a stark wake-up call for them.

A doll dared to try to poison a person!

In particular, Nix, unlike other dolls, was able to move independently without Noel’s direct orders.

Yet, he was a dangerous being who lacked human morals.

Recalling Nix’s indifferent smile as he stood before the man who had collapsed from the poison made their skin crawl.

Eventually, some of them left the annex once more to request a meeting with Noel.

However, their progress was soon halted.

The figure half-hidden under the shade of a flowering tree noticed them and turned around.

Those who saw the shadowed, beautiful face contorted their expressions harshly.

“You…!”

“Why are you here again…?”

But they couldn’t continue speaking.

Several pairs of eyes darted to something in Nix’s hand and the red bloodstains scattered like fallen camellia flowers beneath it.

He held one of the residents of the annex in his hand, limp as a corpse.

The air, rapidly chilling, vibrated with tension.

Within it, only Nix’s smile, like a spring flower slowly blooming, seemed appropriate for the season.

“Oh, dear. I’ve been caught.”

The clear voice, like the buzzing of a swarm of bees, echoed around them.

That was the final catalyst.

At that moment, the deep-rooted resentment that had been building up exploded in an instant.

*Sway.*

Red butterflies, like droplets of blood, perched on the dazzling white petals of the flowers, silently observing the situation.

Nix dragged the corpse in his hand and left the back garden.

The enraged people, their eyes bloodshot, chased after him.

But the illusion created by the butterflies had vanished, and only the people’s anger, with nowhere else to go, became an uncontrollable fire, sweeping wildly through the estate.

Entering the main building where Noel resided, they began to smash all the dolls they could find.

“Where did you hide Nix? Hand him over right now…!”

A raging fire of emotion that would not be easily extinguished.

That was the conflict and chaos that Roxana desired.

* * *

“Is it starting? It’s a bit noisy inside.”

Grizelda stared intently beyond the castle walls as if she possessed X-ray vision.

As Roxana had anticipated, she had approached just outside the gates of Vertium.

However, the thick walls loomed before her, preventing her from seeing anything.

“I came because it seemed interesting, but I wonder if there’s a way for me to join in,” Grizelda mused.

Grizelda was using magic to conceal herself.

There had been no news from Roxana, who had gone inside.

Suddenly, a man caught her eye.

He was moving swiftly.

Hiding in the surrounding greenery and moving silently, he seemed like a seasoned assassin. If Lant Agriche were alive, he would have considered him a highly coveted talent.

Grizelda observed him intently for a moment.

The man seemed to be looking around, searching for something.

But without any luck, he stopped, furrowing his brow, and finally spoke.

“…Is Miss Grizelda Agriche nearby?”

Grizelda started, surprised.

She flinched at the sound of her name coming from the stranger’s mouth.

She examined the man’s face more carefully.

Upon closer inspection, the man with an eyepatch was someone she vaguely remembered seeing from afar on her last day at the Agriche mansion, just before leaving.

‘A member of the Fedelian family,’ she realized.

Having recognized the man’s identity, Grizelda finally stepped out of the magic circle that had been concealing her.

“Did Cassis Fedelian send you?”

* * *

The first to notice the anomaly was Dante.

“What?”

He had been waiting outside the reception room when he received a message from a doll and moved quickly. Soon after, he heard a loud commotion in the distance. Dante hurriedly looked out the hallway window.

And he witnessed a surprising sight.

“Where is Nix!”

“Bring Nix here now!”

People who had rushed in from the back garden were indiscriminately smashing the dolls they saw.

“You, go and inform Noel about the situation immediately!”

“Yes.”

Dante, having given the order to the doll, hurried down the stairs.

The doll that received the order also moved quickly to find Noel.

Knock, knock.

“Noel.”

“Come in!”

Noel couldn’t stay still and was pacing back and forth restlessly in the empty room near the reception room.

“Why? Did Nix send you?”

Noel rushed over as soon as the doll entered the room. He and Nix had agreed in advance that if there was any new information, Nix would send a doll to let him know.

But the doll shook its head.

“No, Dante sent me.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Noel’s relatives from the back garden have been attacking us, looking for Nix since a while ago.”

“What?”

Contrary to the calm tone coming from his beautiful lips, the message was extremely alarming.

Noel was momentarily speechless and gaped for a moment.

“Wh-why are they looking for Nix?”

He asked reflexively, but it wasn’t as if he had no idea.

Just yesterday, the people staying in the annex had been badgering him, saying they had something to say to Nix.

He already knew from Dante that Nix had poisoned them.

But wasn’t that a closed case since he had given them the antidote?

“I don’t know the details. However, they had incredibly angry faces.”

Noel fidgeted and asked the doll again.

“Where’s Dante?”

“He went down ahead of me.”

“How many dolls have been destroyed?”

“The last time I checked, it seemed to be about 50.”

“Gasp, already that many?”

Noel’s eyes widened greatly.

Soon after, he contorted his face as if forgetting that he had been helpless and anxious just a moment ago.

“You bad guys! How dare you inflict such one-sided violence on non-combat dolls!”

He seemed to have already forgotten that he had destroyed the dolls serving Roxana just three days ago.